Jason Abbruzzese is the business section editor at Mashable. He also covers the media and telecom industries with a particular focus on how the internet is changing these markets and impacting consumers. Prior to working at Mashable, he served as markets reporter and web producer at the Financial Times. Abbruzzese holds a bachelor's in journalism from Boston University and a master's in international affairs from Australian National University.

1. Don’t panic… yet
A slightly depressing but cautiously optimistic
exploration of whether all those eyeballs will
ever result in $$$

2. Lede/hypothesis - It is going to become basically impossible
to be a major media company based off just a website.
As such, new media companies will need to hope and pray for
two main things in a distributed market:
-- Enough consumer demand/interest for this content that
platforms see value in paying for it
-- A healthy market of competition between platforms for high-
quality content

4. The power struggle
What leverage do media companies have over the
platforms they are on?
Are media companies making a Faustian bargain
that will come back to bite them?

7. Not great

8. Of course a website’s fortunes can change overnight. That these
fortunes are tied to the whims of a very small group of very large
companies, whose interests are only somewhat aligned with those of
publishers, however, is sort of new. The publishing opportunity may be
bigger today than it’s ever been but the publisher’s role is less
glamorous: When did the best sites on the internet, giant and small
alike, become anonymous subcontractors to tech companies that
operate on entirely different scales? This is new psychological
territory, working for publishers within publishers within publishers.
The ones at the top barely know you exist! Anyway, internet people,
remember this day in five years: It could happen to you, whether you
asked for it or not.
John Herrman on May 19, 2014 for The Awl writing about the downfall of Metafilter in relation to Google:

9. March 16, 2015

11. Credit: Tony Haile

12. Credit: Tony Haile

13. Credit: Tony Haile
...and Google,
Snapchat,
Instagram,
YouTube, Twitter,
Roku, Verizon,
Comcast, Spotify,
Apple, Amazon

14. Meanwhile, back on the web….
“Upon further reflection, it’s clear that the broken system is ad-driven media on the internet.
It simply doesn’t serve people. In fact, it’s not designed to. The vast majority of articles,
videos, and other “content” we all consume on a daily basis is paid for—directly or
indirectly—by corporations who are funding it in order to advance their goals. And it is
measured, amplified, and rewarded based on its ability to do that. Period. As a result, we
get…well, what we get. And it’s getting worse.” -- Ev Williams
Takeaway: There is growing skepticism about online
advertising, particularly when it’s not on Google or
Facebook.

17. Partnerships with Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Google and YouTube brought in about $7.7
million in the first half of 2016 for the 17 news organizations surveyed by the trade group
Digital Content Next. -- Poynter
There’s a little money here already… but not much

18. So what do these platforms want?

20. So, are digital media companies just going to
become video production studios?
● The platforms need brands that will resonate
with consumers and attract advertisers.
● Vice is easily the best example of where this is
headed.

21. Credit: TrackMaven
Print content
(Ad $) (but also
data, we’ll get to
that)
Short-form video
(Ad $ and also
data)
Longer-form video
(Ad $/licensing mix)
High-end, big-budget video,
subscriptions
The New Media Funnel

23. The data question
“Buyers also share the publisher frustration that the platforms such as Facebook, with its fast-
loading mobile Instant Articles, is that they’re stingy about giving them data on who’s reading
their articles on those platforms, how much they’re sharing it and what else they’re doing
there. ‘Facebook is a pretty tight walled garden, and publishers are operating in these same
walled gardens,’ Kiernan said.” -- Lucia Moses at Digiday, April 25, 2016
Takeaway: There’s growing fear that giving up on user data will
leave media companies even less capable of holding their own
against the major platforms.

24. So…. where IS the money?
-- Brand advertising dollars going to TV (that platforms desperately want, cough,
Snapchat, cough)
-- Subscription through platforms (Google, Verizon, Comcast, Spotify, etc. etc.)
-- The banana stand

25. The optimist case (aka the case you’ll hear from me after
a couple drinks)
-- As major companies/platforms go to battle, high-quality work (particularly
video) from media outlets is in high demand. Facebook vs. Apple vs.
Google/YouTube vs. Snapchat vs. Twitter vs. Amazon vs. Netflix vs. Spotify
vs. Comcast vs. Verizon vs. AT&T vs……..
-- Platforms can start pulling in that TV brand money as well as subscription
money in addition to whatever digital advertising remains.
-- Super-optimist case: Digital companies become the new version of cable
TV brands.

26. Worst case scenario: Complete and utter destruction
(aka the case you’d hear from me after a few more drinks)
-- Advertisers aren’t convinced that online advertising works, even next to high-
end content
-- Platforms find it’s a better business to make their own content.
-- Media companies have no leverage to negotiate better terms with the few
platforms that dominate the market
-- Robots take our jobs (probably happening either way)

27. ● My personal take: I’m more optimistic now than I was a year ago.
○ It seemed like there was a flood of content and really one platform
(Facebook)
○ Now, there seems to be a bunch of platforms and not enough places
making the kind of high-end stuff they want.
○ That being said, it’s not easy. Not at all.
○ What about writers?
● I’m still pretty skeptical in the short term
○ This is still going to take time. Most companies are just learning to play
this game.
○ The money has yet to show up, it may never, or it could show up then
disappear.
○ I don’t think it’s ever going to be really that good of a business to
monetize distributed print aka Instant Articles, Google AMP etc.
○ If you are a journalism student, start learning to shoot and edit video
right now, like immediately.

28. So in conclusion...
New media companies will need to hope and pray for two
main things:
-- Enough consumer demand/interest for this content that
platforms see value in paying for it (people watching on
phones, in home, etc. etc.)
-- A healthy market of competition between platforms for high-
quality content

29. -- If you know the answer to this, please tell me so that I can go start a media
company. My email is Jason@mashable.com. Get at me, we’ll be rich.
So, can platform distribution be a viable
business and, if so, when?