Session III
Mass Media: Power of choice

Customers make for the digital stars of tomorrow and companies taking the lead in the New Media space are clearly in sync with this idea.

In an information-driven society, technology has been the central catalyst. Newspapers are pursuing numerous strategies for new products, to reach their audiences. The same is true with broadcasters experimenting with new programmes. Technological innovations are further contributing to an increase in the ability to reach an increasingly fragmented audience.

Media and the wider sector of communication are changing under the impact of the Internet. The interactivity provided with online content delivered through the computer is enticing for traditional and New Media organisations.

Consumers now look for instant news and updates. Little wonder then that broadcasters and publishers have moved to the Internet media environment to retain their customers.
"Life is changing and it's changing real fast. Consumers today are impacting the mass media space and they themselves are being impacted by it. Audience is much younger and far more mobile than the past," said Viren Popli, SVP & Head, Mobile Entertainment, Star India.

"When you were born what did you get for good or bad behaviour? What was your most expected thing? What did you want for birthday? If you belong to the pre-1970 era, then you would have asked for a toffee for good behaviour or a radio for birthday. Later, the toffee became the chocolate while the radio became a walkman. As time passed, the discman became the most sought after thing. And for bad behaviour, the TV time was taken away."

Consumer demands are growing and the real challenge lies in the delivery mechanism. New Media has to cater to the growing demands and also converge these for the end user. Technology has become faster, easier and cheaper. Consumer expectations from technology are also fast changing.

There are many means of delivery now, ranging from cable, digital cable, DTH, streaming and mobile TV. Vital changes are being seen in the advertising space. Besides ranging from being international and national, the advertisers are now local as well.

"Earlier, if one had offices in all the metro cities, it was said to be a big thing. But under the present scenario, if one has offices in all the state capitals of India, it is yet not considered to be enough," said Popli.

The changes and transformations have posed new challenges before New Media:
» Will the new transformations in the technology be gradual or will it be sudden?
» What is Mass Media? Is New Media the future mass media?
» Will existing content work on mobile Internet?
» What will be the face of media in future ?
The recent years have seen huge changes in media driven by technology. The audience is constantly multi-tasking - watching TV, writing e-mails, social networking etc. The consumer now chooses to catch his favourite show at a time convenient for him, the popularity of user-generated content is rising, Internet advertising is going through the roof.

Speaking on changes in content production to cater to developing niches, Senior Vice President, Digital Assets, NBC Universal International, Kevin Obi said: "We should always keep thinking about what the customer wants as most of the customers don’t know what convergence really is."

"We need to remember that huge changes in the media industry have been powered by cutting edge technology as its backbone. Today, multi-tasking has made its way in the households. "

"Also, the need of the hour is to focus on the emerging media trends like choice proliferation, more time-shifting of TV content through PVRs, PCs becoming TVs and vice versa, rise of content on the Internet. Consumers have become tech-savvy. If we focus on these, it’ll become easier for us to launch our product in a successful manner.”
But the convergence phenomena is not one without challenges. How do companies make the transition from the business of today to the business of tomorrow? While content is king, we must not forget about the rapidly emerging competition and the need to build stand-alone value in online destination sites."

"As an initiative, we have launched an IPTV service known as Hulu service that is focusing on mobile convergence in major markets like the USA. But we are thinking of enlarging our market," said Kevin Obi.

“Convergence is now a reality, a great opportunity as well as a major threat. Smart companies that really want to lead the way in future will follow the consumers," added Kevin.

Consensus:
» We can migrate between various forms of media and it isn't a battle anymore. It's all about co-operation.
» We respect the New Media, which is democratic. But there is still no new evidence to suggest that presented with a mindful of information, users do not want people to sift through it and make better sense of it for them.
» The notion that content has become cheap is not necessarily accurate.
» New Media will not create any new unusual brands but it will help existing brands to grow global.