Micro audiences
Interesting comment from Scott Flanders in a Forbes article entitled Saving Newspapers:
Video is what excites me the most. The advertising model isn’t user-friendly yet, it is more disruptive than newspaper advertising. [But] the future is going to be micro-hosted video sites, a lot will be user-generated content but increasingly our reporters have camcorders and are posting their own video. They’re all going to be video journalists in the future.
Why micro hosted video sites? Forbes does not explain.The short answer is that these sites will be underwritten by micro-advertisers, targeting micro-audiences.
Thanks to Andy Dickinson for the link. Commenting on the Forbes article Dickinson notes that “US execs confuse profit with content”. John Duncan explores the theme noting that the impact of this move is “likely to make smaller sites and blogs increasingly viable commercially.” Duncan continues:
“The economics of this business are grim for medium sized players like newspaper companies. What makes a microsite viable? Exceptionally low costs matched by individual commitment and expertise. Do McClatchy and Freedom have exceptionally low costs? No. Commitment and expertise? They’re good but tiny compared to what the community itself might supply if there was money in it. The supply of online advertising “space” is going to become bigger and the distribution of revenue is going to become wider. Competition will drive the price down to the marginal cost of production which is almost zero. Fine if you’re working out of a bedroom. Less so if you prefer the comfort of a boardroom.
I just can’t understand why Flanders seems to like a business model where there is widespread competition, no barrier to entry and no revenue.”
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- Context is King revisited - 3 more rules This video made a splash not because it was intrinsically good, but because it was embedded in the profile of one girl from middle...
