Introduction: The adaptability of the human race never ceases to amaze me. We take entirely for granted tools such as the graphic web browser, which did not exist 14 scant years ago. Those who not long ago were vowing never to buy a mobile phone are now watching videos as they wander about. We will soon have to explain CDs and DVDs to our children. Very soon after exciting new possibilities become available, we accept them as normal and forget life was ever any other way.

In the media industry today the pace of change is extraordinary, faster even than we can readily comprehend. A year is a very long time in an industry in which new distribution channels emerge all the time, the structure of the advertising industry can reshape itself over the course of months, and new participants continually emerge. Most importantly, we are seeing the boundaries of the media industry continue to blur as social media is taken up in the enterprise, blogs become mainstream, and we all become content creators.

This year we have brought together entirely new content for our Future of Media Report, again to provide a starting point for discussion at the Future of Media Summit, and to off er value to the broader media community who are not able to attend the physical event.

Over the last year we have worked with a variety of large media organizations on several continents to help them think about the long-term future of the media industry. Scenario planning, technology landscapes, customized strategic frameworks, and other tools have provided insights into their critical strategic decisions. A report of this nature can only off er very high-level perspectives on the incredibly rich and varied media landscape. We hope we can explore these ideas with you in greater detail.

Ross Dawson
Chairman, Future Exploration Network

Download Future of Media Report 2007

PDF format, 1.2MB.

Eight Developments in Media: July 06 - June 07

INDUSTRY TRANSACTIONS

News Corp off ers $5 billion for the Dow Jones, including the Wall Street Journal (fi nalized July 2007).
Sam Zell buys Tribune for $8.2 billion.
Clear Channel goes private in a $26.7 billion deal with a private equity consortium.
A sharp rise in private equity media acquisitions, including CVC buying 50% and then a further 25% of PBL Media.
XM and Sirius announce largest radio satellite merger in history (subject to FCC approval).

MAJOR ACQUISITIONS BY TECH COMPANIES

Microsoft acquires aQuantive for $6 billion and TellMe Networks (est. $800 million).
Google buys Doubleclick for $3.1 billion and YouTube for $1.6 billion.

LAYOFFS AND CLOSURES

There are 4,391 media layoff s in the US in fi rst quarter of 2007 are, up 93% on the same period in 2006.
AOL Time Warner sacks 5000 staff .
San Francisco Chronicle announces plans to cut 25% of its newsroom staff .

USER GENERATED CONTENT

The majority of the 7 billion online videos streamed each month are user generated.
An unauthorised video of Saddam Hussein’s execution fi lmed on a mobile phone is broadcast around the world.
120,000 new blogs are created per day and Technorati tracks 70 million blogs.

NEW CHANNELS AND DISTRIBUTION

France 24 and Al-Jazeera English launch global TV news channels.
Joost signs deal with Viacom to distribute TV shows online.
ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX provide full length shows online.
BBC iPlayer for streamed content approved for July release.

ADVERTISING

Google pays News Corp a minimum of $900 million until 2010 to provides ads on MySpace and other Fox Interactive Media properties.
Revenue of US marketing-communications agencies rises 8.8% in 2006.
ITV off ers viewers ‘mobile coupons’ linked to advertisements.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

A review of British copyright law concludes that copyright should not be extended from 50 to 95 years.
EMI drops digital rights management (DRM) on some of its online music sales.
Viacom sues Google for $1 billion for copyright infringement by YouTube.

CENSORSHIP

The US army bans MySpace and YouTube and restricts blogging.
Hugo Chavez does not renew the license of the popular Radio Caracas TV.
The Chinese version of MySpace, launched April 2007, fi lters “inappropriate content”.

Visit Future of Media Summit 2007's Web Page

Future Exploration Network (FEN) assists major organizations globally to gain insights into the future, and to develop strategies and innovation capabilities that create competitive advantage.

FEN draws on a partner network of world-leading experts and practitioners to create unique, highly customized services.

Clients of FEN’s key executives include American Express, CNET, Coca-Cola, Deutsche Telekom, IBM, KPMG, Macquarie Bank, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Toyota, Unilever, and Virgin.

FEN is based in Sydney, San Francisco, and London.

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