Media industry revenues are down while production and jobs are stable

Online v. Offline Media in the U.S.: Is the Media Shrinking?

T-600 presentation by professor David Waterman

While revenues of media industry are shrinking, Media production and jobs are more stable than what we expect.

In his presentation at T-600 seminar at Indiana University,  Professor David Waterman claims that while public attention has focused on damage to established delivery systems like newspapers and the music industry, a more significant questions is how is online media affecting the variety and quality of media content.

The results of an analysis of historical economic statistics, based on U.S. census data, shows that total U.S. media industry revenues has steadily declined since 2000 by about 25% in total compared to the lowest historical levels since at least the 1950's.

However, while media industry revenues are shrinking, media production remains stable and jobs in the industry still exist.

Another interesting finding in the data is evidence for a strong shift away from advertiser towards direct payment support since 2000. So if other media such as Television and the music industry are succeeding in this new model, how come newspapers are failing to do so? The answer, according to Professor Waterman, is clear: newspapers cannot charge money for information that is so easy to copy and spread around. It is a matter of supply and demand at the moment news is a commodity that has lost its market value.