The Shock of the New: Old Media Strategies in the Digital Age

Abstract

This paper provides an outline and analysis of the strategies with which the ‘old’ media empires of print and television have met the challenge of ‘new’ media in Australia, notably the internet. It places particular emphasis on the protection of, or the gaining of access to, advertising revenue as a motivating factor in such corporate strategies since the early 1990s. In order to achieve some historical perspective and narrative continuity on this process, the discussion is divided into a rough periodisation. The first period saw the beginning of internet advertising and media organisations establishing a web presence, before the dot.com crash of 2000. A period of more cautious consolidation of positions then followed, and internet advertising became differentiated into categories of search, directories, classified and display, leading up to the corporate discovery of social networking in 2005. The paper concludes with some observations on the recent influx of private equity capital, particularly noting the agile response of ‘old’ media proprietors.