Over the past couple weeks, I've attended several conferences, such as Warrillow and Digital Hollywood. Of course, a big topic is New Media – and how it will somehow kill Old Media.
But, it seems that Old Media is still alive and well. In fact, this week we've seen some key media deals; that is, CBS' (NYSE: CBS) $1.8 billion deal for CNET Networks (NASDAQ: CNET) and Comcast's (NASDAQ: CMCSA) $175 million purchase of Plaxo.
Funny enough, yesterday I had breakfast with a big-wig from Comcast (from the ecommerce division). While he said that his revenue line was still modest – compared to the rest of the organization – it was still growing at a rapid clip.
He was also a big fan of email marketing and mentioned that experimentation was critical (and, with Plaxo, I think he'll need a lot of creativity to make the deal work). Yet, he also extolled the virtues of synergy ... between Old and New Media.
If anything, I think Old Media can bring some discipline to web properties. For example, CNET is a bloated organization and could use some aggressive cost cuts.
Oh, and Old Media still has a ton of money to throw around. So I suspect we'll see lots more dealmaking.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook
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