Creating New Revenues Around Content: Find Your Popcorn

Media companies face significant challenges as they address the impact of the media meltdown, compounded by an economic downturn. As they rebuild their industries and construct new business models, product strategists in the media industries should learn from their own history about how to respond to the challenges they face. They must innovate the product, the packaging, and the user experience, and then identify new revenue streams, just as the movie industry did in the 1920s and 1930s with its unlikely savior — popcorn. Understanding what your consumers will pay for is vital: While users remain reluctant to pay for digital content, they are still spending money on other products and services around content, and this is where you must focus in future. After all, media companies are not in the content business; they are in the audience business. Great content builds an audience, but monetizing that audience is the key.