Time Warner CEO Uses Unfortunate Analogy To Describe State Of Competition
from the and-his-name-is-jack-crabb dept
Speaking at a conference, Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons described the current media landscape by saying, "The Googles of the world, they are the Custer of the modern world. We are the Sioux nation," a reference to the famous Battle of the Little Bighorn. There are a couple of things very wrong with this statement. The most obvious is that if you're trying to make the argument that you can thrive in the new environment, the Sioux nation doesn't exactly make for the most flattering comparison, considering how things ultimately played out. The other, more serious, problem is that it shows that Parson's strategic thinking is totally wrong. Treating Google as an adversary is the wrong way to think of things. After all, the two companies are in different, complementary lines of business. Time Warner, as a creator of content, should be interested in how Google's search and advertising capabilities can improve its business, rather than trying to "beat" Google, whatever that would mean. Unfortunately, Parsons' thinking seems to be endemic among media executives these days, which goes a long way in explaining the industry's struggles.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.
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just what business do you think time warner is in.. a good portion of the 'time warner' function is the print/magazine side... just what do you think drives this portion if not advertising... and who do you think is one of the largest guys on the block regarding advertising.. umm.. google!
joe.. come on'.. reapply your logic here!!
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cite your sources, sam... or at least name ONE print/magazine that time warner produces.
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Here's a list:
http://www.pathfinder.com/pathfinder/index.html
Time, People, InStyle, Business 2.0, Sunset and about a dozen others.
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No, Time-Warner is on both sides of the fence...
Time-Warner is a Cable Company.
Oh, yeah, and Time-Warner/AOL is an Internet provider.
Great synergy if you can organize it effectively.
I agree, Time-Warner should be working with Google/youTube as both a content distributor and as a content creator.
Working with Google, Time-Warner could use its content distribution network (cable system) to connect people to Google. Google can in turn link billions (with a B) customers to Timer-Warner content.
This is where Timer-Warner/AOL has a significant advantage over the other Cable/network operators.
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thank God
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Re: thank God
As in s/God/Imaginary Friend with superpowers/g ?
Ah, see how being politically incorrect hurts others?
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Re: thank God
As in s/God/Imaginary Friend with superpowers/g ?
Ah, see how being politically incorrect hurts others?
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Dorpusity
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Re: Dorpusity
Except this time it was sam, the heir apparent.
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Re: Re: Dorpusity
No, Dorpus will show up and keep showing up. For there to be an heir, there would have to be a lack of Dorpus. Techdirt is not Dorpus-less.
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Re: Dorpusity
Dorpus hasn't shown up yet... please, allow me:
In 1398, 10 miles outside of Montgomery and long before Columbus "found" the new world, the Native Americans had a magazine about Japanese schoolgirls in lederhosen called "Crotch Rot". Of course, it was printed on Cypress bark in goat's blood, but it still proves that Parsons' comment is on target. Or are you a mysoginist?
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let's talk about basic research 101... if you would take a sec, and use google, or any other search engine. you could in a few seconds find the corp link for time warner, which would list the overall corp breakdown. here you would see that magazines comprise a good portion of the revenues.
here's a link for you to observe!
>>http://www.timewarner.com/corp/businesses/detail/time_inc/index.html
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confused about markets?
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learn to read.. and then take some time, and try to comprehend.. i know the words might be a little too complex for you. but we have faith!!
i stated, that a good portion of 'time warner' is based upon magazine publications, which derive a good chunk of their revenues from advertising, which competes against google....
the thesis is that 'time warner' does consider google to be a competitor, which is exactly the way they should be considered...
you might find yourself doing business with your competition for pure business reasons, but that doesn't stop the competition from being your competitor...
hope you can comprehend this.. if you can't maybe someone else can help you out...!!
peace
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Re: by sam
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Google pays AOL roughly $400mm / year
M
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I laugh. :-D
Seriously, though, yes; they're just not the ones you usually notice. I would wager that your average volunteer open source programmer takes great pride in his work.
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I have had nothing but break downs in your communication services since it started three months ago WHAT'S UP!!!I pay over 100 dollars a month for the service that is never running I never get my e-mails And people say we can never get through on your 207-510-1803 line!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 Come on I need help here!!!
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Comments made by Bill Maher
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