All Hail Lord Murdoch Of The Internet
from the easy-tiger dept
Newsweek is hailing Rupert Murdoch as "a leader in digital media after some smart bets" -- while undoubtedly News Corporation's size and sway make it somebody to pay attention to in the space, just because they can throw some money around doesn't make them a company to follow. Keep in mind that most of the media hype didn't think Murdoch "got" the internet until his company dropped $580 million on MySpace little more than six months ago, and his strategy since then has been less than convincing. There's little in the magazine's interview to suggest Murdoch's much of a visionary: basically, they're going to put targeted ads on MySpace (that was a tough one), and he thinks video to mobile phones is more important than downloads to computers or the iPod, inferring that the company's one-minute "mobisodes" of the show 24 are the way to go. Apparently he's been so busy "getting" the internet that he missed the news that Fox yanked the 24 mobisodes because they were so unpopular. Also, weren't video downloads from MySpace a cornerstone of his strategy for the site? Murdoch and News Corp. may be throwing money around on acquisitions, but that's about it. To call those acquisitions smart, or to paint him as some sort of internet-media visionary, is awfully premature.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Oh no.
Can't people accept that sites they hate may have a legitimate purpose? For instance, connecting people who have lost contact?
Before anyone says that never happens, I've managed to find a few people I thought I'd never talk to again because they have a myspace account.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Oh no.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Oh no.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
All he did and all that myspace is...
and all that myspace is, is another crappy free hosting service that made itself popular because it's a fad. I'll bet you all of the myspace ceo's money that 98 to 99 percent of all sites on their network are subpar pos design-wise even compared to half the geocities sites (and thats sayin something)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No Subject Given
what else was he gonna do with myspace? duh, what myspace was already doing. its like saying TW is the new media king, bow down because on their AIM (that has been around lloooonnggg before myspace) *gasps* they've been putting their movie advertisments. OMG! ingenious? or duh
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Oh come on
No hating here, I have an account *shrugs*
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Oh come on
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The Way of the Dinosaur
A) People who use MySpace are graduating Middle and High school every year, I figure you've got about 5 years of sizeable traffic left at that site.
B) Cell Phones are pieces of junk and until people want to pay for the expensive flash drives that can hold ring tones, numbers, softcore from MySpace downloads, AND those crappy mobisodes along with some Kevlar plating for when they drop the pieces of crap I think Murdoch is gonna have a hard time turning a profit.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]