Mixed Media

Chris Anderson, editor of Wired, has
some pretty scary stats on his Longtail blog. If you’re part of
the mainstream media, it looks as if it might be time to get a little
worried. If you’re a shareholder in Google things are looking pretty
rosy.

Down:

• Box Office: down by 7% this year (tickets per capita have fallen every
  year since 2001).

  Newspapers: circulation, which peaked in 1987, is declining faster than
  ever and is down another 2.6% so far this year.

• Music: Sales are down another 5.7% this year; although digital downloads
  (still just 6% of the business) are climbing nicely.
  Radio: down 4% this year alone, continuing a multi-decade decline.

• Books: down by 7% in 2004 (but see comments  below for discussion)

Mixed:

• DVDs: sales growth is slowing dramatically, from 29% last year to single
  digits this year.

• TV: Total viewership is still rising, but as channels proliferate and
  the audience fragments the rating of the average show continues to
  decline.

• Magazines: Ad revenues are up a bit although the number of ad pages is
  flat (they’re charging more per page). Circulation is also flat, while
  newsstand sales are at an all-time low.

• Videogames: it’s the final few months of the current generation of
  consoles, which tends to the trough of the buying cycle. Sales were down
  20% in Sept, but will probably pick up by Christmas with the launch of
  the Xbox 360.

Up:

• Internet advertising:
  –Banners: Up 10% this year
  –Keywords: Google revenues up 96%