Recession ‘is now unavoidable’
Cory Bergman March 8th, 2008
Bad news for the media industry, especially local media: a dismal jobs report on Friday makes a recession almost inevitable. “Every time such a slump has occurred since the early 1970s, a recession has followed — or already been under way,” reports the NY Times. With advertisers already allocating less of their marketing mix to television and newspapers, adding a recession to the equation means painful times are ahead. The key, of course, is for local media not to slow their investment in digital media initiatives. That would be suicide.
6 Comments Add your own
1. tdc | March 8th, 2008 at 10:41 am
hey, i may not be the brightest pixel on the page, but why do i keep reading stories about tv stations spending “eye popping” amounts to convert to hd for their newscasts when they are investing little to nothing in their online ventures? are they thinking this will reverse the exodus of the audience?
hd for movies, sports and such might make sense, but to see a few more wrinkles in the anchors’ forehead?
i don’t watch tv anymore or listen to the radio. is radio still hyping their move to hd? last i heard it was a resounding flop.
2. daniel | March 8th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Must remember the HD conversion is MANDATED by the FCC to be completed by next February. Viewers at home wouldn’t be too happy to watch all programming in HD except news..
3. Nick | March 8th, 2008 at 11:14 am
The conversion to HD is not mandated. The conversion to Digital is. Therein lies a big problem. Too many people don’t understand the difference.
The payback for converting to an HD newscast just isn’t there yet, except for in the largest markets because fixed costs are fixed costs regardless if you are in LA or Butte, Montana.
Stations are better off plowing the resources into online. That’s where all the newspaper money is going.
4. Jeremiah | March 8th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Not to pick a pedantic argument, but I’d suggest that not only is a recession inevitable, we’ve passed it and are now firmly in depression territory.
That the talking puppets of the newsmedia have neglected to understand this is pretty reflective of their overall uselessness.
5. Gerry | March 8th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Standard definition broadcasts looks WORSE on my HD set - and I find myself simply not watching programming that is not available in HD. I work at a local affiliate in a top 50 market - and we are seeing more and more money going from other dayparts into news. News is extremely competitive in my market, and since standard definiton broadcast looks worse on an HD television - I for one am a proponent of making the switch.
6. Dave | March 8th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
The only station in my market (Top 30) that is HD is the dominant leader. You have to go HD to stay in the game in broadcasting. And that means “real” HD…not HDV or any sub-$10K cameras with cheap lenses. If your studio cameras and production/promotion cameras don’t cost at least $50K each, you’re wasting money. Cheaper cameras are ok for some ENG jobs, but don’t outfit your news department with junk. The stations that still make a lot of money also invest a lot.
Web ventures should stand on their own. Don’t steal broadcast support dollars for the web. Anybody can start a website, don’t give up your competitive position on-air yet. There are still millions to be made before online takes over.
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