Newspaper Internet Strategies
Newspapers as technology companies
Originally posted on NewspaperInternetStrategies.com
So everybody knows that newspapers *could* have owned the online space if they had acted quickly and effectively in the mid 90s.
But let's be realistic; newspapers couldn't have done what was necessary and taken the risks required to build a Google or Yahoo! (or at that time excite or lycos) let alone YouTube. Newspapers just haven't been structured this way.
It really hit home with me last month after a conversation I had with Jay Small of Scripps at the America East conference in Hershey, PA. In his presentation he talked about a great internal program Scripps has. Essentially they want to foster an entrepreneurial spirit in their local markets by offering up $1 million dollars in a kind of venture capital effort to fund good ideas that local properties don't have the budget to implement. It's a great plan and forward thinking idea, especially for a newspaper company.
After his presentation Jay made an interesting point in passing conversation: Out of ten ideas, they (Scripps) are hoping for one good idea that generates a profit and/or creates a measurable audience (as Jay puts it: "Will the dog eat it?") So they are willing to fail 9 out of ten times. But he also mentioned that the venture capital firms that invest in Silicon Valley are willing to fail hundreds of times for just one success.
So, it's an increasingly tough and competitive field for newspapers. We haven't been great technologists (understatement I know) but we've gotten better. Fortunately, most of us have great content and relationships with advertisers and our audience. Leveraging these relationships through better implementation of technology is required now.
Newspapers have always had a love/hate relationship with technology vendors. But if you think about it, most of the pure play competitors don't use vendors at all. They develop technology, audience and sometimes revenue all at the same time. Shouldn't newspapers operate more like this? I think so...
So everybody knows that newspapers *could* have owned the online space if they had acted quickly and effectively in the mid 90s.
But let's be realistic; newspapers couldn't have done what was necessary and taken the risks required to build a Google or Yahoo! (or at that time excite or lycos) let alone YouTube. Newspapers just haven't been structured this way.
It really hit home with me last month after a conversation I had with Jay Small of Scripps at the America East conference in Hershey, PA. In his presentation he talked about a great internal program Scripps has. Essentially they want to foster an entrepreneurial spirit in their local markets by offering up $1 million dollars in a kind of venture capital effort to fund good ideas that local properties don't have the budget to implement. It's a great plan and forward thinking idea, especially for a newspaper company.
After his presentation Jay made an interesting point in passing conversation: Out of ten ideas, they (Scripps) are hoping for one good idea that generates a profit and/or creates a measurable audience (as Jay puts it: "Will the dog eat it?") So they are willing to fail 9 out of ten times. But he also mentioned that the venture capital firms that invest in Silicon Valley are willing to fail hundreds of times for just one success.
So, it's an increasingly tough and competitive field for newspapers. We haven't been great technologists (understatement I know) but we've gotten better. Fortunately, most of us have great content and relationships with advertisers and our audience. Leveraging these relationships through better implementation of technology is required now.
Newspapers have always had a love/hate relationship with technology vendors. But if you think about it, most of the pure play competitors don't use vendors at all. They develop technology, audience and sometimes revenue all at the same time. Shouldn't newspapers operate more like this? I think so...
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