The Content Trap: A Strategist’s Guide to Digital Change

An incisive, paradigm-shifting answer to the trillion-dollar question business-people across the country are asking- how can companies monetize free content?

How did the Economist increase revenues from subscriptions when Newsweek and Time were hemorrhaging? How did Tencent create a cash machine from largely free and virtual products in a market with a GDP per capita ten times lower than the U.S.? And in the midst of an industry revolution, how are we to understand these and other media organizations, their fates, and their markets?

Combining insightful analysis with an accessible, humorous tone, Harvard Business School Professor Bharat Anand juxtaposes the media strategies of The New Yorker and Britney Spears (they’re more alike than you think) and uses analogies like the success of My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Chuck E. Cheese’s in-house currency to illustrate broader points about Amazon’s dominance and the rise of Netflix.

A revolutionary and much-needed analysis, this book presents a way for media companies to survive and thrive amidst industry-wide upheaval. Indeed, as Anand reveals, media evolution is not always a celebration of free , media democratization , or entrepreneurship. Rather, the story unfolding in media markets across the world remains one centered around familiar ideas in business - of power, pricing, and strategy.