enhancing local content development for broadcasters in the digital ecosystem
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2nd International Content Management for Digital Media – Africa Summit
¡ In the broadcasting world new services and new programs are created almost on a daily basis. It is a fast-‐growing sector with an enormous role to play in shaping the ways in which people access to information, educational, material, movies, music, sports events etc
¡ The relentless conversion to digital transmission of programs and content is offering more and more opportunities for efficient and cost-‐effective delivery of high quality content and interoperability with other electronic media
¡ A digital ecosystem is a distributed, adaptive, open socio-‐technical system with properties of self-‐organisation, scalability and sustainability inspired from natural ecosystems. Digital ecosystem models are informed by knowledge of natural ecosystems, especially for aspects related to competition and collaboration among diverse entities
To enhance local content in this eco system therefor requires a collaboration of various entitities that for very long have worked either as competitors or have depended on each other solely for business purposes. Local content needs to thrive in the era we are living in and the following will be some of its drivers
1. Content for very long has been viewed as KING, In the digital ecosystem THE AUDIENCE IS KING
¡ Audiences are very smart these days. They have smart phones, and smart TV’s they’re highly engaged and knowledgeable about everything going on in whatever business
¡ And they’ll let you know what they think. So we (Broadcasters & Producers) have to be honest with our audiences, engage in the heated conversation and be authentic at all times
2. What stories are we telling and how are those stories told and packaged
¡ Today: § The attention span of audiences is shrinking. § It takes more info to act. § They are bombarded by messages from friends, family, and brands.
§ The brain tries to protect them from information overload. Critically, only messages that pass through these filters will be effective.
§ For very long Broadcasters & Producers in this industry have made assumptions of what audiences want. What do they really want, what tools are we using to gauge what they want, are we meeting the needs we think they want met or the needs they actually want met.
3. Technology § It is transforming and increasingly broadening the choices broadcasters/producers/audiences have when it comes to content creation and delivery and it also has strategies broadcasters/producers can use to stay up to date with the evolving nature of content consumption and changing consumer behaviors’.
¡ Technology has given our audiences the ability to choose what they love whenever they want it -‐ and also the voice to immediately say if they like what they see/hear or not.
¡ Technology has also provided broadcasters and producers with multiple platforms to monetize and distribute their content, they must however be careful to ensure that each of the platforms needs are met and not a one size goes on all model. The opportunity to add value must also be viewed through the needs of the audience
¡ Though we may see new technologies as coming to harm creativity, they are actually driving quality in television, because while television used to be the mainstay of broadcast, it now has to contend with various platforms that offer similar content
¡ Broadcasters must also avoid being caught in the need to use the different audience measures (for online/traditional media) as viewers and views are fundamentally different
¡ Digital era will bring commoditization (process by which goods that have economic value and are distinguishable in terms of attributes (uniqueness or brand) end up
becoming simple commodities in the eyes of the market or consumers) and upset entertainment businesses with unexpected winners, this may challenge broadcasters into different business models but create a myriad of opportunities for content producers.
¡ Digital measurement tools will make it easier to determine viewership trends and audience needs hence feeding what broadcasters perceive audiences to need
¡ Binge viewing, audiences are sampling a lot more so broadcasters/producers should purpose at creating a balance between long and short form content creation/broadcast
¡ Opportunities for global distribution ¡ Need to create content locally that will be consumed globally (Larger audience)
¡ The digital ecosystem though dynamic does not spell a death knell to content production
¡ Amidst very rapid innovations the broadcast industry manages to reinvent itself
¡ The art of story telling must constantly evolve and both broadcasters and producers must relentlessly improve their ability to tell this stories
¡ While adopting to change broadcasters and producers must provide audiences with continuity – changes need to be subtle in the audiences perception
¡ Broadcast is still one of the biggest storytelling engines in the world.
¡ The sheer volume of original programming created for broadcast ultimately provides content not only for broadcast, but also for the majority of platforms