Interesting news story on the death spiral of the print newspaper
business, though of course the author doesn’t point that out
explicitly. Of particular interest is the focus on compensating for
losing readership by raising prices (and even charging for online
access to stories).
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091026/ap_on_bi_ge/us_newspaper_circulation
Watching the death spiral of newspapers and TV news is very entertaining. However, not as entertaining as watching the death spiral of the “Game Industry”.
Not all newspapers are dying. There are some growing. But they are very ‘alternative newspaper’ types. In other words, they are offering content people want to read.
My local paper, the Houston Chronicle, decided to save money by eliminating the business section on Monday. They say that no one wants to read the business section because they lost their money in the stock market. But we all know that business matters are their least favorite thing to write about (which also explains their financial difficulty).
The conventional wisdom is that the Internet and “User Generated Content” is goring the newspapers and TV news. But this is ignoring the rise of other alternative media such as radio. More Americans get their news from radio then they do from TV news. And radio is supposed to be dead. The places where people get their news on the Internet are definitely better than their newspaper contemporaries. For example, a piece of legislation would be characterized on the TV in platitudes where on the Internet it would be dissected by lawyers and presented to the people so they can understand it. There is no ‘magic’ to the Internet or “User Generated Content” (the most overblown term this generation since ‘High Definition’). The only magic is that the traditional news outlets have let their content collapse leaving consumers to search for alternatives.
Or to use this site as a more microcosmic example: business writers and analysts on gaming completely dropped the ball on Nintendo and their business strategy. They could only use platitudes and slogans like “Casual Gaming! Durr! Durr! Durr!” I know people don’t read here because of my wonderful self but because this site provided an answer to their business strategy and sought to explain disruption and “Blue Ocean Strategy”.
Nothing has been more heartwarming this generation than seeing gamers quoting Clayton Christenson or the “Blue Ocean Strategy” and seeing the ‘business suits’ of the “Game Industry” become tongue tied! The gamers know more about the business than the business people do! Hah!
The “Game Industry” gets away with so much of their garbage since they say, “This is business. We need to raise prices, create revenue streams, and all. We are genius business people. You are the lowly consumer. Mind your place, lowly consumer!” Now, I think the tide has turned. When someone from the “Game Industry” tries to use the “I’m-a-business-wizard” card, gamers protest and declare they don’t know anything about the business and quote business articles and books justifying their position. It is glorious to watch.
For example, when it came out that Modern Warfare 2 would not have dedicated servers, there were people who tried to pass it off as, “You guys are niche, but you must behold how this is a glorious business decision.” Gamers rejected this. I think it is becoming clear that business is not about making revenue, it is about making customers. All this bad business education is having these suits, like zombies, employ scorched franchise tactics (that end up destroying the franchise) and trying to squeeze as much revenue as possible. They are trained to do this which is why they declare themselves geniuses. But everyone, even the hardcore, can see they are pushing away customers (which will collapse their revenue). This is why industries accelerate in revenue right before entering the shadow of decline.
Like with Modern Warfare 2, the focus should be to make as many consumers as possible. Instead, it was to get as much revenue from existing consumers as possible. In the end, they end up blowing up their consumers’ trust.
These guys aren’t half as smart as they think they are.
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