So, Marc Andreessen thinks the news business is going to grow 1000 percent. The arguments sound compelling enough. Cut pasting an excerpt here from a blog post that appeared on Wired Magazine.
Marc Andreessen is at it again. First, he said that software is eating the world. Then, he told us the bitcoin digital currency will remake global finance. And now, the venture capitalist and founding father of the web browser says we’re on the verge of a major boom in the business of journalism, an internet-powered resurgence that will see the industry grow more than tenfold.
Andressen isn’t the first investor to bet big on a new wave of original online content — either in this internet revolution or the last one — and few bets have actually panned out. But there’s hard evidence that the boom he forecasts is already underway.
I wonder though what's on the mind of publishers in India. Just when I thought I had figured the damn business out, every publisher wants to shut news operations down. And if you think that is because everybody is migrating to the digital space, I can assure you, they don't know their heads from their backsides.
Don't ask me names here. But one of the largest media Indian media companies with interests in television, print and digital is pumping money hand over fist into their digital properties. Last fiscal, the flagship property earned a topline of Rs 75 lakh (a little over $122k). Chump change for the kind of investments they've made. This fiscal, word on the street the numbers may be double that. But traffic is slowing down and they don't know which way to go.
Then there's the big daddy of them all who's pumped in god-alone-knows how many million dollars and earning practically nothing out of it.
A bloody good time to disrupt and take incumbents on. They've had a good ride for way too long.
And I can assure you, the challengers are on their way.