The year is 2020.
Media Programming Companies, e.g., Warner Brothers, Dreamworks, Pixar, Time, Disney, 20th Century Fox, Newscorp, Viacom, Gannet, McClatchy, Omnimedia, Harpo, dominate the industry.
Content Creators will be independent. The price they command will be directly related to audience response, so they are obsessed with managing their core fanbase relationships. They will be served and nurtured by transmedia communities that organize communities of students, teachers, mentors, vendors, fans, and Media programming companies seeking content.
Media programming companies are run by former P&G, Unilever, Nike, Apple, and Amazon executives. Consumer marketing effectiveness determines competitive advantage. Wall Street will value these companies based on both consumer subscription levels and the premium paid per subscriber.
Media Programming Company executives manage a stable of brand managers responsible for each Media Programming Brand, supported by production, promotion, customer service, and research professionals, as well as a tech infrastructure department. Brand Manager compensation is based on audience participation and subscriber retention. They will be trained in buying content, packaging & pricing strategy, effective management of production, promotion, and customer service professionals, and networking with other media programming brands who share the same audience. Support professionals will be compensated based on their department’s contribution to overall corporate profitability.
Media technology companies, e.g., Comcast, Verizon, AOL, (formerly
known as I-Tunes) I-Media, will compete to win the delivery service business of
media programming companies. Consumers subscribe
to only the media programming brands they want.
Communication technology companies, e.g., Google, Amazon, Yahoo, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, will provide the utilities for individuals to communicate and organize the data generated for analysis by the industry.
Merchandising Agents, e.g., Digitas, Rapp, Wunderman/TNS, MRM, Dentsu, DHA Group, will help brands optimize the merchandising of direct digital offers - placement, messaging, conversion tactics, etc.
How close are we?