Time Inc has abruptly pulled out of merger negotiations with publisher Meredith and decided to put its magazines into a separate company from its film and TV assets. This is presumably for valuation reasons. You can't blame them for that.
What will probably pass without notice is that this may mark the point at which major media companies stopped talking about "synergy", when the biggest one of all admitted that there was nothing to be said for having their magazines under the same umbrella as their TV company.
"Synergy" used to be a key buzz word for TV companies buying print publishers or vice versa. It was the plausible sounding element in the attempt to make two and two add up to five which is at the root of most corporate moves.
In the fantasies of media moguls your magazine journalists feed stories into your radio stations and create stars who then sign book deals with your book division which are then adapted into block busting movies by your studio.
I'm sure there were cases where it worked out like that but I know there were many thousands when it didn't. The people who create intellectual property work for their own satisfaction, glory and profit rather than for the greater good of the company, no matter how well-disposed they might be towards that company.
All the different media disciplines have very different cultures. The people who work within them are not sharers. They resent the people sitting just the other side of the partition badly enough, let alone the ones across town with the better offices and different job titles.
It all depends on what is meant by '..a separate company' doesn't it. No doubt a few few more jobs like marketing directors will be created as THE Marketing Director for Time Inc looses his purview.
ReplyDeleteI think that we should still see all the cross media tie-ins but there should be more room for the magazines in particular to exercise their creative muscle without being ponced off by others.
I suspect that Time sees the mags as its biggest liability and has given them the chance to swim or sink.
Interesting that News Corp are doing the same. Letting the print continue on it own right without bringing the rest down
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