Television Is the New Television: The Unexpected Triumph of

Television Is the New Television: The Unexpected Triumph of Old Media in the Digital Age

"The closer the new media future gets, the further victory appears." --Michael Wolff

This is a book about what happens when the smartestÂ people in the room decide something is inevitable, andÂ yet it doesnâ€™t come to pass. What happens when omensÂ have been misread, tea leaves misinterpreted, gurusÂ embarrassed?

Twenty years after the Netscape IPO, ten years afterÂ the birth of YouTube, and five years after the first iPad,Â the Internet has still not destroyed the giants of oldÂ media. CBS, News Corp, Disney, Comcast, Time Warner,Â and their peers are still alive, kicking, and makingÂ big bucks. The New York Times still earns far more fromÂ print ads than from digital ads. Super Bowl commercialsÂ are more valuable than ever. Banner ad space on YahooÂ can be bought for a relative pittance.

Sure, the darlings of new mediaâ€”Buzzfeed, HuffPo,Â Politico, and many moreâ€”keep attracting ever moreÂ traffic, in some cases truly phenomenal traffic. But asÂ Michael Wolff shows in this fascinating and sure-to-be-controversial book, their buzz and venture financingÂ rounds are based on assumptions that were wrong fromÂ the start, and become more wrong with each passingÂ year. The consequences of this folly are far reaching forÂ anyone who cares about good journalism, enjoys bingeingÂ on Netflix, works with advertising, or plans to have aÂ role in the future of the Internet.

Wolff set out to write an honest guide to the changingÂ media landscape, based on a clear-eyed evaluationÂ of who really makes money and how. His conclusion: theÂ Web, social media, and various mobile platforms are notÂ the new television. Television is the new television.

We all know that Google and Facebook are thriving byÂ selling online adsâ€”but theyâ€™re aggregators, not contentÂ creators. As major brands conclude that banner ads nextÂ to text basically donâ€™t work, the value of digital traffic toÂ content-driven sites has plummeted, while the value ofÂ a television audience continues to rise. Even if millionsÂ now watch television on their phones via their Netflix,Â Hulu, and HBO GO apps, that doesnâ€™t change the balanceÂ of power. Television by any other name is the gameÂ everybody is trying to winâ€”including outlets like TheÂ Wall Street JournalÂ that never used to play the game at all.

Drawing on his unparalleled sources in corner officesÂ from Rockefeller Center to Beverly Hills, Wolff tells usÂ whatâ€™s really going on, which emperors have no clothes,Â and which supposed geniuses are due for a major fall.Â Whether he riles you or makes you cheer, his book willÂ change how you think about media, technology, and theÂ way we live now.

From the Hardcover edition.

Country	USA
Author	Michael Wolff
Binding	Kindle Edition
EISBN	9780698405523
Format	Kindle eBook
Label	Portfolio
Manufacturer	Portfolio
NumberOfPages	224
PublicationDate	2015-06-23
Publisher	Portfolio
ReleaseDate	2015-06-23
Studio	Portfolio

Television Is the New Television: The Unexpected Triumph of Old Media in the Digital Age

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