Lights, Camera, Printing Press

Filed in archive Internet TV on September 5, 2006

An article appearing today in the Wall Street Journal (subscription needed), reminds me again how much digital media is changing all the rules. When I started out, television was television and print was print, and there was such clear separation between the two. Now, that line has blurred a lot.

More and more magazines are extending their brands to the Internet, offering new or re-purposed content online. Country Living magazine just took the leap. It's planning to open a new site called "Country Living On Demand," which will offer video segments on the same subjects it covers in its magazine. "Country Living on Demand" will compete with a variety of other Web rivals, including E.W. Scripps' HGTV, a cable channel that offers some of its content on the Web. Magazine publishers are hoping online video ad revenue will help offset flagging revenues from print ads.

Country Living, like many other magazines, has seen its print revenues decline 9 percent through July. Spending on print and television still far outweighs online video revenues. This year, online video is projected to hit $385 million, and is expected to increase to about $1.5 billion in 2009. I point out that television advertising in the U.S. alone will exceed $60 billion this year.

Other magazine and newspaper publishers are just beginning to generate online video revenues, including Forbes, Time Inc.'s Sports Illustrated, The Washington Post, gannett Co.'s News Journal of Wilmington, DE, and Dow Jones' The Wall Street Journal. But here is the fascinating point: these print journals are also beginning to hire producers and directors to craft better video offerings.