Interactive Marketing Blog

If you’ve read my yesterday’s post on growing resentment of content producers of newspaper executives, magazine publishers and alike, then I’m sure I can make another statement on similar lines.

Now getting back to the blame game, it’s been there for quite a while about newspaper execs and offline content producers have been attacking Google primarily for stealing their content openly and making money out of it and making these content producers run after pennies. Now that’s the content producers’ side of the story. But this one from CNet makes a definitive statement from Google.

The Problem:

The atomic unit of consumption for existing media is almost always disrupted by emerging media. For example, digital music caused consumers to think about their purchases as individual songs rather than as full albums. Digital and on-demand video has caused people to view variable-length clips when it is convenient for them, rather than fixed-length programs on a fixed broadcast schedule. Similarly, the structure of the Web has caused the atomic unit of consumption for news to migrate from the full newspaper to the individual article. As with music and video, many people still consume physical newspapers in their original full-length format. But with online news, a reader is much more likely to arrive at a single article. While these individual articles could be accessed from a newspaper’s homepage, readers often click directly to a particular article via a search engine or another Website.

Changing the basic unit of content consumption is a challenge, but also an opportunity. Treating the article as the atomic unit of consumption online has several powerful consequences. When producing an article for online news, the publisher must assume that a reader may be viewing this article on its own, independent of the rest of the publication. To make an article effective in a standalone setting requires providing sufficient context for first-time readers, while clearly calling out the latest information for those following a story over time. It also requires a different approach to monetization: each individual article should be self-sustaining. These types of changes will require innovation and experimentation in how news is delivered online, and how advertising can support it.

We have to understand that the structure of the Web has caused the atomic unit of consumption for news to migrate from the full newspaper to the individual article. And this is where the real money is i.e. between the shift. Publishers should not discount the simple and effective navigational elements the Web can offer. When a reader finishes an article online, it is the publication’s responsibility to answer the reader who asks, “What should I do next?” Click on a related article or advertisement? Post a comment? Read earlier stories on the topic?”

So I don’t think blaming Google is the solution here since people won’t just stop shifting from offline to online world to consume information but understanding this subtle shift from reading full line newspapers offline (constrained by producing schedule) to byte sized unit article can provide publishers much value in terms of monetization. Also publishers should give much heed in terms of engaging its audience in its own network and not allow to shift. And sorry Google or any other search engine which gracefully sends interested users can’t help in that.