There was an article in Business Week asking the question on "What's Next for MySpace?" Sandwiched between a lot of talk was a couple of sentences that touched on something that I've mentioned several times concerning local marketing and niches, that people in the U.S. are still very hesitant to embrace.
In reference to Fox (NWS-A) interactive media (FIM), they've made some quiet but big moves on that front with their local TV stations.
They've already rolled out 25 sites for their local stations that will increase to hundreds of the Fox TV Network affiliates.
Ron Berryman, senior vice-president and general manager of the TV stations group at FIM says that "These aren't online versions of the TV stations. These Web sites are local Internet portals, each local Web site has a small staff that includes an editorial specialist and a salesperson."
Rupert Murdoch understands that bigger is smaller; that national is becoming local. What I really like especially about this, is what Berryman said about these aren't simply online versions of the TV stations. In other words, they aren't just doing the tired, old regurgitating of what is offline and reproducing in online.
A lot of media companies are going to not know what hit them when there are competitors all over the U.S. that weren't even on their radar. I like this move by News Corp.
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