Confessions of an Ex-Media Junkie
I have a confession to make, actually several…I don’t Twitter, I don’t watch television (except on planes), I don’t use Flickr, and I barely blog. Not the sort of electronic resume of someone who has been stuck in the gap between media and technology for 13 years. However, these qualities actually make me a part of another group that is important to everyone that works in the downloadable media (and every other form of media), the audience.
With the fundamental pillars of media and audience behavior shifting as they have never before, we are faced with a number of challenges and opportunities that we have never had to deal with all at once. Ten years ago, in 1997, we were all just getting a glimpse of what media could become. If you can imagine it, Tivo didn’t exist (unless you count it’s conceptual precursor; WebTV). The iPod wasn’t a part of our daily lives, even though there were MP3 players, the integrated experience we now know to be so critical was years away. “Must See TV,” was just that, a destination for most of the US television audience on Thursday night.
What a difference a decade can make…today, we control television on our schedule, not the other way around. Our entertainment finds us when it, and we, are ready. Advertising has begun to blend, out of necessity, the action and reaction that we caught a glimpse of in the early Internet, and the engagement that we traditionally associated with broadcast and cable television. Also, the notion of presence and mobile connections to our friends, peers, and coworkers have been forever changed by applications and networks that create a virtual deluge of information wherever we are.
So how do all of these issues, challenges and opportunities impact downloadable media and the focus the businesses that are involved with it? While it does create some challenges because the buying and selling of media is a giant creature of habit, I believe it creates many more opportunities for the whole food chain. Creative agencies have more opportunities to be more creative, and more formats within which they can work. Broadcasters can test their formats, and build audiences with costs that are lower, and focus that addresses niches that the economics of frequency and time would never have allowed, and media agencies have many more tools at their disposal to extract the kinds of reactions from their audiences that we now call engagement.
Even though I am an ex-media junkie, who cut my teeth on the new new media beginning in 1994 when I wrote my first HTML page while working at Sun Microsystems, I believe this is potentially the most exciting period we’ve ever seen in the media business. I don’t necessarily have to consume every new piece of technology to be a part of this media shift, because the rest of the audience doesn’t do that either. In fact, they don’t care about the technology, they just want to be entertained, informed, and moved by media. That, at least, has not changed, and probably never will.
Again you assume that the whole world is the same as the US or that the US is the whole world - check out what your German contributors said the other day
I actually don’t make that assumption. We are currently conducting business in several international markets, and while there are a variety of differences business, cultural, and technological, I remain excited about the changes in media and the audiences unrelenting pursuit of great media. I went back and read Christian’s post, and I don’t see anything there that seems contrary to my premise. However, if you disagree, do let me know. I’m always willing to learn.
You’re right. You don’t sound real qualified for a leadership position at the ADM or even PodShow, for that matter.
I don’t know you that well, so I won’t absolutely throw you into this category, but I’m an experienced podcaster, and have been at it since the beginning. Folks with habits like yours and experience like yours: disconnected from the cutting edges of technology and media… are exactly what’s wrong with podcasting, and why it is floundering.
And boy, is it floudering. In the five or so years since it’s been around, no one has pulled together a decent advertising agency that can reliably supply ads to their podcasters or pay the podcasters on time.
I had hoped the ADM would be the group that could help the podcasting industry pull itself up by its bootstraps.
Posts like this do not instill confidence.
TiVo (pronounced tee-voh, IPA: /ˈtiːvoʊ/) is a popular brand of digital video recorder (DVR) in the United States. It is a consumer video device which allows users to capture television programming to internal hard disk storage for later viewing (”time shifting”), provides an electronic television programming schedule, and permits the setting of recording options based on that schedule information.
(from wikipedia)
“we control television on our schedule, not the other way around”
- maybe in the US, not in the rest of the world
Interestingly interactive television and DVR technology (SKY, BT Vision, Teletext, T-Home etc.) have a long history in international markets. In some ways, mobile & Interactive TV for instance, the European and Pacific Rim markets are way ahead of the US. I agree with you that it is different, which is why we approach these markets differently than the US market.
Kris,
the reason I mentioned TIVO is exactly that - you write as if your experience is that of everybody but when called upon you can produce facts about other platforms etc. The fact is that you don’t do it automatically, you just write about your experience in a US perspective.
And maybe I’m strange but what I understood from the German article is that the advertising models that are being used in the US have no relevance there and that the only model that seems to have a chance of working there is sponsorship.
The problem as I see it is that you - The Big Boys, are seeking to introduce models which work in your environment as standards which will then be adapted across the board (and the world).
Let me put it this way (and it may sound extreme but I think it’s a good analogy) - US foreign policy treats everything/everybody as collateral or whatever euphemism. Routinely the whole of the rest of the world questions US policy but as the strongest country on the planet they (you) can afford to go it alone because it is in your interests to do so. The rest of the world suffers/deals with the consequences.
Here it’s exactly the same - you talk about a global situation - the internet - but only from your own perspective. You don’t maybe realise that the decisions that a handful of you take over breakfast in a hotel in Ontario, California can change the way that all of the other millions of people around the world will be able to do business or make a living.
We have spent the last few years trying to explain what a podcast is because one of you decided that was the cool name and now you have decided that it isn’t the name and we all have to react accordingly.
If you want all of us little people in the rest of the world to be involved, put your meetings on the web, realise that $100 for some recordings is a fortune in Bangladesh or Bulgaria, think about the fact that most of the world does not have an iTunes store (check it out) and then maybe you will understand that you are addressing a small powerful elite.
To finish I’d like to add that at the very moment when musicians are finally able to use technology to break away from the model that has kept them trapped for so long, that you guys seem hell bent on forming pacts to trap us all.
Chris,
Thanks again for your input. I will try to do a better job of writing from the international perspective from the beginning rather than in response to a question. I do appreciate you bringing it up, though, because I think it is a mistake that a number of US companies make when trying to do business outside the US.
In the end, I think the ADM is meant to be a forum of involved participants, not a small group of people making decisions for the rest of the world. I would hope that some of the healthy debate we’re having here, would be incorporated into the way the group moves forward.
In the mean time, on your point about music, we have been working on breaking away from the music establishment for some time by providing podsafe music to producers and a way to potentially allow artists to receive all of the transaction proceeds for music sales (less what the transaction partners take for clearing the credit cards). You may have seen it already, but the PodSafe Music Network is an interesting resource that is there for folks who want to use it. I don’t think we’re trying to trap folks into anything, quite the opposite, we’re trying to help them by providing a resource that producers can use to promote the bands they like on their shows, and the bands should get better exposure as a happy result.
Kris,
When I made my comments about the music biz I didn’t know that you were from Podshow, so they weren’t directed at you but were just intended to be general about the “industry”. From what I’ve read there seems to be some issues about podshow and the grassroots and the expo and… but I’m just a (very) outside observer so no insult was intended
Chris,
Keep in mind that some of the bloggers here will write about the U.S. experience because that *IS* where we are from and that *IS* what we have experienced. I can’t as easily know the experience in Germany, Spain or Southeast Asia for that matter because I don’t live there. It doesn’t mean that we think one experience is better than the other.
For that reason, we need people such as yourself to join the ADM and get involved in appropriate committees. We all bring our own experience to the table to hopefully make something useful for a wide base of people.
The way to overcome these challenges is to constructively come together and participate to make this organization what each of us (from all varieties of experience) want it to be.
I don’t think that people think that one experience is better than another and the fact that you write about the US experience is exactly the point I was making - that you write about everything from that perspective as Kris did above about TiVo etc, something that the rest of us wouldn’t do.
The “problem” as I see it is that you are US based, that you have formed this org in meetings in US cities, that your web prescence is only this blog and that of course your perspective is US based - but you claim to represent the whole world of downloadable media. There is not even a single page here translated into any of the major languages so unless the people in other countries speak English well enough to understand the complex concepts that are discussed here, it is very unlikely that they can share their experiences. I know that you are learning Spanish so you will understand the difficutly
And just one more thing before I leave these pages (I’m beginning to bore myself and also as the lone voice of dissent it’s quite clear that either everybody agrees with the ADM of nobody is interested)
You guys keep telling me to get on board but let’s face it - your world and mine are seperated by a huge gulf - I can imagine the situation when you big guys are about to close a big deal you’ll be saying “what about that guy in Spain with his 600 monthly downloads…
As Sterling said in one your recent shows Jason, everything is different when you’re with the big boys
Chris,
I’m not sure what you are trying to imply when you say. “..that you write about everything from that perspective as Kris did above about TiVo etc.” Each of us is writing about our own experience in the hopes that it will be of value to other content creators. What is the problem with writing about the U.S. experience? No one is trying to say that everywhere is like the U.S. or that you have to do things the American way.
Disclaimer: I speak for myself and my own impressions of the ADM. I do not claim to speak for the ADM.
Yes, the ADM started in the U.S., but it has to start somewhere. Does this means that the ADM will probably have mostly Americans join at first? Probably. Does this mean that the ADM’s efforts will be useless on a global scale? I don’t think so. Does the ADM want people from all over the world involved? Absolutely.
Unless more Europeans get involved, there it will be tough for the ADM to help benefit Europeans. The more people chip in constructively, the better. Would you like to volunteer to translate the blog into your language?
As far as I can tell, the ADM only claims to represent anyone who wants to join and enjoy whatever support we can put together as a community of content creators.
Maybe you can point us to the statements made by the ADM that have set you off. So far all I see are people posting about their ideas in hopes that it can help the whole community. Sure, we won’t always agree.
Consider getting involved in making this organization something that can benefit you and your peers. Nothing is set in stone. It’s barely getting off the ground. Anything can happen.
Hmmm, well, I am an American new media producer working in Japan, and I must admit that I joined this organization because I want to understand what my colleagues in North America are doing, and thinking, and to apply whatever is appropriate here.
It’s a relief, for me, to get this information in a language and format I’m comfortable with. I really do hope that podcast producers of all types and reach join this org or start their own, because it’s truly needed for those of us who want to make our living this way.
I tried to join Scott Bourne’s org, as well, for the same reason (haven’t heard back, but I’m sure they’re pretty busy). In any case, I do hope that the ADM committee appointments will be open and easy to join, and that I can put in a lot and get a lot out of any of these organizations that I help to support.
yoroshiku:-)
best,
Terri