TORONTO – Future success in the digital media world isn’t about the gadgets – it’s all about the content and user experience. That was the consensus among a group of industry experts who gathered Wednesday afternoon for a panel discussion during the Digital Media Summit, as part of Slacker Canadian Music Week in Toronto.
“There’s nothing clever technologically about the Apple iPhone, fundamentally,” said James Cridland, radio futurologist and managing director for MediaUK, a media industry information web site. “It’s the user experience that makes that product a brilliant product, in comparison to the old clunky things we used to have from Nokia and Motorola and so on. If we, as media people, don’t get the user experience right, in the way that people consume content, then we are screwed.”
Jennifer Dettman, head of factual entertainment at the CBC, said content will still be king as the publicly funded broadcaster moves forward with its digital media plans. “Story is key,” she said. “You need to create something that is great, that people want to see, and give it to them when they want to see it.”
Speaking to the general issue of illegal downloading of TV shows and movies, Dettman said the CBC’s response has been to make its content available for free. That way, CBC viewers come to the broadcaster’s website to consume its advertising-supported content, which then becomes a revenue stream.
“For us in the TV business, we’re in such a great place right now,” Dettman said. “At the CBC, we’re not afraid of [the future], we are embracing it.”
However, she admitted that the digital media world is changing so quickly that her one fear is whether or not the CBC can always stay ahead of trends to ensure TV continues to be relevant to consumers. “We’ve certainly seen over the last number of years more audience fragmentation than we ever expected to see,” she added. “But we still believe that families gather on the couch to watch shows like Dragon’s Den, Battle of the Blades and Arctic Air.”
Dettman said the new trend in TV viewing is what she calls the “virtual couch”, where people watching TV at home are also interacting online with other fans of the show. “So I can be sitting watching Dragon’s Den with my mother and my son, and I can be engaging in a conversation with the country, with my shared family of fans about what’s happening on the show.”
One of the challenges for Canada’s broadcast industry regulator going forward will be finding a balance between protecting consumer interests while also ensuring Canadian content providers and broadcasters are supported, said Jeff Leiper, director of strategic policy for the CRTC.
Traditional protectionist approaches to regulating the broadcast industry made sense in a closed environment, however, he added, Canadian broadcasters now operate in an open environment where they compete with global content providers.
“Global providers want to make content available to Canadians, and Canadians have a reasonable expectation that they will be able to get it,” Leiper said. “The implications of trying to stifle that kind of innovation are a concern. A scenario, for example, where a Netflix might be blocked if it doesn’t abide by a Canadian content regulation is uncomfortable for a lot of Canadians.
“So right now, we’re trying to figure out what we’re going to do about it, and that’s what keeps us up at night,” he added.
The CRTC is “less focused on micro-managing an industry so that everybody gets a fair share of the pie, which has become an increasingly untenable proposition moving forward in the long term,” Leiper continued.
Instead, the CRTC needs to be more focused on protecting consumer interests in the new digital media world, Leiper said. “The services and products that we’re talking about are very complex. We’re talking about micropayment systems that potentially could be offered by any number of folks. I would like to see more thought given to protection of the consumer in a very complex environment.”
A somewhat bold prediction was offered by the interestingly named David U.K., the founder and CEO of Cue Digital, a Toronto-based digital entertainment content producer. “My prediction is, in 15 to 20 years, Rogers becomes a utility and Xbox or PlayStation takes over – their Internet devices are in 70% of homes already – and they become the content curator. And there’s one set fee for a million-channel universe versus a thousand-channel universe,” he said.
MediaUK's Cridland spoke to the issue of an increasing digital divide between urban and suburban consumers, saying that we’re moving into a world of “haves and have-nots”, in terms of connectivity. “From my point of view, one of the most important things is making sure everybody has access to fantastically nice fast Internet, and that Internet isn’t censored or metered in any way,” he said. “If you’re on the end of a connection that is too slow for live media, then that actually does change the whole relationship that we have.”
While most of the panel discussion focused on video content consumption, a few comments were made about the future of digital radio.
In David U.K.’s view, the radio industry may be flat, in terms of revenue, but it continues to have longevity. “I think radio is here to stay, period. It’s just a question of how it’s consumed on different devices,” he said.
The CRTC’s Leiper said the price point for wireless connectivity isn’t affordable enough currently to allow for a proliferation of digital radio services to emerge yet.
“The tipping point for radio, if it comes, will come as a result of getting inexpensive wireless connectivity into the car at price points that people are willing to actually consume it, and I’m not sure if we’re there yet in Canada,” he said.
Linda Stuart is in Toronto this week covering Slacker Canadian Music Week, for which Cartt.ca is a media sponsor.
