Only good lies ahead: says the Mediateller

Someone once said that the greatest developments of history are not great, unless someone told them in a manner that attracted and held attention, and true justice, to a tale, was done… The role of a storyteller hence has been important generation after generation. As I sit here thinking Rewind 2009, and how the year was for the media industry that it is aptly themed ‘On Road to Recovery’, I think of my role as that of a storyteller, but for the media industry, and hence a Mediateller…

I don’t how good I would be at that because for starters, instead of doing a wrap of the year gone, I would like to write on the year ahead, because the more time I spend with doyens, and movers & shakers of this industry, the more I think that the coming year would be good.

But before I get into the reasons for that, let me quote from an article of David Carr that I read a week back. In this article titled ‘After a Year of Ruin, Some Hope’, Carr has said, and I quote: “Nobody had it worse than newspapers in 2009, but it all depends on whom you ask. After I wrote a column last week suggesting that The Wall Street Journal has tended to lean to the right since being bought by Rupert Murdoch, about 400 or so readers sent e-mail messages to remind me, among other things, that it can’t be all bad that one of the most successful media moguls in the business continues to invest real money in serious journalism...”

Just reading that affirmed my faith that the coming year would be good. And the reason for that is of course what has happened in the last 12 months. Across domains, media owners have undertaken restructuring, course correcting steps and other initiatives that have helped them bring efficiencies in their top-line and bottomline. In 2010, they would reap the fruits of these steps.

They have also read the Book ‘Curse of The Mogul’ and learnt from mistakes of media moguls in US and Europe.

The year would also see regional media continue growing stronger. Regional newspapers, in any case, were not impacted by the slowdown in the manner that the mainline and English newspapers were. That said, all will benefit with things like newsprint prices going down – today almost 55 per cent of monies of newspaper houses are spent on newsprint. Even in television, regional will get more attention --- I see Mr Murdoch further intensifying his presence in India, and projecting Star India beyond just Star Plus, as a media conglomerate.

Business media has seen a lot of work happen in 2009, and in 2010, this domain too will see important moves and developments. Business to Business Media remains underdeveloped in this country, and we will see more specialised B2B titles being launched.

What also excites me is the growing presence of younger blood in media businesses. The ‘generation next’ of media houses is gearing up to take the businesses forward. Younger media professionals are being given more role and authority. These media scions will develop the digital businesses aggressively and consolidate existing business by acquiring smaller media companies.

On a parallel level, more non-media professionals, as in professionals from other industries, would also be coming in the industry and correcting anomalies that only an external eye can spot.

2010 doesn’t look like the year of the lower rung players though --- they would have to find a way to break the mould and survive --- may be create a niche for themselves rather than compete in general segments, or may be combine forces with a bigger player and get more force behind them – the shake up for the industry is here.

Coming to my favourite, the digital space would get back its speed of growth in 2010. More media owners would look at internet as primary focus rather than tertiary, like it is for some right now. I see the version of Hulu find its footing in India…

I suppose I have played the role of Nostradamus instead of ‘Rewind-ing’ here but how to tell a story, is the teller’s choice anyway!

(Anurag Batra is the Chairman & Editor – In – Chief of exchange4Media Group)