EIGHT | Green media goes belly up

Analysts and pundits are fond of discussing the potential for a “cleantech bubble,” but in 2008 it may be more relevant to look at the green-media bubble. Most say the year of the green-media boom was 2007. Media buyers were given “greenvertising” budgets [see “Green Media 2.0,” SI, August 2007] and everything from one-person blogs to large media conglomerates wanted in on the action. In addition to the ever-growing list of magazines that published green issues, broadcast media jumped into the game, as NBC added a “green” focus to some of its key prime-time programming during sweeps week in November.

Mainstream print, broadcast and Internet media companies also began buying up independent green-media outlets, forming environmental coverage teams and syndicating content from trusted sources.

With the market crowded to capacity and mainstream media more than ever interested in “green” topics, 2008 will see increasing consolidation of the green-media space and an inevitable thinning of the pack as those that lack credibility, visibility or focus face increasingly sophisticated competition.

“Some of the coverage that’s going on today is going to go away: You just can’t sustain this level of coverage,” says Jon Coifman, Media Director for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), although he maintains there will continue to be a mainstream appetite for environmental coverage.

Coifman describes the current media landscape in “chicken or egg” terms—it’s hard to tell whether the mainstreaming of green media or mainstream interest in all things green came first. Regardless, Coifman says he has seen environmental coverage adopt a lifestyle slant in mainstream media, with women’s magazines, lifestyle magazines and more business magazines focusing on such issues.

Coifman attributes the change in how environmental issues are covered to a shift in public thinking. “We’ve stopped talking about the environment as something that you go visit. It’s your backyard, dinner plate, kitchen sink, office, daily commute. The dichotomy has been broken down, partially by environmental groups and partially by the mainstream media,” he says.

TreeHugger President and COO Ken Rother says eventually “green” will become part of the regular mainstream media coverage. Discovery Networks bought TreeHugger for $10 million in August 2007 as part of Discovery’s $50 million Planet Green initiative, which also aims to launch the first dedicated “ecolifestyle TV network” in early 2008.

“In the technology media world, 12 or so years ago, there were many publications dedicated to emerging Internet technology, with some focused on business usage and others on home usage,” Rother says. “As the Internet became pervasive, these dedicated publications faded, and the information just became part of any story as required. We think the same thing will happen with green media.”

As the shift happens, expert sites will have increasing opportunities to partner with mainstream media outlets. TreeHugger has signed deals to syndicate content to the likes of Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) and Microsoft’s MSN (Nasdaq: MSFT), he says, adding the Web site has also seen increased interest from advertisers aiming to reach Treehugger’s targeted readership.

Advertiser interest in targeting readers with an environmental bent is also likely to encourage independent publications to become increasingly specialized in 2008. Rother says he foresees more niche publications and Web sites launching. In addition to trade titles such as the LED Journal, launched in late 2006 to focus solely on light-emitting diodes (LEDs), independent publishers are also launching magazines and Web sites that focus on specific aspects of the green lifestyle: In 2007, Portovert became “the first and only magazine for eco-savvy brides,” Jambler set out to capture the “green backpacking” crowd and Green debuted to focus on green building and landscape design.

In November 2007, Hearst Magazines Digital Media announced its intention to launch a full-scale multichannel version of The Daily Green, a lifestyle site it launched in beta for Earth Day 2007. The full-fledged site, covering everything from environmental news to “ecocuisine,” will launch in 2008 as the first green-media property by a large magazine publisher.

Hugh Hough, president and founder of Green Team, a green advertising firm founded 15 years ago, says he thought the green trend would catch on when Clinton and Gore were in the White House. “We’ve been on a platform waiting for a train for a long time, and when that train came, it was a bullet train,” he says.

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TrendWatch 2008
The Sustainable Industries editorial team talked with dozens of industry leaders, reviewed hundred of articles, and sifted through stacks of research to bring to you, our readers, insights on what to expect from sustainable industries on the West Coast and beyond in the year ahead. Keeping reading for more insights into the year ahead!
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