New media makes the rise of small businesses increasingly possible

Paul Godfrey of Postmedia said that everyday is now a digital one and happens to work for a company which recognizes just that. Postmedia, which owns The National Post just recently turned a profit under Godfrey's watch, defying the odds and proving that yes, a company that owns newspapers can turn a profit in the digital and mobile age.

Many long-standing Canadian traditional media companies and broadcasters still haven't embraced digital and mobile fully- a panel between the CBC, Astral Media, Rogers, and Corus Entertainment at X-Summit two weeks ago said that their digital revenues only account for somewhere between 5-10% on average, if that. The CBC views it as an extension and said they paid dearly for the high-definition upgrade. Astral Media's Peter Furnish said that they were lucky to have properties that their listeners happen to love. 

Steve Levy on behalf of Ipsos Reid showed a graph at Digital Day that the marketing and advertising spend picture continues to shift as traditional mediums such as print advertising have declined another 28% in 2011, Radio 22%, TV 11%, and direct mail 20%. 

Whereas e-mail ad spend has risen another 45%, digital 71% and mobile 76% in 2011.

Marc Dinsdale of Rogers said on a subsequent panel from the CMA: "It's a great time for brands to be the voice of authority". That was no more clear at yesterday's Small Business Summit where Bill Walker, the General Manager of Fleishman-Hillard said that this is the fall of advertising coupled with the rise of public relations. Walker continued in simply saying that advertising no longer has credibility.

While consumers are beginning to become comfortable with high-level content produced by brands in the wake of old media's fall from grace, one must remember that literally anything can be media now. Just as everything in some way will be disrupted and impacted by digital and mobile.

Besides, if you're one of those people that don't believe corporations should have all the power and are protesting in an Occupy movement, here's a bit of enlightenment- these new media fields are going to allow for the rise of more small businesses and independents. This is because it's extremely clear that the traditional broadcasters in Canada do not have hold of an increasingly growing and fragmented digital and mobile media revenue pie.

Some corporations may have the money to eventually buy out those companies as they are outbidding private equity firms these days according to James Kofman of Cormak Securities. However, in terms of growth financing, Chad Bayne of Osler Hoskins & Harcourt LLP said that only the good ideas are getting financed, not the bad ones at Small Business Summit. That means corporations are being selective. 

The conditioins seem apparently ripe for the rise of small and medium sized businesses with corporations acting more conservatively with their money and private equity struggling to compete. There is no more evidence of that in the music industry where most traditonal revenue models have been broken down. Bands are now touring around the world making 3-5 million dollars annually according to influential entertainment lawyer Chris Taylor who's CEO of Last Gang Entertainment at Digital Day. 

The rise of a music middle class if you will that could spread to other industries. And certainly so, if people continue to think of ways to disrupt the way traditional business operates as technology continues to become so ingrained in our lives. 

However, we must remember that there is still a gap in digital between the effort in digital versus the public's willingness to recieve. A transformation such as this will happen much slower than you might think, but eventually.