Media money will flow to content managers

MEDIA MONEY WILL FLOW TO CONTENT MANAGERS
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Graham Elton and Harris Morris]
[Commentary] During the past two decades, broadcasters, station groups, cable television operators and other distributors garnered most of the profits in media because they controlled access to the consumer. Now, thanks to an explosion of content and new delivery platforms, control has shifted to consumers of media. As a result, the money made by managing content will grow faster than profits in any other part of the media value chain. Profits from content management, boosted by the “aggregation” of content and communities by popular Internet portals and cable network brands, are rising about 12 per cent a year. That is roughly twice the rate of growth in profits from distribution. Traditional industry players are spending billions on content management. But it will take more than the right investments to win these sweepstakes. To succeed as content managers, media companies need to know more about their customers than the customers know about themselves. They must anticipate customers’ changing preferences and rapidly turn those insights into new offerings. Skillful content management requires making the right calls about what content gets targeted at which audiences, which platforms to use in transmitting that content and how best to support it through advertising, subscriptions or a combination of the two. What will it take to win? First, media companies need to be disciplined about where not to invest. Second, media companies should identify which audiences to pursue first and develop strategies to “own” those segments wherever the audience tunes in. Third, companies need to determine where they have significant gaps. Finally, companies must build a strong consumer focus. The key is capturing the right customer information and quickly incorporating these insights into product development and content management.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/833fded2-3916-11db-a21d-0000779e2340.html
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SURVEY: ADVERTISERS FLOCK TO 'UNTRUSTWORTHY' MEDIA
[SOURCE: Brandweek, AUTHOR: Todd Wasserman]
Though more marketers plan to advertise on blogs and public forums next year, only a small amount of consumers consider those formats to be trustworthy, according to a new report from Jupiter Research. Only 21 percent of consumers trust product information within such social media when mulling a product purchase. Consumers are twice as likely to trust information on a corporate Web site or on a professional review site. Nevertheless, the survey, which was released Aug. 29 by the New York-based Jupiter, found about 20% of advertisers surveyed planned to use viral marketing next year, mostly for branding purposes.
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=10030...

COMING TO VIDEO GAMES: LIVE ADS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Mike Musgrove]
Game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. announced yesterday that it has inked deals with two ad companies that will stream live advertising into its games. Players of the latest version of EA's Need for Speed see the same billboard ads on the side of the virtual roads whenever they play the street-racing game. But with live ads streamed via the Internet in the next version of the game, players could see different ads every time they turn the game on. Some players find such advertising objectionable -- after all, many games for the Xbox 360 cost $60 apiece. But many game fans say they like the ads because they contribute to the illusion of a realistic urban or sports-arena environment. Generally, publishers have avoided putting advertising in fantasy titles or other types of games where a billboard advertisement would seem out of place.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/31/AR200608...
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