Winners and Losers

In the Media and Entertainment industry, there will be many winners and many losers.

Winners will capitalize on emerging online user communities and inter-connectivity between traditional media outlets to become the one-stop shopping for consumers of information. Many companies and organizations are jockeying to become this dominant player, including Microsoft, Apple, AOL, Yahoo and Google, or it could be a still unknown start-up with a revolutionary technology.

However, the company CURRENTLY (and I capitalize this because it could change at any moment) best positioned to become this leader is Google. With it's ever-growing user community, especially outside the US, and innovative connectivity with traditional media outlets, Google is currently edging out its competitors to become the dominant filter of information in the world.

As for who loses, traditional media outlets such as newspapers and magazines, are on the downside. Declining market share, sliding profits, shrinking subscriber bases are all symptoms a business model that no longer attracts the advertising dollars that it used to.

Efficient use of advertising dollars, which is a core element of the dominant business model in this space, will dicate whether a media and entertainment business model or company lives or dies. Advertisers have voted, and Google is the winner.