TORONTO – A new age of interactive content created by small independent producers is dawning, now that the broadband “asteroid” which hit the traditional media market some time ago is causing incumbent “dinosaurs” to die off. That was how Canadian science fiction author Robert J. Sawyer characterized the current state of the interactive digital media industry to kick off the recent Interactive Content Exchange (ICE) 2007 conference held in Toronto.
“This is the age of the blurring between consumer and producer,” Sawyer said. “The asteroid has hit. The future is there to claim, the world is there to claim.”
Sawyer’s sentiments were later echoed by Shel Israel, American author of Naked Conversations, during a panel discussion that focused on how media companies and advertisers will engage “You” – the 2006 Time Person of the Year – in the current fragmented, on-demand multimedia world.
“In five to 10 years, a bunch of kids are going to come into the marketplace and replace those of us who are ready for Jurassic Park,” Israel said, “and they are a generation with a Teflon resistance to traditional marketing. They don’t read newspapers. They listen to iTunes rather than radio.”
Israel had this advice for traditional media companies and advertisers trying to reach the new generation of media consumers: “The bigger you are, the sooner you have to start adapting, because large companies are like super tankers on open water — it takes a lot of time and distance to turn around, but if you don’t, you may end up on the rocks.”
One of the challenges faced by traditional media players is that the new media audience does its best to avoid marketers, said Bill Sweetman, interactive marketing specialist and VP of Internet strategy for Toronto-based MacLaren MRM.
"There’s the issue of what they’re willing to share, because permission is so important. In terms of the on-demand consumer, they’re very good at hiding from marketers. And if you want to reach them, you’ve got to get their permission. People are getting very good at defining what data about themselves they’re going to provide or not provide,” Sweetman said.
Brian Seth Hurst, CEO of The Opportunity Management Company, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based brand strategy consulting company, pointed to the example of CHUM Limited as a Canadian media player that has consistently engaged its viewers through interactive programming.
“(CHUM) has walked beside its audience and watched their behaviours and watched the way they socialize with one another. So, as far as a big media company being able to adapt to behavioural changes, I think CHUM does a great job,” Hurst said.
CHUM Limited’s VP of content business development, Maria Hale, said there tends to be a lot of focus on Internet users as consumers. However, the underlying purpose of the Internet is to be a communication tool, and not all aspects of Internet usage need to be monetized directly, Hale said.
She added no one company can try to position itself as being all things to all people. “We’re going to be part of what this new future is going to look like, and how we interrelate with one another, and how we work with BDUs, and how we work with distributors and program producers will shift in this new world, but I don’t think we’re going to position ourselves as everything to all people.”
The question for large incumbent organizations is how to find the balance between traditional and new business opportunities, said Mike Lee, chief strategy officer for Rogers Communications Inc.
“Whenever we see the introduction of new behaviours and new models, there is the immediate rush to declare ‘white hats’ and ‘black hats’,” Lee said. “The reality is always something grey in the middle.”
Certainly, there has been a shift where the customer now has much more empowerment and engagement in the digital media process, Lee said. “But from a pure network perspective, I think we’re still at the very early stages of development,” he said.
“When you look at the technology that we’re using in the networks and what we’re tapping from the networks right now, there’s still a long way to go. There’s still a significant amount of opportunity to make everything we’re doing a lot smarter, and we’re spending a lot of time on that,” Lee said.
One market development that is set to soon disrupt how traditional television programming is delivered to viewers is Joost, a peer-to-peer IPTV distribution platform now in beta but expected to be launched later this year. CHUM Limited is among a handful of TV networks that has already signed deals with Joost to deliver licensed, broadcast-quality television programming.
Brady Gilchrist, executive VP of strategy for Toronto-based Fuel Industries, said Joost will provide a broad spectrum of on-demand TV programming content, which in turn will create a massive behavioural opportunity for people to explore.
Gilchrist said he anticipates Joost’s market penetration in its first month will be around 20%.
CHUM’s Hale said she doesn’t see Joost replacing traditional television viewing. Instead, she said that CHUM views Joost’s IPTV distribution platform as a great way to showcase its MuchMusic channel to a global audience. Domestically, Joost will also help CHUM to promote the broadcaster’s regularly available programming content.
“All of these things work together, they don’t replace one another,” Hale said.
