Are you gripped by the Google - Murdoch battle? Are you fascinated by the clash of these print and online behemoths as they fight for the future of journalism? Are you debating the implications of Google blinking over access to paywalled content?
You fell for it.
There is no battle, bar one of posturing and PR.
Because, really how is Google actually Murdoch's competitor for the newspaper business? It is a business that has grown rich over giving people quick access to created content, and an opportunity to monetise that content, through ads. It has much the same relationship to newspaper websites as, say, newsagents did to the print title. The metaphor is not exact, but it stands. Google is not a content producer, but a way of finding it and monetising it. If your cost base does not match the potential revenue, well, that's hardly Google's fault, is it?
So why are News International execs so keen on waging this war? Oh, so many reasons.
You fell for it.
There is no battle, bar one of posturing and PR.
Because, really how is Google actually Murdoch's competitor for the newspaper business? It is a business that has grown rich over giving people quick access to created content, and an opportunity to monetise that content, through ads. It has much the same relationship to newspaper websites as, say, newsagents did to the print title. The metaphor is not exact, but it stands. Google is not a content producer, but a way of finding it and monetising it. If your cost base does not match the potential revenue, well, that's hardly Google's fault, is it?
So why are News International execs so keen on waging this war? Oh, so many reasons.
- Google is one of the few companies that make Murdoch's empire look like the underdog
- It allows Murdoch to cast himself in a heroic mode: defender of journalism!
- It builds buzz and excitement around Murdoch's plans. Publicity like that is valuable.
- Google is a name, a big name. And one that can be used as a shorthand for the internet, and the way it operates.
In the end, a war on Google is a much more appealing spin on the
newspapers' current position than "we haven't figured out how to make
money online in a decade of trying". They'll blame Google, they'll
blame the shadowy cabal of infomation-must-be-free proponents,
they'd probably blame the wrong kind of tubes if they could, but, in
the end, the only blame lies in their own failure to innovate and
respond to a massively changing information ecology until they find
themselves standing on the very brink of the precipice,
Now, it's possible that some really great thinking is going on within the portals of Murdoch's company. I will be astonished if some clever play does not underlie this carefully-constructed phony war. Indeed, it's entirely possible that Murdoch's focus is more on getting a march on some of his competitors by persuading them that Google is the enemy and paywalls are the answer, while he'll actually end up doing something else.
But I'm not buying this phony war. Are you?
Now, it's possible that some really great thinking is going on within the portals of Murdoch's company. I will be astonished if some clever play does not underlie this carefully-constructed phony war. Indeed, it's entirely possible that Murdoch's focus is more on getting a march on some of his competitors by persuading them that Google is the enemy and paywalls are the answer, while he'll actually end up doing something else.
But I'm not buying this phony war. Are you?
Fantastic stuff, Adam, really enjoyed your thinking on this issue and have RT'd the article. I'm inclined to agree with your theory re: the deeper Murdoch strategy.
2010 looks set to be a very interesting year.