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Ryan Williams: It continues to be a tie between the TRADITIONAL MEDIA. In tough economic times, we would expect to see a greater degree of flexibility in the media-owner landscape but, if anything, the opposite has been true this year (outside of the outdoor/ambient and cinema spaces).
More so than ever before, the answer has typically been ‘no’ to many of the opportunities clients and agencies have put forward.
Nikki Cockcroft: There is no such thing as ‘not the medium of the year’. (However,) PRINT has possibly suffered the most in these difficult times. Very high print costs, resulting in decreasing margins competing with the increasing online publications (with low delivery costs and higher margins), have placed additional pressure on the print medium.
Norman Gibson: PRINT. Apart from dwindling readership figures, and the mass closure of titles this year, the perception is that the industry has not made enough strides in reinventing its relevance amid the problems that continue to threaten its existence in the digital age.
Paul Middleton: Some COMMUNITY RADIO stations – for giving them large bookings and not having the adverts flighted.
Without funding they will not get out of the starting blocks.
Lyndon Johnstone: With a Past 7 Days audience loss of 2-million year-on-year and another drop in time-spent-listening, RADIO appears to be having a torrid time.
It appears to me that radio programmers and executives have shifted the focus from their core business of radio to how they can integrate radio with other digital platforms. Radio programmers have to re-invent themselves into multi-media/ medium specialists, while presenters are expected to talk about things they don’t know much about. Generally, I think South African radio is failing hopelessly at this.
The older-generation presenters and programmers are not that techno-savvy and are finding it hard to adapt.
Neal Farrell: TELEVISION. I just don’t see the innovation in terms of content-on-demand happening fast enough. We’re living in an economy of choice where attention is gold and yet I can’t watch what I want when I want to.
Gabriël Botma: THE SABC – because its leaders made news for all the wrong reasons.
Arthur Goldstuck: MOBILE. While it holds enormous promise, and needs to be one of the core focus areas of the agencies, it has also been undermined by unrealistic expectations. The root of the problem is the failure of marketers to segment the mobile market, assuming it to be one homogeneous target market – which is plainly absurd. Once you segment the market, you discover that the niches to which you can market via the cellphone right now are rather tiny. While I fully expect it to become the Medium of the Year before long, right now it is the niche medium of the year (and all in lower case).
Gary Alfonso: BAD JOURNALISM (not really a medium but a symptom in all news media). For getting too many stories wrong; for giving the loudest mouth the coverage rather than the real issue; for falling into the sensationalism traps; for discarding journalistic values and for misinterpreting PR statements for news.
Paula Fray: Publications which still think that ‘UNNAMED SOURCES ‘ in stories promote credibility.
Silke Friedrich: It seems as though big expositions suffered a recessionary blow this year. This didn’t just apply to “tech shows” like the global auto-mobile expos, but also to MEDIA -RELATED EVENTS. Some did remarkably well, but many organisers found that steep venue rental and set-up costs, coupled with the expense of flying in international speakers were not justified – as cost-conscious exhibitors and delegates stayed away. Smaller, more focused events succeeded more in revenue generation.
- This ….first appeared in The Media magazine (December 2009).
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Ryan Williams: It continues to be a tie between the TRADITIONAL MEDIA. In tough economic times, we would expect to see a greater degree of flexibility in the media-owner landscape but, if anything, the opposite has been true this year (outside of the outdoor/ambient and cinema spaces).
More so than ever before, the answer has typically been ‘no’ to many of the opportunities clients and agencies have put forward.
Nikki Cockcroft: There is no such thing as ‘not the medium of the year’. (However,) PRINT has possibly suffered the most in these difficult times. Very high print costs, resulting in decreasing margins competing with the increasing online publications (with low delivery costs and higher margins), have placed additional pressure on the print medium.
Norman Gibson: PRINT. Apart from dwindling readership figures, and the mass closure of titles this year, the perception is that the industry has not made enough strides in reinventing its relevance amid the problems that continue to threaten its existence in the digital age.
Paul Middleton: Some COMMUNITY RADIO stations – for giving them large bookings and not having the adverts flighted.
Without funding they will not get out of the starting blocks.
Lyndon Johnstone: With a Past 7 Days audience loss of 2-million year-on-year and another drop in time-spent-listening, RADIO appears to be having a torrid time.
It appears to me that radio programmers and executives have shifted the focus from their core business of radio to how they can integrate radio with other digital platforms. Radio programmers have to re-invent themselves into multi-media/ medium specialists, while presenters are expected to talk about things they don’t know much about. Generally, I think South African radio is failing hopelessly at this.
The older-generation presenters and programmers are not that techno-savvy and are finding it hard to adapt.
Neal Farrell: TELEVISION. I just don’t see the innovation in terms of content-on-demand happening fast enough. We’re living in an economy of choice where attention is gold and yet I can’t watch what I want when I want to.
Gabriël Botma: THE SABC – because its leaders made news for all the wrong reasons.
Arthur Goldstuck: MOBILE. While it holds enormous promise, and needs to be one of the core focus areas of the agencies, it has also been undermined by unrealistic expectations. The root of the problem is the failure of marketers to segment the mobile market, assuming it to be one homogeneous target market – which is plainly absurd. Once you segment the market, you discover that the niches to which you can market via the cellphone right now are rather tiny. While I fully expect it to become the Medium of the Year before long, right now it is the niche medium of the year (and all in lower case).
Gary Alfonso: BAD JOURNALISM (not really a medium but a symptom in all news media). For getting too many stories wrong; for giving the loudest mouth the coverage rather than the real issue; for falling into the sensationalism traps; for discarding journalistic values and for misinterpreting PR statements for news.
Paula Fray: Publications which still think that ‘UNNAMED SOURCES ‘ in stories promote credibility.
Silke Friedrich: It seems as though big expositions suffered a recessionary blow this year. This didn’t just apply to “tech shows” like the global auto-mobile expos, but also to MEDIA -RELATED EVENTS. Some did remarkably well, but many organisers found that steep venue rental and set-up costs, coupled with the expense of flying in international speakers were not justified – as cost-conscious exhibitors and delegates stayed away. Smaller, more focused events succeeded more in revenue generation.
- This ….first appeared in The Media magazine (December 2009).
