Ten Questions You Need To Know the Answers To - Steve Blacker - MediaBizBloggers

1. Do national magazine awards mean anything? WIREDmagazine has won nine national magazine awards. WIREDad revenues and pages are off almost 50% this year.

2. Does self promotion work? The New York Posttouts on its back page "THE BEST SPORTS" and constantly attacks the NY Timesand Daily Newsin its pages. The New YorkPost's circulation is off dramatically this year and losses are at an all time high.

3. Did AOL have too many "suits" who got in each other's way? This week AOL laid off 2,500 people almost 50% of its work force. Might other media companies still be over bloated too?

4. Will O The Oprah Magazinestay at Hearst? Only Gayle King and Oprah know the answer to this question. My guess: if the costly new redesign initiated by Hearst does not work Oprah could decide to publish on her own or in partnership with the Discovery Channel.

5. Will the younger Newhouses push out Si and Donald? If Conde Nast does not come up with a cohesive, across the board digital strategy that is profitable, you could see the younger Newhouses selling Conde Nast and the entire Advanced Corporation. At present Conde is initiating piecemeal efforts on an ad hoc basis. Their editors fail to realize they are community managers and their digital people have yet to learn how to aggregate content in a meaningful (i.e. profitable) way.

6. Will Hachette Filipacchi Media US survive? To date Alain Lemarchand seems to have the opposite of a golden touch. Hachette is now down to just six publications from over 20: Elle, Elle Decor, Woman's Day, Car and Driver, Road & Trackand Cycle World. Woman's Dayprofits are down considerably. Car and Driverand Road & Trackcould lose money in 2010 and face major competition from Source Link and Motor Trend. Why? Don't be surprised if two former Hachette executives wind up there. Lemarchand's strategic moves for JUMPSTART have resulted in major havoc and losses this year that may exceed $10 million. The only bright spot is Elleand Elle Decorbut give Lemarchand time and he will muck that up too.

7. What's happening to network TV? Why are cable companies more profitable and growing? The successful emergence of FOX changed the old status quo in programming. ESPN rules because of its total sports dominance and revenues from affiliates. Bravo seems able to produce more original "hot" programming then NBC. The GE corporate culture seems to have negatively impacted Jeff Zucker; once a creative genius now a cost-saving Jay Leno programmer.

8. If most business models have changed and the consumer has way too many options what can you do to increase your odds for success? How about increasing your Consumer Research budget?!

9. Will Rupert Murdoch be able to charge for content? While I would not bet against Rupert normally, I doubt he will be able to pull this off. Once the consumer gets use to something like free content, it is almost impossible to change a habit that costs nothing to enjoy.

10. How come Meredith continues to have record profits and revenues? Answer: John Griffin and Andy Serayan. They know how to manage their brands and create new experiences and opportunities for both consumers and advertisers. Meredith's mass coverage is unmatched as is its multi-media marketing savvy.

Steve's new book You Can't Fall Off The Floor - The Insiders' Guide to Re-Inventing Yourself and Your Career chronicles his 50 year career working for over 25 different companies with 189 lessons learned and insider tips from Gayle King, Cathie Black, Chuck Townsend and 28 others; Blacker is still going strong today as a partner in Frankfurt & Blacker Solutions, LLC. His web site is blacker-reinventions.com and e-mail address is blackersolutions@aol.com

Read all Steve’s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Steve Blacker - MediaBizBloggers.

Follow our Twitter updates @MediaBizBlogger