Is Sacramento a Digital Media Hot Spot or Dead Zone

The Sacramento media scene has a long and colorful history which dates back to before I was born. I’m one of the thirty-something’s who grew up using computers from an early age, but only moved to Sacramento in 1995. Innovative publications like Alive & Kicking by legendary music promoter Jerry Perry and Prosper Magazine supported by Michael Teel, CEO of local supermarket giant Raley’s, have had a tough go staying viable in the Sacramento market. While others like Sactown Magazine by Rob Turner and Elyssa Lee and Sacramento Press by Ben Ilfeld and Geoff Samek have found a business model and loyal audience for their local content. Still others have been publishing for decades and continue to survive despite the downturn in the economy, but for how long.

You might notice that theses publications have all taken varying approaches to producing content with a mix of distribution channels. The comparison/contrast was intentional. While print is not the same as digital, good content is the common factor among all publications. The differentiator of success between the publications mentioned has been the business model for supporting content production and distribution. The goal of this commentary is not to argue the merits of one business model or the other, rather to make a larger point.

Is Sacramento poised to become a Digital Media Hot Spot or Dead Zone?

Before diving into what we “The Media” should be doing I’d like to highlight a couple reasons I think there is a growing opportunity for a Digital Media Hot Spot here in Sacramento.

1. The McClatchy Company, owner of the Sacramento Bee is the third-largest newspaper company in the United States and is based right here in Sacramento, Ca. They recently developed a content sharing network called Sacramento Connect to work with local blogs and news providers and have received national attention for it.

2. Innovative digital media startup Sacramento Press is making waves nationally with an online-only news model with over 1,000 community contributors and recently launched a first in the country local ad network named SLOAN to financially support local publishers.

3. Over 300,000 listeners tune into classical, jazz, news and public affairs programming each week on one of Capital Public Radio’s 7 stations serving California’s Central Valley and the Sierra Nevada. In addition, Public radio and television have kicked off an ambitious effort to develop a digital distribution network that will allow public broadcasters and web producers to combine, create, share and distribute their news and cultural content.

4. Innovative local companies like Intel, HP, Apple, JiWire, MOBSpree, BKWLD and others provide a strong base of tech talent and resources to foster a growing digital media cluster in the Sacramento region.

5. Education institutions like Sacramento State, The Art Institute, and International Academy of Design and Technology provide solid programs for new talent to learn how to work in a digital world.

There are many more reasons Sacramento is poised to become a Digital Media Hot Spot but rather than provide a laundry list of “Why Could’s” let’s explore some of the benefits.

First and foremost, Jobs! This region badly needs jobs and it’s clear there is a bright future in digital media. Looking at recent success stories of Facebook, Twitter, and now Foursquare it’s evident that new economy jobs will be in harnessing the digital economy and we’re just on the first step in a journey miles long.

The recent success of the iPhone, iPad, and Android mobile devices tells us in addition to the web that this is the decade of mobile computing. Yes, all the recent innovation has been around mobile and location based services.

With major media companies like AOL entering the hyperlocal market with a $50 million investment in Patch, Demand Media pumping out huge amounts of content and talking IPO, and Yahoo’s recent acquisition of Associated Content it’s abundantly clear and Google reminds us with every search that content is king on the web. The point here is there are thousands of jobs available in these emerging industries and our region should recognize this and capitalize on it.

Secondly, greater investment in our regional economy. We have a strong and growing Clean Tech sector and an emerging Med Tech cluster yet add to that a Digital Media focus and we, as a region, can really put Sacramento on the map. The world is increasingly a global economy and to compete at the international level each region will need to communicate their value proposition and highlight their assets. Sacramento is often skipped over for more worldly cities like San Francisco or Los Angeles. Of course we’re not the Silicon Valley or Hollywood, but we could become the Hot Spot for Digital Media. Why not?

If it seems that this article is scattered and jumps to a number of disconnected points you’re correct. As a region we have yet to connect the dots on this opportunity. There are isolated initiatives here and there, but no coherent plan or organizing of efforts. To foster the type of Digital Media Hot Spot of which I envision requires collaboration, coordination, and cooperation across many sectors and industries. This article is just a starting point for discussion in a broader sense of how our region can capture this opportunity sitting on our doorstep. I’d encourage media outlets and individuals to comment and share their own perspectives.

Generally, collaboration, coordination, and cooperation among competitors is really hard. However, consider this one point. If we as a region don’t foster this effort someplace else will. Then who’s our competition? Not the media company across town. The media cluster across the country who does “Get It” will steal away Fortune 500 companies, talent, investment, skilled workers. Let’s not let what happened to Detroit happen here. Before our aging industrial age local economy slowly withers away we need to grow our information age economy and compete in this digital media age.

Geoffrey Sakala is the CEO of Metro Media, Publisher of The Rancho Cordova Post and Citrus Heights Herald, two hyperlocal news and event sites in the Sacramento suburbs. Geoff can be contacted at geoff@mymetromedia.com or (916) 365-6337.

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Posted by Geoffrey Sakala on Jul 6 2010. Filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.