Vedomosti held conference dedicated to media business.

On March 4, Vedomosti successfully conducted a conference titled “The Media Business: New Rules of the Game.” For the fifth time, media business professionals gathered at what has become the main event of the year for directors of mass media companies – this time to discuss strategies for overcoming the crisis.

Discussion participants included the directors of such Russian media holding companies as Channel 1, Video International, Media3, Hachette Filipachhi Skhulev, Transcontinental Medicompany and Kommersant publishers, as well as Western companies such as Microsoft, Google and Facebook.

Last year was one of the most difficult years the media industry has ever faced. Advertising revenues for radio dropped by 36 percent, for print media by 43 percent, for outdoor advertising by 41 percent, for television by 18 percent, but Internet advertising revenues rose by 8 percent.

But it is early to write off the traditional mass media outlets. Many media holding companies managed to optimize their businesses and to find an operating model that enabled them to continue putting out high-quality products and selling them at a profit. All of the largest publishing houses ended 2009 with profits.