John Klein of CNN says “Competition is Healthy” New York Media Summit

Last week I had the chance to represent ReelChicago.com as Press for the New York Media Summit. I learned a lot, and I thought I would share some of my knowledge with all of you.

John Klein, President of CNN, U.S was the keynote of the first day Wednesday March 10th and he had a lot of great insights to the future of the media world. Klein sated that 2009 was CNN’s most profitable year, which is surprising as most of us Chipreneurs had such a bad year for 2009.

Klein stated that Mobile, Online growth, and HBO documentary “Strong Relationships”, is what helped CNN achieve such growth. Not only having grown in 2009 Klein stated that CNN has doubled their profits over the past four years. Legacy news sources I am sure are seething as they look to find their own ways to do much the same.
Klein said he likes to “focus on putting an emphasis on video for their online platforms as well as to concentrate on multiple revenue streams”.

To my surprise Klein also said that CNN “is afraid of social networking sites” CNN does not want your twitter friends to be your trusted source for news. With CNN having 100 million viewers and Fox having 90 million viewers he said, “I am more afraid of social media then I am of Fox”.

What I think all Chipreneurs and Entrepreneurs in general should take from Klein’s keynote is that “Competition is Healthy”, CNN is making more money because of competition. Also, if you keep your audience happy they will do a great job at spreading the world for you.

How I sum that up for all of you is…Entrepreneurs keep your clients happy and they will spread the word for you! If this principle can work for CNN, I no doubt feel it will work for you.

// ChiTown Jess