Insights · December 5th, 2007
This episode of Future Talks is on Media Megatrends.
In this program in the Future Talks online TV series, international futurists Glen Hiemstra and Gerd Leonhard engage in a conversation with Ralph Simon as he interviews them about the megatrends shaping the future of media. Glen and Gerd highlight such trends as …
The User/Producer, Ubiquity, and the Role of Trust
Among the many megatrends we’re seeing right now is the transition away from the sole model of a producer shaping content for the consumer downstream, to the addition of the user/producer who influences the media landscape through their interests, points of access, relevancy, and skill. We see this happening in the case of the successful amateur blogger whose potential ad revenue and readership serve as parallels to the salary and market share of a professional news gatherer, at a lower cost of production. And of course, we have the music aficionados, who are no longer limited to radio dial or the music store, but who can now click their way to becoming influential as taste-makers in their own right. The lines are blurring between professional and amateur, producer and user.
Supporting this megatrend is the growing importance of ubiquity of product. Media value is moving away from being set through an image of scarcity, to one of a multiplicity of access points. It’s no longer the limitations of shelf space that help to set the value, but how available the product/media can become. We will see some interesting developments as this trend becomes tailored toward the Digital Natives on one hand, and the aging Boomers on the other; each cohort will influence how media is created, bundled, shared and consumed.
This will all drive us toward an increase in the importance of trust. With the numbers of options from which to choose, combined with the move of established media producers into other media forms, the issue will become one of relevancy and context. Can you trust this media product with your time and attention? Is it relevant? As things develop over the next few years, particularly in the arena of traditional news and newspaper companies, the issue of trust will become a determining factor influencing how our media is created, shared and experienced. Newspaper companies that survive will become multi-media companies, as in fact is already happening.
This program and all the Future Talks programs are available at Media Conversations, both for viewing and as MP3 downloads. And the entire series can be obtained as free podcasts from iTunes.
