The New Media Landscape | OUT LOUD

Our very own Irma Zandl* weighs in on topical issues in her column Out Loud with Irma Zandl.
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As is often the case, an economic downturn serves to weed out the winners from the losers. In this case, the losers are magazines. Long on the decline, this recession has exacerbated what was already an industry in decline as more readers (myself included) have opted for online sources of both news and gossip. But what is happening with print is just symbolic of the seismic shift we’re seeing in how news and information is transmitted and the value we place on sources of information.

But what’s really going on:

1. All I care about now is up-to-date information vs. quality reportage. For most of us, getting a Twitter or Facebook post on breaking news is more relevant than a fully-researched article. For example, yesterday afternoon I saw a Facebook post from a friend that Irving Penn had just died. By evening, it was no longer “newsy” for me to watch, god forbid read about it in the paper this morning or a magazine next week. The moment passes very quickly and we’re on to the next morsel of news or scandal or gossip. TMZ is a great example of a website that is fast on the ball to report and “right enough” with the facts, making it the first stop for many people seeking instant information on what’s happening right now.

2. Back in the day of the news anchor, we relied on someone like Tom Brokaw to tell us what to think, providing that all important perspective for us. Similarly the editors at magazines like Vogue or Cosmopolitan were able to dictate what we had to buy each season. The difference today is that we are looking for points of view and ideas that will either corroborate what we already feel or provide some additional insight for us. We are much more independent and savvy about the ways of the media and as a result less likely to follow their advice.

3. The media has become much more specific and focused on particular points of view – I know that Fox will have one way of reporting a story vs. PBS, the BBC or CNN, and of course the same can be said for print (e.g. The Wall Street Journal's perspective is rarely the same as the New York Times). In the same way that Fox and CNN have different point of views, blogs cater to multitudes of perspectives covering all the same stories with even more polarizing points of view. Knowing this, we no longer expect the media to bring us an unbiased point of view – was there ever such a thing?

4. People today are more interested in how news makes them feel rather than whether it’s factual. The Susan Boyle story really exemplifies this desire for me – it always struck me as being contrived by Simon Cowell as a way to drive ratings and I was amazed at how willing people were to overlook the “staged” aspects of this tale because it made them feel so good. Their feelings about this Cinderella story were so genuine, they didn’t care about the facts.

5. With cell phones and Twitter, we’re all “reporters” and opinion leaders.

So what does the future look like? It will be highly curated, very specific information, with consumers reporting on their areas of expertise (e.g. YouTube how-to videos, Wikipedia). High viewership shows like American Idol or How I Met Your Mother will become an even rarer phenomenon.

And what does this shift from traditional media mean for advertising? While some marketers will continue to rely on TV advertising to reach the broadest audience, most will have to dig deeper to understand and reach their specific target consumers. The most progressive and innovative marketers will be looking for newly relevant ways to align themselves with their consumers. Google, for example, is grounding itself in innovation and fully dependent on the future of customizable digital advertising. If they can keep on top of the game and continue to offer advertisers diverse, customizable and innovative options in advertising (e.g. sponsored links to video ads on iTunes), they will position themselves to be in the center of future advertising dollars.

*Widely acknowledged as one of America’s foremost experts on consumer behavior and trend forecasting, Irma’s insights are eagerly sought after by clients, marketers, media and friends. A true pioneer, Irma moved to Manhattan’s Lower East Side over 20 years ago and set up The Zandl Group in SoHo. Continuing on her trajectory of forward-thinking real estate moves, she personally relocated to a fabulous loft in Long Island City, Queens, while moving the office to up-and-coming creative enclave Bushwick, Brooklyn a year ago. Her observations of consumers have proven to be well-rounded, grounded in years of research and always directional and actionable. Her keen instinct extends beyond marketing and strategic insights and across many categories from art, style and design to entertainment and nightlife to restaurants and food.