Much of the news business seems to think it's in shreds, but communicators should be changing their media relations strategies to keep up with changes in the media...and, dare we say it, staying a step ahead. TV viewership and newspaper readership are down, but some media outlets are busy reinventing themselves instead of wringing their corporate hands. Take your cues from this pair of recent shifts in the media landscape:
Shape-shifting TV networks, news: The WB network, which stopped broadcasting in 2006, has reinvented itself as two websites: one for 16-to-34-year-olds, especially women, and one for kids. The head of WB's television group notes: “My 20-year-old daughter and her friends are watching...but not on television. They’re watching on laptops and cellphones. Here’s the interesting part — to them, that is television.” That goes double for network television news programs, all of which reach audiences older than those desired by advertisers. And where advertisers go is where programming will expand.- Public media chases short attention spans: Public radio audiences are larger than ever, but tuning in for shorter and shorter periods of time, prompting stations to diversify the voices, viewpoints and variety of programs they offer. Some, like our local WAMU in Washington, have built additional HD channels you can access on the web or with new high-definition radios, allowing the station to expand its programming in a different way. In Philadelphia, public television's started posting YouTube-like videos in a five-minute format on the web, driven by viewer feedback.
(Photo by gin_able.)
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