Content King?, The Content-Distribution Bridge, and Being Well Qualified

If Content Were King, The King Would be Rich and Omnipotent

How many times have you heard the phrase “content is king”? Perhaps hundreds or thousands of times in the last 10 to 15 years. This has been uttered all those times as a justification for the dominance of publishers of all types—audio, video, text, and images—in the digital age. If it were true, the content kings would not always be whining about profits, downsizing, or restructuring. They'd be riding a wave of successes that emanate from their kingly dominance.

What happened in those years? The publishers' common complaint has been the lack of profitability of their Internet initiatives, with even the head of Time lamenting that a print subscriber is valued around $100 per year and an online one is worth only $5, implying they need twenty times the number of online subscribers to make money. That apples and oranges discussion is a different matter for discussion at a different time, but it's clear that's the way they look at it.

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About Dr. Joe Webb

Dr. Joe Webb is one of the graphic arts industry's best-known consultants, forecasters, and commentators. He is the director of WhatTheyThink's Economics and Research Center.

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