{"id":1947,"date":"2026-05-18T14:29:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T13:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/?p=1947"},"modified":"2026-05-18T14:29:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T13:29:43","slug":"the-uncertain-future-of-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/the-uncertain-future-of-media\/","title":{"rendered":"The (Uncertain) Future of Media"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The first Cog Blog post appeared on 2nd<\/sup> July 2013. There have been over 450 posts since. I don\u2019t think any have been on as important a topic as this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you search for \u2018Conferences on the Future of Media\u2019 what you find are specialisms. Events on media technology, on programmatic advertising, on trading. Or on TV, influencers, podcasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t find an event on the very future of the media, as in: does it have one?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Yet it seems a reasonable question, at least as it relates to media forms that rely in whole or part on advertising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Money continues to flow out of more \u2018traditional\u2019 domestic media forms towards the giant US-based online platforms. Around two-thirds of all UK ad pounds currently make that journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isn\u2019t this just \u2018the market\u2019 doing what markets do? Markets aren\u2019t always forces for good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A pluralistic media scene is A Good Thing. Good for democracy; good for holding power to account; good for encouraging informed thought and fair debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A strong, varied domestic media industry is important too. Important for hosting locally-centred points of view, as voices that help shape our national identity. As the foundation of our historically successful creative services industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admittedly some way down the list of beneficiaries, a varied domestic media scene is good for advertisers as it builds and engages audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The alternative is US-centric, un-regulated, built on user-generated content that is by definition largely unprofessional and thus avoidable, offering up the sort of fast food media content that might fill a hole temporarily but does not build a healthy body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet this is the path we are on. Why is this debated? And if I\u2019m wrong and it is, why is the voice of the advertising industry so absent?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two key reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, the \u2018church versus state\u2019 debate of the analogue era lingers. How dare advertisers interfere in matters of editorial concern?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is so outdated that it is hardly worth a comment. Yet many editors still have too little to do with the advertising business; they don\u2019t understand it, they distil success down to \u2018more clicks\u2019 and they rarely feature our point of view in any public debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second it has to be said that the platforms have done a truly wonderful job infiltrating our institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Advertising Association, 100 years young and a source of many good things has as its stated aim the promotion of the: \u201c\u2026role, rights and responsibilities of advertising and its impact on individuals, the economy and society.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about when the impact of advertising on the UK economy is impacted negatively by the flow of money to US-based platforms? Or when the quality and variety of our own media outlets\u2019 output is so negatively affected?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why don\u2019t we question META more (or even at all) on public platforms? To quote one (unselected) question submitted at the AA\u2019s LEAD event: \u2018Why are they even here\u2019?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it appropriate to have a trade association with members with such a divisive list of commercial goals? Or with members who do not act in a legal, honest or truthful manner?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are not easy questions, or rather they are easy for a blogger to ask, a lot harder for any membership organisation relying on subscriptions and sponsorships, to answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A debate on these issues is overdue and should involve those inside and outside the ad industry. This is why Advertising: Who Cares?<\/a> is hosting a 3-hour event (Who Cares Wins) at Prospect Magazine on the afternoon of June 11th<\/sup>.  No sponsors, no paid-for slots, and no axe to grind beyond the objective of a healthy, pluralistic media industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who Cares Wins will have two long-form, moderated discussion panels \u2013 one on the threat to content, the other on online safety. These are related.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more we have a flourishing domestic media industry delivering attentive, engaged audiences, the stronger our position pushing for common standards of regulation and a safer online advertising world free of scams and fraudulent traffic. These ambitions are good for advertisers \u2013 certainly better than large unverified audience numbers not to mention fake ads and online harm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have one advertising speaker, the estimable Jake Dubbins, Co-Founder of the Conscious Advertising Network, the other five panellists are all \u2018outsiders\u2019: a programme maker, an editor, a publisher, an activist and a regulator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We want to hear from advertisers, professional advisors, trade bodies, journalists, programme commissioners and makers, media owners of all shapes and sizes, and politicians (and we are working to get them).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is important; it\u2019s essential that those formulating policy hear from as wide a group as possible. Including you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tickets are available here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first Cog Blog post appeared on 2nd July 2013. There have been over 450 posts since. I don\u2019t think any have been on as important a topic as this one. If you search for \u2018Conferences on the Future of Media\u2019 what you find are specialisms. Events on media technology, on programmatic advertising, on trading. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1947"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1947"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1949,"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1947\/revisions\/1949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}