Looking at the Big Picture: Issues impacting on the business of media.

“Quite often I can be in a bookshop, standing beneath a great big picture of myself and paying for a book with a credit card clearly marked John Grisham, yet no one recognises me. I often say I'm a famous author in a country where no one reads”.

      (John Grisham)                                                                                

The media industry has always in one way or the other had its challenges. These challenges range from political, economic, and social to technological. Some industries in the media business seem to flourish as technology advances and the society changes. On the other hand, some are failing. This blog post throws more light on key issues in the media industry.

Book titles published by new or unpopular authors in the UK often find it difficult on the market. Brand-names and best sellers seem to appeal more to the public than books written by unpopular authors. This issue cuts across most media industries. A similar case in the film industry is the dependence on a few number of stars thought to be vital to the industry’s success. It becomes a struggle for films produced with unpopular characters to make it on the market[1]. In the newspaper industry, the customer and product relationship is often measured by strong brand loyalty which offers a foundation for the customer to remain committed to its purchase, hence, posing a challenge to entry for new companies.

In Ghana, the Daily Graphic newspaper for example, was the first newspaper published. It gained great popularity that subsequent newspapers produced suffered initially on the market. 

Another challenge is the introduction of new technologies which tend to compete with the older ones. This can be seen in the film and music industry where the technology of CDs and DVDs are gradually giving way to iTunes and internet downloads[2]. With internet download comes the issue of piracy. Also, the establishment of more broadcasting stations, both television and radio has increased competition between stations, leading to decreasing income of some companies. A more current and familiar example is the introduction of eBooks.

The book market in the UK rose to more than £50 billion in 2007. The whole market has shrunk since then and is expected to slip to about £40 billion in 2015. This was due to factors including the increased patronage of digital media such as eBooks. On the contrary, in Ghana, though technology is gradually picking up, the sale of printed books has risen. On the 2012 digital Hot spots map, Ghana was among the “coolest” countries with more than 75% of its population using mobile phones. Less than 40% have access to the internet[3].

All these issues mentioned above call for entrepreneurs to come up with innovative ideas to keep the media business running. If not, more challenges may arise.

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[1]Kung, L (2008) ‘Part 1: Strategic Content’ in Strategic Management in the Media: theory and practice. London: Sage, pp 73.

[2] Walli, S. (2010) “The Future of Book Publishing Business Models,“ Once More unto the Breach, 8 March 2010: http://stephesblog.blogs.com/my_weblog/2010/03/the-future-of-book-publishing-business-models.html   [accessed 02/10/13]

[3] Stone, M., Nel, F., McBride, L. and Lin, E. (2012) World News Future and Change study 2010. Chicago: World News Media Networking (WNMN0), pp 52.

PEST Analysis for Media Journalism

By carrying out a PEST Analysis into the current Media Journalism sector, we are able to gain an in-depth understanding of the current industry, highlight new opportunities and also threats or problems and how these can be over come.

The Internet and advances in digital technology has changed the model of mass communication and has had a major impact on the external environment of the newspaper and magazine industries, gradually substituting traditional print media. Digital media has also increased competitiveness within the market and with low capital cost and global accessibility of resources, this has been a threat for many established prints publications. Many existing newspapers have therefore had to compliment their daily prints with online version and further updates throughout the day, instead of waiting for updates till their next publication to be released.

The current economical climate also means that people may be less likely to buy a newspaper or magazine when they could access this information free online - either via newspaper websites, independent websites, blogs or forums. This has had a knock on effect for companies who may have previously used print promotion to reach consumers, as their target consumers might be struggling to buy products, they may have smaller marketing budget or may be choosing to spend their budget on other promotional platforms.

The current economical climate has also led to the public becoming less trusting of the government and therefore, it is easy for consumers to avoid certain publications depending on their political standpoint. With developments in technology and an increased access to resources and information it also means that the public are more likely to investigate news stories themselves - allowing more transparency and angles to a story.

Socially peoples needs are also changing in the way readers access information. More people are accessing digital and social media and by going online, newspaper and magazines can offer their readers multimedia and interaction - something which was not possible only a few years ago.

Media Industry - PEST Analysis

Political, Economic, Socio-Cultural, Technological Factors – These will help make sense of the bigger picture.

Political – The Digital revolution is expanding yet has many issues to combat. One of which is the number of lawsuits it has faced due to copyrighted content. This has led publishers to take an extra precaution as they need to avoid future lawsuits. They demand that freelancers sign away electronic rights or risk not being published electronically. (Cunningham B. Who owns that story now? Columbia J Rev. 2000; 38(5):11). The threat here is piracy, where people will copy content free of charge.

Economic – The pressure is rising to sell more books. Profits on e-books are not as high and this means that authors are not able to make enough revenue. Technology has undermined the economics of book publishers and authors. On a positive note, e-readers help the economy because e-books as a supply inventory chain control saves trees in the long run. Digital editions of magazines are also creating an attractive environment for advertisers.

Socio-Cultural – New publishing strategies create engaged community forums, for example Goodreads.com is a digital and social networking library which allows people to chat about books and creates awareness about niche books. This builds an opportunity for promotion of products which would not only help authors but also help publishers. A threat that social networking may impose is bad reviews and therefore have the opposite effect. The audience now have just as much access to media distribution as publishers do. E-marketer has reported that CEO's within the media and entertainment industry are leaning on social media to encourage growth and build future customer connections. (www.Fipp.com)

Technological – The media market place is not simply about technology. But technology does in fact play a huge role. Convergence of media is making boundaries harder to decipher. Where do books end is one main question and another medium begin.  The rise of e-books meant numerous platforms were created as a marketplace for books. One example is when Steve Jobs announced the launch of the iPad iBooks, which created a huge opportunity for publishers. A problem with technology is that it is forever changing and media companies must always look at innovative ways to lure back those lapsed readers, with the added pressure of other competing technologies. The good thing about the discovery of new media devices is that it is transforming magazine media audiences, whilst print remains just as important.

 Fipp has researched into how

 “The remarkable strengths of tablets, websites, smartphones and social media in presenting magazine content, and consumers enthusiastic acceptance of these new means of 

delivery, means that for publishers there is a dramatic and continuing shift in profile towards digital audiences without necessarily reducing print audiences. All in all, this indicates a very healthy future for magazine media is one of the conclusions drawn in the book.”

By Saima Omar

Has Digital Changed The Book?

Digital rights management has become of increasing importance as e-book sales have continued to rise. Originally, e-book royalty rates for the author stood at 25%. Little attention was paid to this decision, as sales were relatively low. (Bartlett and Bradley). The politics of selling books online needs to be re-evaluated if the author is to make the majority of their income through this medium. Copyright issues are increasingly linked to material shared online.

Piracy is a concern and there have been efforts to prevent the book being copied and sent to others for free. S. Wallis suggests however, that ‘lending’ people books and similarly borrowing books from public libraries has also always been free and that the majority of books have usually been circulated in this way for many years. Apple has gone some way to addressing this issue, allowing media to be shared between up to five computers.

Customers are increasingly in control of the book content that they are being offered, although they are offered it in abundance. The job of the publisher has been reduced as digital authorship removes the distance between the author and the reader. Contribution from the reader begins to influence the writing itself. Authors creating online books allow focus groups to comment on their material, essentially changing the content of the book as it is written. Craig Mod suggests that this digital impermanence changes the book from an “isolated vessel” to a “shared interface” but de-emphasizes the authority of distribution. In this sense, removing the publisher can in some cases mean that quality becomes lost within the vast digital landscape.

E-books are bringing an interactive community to the otherwise rather solitary task of reading via the Internet. Connected customers are given the chance to determine their own experiences with a book through “sticky websites deployed along with social media.” (Sam Hollander) They are able to engage with a related community and share notes and thoughts through the e-books themselves and through forums and websites. Digital technology also removes the sense of isolation by bringing the idea and the reader much closer together. Technology has a short life span, and this is one of the difficulties faced by companies attempting to innovate. To make money, money has to be invested in new ideas but with the ever-changing digital world, these changes need to be appropriate and easily accessible technology. 

Digital has not yet changed the book, but offered a different platform from which to read it.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123980920727621353.html

Technology proving to be the PEST driving the publishing industry!

"...a huge opportunity for newcomers to rewrite the rules of the game."

The POLITICS of the industry are becoming harder to control. The current view of the industry sees established companies having to make drastic business model changes. Newcomers, driven by the power of changing technologies, are entering the publishing industry and they are altering the structure of industry processes. Internally there is a change in company politics, with staff reluctance to adapt to the changing working environment. With the market structure changing government and other external stakeholders in the industry are losing control of what is published and how. The shared experience of online publishing raises copyright issues. Legalities are becoming harder to control. Most frustrating for authors is the question of their rights of ownership and the value of their words.

‘We own it, but yet, don’t’

The ECONOMIC structure of the industry is changing. Profit margins are smaller and this is putting greater pressure on performance. In the current economic climate many companies are struggling to finance the necessary changes. Innovation requires a certain amount of investment. The economic concerns of the end-user are also changing. Whereas published content has become widely available at a lower price with the development of digital, the new format of books and magazines are increasingly demanding that readers have a digital device to read them on. 

"Information hungry audiences." 

SOCIALLY people’s needs are changing. With the rise of the digital generation consumers are becoming increasingly critical of the content available to them as well as how it is available to them. Audiences now have diverse needs, they find value in different areas than they used to. There is increasing value attached to customer relationships. Innovations focus needs to now consider the ESP as well as the USP. These industry demands are coming from the consumer, the market is becoming increasingly user-driven.

"Being able to replace products frequently with better versions is increasingly important."

TECHNOLOGY is currently the main influence on all areas of the publishing industry. The types of digital technology now available to the market is encouraging a multi-path model of business. The publishing industry can no longer survive on a linear model of business. Availability of interaction is now of huge value in the sector. Product life cycles and the diffusion curve are becoming shorter, suggesting that there is an increased need for innovation at a quicker rate than before. A problem for the industry is that digital products are hard to define in a static form. It is harder to market to the consumer without a tangible product that allows them to differentiate between competitors. Innovation in the industry has been disruptive. As well as product innovation we are also seeing process innovation with the way books and magazines are created and then distributed. The service of the publishing industry has in turn had to innovate, with the role of the book shop moving online. As a whole, the publishing industry has experienced a platform innovation; it is no longer the same industry it used to be and this is because of the technological developments it has had little choice to adopt.

Self-publishing; a threat or an opportunity to traditional book publishers?

Recently I spoke to an old acquaintance who asked me the question you ask most people you haven’t seen in a while. ‘So Kirsten, what is it you do nowadays?’.

Well, I study book publishing.

Upon this reply I often receive a skewed look. Have I not chosen a remarkably poor subject? With the decline in book stores, the increasing popularity of self-publishing, the e-book, and Amazon, the popular belief is that books are dying out.

Nothing seems further from the truth. From 2009 to 2011 there has been an increase of 13.46% of ISBN registrations (The UK Book Publishing Industry in Statistics 2011). This suggests that every year more and more people decide to write a book. However, my audience is right that all these factors have put the publishing industry in an awkward position.

In days gone by there was only one way for an author to get published. They sent their manuscripts to publishers who separated talent from rubbish. From the talent pile a selection was made and converted into books. From this small selection readers chose their next book. However, with such an increase of writers the pile of content which needs to be divided into talent and rubbish has grown to a disproportionate size. Publishing houses no longer have time or resources to carefully sift through the pile – some have even gotten rid of this so-called ‘slush pile’ altogether.

As a result authors (who often have an unwavering belief in themselves) feel unheard. They have started looking for other ways to distribute their work, and the internet has readily provided for their needs. At small cost authors now self-publish their content onto the web, and to the surprise of the publishing industry they also found themselves a readership which even markets their work for them through word-of-mouth. As supply of small titles is growing, giving readers much more choice, the demand of the big titles is waning and book profits are going down.

Despite all this, the publishing houses remain. Only they have the marketing and distribution resources to reach the major audiences. Let’s not forget the real hype around Fifty Shades really only started when E.L. James was snapped up by Cornerstone and the big retailers starting selling her paperbacks and e-books. Instead of being daunted by this development, the publishing world should be excited. Let the reader dictate what they want to read, and closely monitor what is ‘trending’. It should be easy to spot a bestseller from a mile off.

Publishers may be set in their ways and slow to adapt, but they’re certainly not dying. They are simply changing. So a poor subject? Not so sure. An exciting one? Definitely.

Assignment 2: The Writing Competition Directory

For this assignment, the task was to create a case report suitable to present to industry professionals. I decided to create an online database for writing competitions; I named it The Writing Competition Directory. There are so many writing competitions, however, it is hard to find out about them as the information is scattered across the web. Therefore, I decided to create a site which would be the go-to place for writers who wanted to enter competitions therefore filling the void in the market. At first, I had big ambitions to make the directory global, such as IMDB, however, after presenting my thoughts to the class, I realised that realistically, I would have to begin by compiling only UK sources and if the company could be sustainable then think about the international market. The Writing Competition Directory will not only hold the information about the competitions, but also provide hints and tips to writers and for an extra fee actually submit to the competitions, as a reliable source. Again, if the company proved to be sustainable, I would then think about employing editors as a further service to customers. The company is an online business and there will also be an app and will offer different levels of service dependent on how much the customer invests in the company. I believe that this business could be a success as there is nothing like it on the market at the moment, there are more and more people deciding to become authors, and also I believe that both the competition company's and publishers would be supportive of it.