I don’t think I’ve listened to the radio in close to three years. Even if I have, I’m sure I dove at the thing before anyone could finish telling me not to “touch that dial,” and skipped over any and all commercials. So it’s no surprise that Google made plans this week to shut down it’s broadcast radio ad program. The company will still invest in streaming audio ad-selling programs, however. This comes on the heels of Google shutting down it’s Print Ads program just a few weeks ago. Two traditional media channel programs falling by the wayside to make way for digital.
Kodak also acknowledged a need to focus on new media. Kodak is putting it’s future in the hands of enterprise workflow solutions, consumer inkjet and commercial inkjet printing in hopes that when the smoke clears, they’ll be left standing in a favorable position.
Whereas when the tech bubble burst earlier this decade and all the new media/Silicon Valley companies were left in the dust, now the fat being trimmed is traditional media. Although in troubled times we may look to grasp onto what’s most familiar and hunker down with ideas that have worked in the past, it’s refreshing to know that companies out there are setting themselves up for a less staticky and brighter future, hopefully for all of us.
