in the world of ‘free’, who will pay the content bill?

In the world of ‘Free’, who will pay the content bill?In an era of lots of content and not enough time, in the midst of the culture of ‘free’, a vital question worries the media outlets: if the traditional revenue streams for content have shrunk and there is still no alternative business models, how will media survive? And what’s our role as readers, brands, and advertisers in the future of the intellectual production?

Michel Lent Schwartzman

@lent

premisses

Intellectual professional work costs money

The culture of ‘free’ on the internet is, in fact, an illusion

Somebody is paying the content bill, but will not keep doing it for very long

“The advent of the Web has had the effect of a massive asteroid impact to the classical business ecosystem.”

- Dion Hinchcliffe, Founder, Web 2.0 University

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hinchcliffe/what-will-power-next-generation-businesses/1076

Solution?

1. Understand the context2. Search for the ‘awesome’

1. Understand the context

It used to be like this...

Production and publishing costs were high and thus restrict

Only big corporation were able to play

Content production was kept by sales and advertising

Advertising model was based in exposure

Product sales (records, movies, books) were controlled and limited by shelf space

It is getting like this...

Technology has lowered production costs

And made available publishing tools to anyone

Big corporations side-by-side with new players

Virtual shelves make product options unlimited

Audience is pulverized among infinite content options

The content industry is transformed in long tail

The new (old) rules

Shelves may be infinite, but our day will always have 24 hours.

The industry has changed but the business models are still the same:

AdvertisingSales

It’s only in the head of the long tail that corporations get the volume of revenue they need to operate

To be at the head of the long tail is corporations today’s ‘holy grail’

But corporations do not control channels any longer

Then, how to get to the head of the tail?

2. search the ‘awesome’

What determines being in the head of the tail is no longer economic power, but social power, the power of the individuals

The individual filters, likes, shares and pushes the content, services and other products he likes to the head of the tail

But how to be liked? Filtered? Shared? What’s the recipe to become viral?

In plain English:

makeawesomestuff.

“When we can find more efficient ways to sell stuff, we don't have to make better stuff. (...) We invest in selling stuff better.”

- Umair Haque, “The New Capitalist Manifesto”

Awesome examples

“The best business model in the world is also the simplest: make stuff that's insanely great.”

“When you can make awesome stuff, you don't need to find "better" ways to sell it.”

- Umair Haque, “The New Capitalist Manifesto”

Build awesome stuff and they will come: audiece, advertisers and

consumers.

Thank you!twitter: @lent

michel.lent@gmail.com