Old Media Jumping to New Media
People are getting antsy this summer! Sources tell us this afternoon that PC Magazine editor in chief Jim Louderback has left to become the new CEO of Revision3, and CNET host Veronica Belmont has left to make video for Jason Calacanis' search startup Mahalo.
Context & Ripple Effects
The reported moves cap a busy stretch for Jason Calacanis' Mahalo, which launched its human-powered search engine in alpha at the D conference and opened its Greenhouse program to crowdsource results within weeks of each other in June 2007 — adding a recognizable on-air name like Veronica Belmont gives the young product a face. Revision3, meanwhile, is reportedly staffing up on the strength of an $8 million second round led by Greylock disclosed in late June, though that raise remains unconfirmed.
The pattern here is talent flowing from established tech-media brands into internet-video startups: Scobleizer framed the same-day departures as veterans jumping to video ventures, and Belmont's own announcement confirms she is leaving CNET, lending weight to what NewTeeVee sources report about Jim Louderback's exit from PC Magazine.
First-order effects
- PC Magazine loses its editor in chief and CNET loses a prominent on-air host, forcing both outlets into succession searches at the height of their summer schedules.
Second-order effects
- Revision3 and Mahalo convert old-media name recognition into instant credibility and marketing reach, raising the price other video and search startups must pay for equivalent talent.
- Established publishers must now compete for editorial stars against venture-funded startups whose equity offers and on-camera platforms traditional mastheads cannot match.
Third-order effects
- If the migration holds, individual journalists become brands in their own right — portable audiences that shift bargaining power from publishing institutions to the people fronting them.
The trend: Tech-media talent is moving from legacy print and broadcast brands to internet-video and consumer-web startups funded by the 2007 venture cycle.