CONTENT IS ALL

For many years now, the media industry has loudly trumpeted the so-called fragmentation of the media landscape. You can't get the same audiences you used to get... the eight pm timeslot is dead they said.

Well, I would like to draw people's attention to the phenomenal success that Underbelly is currently enjoying. The ratings have been:

Week One: 2.5 million

Week Two: 2.4 million

Week Three: 2.3 million

Underbelly has set records for television audiences in the last twenty years.

In the face of this, I believe it can reasonably be argued that the eight pm timeslot is in fact alive and kicking, it's just waiting to be filled with good top quality content.

People have simply grown weary of the endless streams of crap they are being served on a regular basis - magazines suffer from a similar fate. Blaming all their woes on the rise of the Internet and the provision of free (not to mention high quality) journalism.

However some magazines are rising to the challenge, Monocle is a great example of a new entry that is quickly gaining market share through a reputation for excellence in all fields. Describing itself as a 'global briefing covering international affairs, business, culture and design' Monocle delivers to people's growing desire for high-quality content.

http://www.monocle.com

A great example of renegade intelligent media is Smashing Telly which describes itself as;

'Smashing Telly is a hand edited collection of the best free, instantly available TV on the web. Not 30 second clips of a dog on a skateboard, or the millionth person to mine the Numa song, but classic clips and full length programs, with a focus on documentaries and non fiction. Smashing Television, not Gimmick Television."

http://www.stumbleupon.com/toolbar/#topic=Television&url=http%253A%252F%252Fsmashingtelly.com%252F

here's hoping this rise in intelligent, considered media is something we will see much more of!