The following is the second in a series of three blog posts from Adrian Drury, Lead Analyst, Media & Broadcast Technology & Services, Ovum Research, that will cover some key findings from a survey conducted in August 2012. Ovum, in association with Avid, conducted an independent survey of 200 senior broadcast, pay-TV and studio technology and operations executives to take a reading of where these industry leaders saw the industry going, and how fast.
Broadcast content is getting personal. It’s one of the key observations of producers, broadcasters and pay-TV operators during 2012 and the primary conclusion in Ovum’s recent survey of 200 media executives.
According to the survey, 79% of respondents believe that 10 years from now, both content services and the content itself will be personalized.
As multi-platform viewing grows and audiences are offered more opportunities to engage with content on web, mobile, and social platforms, they are demanding to be in more control of when and how they consume and the ability to engage with it in a more personalized way.
This is particularly relevant for youth programming. As an industry, we know that this is an audience it is increasingly difficult to reach via traditional broadcast programming.
Offering this segment the ability to view content on the new devices of their choice (smartphones for the 12-17 years old segment, tablets and PCs for 17 to 28 years old segment), as well as social interaction via Twitter, Facebook and YouTube will bring them back to the traditional TV screen. This, in turn, will make broadcast the key activation point for audience generated, branded stories custom-tailored for advertisers looking to optimize GRPs and effectiveness of their ad dollars.
Of course, it represents a flip of the traditional model for producers, and changes the relationship between producer and audience. Currently, the producer aims content at a target segment. The audience responds by staying or switching the channel, and is measured through the lens of panel-based rating performance.
In the future, the producer (and all parties in the premium video value chain, including talent) will be in a position to have a direct relationship and understand audience reaction in greater detail.
This new level of insight will enable producer to not just deliver personalized services, but also to make smarter content production or acquisition decisions.
Of course, there are significant technical, business and operations challenges. Producers need media asset management systems and metadata creation and management capability to organize their content assets and serve content up based on individual preferences.
They also need the ability to manage a direct relationship with their audience in scale, securely and efficiently. In addition, they need to have the teams in place that are empowered to use this new level of audience insight to make smarter production and service creation decisions, something we see in few producers and broadcasters today.
And finally, we are going to see a fight for customer relationships in the premium video supply chain. Ultimately, it will be the audience who decides based on who delivers the best customer experience. So, don’t wait. Plan to get personal with your audience sooner than later. Your business may well depend on it.
To learn more about the Ovum/Avid survey, please go to: Avid.com/OvumReport.
Adrian
Lead Analyst, Media & Broadcast Technology & Services, Ovum Research
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