Larry King: What's the Web? -- Net-Gen: Who's Larry King?

CNN host Larry King says he's never done Internet.

And that's Ok, because most of the Net Generation does not pay attention to CNN nor do they know who Larry King is.

Nothing better illustrates the gap between mainstream media and new disruptive information services like YouTube than this. This is not a mere generation gap as much as a it is a  canyon into which incumbents media companies will fall unless they re-invent their service offerings and business models to create a new relevancy to their audiences.

This chart from Francis McInerney at North River Ventures tracks the collapse of network TV caused by the dramatic fall in the price of computing power and bandwidth. As McInerney writes in his blog: "The network TV model broke over 10 years ago when the MIPS barrier was crossed and with Google rapidly realigning advertising efficiencies, network cash flows are starting to hurt." 

So how can mainstream media make itself useful again? Some defining questions emerge:

• What elements of information are already good enough for most consumers? (stop innovating here: commoditized news, opinions, columnists)
• What elements are not good enough? (focus here)
• What are the jobs to be done that consumers and businesses are using media and information sources for?
• What are the attributes of media and information that people value and pay for today? (immediacy, relevance, business intelligence...)

**Other Views **

Peter Cashmore reports new statistics showing that CBS's deal with YouTube is drawing viewers back to TV shows like Late Night with David Letterman, suggesting that potential disruptors like YouTube could be co-opted to support mainstream broadcasters. It is unclear whether this is a sustainable trend or a way to deny the inevitable. Give the people what they want says a CBS exec, summarized on TechDirt.

Michael Arrington at TechCrunch says there's a bigger battle behind the scenes between YouTube and copyright holders: "Content owners are trying to figure out what to do and how to do it before offline television dies. YouTube, in the meantime, divides and conquers."

Tony Hung at DeepJive says broadcasters will try to disintermediate YouTube into irrelevance through their own broadband services. Look for further balkanization.

Comments

[John Johnson]

The Larry King comment isn't so much of a surprise if you've seen a few of his recent shows. His questions are sometimes irrelevant. He just seems lost. I've been waiting for him to get the axe, but I guess the non-net-gen crowd keeps him in place. So sad. I think he needs a Jon Stewart/Tucker Carlson moment to free us of his meaningless banter. Then again, Tucker's doing pretty well for himself on MSNBC. Who makes these decisions? That's the problem.

[Mark Evans]

it's pretty amazing how all media - tv, radio, newspapers, movies, music - are being disrupted at the same time. frankly, i don't know whether there is an answer or a magic strategy that will allow them to survive/thrive. at the very least, i think they will have to concede large amounts of turf and then hopefully be able to retrench their positions.