The New World Financial Media Order

I had a conversation yesterday with a fellow writing a column on the history of financial media and how the Internet has changed the game. He somehow got it in his head that I was the world's first financial blogger -- no doubt a function or Mr. Ritholtz, who offered as much in New York Magazine -- and I wanted to share some top-line vibes as they’re top-of-mind.
 

• I've never considered myself a blogger; either because there was no such term when I first started writing or it cost too much money (personally) to build the 'Ville before open-source solutions were invented a few years later. Always early, eh? Tell me about it (stud).
  
  
• The confluence of technology and regulation (Reg FD) paved the way for the democratization of financial information. Research, by law, was required to be simultaneously available on a public domain. That happened to occur as shared networks become a single click away.
  
  
• As discussed in the 2006 article, State of the Art, the traditional Wall Street model was in the process of inverting. Customer facilitation was the primary functionality before addendums such as research and IPO's were added. With the proliferation of low cost trading platforms and volume discount offerings, that differentiation waned.
  
  
• When I was a young buck at Mother Morgan, it took between six and eight minutes to get a "fill" on an order (insert old man joke here). Once electronic platforms leveled that playing field, Wall Street reinvented risk and reached towards new revenue streams. We all know how that turned out.
  
  
• The rate of change in the financial realm is matched only by the rate of change in the media sphere. NBC, CBS (CBS), and ABC (DIS) -- and eventually Fox (NWS) -- were network oligopolies for years but the Internet changed that. Yahoo! (YHOO), MSN (MSFT), and AOL (AOL) became the next-gen digital networks... but don't blink!
  
  
• The advent of alternative media outlets -- such as Twitter -- turned traditional and digital networks into singular channels almost overnight.
  
  
• While the Internet is the single greatest deflationary invention of all-time, I believe in a few simple truths.
  
  
• There is information deflation but agile content remains king and branded content will reemerge.
  
  
• Brand value is being reassessed versus traditional metrics such as viewers and page views. Playboy (PLA) is the latest example of this, but it won’t be the last.
  
  
• Financial media has a competitive advantage over traditional media. You won't pay The Food Network more for a better casserole recipe but you'll pay for better and timelier financial information that can be readily monetized.

We often say the leaders coming out of a crisis won’t be the same as those that entered it and the ability to add capacity into the downturn will define those winners. That applies to the financial industry -- online players will continue to take consumer share while boutique brokers (BTIG, WJB, MKM) take institutional share -- and it’s true in the media realm, where an over-abundance of information awaits the millennials who grow up.

The evolution is akin to a forest fire; scary and dangerous yet necessary for a fertile rebirthing for future growth. Yes, I’ve seen my fair share of change from the inside-out in industries the last twenty years, and the only thing I can say with absolute certainty is we ain’t seen nothing yet.

Enjoy the journey; we live in dynamic times.

R.P.