Four Media Predictions, part 3 of 3

In the last two posts I’ve made some observations of My Network TV, the new News Corporation television network, and of MySpace.com, the News Corporation internet portal.

News Corporation, as you know, is the Rupert Murdoch media conglomerate. That conglomerate exists because Murdoch has a history of recognizing opportunities. While the other networks are slugging it out in a zero sum game for the same viewers, for instance, he’s established sports programming distribution into China.

Marketing consultants shouldn't make predictions of what's to come. If we're wrong it blows our credibility.

Then again, when we're right, it tends to show that we do know what we're talking about.

Hummm.

Let’s tie my observations in parts one and two of this series into some projections, shall we?

First, younger viewers are spending more time online. And thanks to broadband (which gets faster and cheaper every year), it won’t be long before they turn to the web for longer form programming. I predict that News Corporation will develop programming content that will easily transfer from My Network to MySpace to multiple other new-media platforms.

Second, as MySpace continues to develop, among members of the emerging generation it will become more influential than MTV.

Third, I predict that as MySpace grows in influence among younger web users, Yahoo, AOL, and MSN will be negatively impacted.

And finally, earlier this year Fox used MySpace to promote the Fox TV comedy Free Ride. Without buying ads, they managed to work viral marketing to launch the show.

Watch for more. I predict this will become a textbook example of integrating content and using new media to recruit viewers for traditional media.

One last observation:

As of mid May, My Network TV already had 141 affiliates. Their combined reach is 89.9 million households, which equates to 81.6% of the U.S.

Its still waaaaay to early to recommend My Network TV and it's programming.

But shouldn't we all be watching closely on September 5 to see what happens after they launch?

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