From Gotti today:
Most areas of the media are now being affected by not only the internet itself but also social media, which has taken such a toll on the readership of young people and hit the advertising market. And many of those young people gain an extra frustration with conventional media, which they see as part of the establishment that conspires to make it impossible for them to buy a house. There are no easy answers. Fairfax is a classic case study of a company that saw the threat of change too late. The free-to-air television stations may look back on the last decade as one where fundamental change should have been made. Other industries, including motor, are set for a Fairfax-style revolution.
One scenario is that down the track the Fairfax titles will be owned by people and families who seek the community influence that those titles deliver and will not be so interested in the bottom line as long as losses are not too bad.
Under that scenario a Sydney family will own the Sydney Morning Herald and a Melbourne family will own The Age. The most likely business candidate for the Financial Review is Gina Rinehart but there is a long list of others. But that scenario may be impossible to even consider if the quality of journalism declines too far and the papers become a source of ridicule.
I don’t think so. The websites are the loss leaders for Domain eyeballs. Without them Domain loses a lot of embedded value.
They’ll be bled dry for the blood sucking property profit centre.
