 |
|
|
Me-Dia: Yahoo! Explores the Meaning of
Centrally Defined Media in a User-Defined Medium |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
8 November 2004 |
|
|
|
|
As Yahoo! beefs up its management team with more muscle
from the world of mainstream media properties it's clear
that producing more unique content will be a key factor for
their future growth. Now that the search wars have
dissipated and made content licensing relatively moot, they
have little choice if they are to keep brand loyalty
strong. But as users of all kinds create and consume more
content in their own venues the value of creating content
without a specific "me" factor in it is becoming more
suspect. This is a concept that makes most content
executives uncomfortable - even though it's one of the keys
to success in The New Aggregation. |
|
As media
empires go these days Yahoo! is nothing to sneeze at. With
revenues poised to trip the USD 3 billion mark for 2004 -
probably more than double last year's USD 1.6 billion mark -
and over 200 million unique visitors each month, Yahoo! is a
destination site with few parallels, much less equals. Google
keeps us agog with its search stats, leading technology
strategies and ad sales, but for sheer breadth and depth of
content and services oriented towards both consumers and
professionals it's Yahoo! that continues to set the pace. So
it's with some interest that we note the signing on of ex-ABC
media exec Lloyd Braun to oversee Yahoo!'s media and
entertainment properties,
according to CNET News and other outlets. We try to avoid a
lot of the pure New(?) Media stories, but there are some
interesting parallels here to what's happening in the world of
professional content that bear considering.
Key to this move is Yahoo!'s desire to develop unique
content properties as opposed to relying in licensed content
that can be found in numerous online venues. The reasons for
this could be stated hardly more clearly than in the "Risk
Factors" section of
Yahoo!'s own quarterly SEC filings:
"Our future success depends upon our ability to aggregate
compelling content and deliver that content through our online
properties. We license much of the content that attracts users
to our online properties, such as news items, stock quotes,
weather reports, maps and audio and video content from third
parties....Our ability to maintain and build relationships with
third-party content providers will be critical to our success.
We may be unable to enter into or preserve relationships with
the third parties whose content we seek to obtain. Many of our
current licenses for third-party content extend for a period of
less than two years and there can be no guarantee that they
will be renewed upon their expiration. In addition, as
competition for compelling content increases both domestically
and abroad, our content providers may increase the prices at
which they offer their content to us and potential content
providers may not offer their content on terms agreeable to
us."
In other words, having attracted the world to their doorstep
Yahoo! faces the uncomfortable transition to the world of
The New Aggregation, in which unique publishing sources
will make the difference for profitability. Hence the chatter
about Yahoo!'s interest not only in stuff for consumers but as
well for more business-oriented properties such as MarketWatch.
The all-singing, all-dancing portal business is hardly dead,
but in the face of the antithetical model of Google that
succeeds without a drop of licensed content and with superb
advertising strength Yahoo! has few options but to make their
content a destination of choice based on its uniqueness as much
as its features and integration. This becomes increasingly
important as users move further away from services like
Yahoo!'s over time to obtain their own desktop and portable
aggregations of content. Yahoo!'s CEO Terry Semel has done an
excellent job of fashioning Yahoo! as a mainstream media
company while the notion of just what that comprises shifts
rapidly. Unique content is now taking center stage in that
effort, but will it be sufficient to stave off the forces of
commoditization? Here are a few key factors to watch as unique
content takes the spotlight:
- The search wars are so over. Yahoo! continues to
tweak and tune its search capabilities to provide compelling
destination content in its search results but it seems as if
there is an increasing awareness that even with competitive
search capabilities there's more money in the long run
developing the content properties being found than in trying
to outfox the next tweak in consumer or institutional search
engines. Tomorrow's online content providers will be all
about enabling both their own content and other content
sources to find the best contexts in whatever venue a given
audience desires.
- SEM/SEO takes on a new perspective. Expect
companies like Yahoo! to market search engine marketing and
search engine optimization capabilities to its 3rd party
content partners as enticements for staying loyal to their
brand. There is indeed little value for a content distributor
to favor one look-alike portal over another, but strong
reason to favor those that can help their content to be found
in more contexts more effectively, regardless of where a
search originates. In this environment licensing in the
traditional sense will be far less important than enabling
partners' content to find its users no matter what their
desired venue. This is a far more sophisticated model than
most media types and aggregators will feel comfortable
managing.
- Enabling personal content around produced content
comes to the fore. In spite of its aggressive use of chat
and messaging tools Yahoo!, like most content aggregators and
producers, remains very conservative about blending in
content provided from a given community of interest or from
less traditional channels such as Weblogs.Brand value in a
"what have you done for me lately" universe of brand-disloyal
consumers requires the ability to foster communities that
embrace content sources on a more personal level. As fast as
Yahoo! is growing its own content, content sources that are
well beyond their purview are growing even faster. It a trend
that's difficult to stem or channel by acquisitions or
licensing alone, as effective content communities tend to
resist the sanitization aims of most media-oriented content
efforts. Enabling open dialogue and integration around
content sources will be the trickiest aspect of this ongoing
effort.
As the the "me" in media takes center stage it's going to be
harder for both Yahoo! and other content producers and
distributors to position themselves for maximum value using
producer-centric business models. Trying to drive clicks to the
Wal-Mart of content won't work too well if everyone's decided
to order in from the local store. It's a transition still in
its early days but one which promises to provide at least as
dramatic a turn in content culture as the rise of services like
Yahoo!
-
John Blossom
To top of page
 |
