• by November 3, 2004

WHAT KIND OF COMPANY IS TIME WARNER? - Well, it's a little bit of everything: Part studio, record label, cable operator, publisher, TV network operator, and, of course, online service provider. But what kind of media company does it position itself as? In recent years, it has claimed to be a "commerce" company. Then, when AOL's e-commerce luster began to wane during the bust of the Internet bubble, it became a "subscription" company. Wall Street liked that one, because unlike other media business models, subscriptions are a residual business with reoccurring revenue streams. At least that's what they thought before Time Warner Cable's subs began to plateau and Time Inc.'s and AOL's began to erode. Of course, Time Warner has always been a "content" company. One of the best, at that. But lately, with the rebound of the advertising economy, Time Warner seems to be emphasizing its role as an "advertising" company.

In fact, "advertising" was all over Time Warner's third quarter earnings release. Embedded within among the 8,789 words of shareholder spin, the company plugged advertising 21 times. By comparison, "subscription" was mentioned 10 times, "content" four times, and "commerce" only once. The funny thing is that advertising still represents a relatively small share of Time Warner's total sales. It just so happens to be a growing one, rising to 16.5 percent of Time Warner's revenues during the third quarter of 2004 from 15.0 percent during the third quarter of 2003.

In fact, advertising is growing as a source of revenues for each of Time Warner's divisions. According to figures presented Wednesday by CFO Wayne Pace, ad sales grew 11 percent at Time Warner Cable, outpacing the division's revenue growth of 10 percent. Ad sales within in Time Warner's TV networks operations rose 8 percent, which was even with the division's overall revenue growth. But that was due to a decline of 3 percent in The WB network's ad sales, which was offset by a 12 percent gain for the Turner Networks. Ad sales for its Time Inc. publishing unit soared 14 percent vs. a total revenue gain of just 3 percent, while AOL ad sales jumped 44 percent on total revenues that rose only 1 percent. Even Time Warner's filmed entertainment division, which has only a miniscule advertising sales operation, saw that contribution skyrocket 100 percent, albeit to a measly $2 million. (Who made that buy?).

WITH THE POLS DONE, WE TOOK A POLL - For reasons we cannot fully explain - at least not without eliciting a torrent of letters to the editor of MediaPost - the Riff is feeling a bit depressed, extremely disappointed, and is filled with an inexplicable sense of self-loathing for not having the foresight to have become an Ohio state resident. And it's not just because we always liked the ring of "buckeye." Sure it beats the empires, gardens and nutmegs of our normal environs, but that doesn't explain how things have turned out. But of course, we digress. And the main point of this dispatch isn't about feeling gloomy, much less doomy. It's about feeling goofy. Goofy about being a member of the press. No, we've already said we're not going there, though frankly, we know we should. It's more about the silly nature of the journalism profession. Not the practice of journalism per se, which occasionally can be, but the way journalists think of their professionalism, which frequently is.

What brought that up? Actually, it was this survey we just participated in on a new journalists' community site called Mediabuddies.com, which billed itself as the "first global research study into the lifestyles of journalists and other media professionals." Since they weren't offering us a copy of the results, we figured we'd fill it out just to see what they were getting at. We could tell from the very first question what they were getting at, or at least, what they were getting.

"Which of these are the top three benefits that you value most from working in the media:"

( ) Exciting life
( ) Making a difference
( ) Meeting famous and important people
( ) Great work colleagues
( ) Great sex life
( ) High income
( ) Travel
( ) Being creative
( ) Job satisfaction
( ) Great social life
( ) Admiration from friends and family
( ) Other

Well, we knew we went into the journalism racket for a good reason and we know it wasn't the high income, the great social life, or the admiration from friends and family. So we moved on to question No. 2.

"Certain things are sometimes said of lifestyles within the media. Being totally honest, which of these would you like to see more of in your life:"

a. Hard drinking
b. Hard working
c. Hard loving

So far, we seem to have the hard working part down, but we're curious to see the survey's results to see what else we're missing out on.