Media need multiple platforms, revenue streams to thrive

With advertising revenue eroding and free content abundant, media companies are going to need to adapt their strategies to the new environment ushered in by the Internet, they said at the Bloomberg BusinessWeek 2010 Media Summit.

“The brand has to transcend all of the different platforms,” said Renee Plato, the vice president of digital video distribution at Walt Disney Co., whose properties include the ABC television network and sports giant ESPN.

“Our main goal is to reach the fans wherever they are on the best available screen,” Plato said, whether that be on mobile screens, computer screens or TV screens.

ESPN's assistant general counsel Raphael Winick said the goal is to make ESPN “the place you come to get sports and sports information.”

ESPN outlets include six TV networks, radio stations, a website, ESPN.com, mobile phone applications featuring live-streaming of sporting events, a magazine and even ESPN branding on videogames published by Electronic Arts.

While ESPN may be thriving, ABC News just announced huge cutbacks in its newsroom and U.S. newspapers and magazines are struggling to find new revenue amid the advertising slump and migration of readers to free news online.

Pam Horan, president of the Online Publishers Association, said “advertising will continue to be a very important revenue stream but the reality is in order for publishers to make this transition they have to find new revenue streams.

“How do we continue to build great content, which in most cases consumers are used to getting for free, and find a model that will allow us to sustain that in some fashion and be able offset those costs through other programs?” she asked.

One revenue-raising approach being considered by a number of U.S. newspapers is charging online readers, like The Wall Street Journal has done successfully with its website, WSJ.com, and The New York Times intends to do next year.

Julie Michalowski, vice president for business development at Conde Nast, said erecting a pay wall is not a move being considered by the publisher of The New Yorker, Vogue, Wired and other magazines.

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