Shane Smith from Vice: We’re going to have massive power in the hands of very few companies and that’s something to be worried about

On the first session of Dmexco 2016, WPP’s CEO and Founder Sir Martin Sorrell discussed with Shane Smith, Founder at Vice, about the company’s current reinvention from a magazine to a multi-platform media. Sorrell pointed out the high profile Vice investors. WPP is one of them with 8.4% of stocks. Smith said that is important to have strategic partners. The first time WPP’s CEO heard about Vice he wasn’t too convinced –he said-, but a representative from Intel explained to him how the media was able to make new generations pay attention to the company, and he changed his mind. “Traditional media owners don’t understand that millennials are interested in news, just not in the way it is currently presented to them” Sorrell added. For both executives, Google and Facebook have become leaders in media companies. “We realized a few years ago we couldn’t be hostage to big players” said Smith. He also stressed the need for better metrics within these platforms. “75% of the market is controlled by two companies. We used to talk about the democratization of information, but we’re coming to a point where you’re going to have massive power in the hands of very few companies and I think that’s something to be worried about.” For Sorrell, measurement is the key in this scenario.