AgVoice | Media houses, who embrace the new paradigms will survive

Any information…. anywhere….. anytime… the media house that can provide this user experience will be positioned to succeed in this fast changing media market. One may ask, who will own the future of digital media?  This vast market will be ruled by those who understand the demographics, the expectations and the technology and are able to bring all these elements together in the seamless delivery of content for a very demanding audience.

We all know the fact that, 20% of all internet time is spent on Facebook. A million people join Twitter every day. 2 people join Linkedin every second. There is no shortage of statistics to support what we all now know, that social media is changing the world of business. These are no longer emerging trends, they’re established facts. Having a social media strategy is a minimum requirement for all businesses. But social media is inherently a fast-moving phenomenon, so simply catching-up is not enough.

With increased performance and computing power many devices are merging. The

differentiation is no longer functionality, it is now form factor. Today’s tablet PC functions very well as a TV. Today’s TV functions very well as a media player. But it’s not enough.

The long term future of broadcasting relies on capturing the attention of Gen X and Y. They will not simply sit back and watch a TV programme because that’s what’s on. They will find their own entertainment. As has always been the case, success is based on having relevant content to share, making sure people know you have that content and then monetizing that content.

The newly emerging technologies enabled by the internet affect each generation differently, not all viewers are interested in the viewing choices becoming available. However, these new ways of experiencing content are rapidly coming into the mainstream. As consumer technology improves, it is being adopted in ever-greater numbers. Although traditional limitations of consumer broadband access in many regions have kept them from being at the forefront of the internet video revolution, Indian government’s new initiatives and market forces are driving rapid development and, consumers will become more vocal in their expectations for advanced broadband video services as a result. Thus a fully-formed strategy for addressing this trend is essential to any media company operating in Indian market.

Yes, no doubt, traditional monetization models are under threat while new ones are still immature.   The next five to 10 years will be turbulent in the media industry as new and established players compete for the market.  Only those who embrace the new paradigms and prepare for a nonlinear future will survive and thrive.

The internet advertising has grown rapidly over the last decade, largely at the expense of print. This caused significant disruption in the publishing industry as online display and rich media advertising developed, while a significant piece of the value pie was permanently lost to new entrants in the form of search advertising.

Impact is on television as well, even as professional video content moves to the web, sites like Facebook and YouTube allow non-commercial content to ‘go viral’ while professionally produced but mediocre content languishes. This dynamic makes the challenge of connecting with audiences even harder.

These dynamics are leading brand advertisers to search for new ways to engage with their audiences. As television advertising continues to be fundamentally oneway and linear in its delivery, advertisers are shifting their rupees to online inventory and branded content produced for the web. However, they’re finding it difficult to effectively reach their core audience across media properties and devices, and to control what content that advertising is placed against. Video advertising continues to provide the best brand awareness and recall, while display continues to provide superior engagement and drive to purchase. There is a chasm in between that continues to exist because of an inefficient and fragmented supply chain.

Solving this problem and enabling an integrated supply chain requires a unified approach to ad sales, content management, and publishing that transcends boundaries of video, print, display, and interactive platforms. In this world, advertisers buy audiences, and the content provider delivers them on whatever platform consumers choose. With increasing consumption of television and print content on wire/wireless connected devices, there’s an opportunity to deliver dynamically targeted, interactive advertisements that engage consumers on their terms. This could come in the form of a targeted TV commercial inserted into a linear TV feed via an internet connected television, or a display ad alongside a news article on an iPad that allows an interested viewer to ‘tap through’ for a two minute video piece providing additional product information. With the right technology in place, the possibilities are limitless.

Although the landscape is changing, core media operations will continue to be driven by the same basic technology needs. News Departments will continue to demand speed to air, and manufacturers will continue to develop existing and new products to achieve this. Program Production will continue to demand faster times to release, higher video and audio quality, better visual effects, and fewer human resources doing more tasks with the aid of automated workflows and better interfaces.

Traditional Playout centres (content aggregators) will continue to require tighter and tighter regionalization to better target advertising, better graphics to brand the channels, lower capital investment and simpler architectures.

Content acquisition will continue to gain efficiency, mobile broadband will get faster, fibre connections will become more commonplace, and video compression will take another leap forward enabling even more video on even fatter pipes. It may be argued that the technology delivering these improvements is ground breaking and innovative, but to the consumer it’s just a better, more efficient version of what we already have.

The next five to 10 years will be turbulent in the Indian media industry, there will be some big winners and some big losers. New players will arrive with much fanfare. Some will be a flash in the pan whilst others will be the Next Big Thing. Sadly, all but the most innovative traditional broadcasters will eventually fade to black. | By Rajiv Mishra, CEO, Lok Sabha TV

About the writer:

Rajiv Mishra, CEO, Lok Sabha TV is a broadcast/media professional and founder of Electronic Media Rating Council of India. His contribution in TV Ratings methodology in Europe has been recognised by ITU/EBU in 1996 at Geneva.

He did Masters in Broadcasting from IAB, Montreux, Switzerland, MBA in Media Management from MCNY, USA and a Graduate Certificate Course in Multi-Media from UCLA, USA.