Despite their coveted value, the great brands of old media aren’t proving out to be much of an asset online. And to the extent old media is relying on the value of their brands to ensure a digital future, they are headed in the wrong direction. Over the past year old media brands lost share of online audience to new media in nearly all of the traditional magazine categories.
But my new analysis shows that legacy brands are on the defensive, far more threatened by new entrants than the other way around. The upshot appears to be that upstarts’ execution is earning new audiences (and building their new brands), drawing audience on average away from more established players. The reason for this shift, and the dominance of new media in categories such as Tech News is simply that the old media magazine model is ill equipped to compete with more nimble online competitors.
While news outlets have always operated on a fast pace, magazines are at a particular disadvantage in that they are not structured to turn information around quickly. With online share falling — in some cases dramatically — now is the time for offline legacy publishers to take action and get their brands working harder before it’s too late.
Read more at Business Insider.
