Federated Media Publishing (FMP), provider of Internet marketing / advertising services to some of the biggest sites on the Internet, is going through a restructuring process.
Techcrunch publicly casts doubt on Federated Media
One of FMP’s best known clients, techcrunch, has taken the ‘unusual’ step of publicly casting doubt on the future of FMP. Michael Arrington (one of my favourite tech writers), writes that, among other things;
I’m nervous about our ad partner Federated Media, which supplies about a third of our total revenue. They’re going through layoffs (I read this on their blog), and payments from them have dipped substantially in recent months (which isn’t a surprise given market conditions).
The blog post Michael refers to does mention lay-offs, but it ALSO mentions that new people are being recruited in other areas of FMP. It sounds like FMP are simply adapting the structure of their business, to fit the changing market for advertising. That’s a sound business move, which should help to make them stronger and more profitable.
If a client has an issue with a service provider, surely it’s better to have a meeting and get it sorted – rather than trying to hurt the service provider with such potentially damaging public comments?
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Isn’t that wild?
I was surprised to read the FM article on TechCrunch, and I look at it from two different perspectives:
1. Arrington feels like he’s getting screwed and is issuing a fatwa against the service (opening up for new bidders?).
2. This is just a reminder of who’s the boss… a little leverage intended to spur talks for better advertising terms.
I sort of felt like I was reading a tabloid magazine at the grocery store checkout!