A little over a month ago, we highlighted the Print Wars that are now just beginning to take shape here in the United States.
Since then, I have been privy to a variety of shape changing events going on in the media world—most of which are unfortunately bound by Confidentiality Agreements and NDA’s.
However, as we continue down this road I hope to be able to share more of these exciting developments.
In other news, this week’s Web 2.0 Conference in San Francisco has delivered some headlines, including Twitter results in both Google and Bing searches.
This may seem like a “yawn”, but what it foretells is that the ice may have finally cracked in the Twitter revenue quest—creating very powerful credibility boost for Tweets everywhere, with a gauntlet thrown at the feet of Facebook’s walled garden.
However, the most interesting thing that I read from the conference was Mary Meeker’s annual Web 2.0 Presentation, this year “hyper focused” on mobile computing, the next big stage in the computer development life cycle.
Meeker’s thesis is that the platforms for mobile computing, including handsets (iPhone, Pre, Android-enabled sets), and Applications/Platforms (Facebook, Twitter, iPhone Apps, Android-enabled Apps/Widgets) have re-trained the consumer towards a “Pay to Play” model.
While I have always maintained that mobile advertising is a supremely valuable medium, the adoption and implementation of this technology is moving much slower than all participants would like.
In discussions with a Senior Media Agency Operator a couple of months back, he mentioned that Mobile companies were actually paying Madison Avenue agencies (not as a kick-back to be clear—as a pass through to advertisers for the cost to set-up campaigns, etc.) to take advantage of their inventory in hopes of developing a valuable results story to sell other advertisers.
The good things for those well positioned in the mobile space is that your livelihood is not explicitly tied to advertising revenue. Why? Because as Steve Jobs, backed by data from Japan and other advanced mobile computing cultures has shown, consumers will Pay to Play while they are “on the go”.
It will be interesting to see how carriers, who are now, like Internet service providers, a “dumb pipe”, look to flex their muscles and compete in a marketplace where additional applications and services siphon their network bandwidth.
You may download the Web 2.0 Presentation presented by Morgan Stanley’s Mary Meeker at Scribd here. (Originally posted by Henry Blodget from The Business Insider)
Mike Caprio has worked in the broadcast media sector for over 10 years, with broadcast content companies, ABC/Disney, CBS/Viacom, before founding the first broadcast media marketplace for radio and television at SWMX. Mike currently works as VP of Sales, New Business Development at advertising technology provider Visible World.
