Future of media spells the death of quality content? I think not!
| October 8, 2011 | Filled under Copywriting, News |
Last week (Advertising Week, apparently) the Huffington Post published an article about the 10 predictions for the future of media as identified by a panel at New York University’s Kimmel Center. No big surprises—future media will include wearable devices, the ability to chat with ads on the telly and get immediate responses, and devices will be increasingly interconnected. Ok, the talking to ads thing surprised me a little.
What also surprised me was that panellist Bob Pittman (Chairman, Clear Channel Media and Entertainment Platforms) predicted that success with future media platforms would be in the hands of those who offered readers and viewers what they’re looking for immediately, and that this instant consumer gratification was more likely to ensure success than providing quality content. I don’t think that’s true at all, nor do I think the two are mutually exclusive (not that Mr Pittman meant that, exactly).
Evolving media platforms will continue to change the way that consumers interact with the world, each other and the content they engage with. But in contrast to Bob Pittman I believe that the ability to produce relevant, quality content will be even more important as platforms become increasingly diverse and attention spans shrink. The nature and kind of content will change in concert with media platforms, yes, but I think it’s a mistake to think that sacrificing quality in content for immediacy of content delivery will ensure greater success.
I honestly think that the future of media will hinge less on the new technologies themselves, and more on how consumers interact with content and data, and how content creators respond. The relationship between consumer and content is increasingly dynamic and reciprocal—it’s a conversation. Quality content that allows users to be part of the conversation helps pull them in, and businesses that understand this stand to gain a lot from the evolution of media and media platforms. As I’ve said in a previous post, quality content captivates audiences so that they’ll want to hear more, read more, watch more or be more involved somehow.
To create content that engages and inspires consumers requires skilled storytelling, and as media platforms proliferate and/or become more sophisticated, content creators—such as copywriters (like myself), filmmakers, animators and game designers to name a few—will have more and more opportunities to hone our craft. Skilled storytellers who can find the right words to engage audiences and spark dialogue no matter what future media looks like will prove to be invaluable assets to businesses that understand the change in consumer-media interaction.
Just wanted to say I think you’re spot on about media creation becoming more of a conversation. I mean media has always had feedback from consumers from the marketplace – consumers don’t like a movie, they don’t go watch it, eventually the studio figures out how to make movies that people like or it goes bust – but I think the technology is making that feedback much more immediate. Kinda reminds me of FireFly (brilliant Joss Whedan space western)- how consumers freakin’ loved the show so much that they put a full page ad saying that if he kept making it they would keep watching it. That sort of feedback makes me wonder if the show would have been cancelled had twitter or facebook had been around – letting more people contribute to the conversation more quickly and easily.
I also think you’re spot on about media future hinging less on net tech than on content. It makes me think aboiut how the ipod revolutionised the mp3 player market – not because it was a better music player, but because it integrated extremely well with the content. As far as i’ve read, mp3 players were languishing before the ipod because ripping and managing all your music was such a pain in the butt.
http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2011/10/frank_rose_on_s.html