Marketing Puzzle of New Media Entertainment Companies

Monetization seems to be the greatest puzzle the new media companies are trying to solve today. I have been watching many new media companies that come and go, just like a cool breeze. Those who survive now are struggling to find a way to make money. When I say “new media companies”, I refer to companies that offer video entertainment that don’t fall in the traditional category – mass media, cable television, cable video on demand, DVD, and so on. WebTV, IPTV, Flash streaming, etc., fall under the new media category.

In a broad sense (in terms of marketing jargon), this is a classic segmentation-targeting-positioning problem. The new media companies either focus too much on the features they build, or the quantity of content they offer. They very easily overlook “who” values the features and contents they offer.

Solution to any marketing problem first starts with “who.” Then it moves on to “what, how, where, when, if, then, else, but,” and other stuff. Marketing gurus call such problem solving analytical methods with crazy acronyms like 5Cs, 4Ps... Now the question is, can we apply the traditional marketing analysis to the new media? A traditional marketing professional would say, “sure.” However a new media evangelist would say, “Naaahhhh! This is new media, nobody knows what’s right.” I agree with the former.

My handwritten notes on how to solve the marketing puzzle

Let’s divide the solution into three parts – Who, How and What. Under who, we specify broad customer segments, or small niche ones. Under “What” we classify the content pool or individual segments. “How” tells us how a content reaches the customer segment that finds value in it.

For a working entertainment business model, one should be able to draw a contiguous line from Who to What via How. Contiguous line is necessary for the business model to work, but not sufficient to be successful. To be successful:

• Targeted segments “who” should be able to reach out to “what” with at most ease. If a customer has to look for his/her choice of content in a jungle, it makes no sense.
• Targeted segments should see a value in price associated with the solution that’s shown under “How”.
• The new media companies should deploy services and channels (how) that bring content (what) to targeted segments (who) at lightning speed.

For example, John Wayne fans today may watch Wild Wild West kind of movies on their television by playing a DVD. That completes the line. The fans are so sophisticated that they want to watch good quality content on a medium sized screen. We cannot sell them their valued content on PC or iPod today. Reason – quality. If you have a solution that helps John Wayne fans to easily get the content they want (High definition Wild Wild West), and in the way how they want (TV, broadband, TV connected to broadband or set top box) that’s going to be a hit.