My insider sources in the television industry tell me certain large corporate sponsors are scaling back expenditures on TV ads. This might not mean anything to the average freelancer…or does it?
What’s good for the ad industry is good for print. What’s bad for ads trickles down to the newsstand, too. If major sponsorship for newsstand publications dwindles, where do these print publications turn? Ad revenues cut, staff chopped to the bare minimum, people spending less on extras like pricey mags?
I’ll tell you where…they turn to the Internet.
Print will continue to survive as long as there are buses, airplanes, and trains. But the ubiquity of mobile media cannot be ignored. When Catherine L. Tully gets an iPhone and fully embraces the technology, you know this stuff has ARRIVED. Print has long been in transition. Back in your granpappy’s day, the web was another way to advertise the print mag. Now those roles are reversed. Print will exist to promote the website as the main attraction. I’ve said all this before, but in case you’re just joining us please remember I warned you. Print markets are not dying. They are MUTATING.
But seriously, iPhones, Blackberry and other mobile tech has already exploded. Now it’s about to become standard, like the MP3 players that became fixtures before them.
If you aren’t currently writing for the Internet, my suggestion is to start as a sideline and build it into your freelance business model quickly. Those who rely only on print won’t enjoy their new status as “relics”. While some will take up residence in the petrified forest, I encourage you not to be one of them. Get familiar with the gear, the lifestyle, and brace yourself.
Mobile media–I’m talking iPhones and related gear here– isn’t quite the future as it currently stands. Prices need to drop by another $100 or so to make it as common as the VCR once was. But it’s the future. Shorter, faster, more immediate, and lots of outbound links. Are you one of us yet?
I still dabble in print. Hell, I’m even working on a book. But my main income is all online, baby.
“When Catherine L. Tully gets an iPhone and fully embraces the technology, you know this stuff has ARRIVED.”
Um. What exactly is that supposed to mean?!
I suppose I should have clarified that one 🙂 You’re the classic example of the anti-early adopter. That part of the market that won’t invest in a new technology just because it’s shiny and new…when iPhones get into the hands of these people, the gear is here to stay. I notice you don’t own a Blu-Ray DVD player. I predict that technology has five more years on the shelves at the most.
Hahahaha!