Tag: Dr. Ed Cohen

A lot of what passes for media measurement discussion has recently focused on YouTube's announcement of a change to the definition of a "view"...

I haven't heard that any of the top folks in the publicly held radio companies are saying, "Our companies aren't doing well. I've made a lot of money, so I'm going to work for a greatly reduced salary and benefit package until we can turn this around. That might save some jobs in my company."

I was on a Zoom call last week with one of my former bosses, and we agreed that we're glad we're not doing surveys for a living anymore. It's a very tough business, and all these factors can cause some strange results.

In 1970, newspapers were doing OK, still making money from subscriptions, display advertising, and want ads (remember those?). Many big markets had two papers, and perhaps one was "failing." Who could have accurately predicted where the newspaper business would be in 2026?

What's so unusual is the opposition coming from the right, not just the expected criticism from the left.

This study should be yet another wake-up call for our industry.

It won't happen overnight, but the tectonic plates are shifting, and once there's momentum, who knows where it will end.

There are some very good academics in our universities who could offer new thoughts and ideas. But in my view, the business folks and the teachers don't spend enough time together.

You're probably thinking, "Ed, why should I care about all that, especially after a holiday weekend?" Both the Quadrennial Report and the Communications Marketplace Report are due this year. It matters because these reports become the basis for changing the media ownership rules.

We are living through a media revolution, and if anyone claims to know where things are going, be sure to check back in a few years and see how far their projections were from reality.