• by Barrett Lyon , January 7, 2011

In the last couple of years we have been privileged to watch the digital era become real.  No longer are we at home glued to the TV waiting for the new episode of must-see TV. That era of media consumption is ending -- there is a power shift happening -- and the era of individualized consumption is beginning. 

A few weeks ago I had breakfast at 30 Rockefeller Center and watched production crews build a very expensive set for one week of filming.  Sipping my coffee, I could not help but think I was witnessing the end of an era. Was this how it felt to watch the birth of cable? The introduction of cable dramatically changed the economics of the television industry, ushering in innovation the likes of which hadn't been seen before. It forced big media to re-invent and develop updated content in order to compete.   

We are at a similar crossroads today. We've all heard that the Internet killed the video star, but I think it's more than that. The Internet isn't ushering in the demise of big media, it is challenging it to grow, re-invent. The Internet is democratizing content. 

Consumers today are more sophisticated because they have more options, more access, more ways to consume content, and unless big media can figure out how to harness this new world -- big media won't benefit from the Internet like it did from the introduction of cable. 

Consumer-by-consumer, Americans are canceling their cable subscriptions and even getting rid of their TVs. The replacement is a myriad of options: entertainment addictions are easily satisfied with YouTube, Hulu, pirated content, Google TV, Apple TV and aggregated RSS feeds. Not to mention the new devices for watching this content -- an iPad or laptop computer today makes a fine replacement for a television. 

It is very apparent that big media companies are struggling to grasp this new style of media consumption.  They are trying to regain the control they had during the era of high dollar advertising. With the dramatic increase in the number of news and entertainment sources people routinely consume, traditional brands are being undermined. They are losing their audiences. But, doesn't that mean that these brands have new opportunities to find new ways to meet the needs of today's consumer?

Well, they are certainly trying. Look at Hulu by NBC, Fox and ABC. Unfortunately, people for many different reasons are not flocking to the service.  Maybe because it still feels like a one-size-fits-all approach, it isn't as flexible as it should be. They're trying. But they still need to serve that hungry revenue machine needed to maintain massive production budgets.

After another couple sips of coffee, watching the massive production costs of the show at 30 Rockefeller Center, it is clear that people still want their content. They just want it their way.  That's the rub for big media. 

I still pay to watch AMC's "Mad Men," "South Park," and "Family Guy" -- via Apple TV. I watch them on my very large monitor, which I used to call a TV. 

Big media and advertisers need to embrace this change. Embrace the new delivery options, embrace new technology, and when the next new iAwesome device comes out and changes everything, produce better content and give people a way to pay for it.  Then maybe, we'll see production budgets rise and consumers will continue to consume -- just in their own way.