Everytime I think running a startup in the video space is hard - where one site owns 75% market share but is refreshingly (but worryingly) candid about not really having a clue how to make money off videos - I look at newspapers and count my lucky stars.
Sam Zell is at least realistic about the fate of newspapers: he’s here to deliver reality. Some soundbites:
CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla: HOW IS THE AD MARKET GOING TO HOLD UP THIS YEAR?
Sam Zell: WHAT AD MARKET?
Quintanilla: WELL PUT.
Zell: I MEAN, ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT THE PEOPLE WHO BUY ADS? I’M TRYING TO FIND ONE OF THEM.
Quintanilla: YOU’RE ON YOUR WAY, THOUGH, TO EQUALIZING NEWS COVERAGE AND ADVERTISING, RIGHT?
Zell: THAT’S CORRECT.
Quintanilla: YOU’VE LAID OFF SOME PEOPLE IN HARTFORD, BALTIMORE. YOU’RE GOING TO SELL NEWSDAY TO CABLEVISION. HOW MUCH PROGRESS DO YOU FEEL YOU’VE MADE IN GETTING TRIBUNE TO A POINT WHERE IT CAN FINANCE, IT CAN SURVIVE?
Zell: I THINK THE CASE OF “THE TRIBUNE” OR THE NEWSPAPERS IN GENERAL BASICALLY COMES DOWN TO PRODUCING A NEWSPAPER THAT THE CUSTOMER IS WILLING TO PAY FOR. AND THE CUSTOMER IS THE ADVERTISER AND THE CUSTOMER IS THE READER. THAT’S THE CHALLENGE. I THINK THAT BECAUSE NEWSPAPERS HAVE HISTORICALLY BEEN MONOPOLIES, I THINK THEY’VE BEEN INSULATED FROM REALITY. I, YOU KNOW, AM IN THE POSITION WHERE I’M GOING TO HAVE TO, QUOTE/UNQUOTE DELIVER REALITY. I THINK WE CAN HAVE TERRIFIC NEWSPAPERS, BUT I THINK THE NEWSPAPERS HAVE TO RESPOND TO THEIR CUSTOMERS. IN MANY CASES A LOT OF THE THINGS WE’RE DOING RIGHT NOW WERE ALL IDENTIFIED IN FOCUS GROUPS OVER THE LAST EIGHT YEARS. AND THE FOCUS GROUPS WERE MADE, WERE TAKEN, AND NOBODY PAID ANY ATTENTION TO THEM. OUR CUSTOMERS WERE TELLING US WHAT THEY WANTED AND WE’RE GOING TO GIVE IT TO THEM.
Don’t know what is up with the CAPS Lock, you can thank/blame the folks at SAI for that. But then again, I’d be screaming too if my graphs looked like an inverted hockey stick, courtesy of VentureBeat:
If I were a newspaper tycoon, I’d be shorting print and going long video. It seems like a no-brainer to me.
Subscribe: