Industry Example: New Media vs. Old Media

New technologies and innovations have turned traditional information industries upside down, and many of those jobs are never coming back. Employment numbers in traditional media and advertising have plummeted in recent years.

According to the Pew Research Center’s “State of the News Media 2013,” newspaper jobs have been cut by 30% since 2000, and much of this is due to technology. Fewer printed copies of newspapers and magazines are needed as people turn to their smartphones and tablets for news; advertising revenues for newspapers are drastically lower as companies figure out how to advertise on social media.

A recent Adweek article describes the concept of “programmatic” advertising: a new media buzzword for the idea that all advertising will be bought and sold by an automated system that calculates fair price, target audience, and optimal timing. According to Eric Bader of RadiumOne, “programmatic is about software that is productive in a way that humans can’t be.”

Bader continues, “The media buying process has completely outstripped human capabilities. We’re using millions of fragmented places and data sources.”

The Rise of Artificial Intelligence

Robotic technology is becoming more popular across several industries including manufacturing, medicine, media and more. While robots increase productivity and efficiency, they also relieve some human laborers of jobs.

A Boston company, Rethink Robotics, talks about its new robot, “Baxter”, in a recent Boston Business Journal article. Baxter is already being used in U.S. and European factories “to automate a variety of manual labor tasks alongside workers in factories.” According to the company, Baxter is operating in plastics and packaging factories, and may soon be used by automakers. A sophisticated robot may be more effective and less prone to error than a human factory worker, so jobs are being replaced with automation.