When the pendulum swings

The interactive industry, as many other things, has a natural ebb and flow to it causing shifts in power. Over the last few years we have seen the shift in power away from the publisher (seller) towards the agency and marketer (buyer). There have been many new businesses that have benefited from this shift, ad networks, rich media providers, and most recently ad exchanges and media buying platforms.

The question that has come up in many conversations of late is whether or not there will be a natural shift back toward the publisher. Some hypothesize with the new focus on real-time bidding and audience aggregation that the power of the publisher will continue to slip and they will become a shell of what they once were. Others believe that the natural order of things will return and publishers will once again regain a strong position in the market.

In order for the later to happen publishers are going to need to make some major changes in their strategy, leadership, technology and business processes. This will not be an easy transition for many companies, especially those that are tied to traditional print or broadcast business models. There are a number of publishers that seem to be making great strides in this direction - Meredith, Hearst and Fox to name a few.

It will be interesting to see how these traditional publishers cope with the fast pace of change and if they can catch up.