Future of MediaScapes in doubt as founder struggles to monetise
The future of MediaScapes – the service mapping the Australian media and marketing landscape – has been cast into doubt after founder Denise Shrivell expressed concerns about her ability to monetise the project she started in 2010.
There are currently 29 separate MediaScapes, covering everything from mainstream media, TV, radio, press, magazines, outdoor, digital, creative, media agencies, PR agencies and industry organisations.
Infographic of the ad tech market. Source: Mediascope
The MediaScapes, which are owned by Shrivell’s company Mediascope, are updated monthly to reflect each media channel. The project is entirely managed and run by Shrivell.
According to Shrivell, MediaScapes appear in presentations, staff inductions and on office walls throughout the industry, including being featured in the PwC Outlook Report as a complement to its media channel analysis.
She told Mumbrella: “I’ve found the MediaScapes very challenging to monetise and get a return on the significant amount of time and effort it takes to constantly monitor the market, manage and keep them updated – particularly the more complex Scapes i.e. digital, mobile, programmatic.
“The MediaScapes are now at the stage where new landscapes could be mapped and additional layers of value could be added – such as vendor contact details. As a solo operator I am unable to get the MediaScapes to this next level on my own.
“For the past 12 or so months I’ve been having irregular conversations in market to find a way ahead for the MediaScapes. I continue down this path, as overwhelmingly feedback from the industry is they want the MediaScapes to continue.”
Shrivell adds that her weekly newsletter will continue with the help of a partner.
It’s Mediascope, not Mediascape.
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Hi Anne,
Thanks for the comment. Denise’s company is called Mediascope, but she calls her excellent guides Mediascapes.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
I would be interested to learn how Denise has attempted to monetise this product in the past.
Also what exactly is the market using the reports for? Why does the market what the reports to continue? Is it because they’re cheap or free? They might just be a “nice to have” and not a need to have.
I guess what I’m really getting at is why do Mediascapes exist and how are they being used?
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Handy to have, but was never going to be monetised
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I think (from an academic perspective) that Mediascape’s form an important initial overview – certainly they help University students understand the nature of an ever growing and diverse series of Industries in Australia, and how they are interconnected.
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The truth is it’s a feature, not a company. The scapes on their own don’t warrant enough content to monetise as an actual publisher. At best they could be used to generate back links for someone else.
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“The MediaScapes, which are owned by Shrivell’s company Mediascope, are updated monthly to reflect each media channel.”
If this is true, why is the featured info graphic from 2015? The Australian media landscape has been through massive (digital heavy) transformation in the last 3 years.
Mitch
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If the Mediascapes are being used at agency & university level they have an audience eg professionals, AB’s, future undergrad students (who will enter the workforce at some stage) etc. So if you can profile the audience & determine volume of users, then this audience can be monetised. Once profiled suggest offering the different Mediascape categories for annual branding sponsorship to different businesses eg Digital Mediascape sponsorship to digital media publisher, Media Agency Mediascape sponsorship to Media Agency, or even get on board a luxury car sponsor to reach AB’s, or IT / Banking / Education sponsors to reach potential future post grad students / potential future employees / future professionals for financial services etc. The list can go on. It just depends on what you discover when each Mediascape’s audience is profiled.
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Is there any depth to these charts? All i can see is logos, work stream – what would make this valuable to more people is a one page synopsis for each of the companies listed.
also from a monetisation angle, agencies shouldn’t need this nor their clients as this is something that you should be across in a media agency and their respective clients
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These may be useful for entry-level employees of any of the relevant industries mentioned (as a media 101 overview), but there is no insight provided to cater for anyone above that level of professional.
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