Murdoch Sees Future In Fragmented Media
Rupert Murdoch has outlined his vision of a future media landscape, remaining unflinching in the face of threats to traditional media owners, and the changes brought by new media and the internet.
Delivering the annual Livery Lecture at The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers yesterday, the media mogul outlined the increasing move towards new media, especially by young consumers.
“Power is moving away from the old elite in our industry – the editors, the chief executives and, let’s face it, the proprietors,” he said. “A new generation of media consumers has risen demanding content delivered when they want it, how they want it, and very much as they want it.”
Tackling the issue head on, the media boss stated that “newspapers will have to adapt as their readers demand news and sport on a variety of platforms: websites, iPods, mobile phones or laptops.
“I believe traditional newspapers have many years of life left”, he went on, “but, equally, I think in the future that newsprint and ink will be just one of many channels to our readers.”
Citing News Corporation’s recent acquisition of internet portal Myspace as an example, Murdoch explained that today’s media owners will have to diversify their interests in order to meet the needs of consumers.
“Since launch just two years ago, the site has acquired 60 million registered users, 35 million of whom are regular users,” Murdoch told the conference. “This is a generation, now popularly referred to as the “MySpace generation”, talking to itself in a world without frontiers.”
In answering the critical question of how traditional media can fit with new media such as Myspace, Murdoch claimed “It would be folly for me to stand here and pretend I know what this really means in any detail for future generations,” but stated that, while traditional news print may not remain a viable business model in the future, “as long as news organisations create must-read, must-have content, and deliver it in the medium that suits the reader, they will endure.”
The same, Murdoch claimed, is true of broadcast media, with Sky already starting to put programmes onto customers’ PCs and mobile phones.
“That old square television box in the corner of the room may soon be dead, but the television industry is seizing the opportunities thrown up by the technology revolution.”
PVRs, IPTV, mobile video and internet broadcasts were all cited by the media chief as innovative ways to offer “huge choice at relatively low cost.”
“Media becomes like fast food,” Murdoch explained. “People will consume it on the go, watching news, sport and film clips as they travel to and from work on mobiles or handheld wireless devices like Sony’s PSP, or others already in test by our satellite companies.”
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