Audience Matters

This may be the most basic of arguments, but somehow it is lost at times within the industry. Nothing happens without an audience. It is the product that we sell. The newspaper and related websites are merely channels to reach that audience, nothing more.

However, I have actually heard that we need to develop products that don't depend on audience.

Huh?

It's similar to wanting to develop products without customers.

What media sells is access to its audience, plain and simple. We have been honored with a bit of attention and we sell a portion of that to willing parties. Advertisers expect this exchange of value.

To develop without audience is a fundamental disconnect from the value that our clients are buying. This mentality is disingenuous at best, and extortionate at worst. It smacks of self importance and entitlement.

Audience matters, and its our job to go out and *earn* it every day.