Coming Soon to The Chaos Scenario

Starting soon, I’ll be contributing to Ad Age columnist, On the Media host and industry gadfly commentator Bob Garfield’s new “Chaos Scenario” Web project, TheChaosScenario.net. More than an attempt to sell his book of the same title (which it is), it’s an attempt to do something important, at the very least chronicle the severe disruption that’s wracking media across disciplines. There are no safe corners I can think of. Even once-protected pockets like paid cable TV are trying new models, such as TV Everywhere (a significant part of the discussion yesterday with Avner Ronen, CEO of Boxee and Betsy Morgan ex- of HuffPost, on Naked Media -- on demand version will be live soon).

The creative work is harder and more crucial than ever, the barriers to entry lower, the opportunities to block competition or claim exclusive turf more challenged than ever. Anyone can come along and, with hard work, smarts and energy, launch a blog or VLOG or Facebook page or YouTube channel that picks off a choice portion of your audience. True, they may not have the brand or the distribution or the heft -- yet. And major media companies are acquisition engines as much as anything, these days. Just type in the name of any major player and variants on the word “acquire” to see how much news pops up. But the protected environments that let TV and newspaper and magazine salespeople demand high fees and continued business from marketers, as well as pricey subscriptions and per-use fees from consumers, are eroding fast.

Check out Bob’s video, from his site, for more.