| Article Index |
|---|
| Chapter 1 - A perfect storm |
| North America |
| United Kingdom |
| Australia |
| All Pages |
Decline and fall: Australian media stocks are nearing their historical floor. But an international comparison suggests there is further to fall.
A sample of US media stories in the last week of October reads: Time Inc. to lay off 600 staff; Gannett Inc. to lay off 10 per cent of staff, 3,000 jobs to go; Christian Science Monitor to discontinue daily print edition; Los Angeles Times lays off 10 per cent of editorial staff; most major publishers’ circulations declining.
In the UK the same week, we read speculation the BBC’s online push for hyperlocal news sites would kill local papers, and that regional Midland News would cut 120 staff In Australia, James Packer and John Alexander resigned from the PBL board and cut ties with Kerry’s media empire after refusing more funding to the cash-strapped company. 
Fairfax Media’s share price fell below $2 and Yahoo prepared to shed staff. Australia, as with most of the developed world, faces a recession with the concomitant downturn in advertising revenues flowing into the media. This recession is dramatically accelerating the long-term trends that have been restructuring our industry.
But, as Emily Bell warned: “This is systematic collapse – not just a cyclical downturn. Even the surviving brands will have to go through a period of unprofitability.”
The disruptive and destructive difference is new technology. It is fragmenting audiences and stealing advertising, especially the classifieds – once rivers of gold for Australia’s largest mastheads. Free-to-air TV is seeing subscription TV eat into advertising, audiences fragment and migrate online as time-shift technology lets viewers skip TV advertisements. In radio, podcasts act as timeshift technology, while the audience is spoilt for choice.
