Games Changers And Media Killers

Michael Hedges October 3, 2013 Follow on Twitter

There’s always something behind a brand. Thinkers on the subject say it’s a story. The more potent, the more valuable. Magic has replaced fizz. Maybe things haven’t changed so much.

New media device maker Apple climbed the 2013 brand value rankings from Interbrand pushing soft drink icon Coca Cola from the top spot. The Apple brand is worth US$98.316 billion, up 28% from 2012. Search engine giant Google moved into second place with a brand value just slightly less at US$93.291, up from number four. For the first time this century the most highly valued brand has no radio jingle.

Four of the five brands increasing value most over 2012 rankings are all identified with the new media scene. Online retailer – and other stuff – Amazon reached number 19 with a brand value of US$23.62 billion, up 27% one year on. Facebook’s brand value shot up 43% to US$7.732 billion, ranking number 52. Luxury goods seller Prada’s brand value rose 30% to US$5.57 billion, but where would they be without those slick magazine ads.

Radio broadcasters first sensed the demise of highly profitable juke-box music formats when Apple launched iTunes in 2000, quickly followed by the iPod. Its smart devices iPhone and iPad are the world’s best known new media delivery gizmos as well as major fashion accessories. More than half of tablets in the UK are iPads. Apple also makes laptop and desktop computers and may – or may not – reach into television.

Google is – well – Google. More people attach to the web through the Google portals than any other. Newspaper publishers have hated Google since giving up typewriters and eyeshades. Rupert Murdoch once called Google a “parasite.” The YouTube video portal changed the course of television. Google patents smartphone operating system software. It sells advertising. Yahoo!, a Google competitor in many respects, exited the Interbrand top 100 list this year.

Changing several media sector actors in its 18-year history is Amazon, arguably the greatest marketer of e-commerce. Brick and mortar booksellers may have passed into obscurity on Amazon’s triumph but book publishers found an efficient and popular distribution partner. Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos recently bought – personally – the Washington Post newspaper.

With media watcher’s incessant fondling – not to forget more than a billion worldwide users – Facebook’s fast rise up the Interbrand top 100 is no surprise. Like it or else, Facebook is the icon of social media, entering the best global brands list last year at number 69. Now, it’s number 52. It sells advertising and has invested heavily in mobile media.

There are four media brands, as defined by Interbrand, on the top 100 list. Content producer Disney, on the list for years, is ranked number 14 and the brand is valued at US$28.147 billion, up 3% year on year. The Disney brand is about as evergreen as it gets.

News and information supplier Thomson Reuters ranks number 47 and the brand is valued at US$8.103 billion, down 4% from 2012. The company is, arguably, the global leader in what’s called data journalism. They collect and sell numbers about everything, typically to banks.

Viacom’s MTV network of television channels, ubiquitous globally, ranked number 78. It’s brand value, as estimated by Interbrand, has sunk to its lowest this century, US$4.98 billion. Foreswearing its music TV positioning for reality shows, MTV’s brand value peaked in 2008 at US$7.193 billion. It’s been downhill ever since.

Another television provider, Discovery Communications entered Interbrand’s 2013 list of best global brands, ranked number 70. The company’s cable and satellite channels are seen in 220 countries with about 1.5 billion viewers outside the US. Early this year the company ventured into European broadcasting, acquiring the Scandinavian television and radio assets of ProSiebenSat.1 Media for US$1.7 billion.

Pure media brands, traditionally defined, typically take three or four spots in the Interbrand best global brands ranking. The list is always dominated by automobile, luxury, food and drinks brands. Ten years ago (2003) Disney ranked number 7, MTV ranked number 47 and Reuters - predecessor to Thomson Reuters - ranked number 78. Apple was ranked 50th. Then, too, AOL, Yahoo! and publisher/broadcaster Time were ranked 64th, 65th and 66th, respectively. Also gone; the Wall Street Journal, then ranked 98th.

See also in ftm Knowledge

Media Business Models Emerging

After a rough transition media business models are emerging. Challenges remain. There are Web models, mobile models, free models, pay models and a few newer models. It makes for exciting times. This ftm Knowledge file examines emerging business models and the speed-of-light changes. 137 pages PDF (January 2013)

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