http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/may/29/economist-zanny-minton-beddoes-digital?CMP=share_btn_tw
Minton Beddoes says the Economist is not feeling the same extreme pressure as advertising-reliant newspaper publishers. “I’m very simple about this. You make money out of things people pay for,” she says. “Subscriptions is the bulk of our business, ads are nice to have on top of that. We are in the midst of a massively changing disrupted industry and that is incredibly exciting but it is also challenging. There are going to be winners in that and losers. It is foolish for anyone to be complacent. I am confident and hopeful and paranoid at the same time.”
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Friday, May 27, 2016
Russia muzzles its best independent news corporation
http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21699285-rbc-was-reliable-even-handed-aggressive-and-popular-too-popular-russia-muzzles-its-best?spc=scode&spv=xm&ah=9d7f7ab945510a56fa6d37c30b6f1709
The cruel paradox of Ms Osetinskaya’s tenure at RBC is that success carried a death sentence. With a focus on business and a consciously even-handed style, RBC’s coverage reached an audience beyond Moscow’s marginalised liberals. Its journalism ultimately proved too visible and too autonomous for its own good. Yet as the Panama papers demonstrated, the desire to control information ever more often runs up against the reality of life in the internet age. The Kremlin won the battle, but free information may yet win the war.
The cruel paradox of Ms Osetinskaya’s tenure at RBC is that success carried a death sentence. With a focus on business and a consciously even-handed style, RBC’s coverage reached an audience beyond Moscow’s marginalised liberals. Its journalism ultimately proved too visible and too autonomous for its own good. Yet as the Panama papers demonstrated, the desire to control information ever more often runs up against the reality of life in the internet age. The Kremlin won the battle, but free information may yet win the war.
Friday, May 13, 2016
Friday, May 6, 2016
Why media giants are betting big on the future of theme parks
http://www.economist.com/news/business/21698310-why-media-giants-are-betting-big-future-theme-parks-parks-recreation
Newfound enthusiasm for them partly reflects upheaval in the media industry. As it has become harder to reap riches in television and film, companies are eager to spin gold from both their vast content libraries and to attract attention to their new offerings. Disney and Comcast have enjoyed considerable success doing this through their parks businesses, which have chugged along as reliable profit engines. Universal Studios has contributed more to Comcast’s profits over the past five years than either the broadcast network NBC or the Universal Pictures film studio, its corporate siblings. At Disney, the company’s theme-park division has generated a better return on assets than its film studio in four of the past five years.
Newfound enthusiasm for them partly reflects upheaval in the media industry. As it has become harder to reap riches in television and film, companies are eager to spin gold from both their vast content libraries and to attract attention to their new offerings. Disney and Comcast have enjoyed considerable success doing this through their parks businesses, which have chugged along as reliable profit engines. Universal Studios has contributed more to Comcast’s profits over the past five years than either the broadcast network NBC or the Universal Pictures film studio, its corporate siblings. At Disney, the company’s theme-park division has generated a better return on assets than its film studio in four of the past five years.
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