After 3 years of work with bloggers and other indie creators, I’ve come to a conclusion that these are the massive shifts in media.

Brands as Publishzers

Yes, in addition to the traditional inclusion of companies/products, a blogger is a brand as well. Most importantly, brands do not necessary just publish and advertise on media sites. We are seeing a massive shifts of brands going into publishing and content distribution with their own properties on unique domain, Facebook, Twitter and on Publishzer.

The brands are replacing the traditional publishers outright. So, does content creation by commercial brands sound repulsing to you? Well, tradional publishers can’t monetise their flat distribution and product plans. If banners are your only method, readers are not going to get on that train.

This change is not about being dependent on where people read, but how and why they read. Big media is becoming a playground for owned and earned media properties that can scale. A playground of platforms, where brands do not need a buyer in the middle.

Media agencies become the secondary market.

This takes us to the fact that media agencies are scared for a reason. The big journalism and the big data markets are much bigger than media agencies. That’s where the big clients are playing. In media purchase, more than 40% of measured media budgets are shifting towards content-generation just in 2012.

Banner ads are being put into their proper place, which is lower end slots in less important sites, and replaced by rich, original content and stories driven by experiences that have real value. The value cannot be predetermined, but is created together with readers. They are the ones who bridge the gap for their friends.

It’s about remixing, creating new experiences and sharing them with others. We are outdated with the tracking mechanisms and need something else than CPM, CPC or CPA. Some 50% of media spent is not accounted for and many are getting sick of it. So are people who consume, remix and share content. They simply don’t want banners flooding their content and social media feeds.

The influence on a purchase and the key mindset in engagement is discovery, not the feeling of being served. Great experiences obviate the intent to purchase. Purchasing a product is a state of mind. Purchases happen through sharing, not selling.

(This post is influenced by this)