Notable & Quotable
Selected Press Quotes by Peter Kreisky
2011
CRAIN'S NEW YORK BUSINESS (June 26, 2011)
Hearst Magazines makes its move:
President David Carey takes on archrival Condé Nast, market leader Time Inc. with innovations and 100 new titles, including Elle.
...The new president still faces the massive job of combining Lagardère's titles with the 200 owned by Hearst. And the publisher will need to put more resources into Harper's Bazaar and Elle if it's going to compete with Condé Nast, which is known for spending lavishly on production and editorial, as well as on marketing programs for its clients.
Mr. Carey also has to generate excitement about Hearst's digital properties and make the huge investment in iCrossing pay off.
“David has really upped [Hearst's] digital game,” said Brenda White, a senior vice president at media buying agency Starcom. “He needs to continue that momentum.”
Hearst will be helped by the six Hachette titles, particularly Elle, which has put it ahead of Condé Nast in the number of ad pages in the women's beauty and fashion categories in the U.S. That will give the publisher a stronger bargaining position with advertisers, insiders say.
“The nexus of the Hachette deal was for its unrivaled international reach,” said magazine consultant Peter Kreisky. “But the less-anticipated impact is how it tips the competitive balance in the U.S.”
Executives at Condé Nast, which recently beat Hearst to market with a subscription model for its iPad editions, insist they're unfazed.
“Our focus is very much on the creation of premium editorial content that reaches a very special audience, not the pursuit of scale or size,” said a Condé Nast spokeswoman.
But Hearst now has more monthlies than anyone, and Mr. Carey foresees that the company will get even bigger.
In October, the publisher will begin a test run of HGTV Magazine, marking its second partnership with Scripps Networks following the highly successful launch of Food Network Magazine. Mr. Carey expects to expand the magazine portfolio overseas. And he's not ruling out adding titles in the U.S.
“We have the pole position when it comes to monthlies,” he said. “Solidifying our position is something we're very focused on.”
2010
NEW YORK POST (August 11, 2010)
Time Inc. Names Jack Griffin CEO
Jack Griffin, the ex- Meredith national media head who was confirmed as the new CEO of Time Inc. on Monday, made a point of dining with the outgoing CEO Ann Moore in the Time Inc. cafe teria the same day. He also made the rounds to say hello to key man aging editors.
...most expect him to be a change agent for the nation's biggest magazine publisher.
"He's a highly disciplined thinker and very innovative," said Peter Kreisky, an industry consultant. "He's a total re-inventor. He's quiet but profound"
NEW YORK POST (August 10, 2010)
Time Inc. Officially Names Jack Griffin CEO
"I think Jack's tenure will be transformative rather than evolutionary at Time Inc.," said industry consultant Peter Kreisky. "He's a total re-inventor. He's quiet but profound."
"He's redesigned the business model for the industry that everyone is going to follow," Kreisky said. "He understands how the impact of digital is pervasive in every element of the magazine industry."
FINANCIAL TIMES (May 29, 2010)
How Jeff Bewkes is reinventing Time Warner
Shortly after Hulu launched, Bewkes convened a meeting of the top executives from the Warner Bros film and television studios; from Time Warner's pay-TV channel owners, HBO and Turner Broadcasting; and from its cable operator, Time Warner Cable. Very quickly, tensions rose as it became clear that there was little co-ordination of online strategies, and little understanding in some areas of how other parts of the group made money. An executive who attended the meeting recalls unease from Time Warner Cable executives about giving away programming for free on the internet, when the business depended on charging cable systems for distribution.
...The meeting underscored what Bewkes had already realised: that in all this unwinding of deals, the idea could not simply be to keep what worked and lose what didn't. Rather, Time Warner needed to do something more visionary: separate the distribution of media from its creation – thereby reversing the conventional wisdom behind two decades of the industry's thinking. ... "He's taking a risk," says Peter Kreisky, a media consultant and business school classmate. "The old model was built around scale and distribution – in print and movies and television and internet. He's moved away from that. It is a tectonic shift."
At that meeting, the need to clarify the company's objectives, ultimately by splitting media creation from distribution, became clear. But so did something else: the need to learn the lessons of AOL's failure and come up with a way of operating online that would work for the whole TV industry, not just Time Warner. "All these innovations, if they're going to work, they're going to have to be adopted by all the other studios and the other networks," Bewkes explains. "They've got to be plausible and they have to work with every distributor, not just Time Warner Cable, but other cable, satellite and telephone companies."
AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA: MARKETPLACE (May 26, 2010)
New Yorker eyes flat rate for all access
With so many new platforms -- Kindles, iPads and smartphones -- publishers are facing a whole new discussion about how to charge for content. The New Yorker said it's planning to offer a flat-rate subscription for its content across all platforms.
There are a lot of different ways to get The New Yorker each week -- in your mailbox, online, from the newsstand. Each one has a slightly different price.
This week, David Remnick, the editor, said the magazine will soon start charging a single flat-rate to access its content across all different platforms.
Peter Kreisky is a media consultant. He says that means for one price, you'll be able to read it anywhere.
PETER KREISKY: So you register once, and you get it wherever you want to have it.
Kreisky says getting the same rate across different platforms isn't as hard as you might think. Publishers like Conde Nast just have to negotiate. And if they have strong brands that platforms want to offer their consumers, it makes the negotiating all the easier.
He says the reason other content providers aren't pricing this way is because they still haven't figured out the best way to charge for content and keep their readers. He says consumers are willing to pay for content they think is unique or timely.
KREISKY: But they're not prepared to pay for news and information that's viewed as more of a commodity, because it's available free everywhere.
Kreisky says if The New Yorker's available in so many different ways, it could win the magazine more subscribers.
THE ECONOMIST (April 8, 2010)
Loving Touch:
Media companies try to breathe new life into physical products
Oddly, honing their old-fashioned physical products may help media firms adapt to technological change. Ideally, says Peter Kreisky, a media consultant, the magazine on the news-stand would become a gateway to a brand that exists profitably on many different platforms, from the iPad to the web. If that seems impossibly idealistic, consider one tech-savvy company that lavishes attention on the look and feel of its physical products, and the places where they are sold. Its name is Apple.
2009
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER (September 29, 2009)
The Thinker:
The incisive Jeffrey Bewkes has a bold new vision for Time Warner
None of his friends doubted his abilities. At Stanford, says Peter Kreisky, "He really stood out from the rest of the class. He was very worldly, had very strong opinions about everything and was very well informed. Others argued with the professors and got thrown out of class. Jeff never did. His opinions were valued and intensely and intelligently argued."
NPR: MORNING EDITION (September 11, 2009)
Frank Batten Sr., Weather Channel Founder Dies
STEVE INSKEEP, host: The Weather Channel is now a staple of cable television. Media industry strategist Peter Kreisky compares Batten to another TV broadcast pioneer.
Mr. PETER KREISKY (Strategist for media industry): He had the same kind of insight into the opportunities from weather that Ted Turner did when he created CNN. When the Internet came along a few years later, it really was perceived initially as a threat to the Weather Channel as opposed to an opportunity. But he quickly turned around and embraced the opportunity. And today the Weather Channel is the dominant source of weather information on just about every device you can imagine, from personal computers through to the iPhone.
INSKEEP: The man who started out as a newspaper copyboy last year sold his brainstorm, the Weather Channel, for three and a half billion dollars.
CNBC: POWER LUNCH (August 19, 2009)
Fashion Magazines Slump
Peter Kreisky: "The Annie Liebowitz's of this world are the stars of the system.. and give that extra edge that makes the difference."
"Fashion advertisers have a symbiotic relationship with fashion magazines .. they cannot do without them.. despite some leakage of advertising dollars to new media, there's very little that replaces the sensuality and reader experience of a good magazine."
WALL STREET JOURNAL (August 12, 2009)
Despite Ad Drought, Vibe Magazine To Relaunch With Digital Focus
Vibe, the hip-hop magazine that folded six weeks ago under a pile of debt, is being resurrected with a new spin -- as a Web-focused publication with a greater emphasis on Vibe's roots.... They intend to bring out the print edition only at the end of the year and then publish it quarterly rather than monthly, possibly increasing the frequency after 2010... The new owners of Vibe hope their emphasis on the online edition will help offset their risk.
"In the case of Vibe, this makes a great deal of sense because I can imagine many ways in which the brand can exist and be monetized outside its print heritage," said Peter Kreisky, a magazine industry consultant.
STANFORD BUSINESS SCHOOL EXCELLENCE IN LEADERSHIP AWARD DINNER (April 15, 2009)
Toast to Jeff Bewkes by Peter Kreisky on behalf of the Class of 1977 (Extract)
Jeff has done more than any other individual to transform the "vast wasteland" of television described by FCC Commissioner Newt Minow in 1961... Forty years later, Jeff rendered redundant the hidebound, Nielsen-enslaved culture that had fostered that wasteland of lowest common denominator, ratings-driven, programming.
Jeff's vision and leadership at HBO was groundbreaking -- and ultimately game-changing -- because the bold and creative programming he inspired matched a massive, previously unsatisfied, audience desire for intelligent drama, provocative documentaries, and uninhibited comedy. He connected sound insight into the economics of subscription television, and the importance of market leadership, to the unshackling of creative geniuses like David Chase, Alan Ball and David Milch. He took big risks, and they paid off.
What's more, HBO's phenomenal success swiftly got the attention of the entire industry and has driven a sea-change in the intelligence and sophistication now demanded of every senior entertainment executive. Now, everyone wants their own "Jeff Bewkes".
Or, to paraphrase Gilbert & Sullivan: "He is the very model of a modern media general."
Today, he's reshaping TimeWarner, replacing the undervalued void at the centre of the old conglomerate with a new beating heart. In short, the best is yet to come.
CRAIN'S NEW YORK BUSINESS (March 15, 2009)
Suddenly sexy: Consumer Reports
Observers say one key to the company's success has been its early adoption of a Web strategy that never involved giving content away. "Consumer Reports has been on the leading edge from day one in terms of applying technology to its business model," says media consultant Peter Kreisky.
2008
MEDIAWEEK (November 3, 2008)
Ad Downturn Leads to Time Inc., Condé Nast Bloodbaths
Observers said the upheaval, the result of falling ad revenue, upends a longstanding culture of independence and decentralization
Last week provided ample evidence the ad downturn is forcing magazine publishers not just to slash costs but to reinvent themselves.
...Observers said the upheaval, the result of falling ad revenue, upends a longstanding culture of independence and decentralization. "The siloed model of magazine titles and clearly defined roles and responsibilities is over," said consultant Peter Kreisky.
Thought to be stable-for now-is the magazines' place at corporate parent Time Warner, after rumors it would sell them. The need to digest the new setup "takes the notion off the table for a while," Kreisky said.
NEW YORK POST (October 22, 2008)
Not Time To Go; She Wants Moore
Time Inc., which had about $5.5 billion in revenue and $907 million in profit last year, is now getting about 15 percent of its revenue from digital operations. That's far more than rivals Hearst or Condé Nast collect.
The Web sites for Sports Illustrated and People are among the top 15 revenue-producing units at Time, which has 120 magazines and 40 Web sites worldwide.
Consultant Peter Kreisky, said of the Web strategy, "It's all about putting resources against brands that are scaleable and sustainable. The minor brands that don't fit into a hub will have to fight for resources."
Business Week (September 10, 2008)
Media Moguls Do the Splits
Liberty Media, Time Warner, and others are creating new companies from existing businesses to unlock shareholder value.
"THE BROADBAND SHUFFLE"
Some of the world's top media companies may just be shedding noncore or incompatible businesses to give themselves leeway to nab new assets in growing areas, such as the Web and digital television. "These guys don't like to sit still," says Peter Kreisky of Boston-based Kreisky Media Consultancy. "Growth is important, and the assumptions that existed when they put together these companies in the first place no longer are valid," he says. The ability to deliver content via high-speed Internet connections, for example, has set off a new scramble for assets that he calls "the broadband shuffle."
Media Week (June 23, 2008)
CEO Exits Underline Punishing Times for Publishers:
The ouster of three magazine CEOs in the space of a week accented anxieties facing a magazine business still struggling to compete in a digital world.
Peter Kreisky, chairman of Kreisky Media Consultancy, said, "There are considerable doubts about how well mid-sized companies can survive in their present form because of the need to have a presence online and the investment required for that."
Portfolio.com (April 10, 2008)
The Machiavelli of Media
"He[Murdoch]'s somebody who's always looking for the edge," says media consultant Peter Kreisky. "He's always trying to take strategically critical positions that are going to give him real power in the marketplace."
Hence his interest in Yahoo, the ailing internet giant that just might find new life if paired with News Corp.'s own undermonetized behemoth, MySpace.
"It's classic Murdoch because it's a game changer, if you can make it happen. We're not just talking about scale. We're talking about creating an entirely different entity that has the potential to compete effectively against Google," Kreisky says.
"Clearly this is a deal he wants to get in the middle of," Kreisky adds, "either on one side or the other."
Crain's New York Business (Feb 3, 2008)
Murdoch's Gamble: Making the Journal more mass-market to compete with the Times could backfire
There is another, quite different battle-to have a sustainable business model with a unique and loyal set of customers," says Peter Kreisky, president of an eponymous media consulting firm. "He may end up with a diluted model."
Globe and Mail/Bloomberg (Jan 4, 2008)
Weather Channel considers $5-billion sale
The Weather Channel reaches 96 million households. The cable channel and its Weather.com website may fetch more than $5-billion (U.S.) from potential buyers. "It's one of the go-to cable channels for a massive number of Americans," said Peter Kreisky, who runs Kreisky Media Consultancy in New York. "Any of those companies could use the Weather Channel as a promotional billboard for programming happening later in the day. It's also been translated effectively to broadband."
2007
The Economist (November 8, 2007) - Face Value
The anti-mogul
Jeff Bewkes, the next boss of Time Warner, is likely to break up the company
A shake-up will surely benefit Time Warner. The more important question, however, is whether Mr Bewkes has a longer-term vision for how the firm can thrive in the digital age. "His time as chief executive will not only be about deconstruction but reinvention, through organic growth and sizeable acquisitions," says Peter Kreisky, a media consultant. Some speculate that a slimmed-down Time Warner might buy NBC, a broadcast network, from General Electric. Others say Mr Bewkes should focus on new media. ...If Mr Bewkes can get that side of things right, he may yet come to be known as the rebuilder of Time Warner, not just as a dismantler of other people's visions.
Bloomberg News (October 11, 2007)
BusinessWeek's Ad Slump Sparks Redesign of Magazine
"All traditional business publishers are struggling to find the right formula'' that will tie their magazines more closely to the Web, said Peter Kreisky, who runs Kreisky Media Consultancy in New York. "None of them have reached the promised land.''
The Economist (September 27, 2007) - Business: The magazine industry
Out of vogue
Although healthier than newspapers, consumer magazines have problems
Unfortunately, magazine publishers have been slow to get onto the internet. "Eighteen months ago the internet was something they worried about after 4pm on Friday," says Peter Kreisky, a consultant to the media industry, "but now it's at the heart of their business model."
Wall Street Journal (August 1, 2007) - Front Page Story
Murdoch Wins His Bid for Dow Jones
"The money got [the family's] attention and enforced their consideration of reality," said Peter Kreisky, a media consultant. "it focused the minds of the family and the board on how difficult it would be to maintain the newspaper in the long term as an independent entity."
Bloomberg News (July 31, 2006)
Murdoch Has Enough Support to Buy Dow Jones, WSJ Says
"Common sense triumphed over the lethargy they've demonstrated in the last 25 years in their oversight of Dow Jones,'' said Peter Kreisky, president of Kreisky Media Consultancy in Boston. "They realized that their concerns about editorial independence were ultimately less important than the opportunity to create a sustainable business for the Wall Street Journal.''
The Economist (June 21, 2007) - Business: The battle for Dow Jones
A crafty old fox:
Expect Rupert Murdoch to prevailAs for Mr Murdoch's alleged downmarket tendencies, he is too shrewd to ruin the brand that makes Dow Jones attractive in the first place. In any case, he could find other ways to satisfy those vulgar inclinations. According to Peter Kreisky, a media consultant, there is room in the American market for a populist national paper. Bringing together News Corp's undoubted tabloid editorial skills and the Wall Street Journal's impressive production and distribution arms might just make it possible to fill that gap.
Advertising Age (June 18, 2007)
Top Two U.S. Newspapers Want to Be in Magazines: USA Today, WSJ Set to Add Glossies and Affluent Advertising
The Journal has a chance to take its Weekend Edition in a direction it should have pursued when it was introduced in 2005, said Peter Kreisky, the media consultant. "They missed a larger opportunity with the Saturday edition to create a product that doesn't look and feel like the weekday product because it's not reaching people in their offices or commutes; it's reaching people at their homes," Mr. Kreisky said. "One of the fundamental rules of publishing is to envisage where people are when they read your publication, because that really determines what the design and look and feel should be."That's beginning to look like one of the few fundamentals that hasn't changed with the rise of digital media.
Boston Herald and approx 47 newspapers via Bloomberg (June 1, 2007)
Dow Jones's Bancrofts to Meet With Murdoch Over Offer
"This is a rational and logical direction,'' Peter Kreisky, president of Kreisky Media Consultancy in Boston, said in an interview. Joining a larger organization offers Dow Jones opportunities for growth it wouldn't have on its own, he said.
American Public Media: Marketplace (June 1, 2007)
Dow family takes second look at Murdoch
Not all family members are in favor of a sale, but there's now enough consensus to consider it. Media consultant Peter Kreisky is not surprised the Bancrofts have come around. He says thanks in part to input from the Dow Jones CEO, they've realized something:
PETER KREISKY: That Dow Jones can't grow as much as an independent company as it could in partnership with a much larger organization. And I think the thing that's really brought that home to them has been the merger announced last week between Thomson and Reuters.
,p>Which, he says, raises the bar for the kinds of resources financial news companies need to compete. The Bancrofts are adamant they want to maintain the editorial integrity of The Wall Street Journal. Murdoch has promised them an independent board to oversee just that.
But, Kreisky says, price is of paramount importance. He says the family will press for more than the $60 a share Murdoch is currently offering.
Business Week (May 14, 2007) - Cover Story
Crazy Like A Fox
Murdoch's bid to get his hands on The Journal may seem foolishly pricey, but he's got his reasons. Inside Murdoch's surprise attack on Dow Jones
Today, Murdoch sees a globalized world where financial information is the coin of the realm...each morning as he read The Wall Street Journal, Murdoch dreamed of exploiting the newspaper's high-caliber business journalism and deploying it to nourish his online, satellite, and television properties... "Rupert wakes up in the morning and thinks about how he can change the media world and where there are white spaces," says Peter Kreisky of Boston-based Kreisky Media Consultancy. "He had a plan that made [the Dow Jones] assets worth more than they would in just about anyone else's hands."
...Some suggest he might even seek other acquisitions in financial information. Consultant Kreisky and a former News Corp. executive both believe in time he may even make a run for the London-based Financial Times to create an even stronger worldwide presence.
Business Week (May 2, 2007)
Rupert Murdoch bids $5bn for Dow Jones
Peter Kreisky, president of Kreisky Media Consultancy, said Dow jones has "blaringly underleveraged assets" that could be turned around by someone like Murdoch and that Dow Jones current management has been "very risk-averse to leveraging their brand."
2006
Crain's New York Business (October 11, 2006)
Failure to Launch:magazines holding fire
"We are in a game-changing phase," says Peter Kreisky, chairman of Kreisky Media Consultancy. "For the next three to five years, the focus will be on multiplatform plays."
Business Week (September 8, 2006) - Top News
The Mercurial Manners of Media Moguls
One skill they don't teach in business school is the care and feeding of the media mogul/owner. "These guys are professional winners, and they like the image and prestige that comes with being a winner," says Peter Kreisky of Boston-based Kreisky Media Consultancy. And woe to anyone who could be perceived otherwise-or who imperils the boss's reputation.
So what kind of executive fares best with a media mogul/owner? "One who knows to stay out of the limelight that the boss wants for himself," says media industry consultant Kreisky. One who has done it better than most is News Corp. President Peter Chernin, who has survived as Murdoch's No. 2 since 1996 ... "Whatever Peter has, they ought to bottle it," says Kreisky.
The Economist (March 16, 2006) - Business: Big Media and the Internet
Net Dreams
Traditional media companies are making a huge push onto the internet
"Everyone's got a digital tsar now, or if they haven't, they're frantically searching for one," says Peter Kreisky, a media consultant.
National Journal (January 26, 2006)
Mags Alive
Some magazines will move wholly to the Web. Others will fashion themselves for the ever-shifting niches.Magazine strategist Peter Kreisky, chairman of the Kreisky Media Consultancy, cites the recent decision by his client TV Guide to move its mass-audience TV listings to the Web, while morphing the magazine into a higher-end product for a much smaller audience of serious television buffs.
And some 20th century magazines will inevitably fulfill the dark augury and die. "I don't think magazines are going to go away," Kreisky says, "but I think there will be fewer of them."
2005
The Economist (October 13, 2005) - Business: Time Warner
Wolf at the Door
Pressure from Carl Icahn and other shareholders is just what Time warner needs
Changes in Time Warner's management are on the way...Under Mr Parsons, says Peter Kreisky, Chairman of the Kreisky Media Consultancy, "there's an appropriate sense of steady-as-she-goes." His successor, in the next few years, is expected to be Jeffrey Bewkes, the man who built Time Warner's crown jewel, HBO.
The Economist (October 13, 2005) - Business: Celebrity Magazines
Papped
A fresh batch of celebrity magazines is coming to America
So far the market has absorbed new entrants comfortably...Young women want every bit of information they can glean about their role models and are willing to buy several titles each week. That is a boon for the publishing industry."Celebrity has injected pure adrenaline into the narrowing veins of weekly magazines," says Peter Kreisky, a media consultant who is advising on the launch of Inside TV.
Business Week (July 3, 2005)
Media moguls gather for schmooze event
The annual conference is seen as a breeding ground for potential merger deals. Now the Big Media Theory isn't what it used to be. "It's always been a tradeoff," says media consultant Peter Kreisky. " Do you create more value with scale, or with focus? And the jury is clearly out in terms of the advantages of scale."
2004
Business Week (March 15, 2004)
Now It's Time To Say Goodbye
How Disney's board can move beyond the Eisner era
...given the magnitude of the vote against him, such a move is no longer enough. Eisner needs to step aside, and the sooner the better...Adds media consultant Peter Kreisky: "This is emergency surgery, for sure. You have to believe the writing is on the wall for Mr. Eisner. Mitchell will need to bend over backwards to be his own person."
2003
The Economist (April 17, 2003) - Business: AOL Time Warner
Reeling Like a Bad Movie
The growing pressure to break it up
...Which leads, as all roads tend to, back to AOL. The source of the merger - the biggest ever in the media industry - it is now the source of all problems....As Peter Kreisky, a media consultant, puts it: " There is no convincing evidence that Time Warner needs AOL from a strategic point of view."
The Economist (January 16, 2003) - Special report/Cover Story
The Entertainment Industry
How to manage a dream factory
"What is really hard is managing the interface between the creative thinking and the corporate profit centre," says Peter Kreisky, a media consultant who is writing a book about the management of creatively-driven industries. The two cultures - of the ponytail and the suit - are a world apart, and combustible together. Few managers combine both creative credibility and commercial discipline. But the best entertainment companies manage to impose operational control without crushing artistic freedom.
2002
The Economist (August 8, 2002)
New Boss, same problems
The naming this week of Jonathan Miller as the new head of AOL... "When your market has begun to mature," says Peter Kreisky of the Kreisky Media Consultancy, "you need to segment the market and develop a range of must-have services targeted to different customer groups."