Reinventing Local Media

Mobile is unlike anything media companies have seen before, not just because of the new opportunities that portability brings, but because it levels the playing field between consumer and media professional. Because their is no “audience” for mobile Web, only participants, media companies need to devise a new approach. Terry Heaton: “Mobile news demands its own model, because mobile is its own form of media. It’s not an extension of the way we currently do things; it’s entirely new, because the consumers of news have exactly the same gear we in media have, and that creates a paradigm never seen before in the history of newsgathering or news making.”

While broadcasting’s place in the marketing world is likely to be with us for a very long time, there’s no way it can sustain its current business for long. But most industry leaders are turning a blind eye to caution signs on the road ahead. Local broadcasters had an all-time record revenue year in 2012, and when one lives by the quarterly report, everything looks just fine. The newspaper collapse began with a record year, however, so that’s hardly a bellwether of comfort and joy.