PBS Declares: Brands Are Publishers Now

You know a trend is going mainstream when PBS starts covering it. This week that honor was bestowed on Content Marketing. Their blog Mediashift wrote a a great post called It’s True: We Really Are All Publishers Now, Including Brands.

Their position as a media company brings an interesting bias – the concern that branded content will have on traditional publishing companies (especially with SOPA and the like).

Here’s their take –

“So what does all this mean for the future of the traditional content producers? The newspapers, books, TV stations, radio stations, et al? It just means that we all need to make sure we’re providing some sort of value to our readers.

That value can be informative, entertaining or instructional. But whatever it is, it’s competing with ever-improving content created by companies with deep pockets. These brands and companies don’t need anyone else to get their message out to their customers anymore.

For the so-called content creators — writers, photographers and videographers — it actually means more opportunity, not less.”