The industry is so in flux that opportunities for shaping the future of media and entertainment are everywhere, said the women at the Dynamic Women in Business Conference 2004 panel on "The Modern Evolution of the Media Industry," held January 24, 2004.
"Personally, I see it as being the most creative and innovative time in the industry. It's the wild West," said Ceci Kurzman, vice president of worldwide marketing for Epic Records Group. "The record business may be in decline, but the music business is forever." Kurzman said she welcomed the consolidation because margins have been stretched so thin that too many record companies can't afford the kind of talent development they need to do for the future.
She and the other panelists said technology is creating both opportunities and challenges in their industries right now. Moderator Tara Walpert (HBS MBA '99), an associate principal with McKinsey where she works with many media and entertainment clients, said the rise of DVDs and TiVO are making it more difficult to get advertising to consumers, for example. Just as free but illegal music downloading took a toll on the record industry, the rise of so many free news sources, particularly on the Internet, has made revenue-generation tougher for newspapers.
| To hear the negatives, and still move forward, to me is the best way to get your foot in the door. |
| — Toni Erickson Knight, WorldLink |
Margaret M. Cromelin, vice president of marketing for The Washington Post, said that five years into the launch of the newspaper's Web site, "We have seen some measurable loss of readership to the Internet." She said surveys show that 20 percent of readers are spending less time with the newspaper because they're spending more time on the Internet. However, she said, 11 percent say they are spending more time with the newspaper because of what they've seen on the Internet. The company's Web site is helping to push its brand, she said.
"What we see now is a wonderful synergy" between the paper and its online presence, said Cromelin.
Claire Cowart (HBS MBA '85), senior vice president for business development and strategy at Court TV, said her company is looking to tap into technology and new products as a way to compensate for cable television fees that are no longer growing as the cable industry has consolidated to only a few players.
This is a difficult time to break in for those with no media or entertainment industry experience, the experts agreed. Still, they said, persistence is important and those who want to find a way into the media and entertainment business arena can—but flexibility is important.
"You have to be willing to start at a somewhat lower position, I think, if you want to switch industries," Cromelin said.
Toni Erickson Knight, founder and chief executive officer of WorldLink, a full-service media sales firm with seventy employees, said she remembers that many people tried to discourage her when she was looking for a way into the Los Angeles media market. Getting into that highly desirable market wasn't easy, and people told her she'd have to get a job in a smaller market before she could hope to land in L.A.
"You're going to hear people telling you, 'You're never going to be able to do it, you're going to have to move," she said. "To hear the negatives, and still move forward, to me is the best way to get your foot in the door."
All the women in the panel said they love the creativity and energy of the industry and look forward to the challenges ahead. "Every day I wake up with a smile on my face," Kurzman said. "I never have a moment of regret." 