How To Rebuild The Media Industries

We have proclaimed the death of the music industry, the decline of print journalism, and the radical overhaul of the TV and movie business. And while each industry is being remade in its own unique way, there is a fundamental similarity in the way that these media industries are being remade: They are all suffering from media digitization, which removes distribution scarcity. This ultimately alters how content is produced, distributed, and consumed. In this report, we lay out three phases that media industries have begun to pass through: digitization, meltdown, and rebuild. Most media businesses are in meltdown. It's time to rebuild. Product strategists in all the phases of media production, distribution, or consumption — including device makers — must prepare for a world in which media are characterized by multiplatform access, increased audiences, and diverse revenue sources.