Thoughts About the Rumored Return of MySpace

MySpace is rumored to be returning in its original form, but I'm taking a wait-and-see position regarding its possible resurrection. 

Too often do those with something to sell jump into a marketplace by leading with promises of nostalgia, only to deliver something far different. The relaunch of MySpace is hoped for, not imminent, so the "announcement" of its return was more a statement of intent than anything else (IMHO). 

The original "MySpace Tom" is retired and not expected to be involved. The new Tom is one of the owners of Viant Technology, and it was "New Tom" who spoke. Source: https://www.facebook.com/pacificcoastradio/posts/myspace-is-officially-planning-a-comeback-the-platforms-current-owners-brothers-/1690121063117112/

I searched on MySpace's current financials, and got the following:

1. Annual Revenue: Market analysis firms like Growjo estimate its current annual revenue at roughly $121.6 million, while other analytics platforms like Similarweb place its annual revenue within the $50 million to $75 million range. Of course, estimates vary because MySpace is privately held, so no public disclosures of its finances are available.
   
   
2. Core Revenue Sources: The platform primarily generates income through programmatic display advertising, mobile subscriptions, and promoted pages for artists and musicians.

The above means that Viant, a publicly traded company that has to meet stockholder expectations, would need to relaunch MySpace with an operational model that either yields revenue in excess of the above figures or yields a cost reduction that nets a similar amount.

To me, the above also means they're talking about a MySpace relaunch with major caveats:

1. Advertising: The pay model is not going away. Music companies are keeping MySpace afloat as one big promotion site meant to engage and entice new and existing music customers. For MySpace to remain viable post transformation (or regression, if you prefer), then the ads and promotions would need to stay. The old layouts could return to a degree, but I would expect fixed areas of the display Grid dedicated to ads. In having them, the revived MySpace would immediately draw comparisons to Facebook and other social media sites, and that's a comparison it ultimately lost in its prior incarnation.
   
   
2. Time & Cost: The above effort would take much time and development effort. That's capital investment or operational investment money of which the current MySpace really doesn't have much. They have the finances of a small- to mid-sized company, but in seeking to recreate MySpace (if true), they have large-scale ambition. At the very least, they would need to scale their current infrastructure to meet the surge of returnees in addition to meeting the needs of the site's current user base, plus the current MySpace would need to be re-engineered/expanded for enhanced functionality and a distinct UX/UI design that echoes the past but is firmly rooted in today's aesthetics.
   
   
3. Possible Overestimation of Returnee Volume: MySpace literally threw away its users, greatly disaffecting many in doing so. Many of those users will likely harbor negative feelings about classic MySpace, so they will not be returning. It would be like me returning to a relaunched version of Tripod, a site that gradually became a place of moderators acting like uncaring gods who treated the users and their work like disposable goods. So, users like me would never go back. The same risk applies to the former users of the original MySpace.

Quite frankly, if I owned FriendRewind, then I would approach the Viant MySpace team about purchasing it and rebranding the site as MySpace going forward, then building it up further. The site could become "MySpace Classic" (even though it has differences, it's close enough in the same way that Coca-Cola is labeled "Classic" despite having a different formula than it did before it was replaced by New Coke decades ago). 

With the existing MySpace rebranded as something like "MySpace Music," there would be a zero-migration path forward for the rebranded MySpace Classic, with negligible costs incurred (other than those of acquisition, advertising, and the inevitable legal paperwork).

That's my take. What's yours?

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