MIAMI — We are nearing the end of a year in which the murmurings of discontent toward the biggest tech companies grew in to a crescendo.
Media companies, advertisers, politicians, police and all manner of citizens have lined up to take pot-shots at the platforms.
At this point, no-one would bet against lawmakers taking significant actions against the so-called “duopoly” of Google and Facebook in 2018. But throw in Twitter, Amazon and others, too, because – as Furious Corp CEO Ashley Swartz says in this keynote address which kicked off the recent Beet Retreat event – the problem is actually an “oligopoly”, and it’s time for media to go to war.
“It’s estimated, in the next year and a half, Facebook will create more than 14,000 jobs in advertising and media, which will result in the destruction and elimination of 150,000 jobs in the agency world,” Swartz said.
“This new enemy that we have, is printing cash, if you will, and if we’re in the business of funding content and creating more content and trying to find more things to watch on more devices and more places, that feels like a really losing battle because content is a lot about access to capital, and these guys don’t seem to have as much of a problem with it.
“They’re not held to the same standard. They’re in a different race. It’s a different battle. What else I read about war is that, if your enemy outguns you, then you either wait for them to die the winter or you fight them on different terrain. Maybe that’s what we could talk a little bit about.”
This video was produced at the Beet Retreat Miami, 2017 presented by Videology along with Alphonso and 605. For more videos from the event, please visit this page.
