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July 19, 2005
News Corp.: MNO
News Corp. is getting a bargain for MySpace
With the acquisition of MySpace, News Corp. will become a Media Networking Operator. (MNO) As I mentioned before, there are plenty of technology and media incumbents realizing that their futures rely on how well they execute their MNO strategies.
I previously made some predictions about what types of companies will be recognizing the value of Media Networking to their existing businesses, and frankly News Corp. never would have made that list because I thought they would have been too slow to recognize the opportunity. I instead focused more on technology-based companies since I think they have the most to gain from the Media Networking paradigm as they are in a better position to disrupt the incumbent media companies’ core offerings. (Incumbent media companies generally look slow and lumbering to me. Fox clearly isn't, and I am very pleased to see that I was wrong.)
It is when these companies add the “L” to their MNO when things get really interesting to me. If you believe the mobile connected device in your pocket is the only media device that you will need or have in the future, then you understand that the next stop for companies that turn themselves into MNOs is to become LMNOs. The L stands for “Location-awareness” which really means mobility, which to me means the Z-axis that adds dimension to media and makes it more personal. I mean the kind of personal that enables media to reach right into your pocket. My personal favorite pick for the first large-scale LMNO remains IAC. Here are my thoughts on that from a previous post.
What News Corp. Should Do With Their New Toy
It would be myopic of News Corp. to assume that MySpace gives them a new distribution channel for their existing library of Fox content. But if they use the Media Networking paradigm that MySpace gives them, they could lead the industry in creating an entirely new category of media almost overnight. The media titans of the future will redefine the business models around media from “something that is created once then mass produced then distributed” to “something that is found, borrowed, added to, redistributed and found again.” That’s a hard concept to implement when you have the kind of organizational inertia that big media companies have. Then again, I would have assumed that News Corp.’s inertia would have blinded them to the MNO opportunity in MySpace. I hope not. I would love to see them fully realize their value as an MNO. They got half way there by buying MySpace, but if they just treat it as a web site that represents inventory on which they can sell ads, they will have missed the real opportunity. If they actually integrate it into their media offering, they will become the current leading MNO and that’s why I say they will be getting a bargain for MySpace.
Did you see the In-Stat press release about low consumer interest in mobile video?
As it is currently being marketed, I am uninterested in mobile TV. If you have ever watched a sitcom on the internet, then you are a likely customer for TV on your mobile phone. I don’t know anyone who has ever watched a sitcom on the internet. I do not believe repackaging content from one medium for another is a smart idea unless you are changing the context of the media. (For instance, turning music into personalization in the mobile space created the ringtone market.)
I am positive that people will watch video on their phones - it just won't be network-scheduled or repackaged episodes of whatever Paris Hilton's TV show is called. It will be content created in the context of the mobile environment and it will be useful in the mobile environment. 99% of it will be crap to 99% of the people who have access to it. Such is the nature of distributed networks. But 1% of it will be gold to 99% of mobile users at some point in time. Such also is the nature of distributed networks.
I obviously have a bias toward the concept of the LMNO. I really think it is the future of media, and I am encouraged by the steps I am seeing companies take in that direction. We have never seen millions of people walking around with mobile connected camcorders. They are starting to create the haystack of content that is going to represent the new new media of our century. There is a new type of media that makes perfect sense in the mobile space, and if News Corp. added mobility to their offering they could really innovate.
First, they have to not make the mistake of trying to repurpose their existing content catalog on the net.
Then they have to understand how to introduce a completely new type of media that fits the environment.
Lastly, they have to bolt on a mobile extension that gives them the ability to extend the value of the mobile connected media production and consumption devices that millions of people have with them 24/7.
I think they’ll get there sooner or later. If it's not them, someone else will. It seems inevitable that a darkhorse media titan will emerge in this new area of paradigm-shifting media, and it is my ambition to help make it happen.
Posted by Shawn Conahan at July 19, 2005 02:22 PM