MONACO: Addressing last week's Monaco Media Forum, James Murdoch (pictured) said NewsCorp did not subscribe to the metastasizing pessimism about the prospects for newsprint.
Emulating Pop's proclivity for finger-wagging, Murdoch minor accused the newspaper publishing business at large of failing to heed customers' changing wishes.
"The newspaper industry has spent so much time wringing its hands about things that are exogenous and not enough time thinking about customers' daily lives," he said.
He conceded that NewsCorp's titles in the UK are facing pressure from declining adspend and said the company is "reviewing every link in its supply chain". [English translation: squeezing suppliers.]
Moreover, revealed the scion, NewsCorp is now using advanced marketing techniques, like using The Sunday Times in the UK to promote other, non-print businesses – a process practised in the world's street markets for several centuries!
James, who inherited control of Clan Murdoch's European and Asian businesses last year, said that NewsCorp is now focusing on how to double the size of these businesses within five years.
But recent losses on investments in western Europe's ITV and Premiere TVcompanies, along with aborted auctions of assets in Russia and Bulgaria, will have done little to help advance this familial ambition.
Emulating Pop's proclivity for finger-wagging, Murdoch minor accused the newspaper publishing business at large of failing to heed customers' changing wishes.
"The newspaper industry has spent so much time wringing its hands about things that are exogenous and not enough time thinking about customers' daily lives," he said.
He conceded that NewsCorp's titles in the UK are facing pressure from declining adspend and said the company is "reviewing every link in its supply chain". [English translation: squeezing suppliers.]
Moreover, revealed the scion, NewsCorp is now using advanced marketing techniques, like using The Sunday Times in the UK to promote other, non-print businesses – a process practised in the world's street markets for several centuries!
James, who inherited control of Clan Murdoch's European and Asian businesses last year, said that NewsCorp is now focusing on how to double the size of these businesses within five years.
But recent losses on investments in western Europe's ITV and Premiere TVcompanies, along with aborted auctions of assets in Russia and Bulgaria, will have done little to help advance this familial ambition.
Data sourced from Financial Times; additional content by WARC staff
