<p>We’ve all heard the famous Hudson River plane crash as the finest example of citizen journalism on Twitter. Janis Krum’s Twitpic and accompanying tweet reached millions before the traditional media got to it.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Digital content is exploding across mobile, video, social media. Now you find more content online than in print and TV. Traditional media is discovering the new way news is perceived and shared by today’s tech-savvy generation. According to PayFort’s infographic on Global WebIndex’s media consumption report, globally, 16-24 year olds spend an average of 7.5 hours per day online with mobile devices representing 43% of their online time. <br /><br />Thanks to the advent of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, people now spend an average of 0.75 hours a day on online TV. Even as digital media grows phenomenally, traditional mediums like TV, radio and print continue to lose consumers. <br /><br />While these trends are from internet-rich countries like the Netherlands, the UAE, Sweden etc. emerging markets like India, Philippines, and Mexico are catching up fast. Social media, the infographic notes, is fast emerging as a key threat to traditional media: users now spend “roughly one in every three minutes online” on social media. Today, the New York Times now has more Twitter followers than print subscribers.<br /><br />Digital adaptation by traditional media<br /> <br />Successful media players have focussed with multiple monetisation models including bundles between online and offline offerings to attract consumers. Examples galore: HBO has made its content available to subscribers on every platform by increasing the value of the package to meet customer demand and expectations. ESPN has unleashed scores of apps and games in every app store along with a masterpiece of a website. CNN has turned its cnn.com a serious news site by using apps both internally and to communicate with viewers. Using TV Anywhere authentication, FOX News offers channels streaming on iPads and iPhones with an interactive app experience for viewers. In the UK, two of Britain’s biggest media groups, DMGT and Reed Elsevier, have successfully adapted to digital. <br /><br />Ahead of a changing media landscape<br /><br />According to Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the next decade will see a consumption explosion with the rapid growth of digital media. India already has 250-300 million digital screens which include smart phones, tablets, laptops and PCs.<br /><br />As people consume and spread content through multiple channels digitally, traditional print and broadcast media must find ways to survive. The traditional media must integrate with digital and social media by turning challenges into opportunities. The idea is to boost their bottom line through online content.<br /><br />Successful traditional media are learning to use technology to retain their customer base. Certainly, Indian media is picking up steam. Many of them are evolving to meet the needs of consumers with revised marketing strategies to cash in on the new advertising opportunities.<br /><br />Traditional media adapts to digital<br /><br />nTelevision: The TV advertising industry is gradually shifting its focus from traditional mass targeting to specific data and audience-driven TV advertising. With the advent of set-of-boxes, the demand for subscription-video-on-demand (SVOD) is booming in India. Fuelled by SVOD, TV networks are creating new distribution channels with branded apps and websites to distribute their content to subscribers.<br /><br />nPrint: The digital shift of consumers has made print media suffer the most. Some have adapted to pay walls to make users pay for content. But most readers are reluctant to pay for content. The solution is many news outlets have managed to reach out to a larger audience by offering free content while generating ad revenue through online video and display ads. To reach out to the targeted audience, advertising should run the full spectrum of digital and traditional media.<br /><br />Smooth transition into the digital age<br /><br />To succeed in the digital age, media organisations should ensure a smooth transition into the digital sphere without compromising the quality of their digital media sites. Given the amount of digital explosion today, media organisations cannot afford to create haphazard digital construction in order to merely keep up. Compared with the West, India still has a long way to go in closing the gap in digital divide. But India’s growing tech-savvy middle-class has made fastest uptick in smartphone sales in the world. As people can access the Internet virtually anywhere anytime, media will benefit greatly by shifting to the new age digital tools.<br /><br />India has the potential to emerge as a global M&E hub. According to a joint publication by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Indian media and entertainment (M&E) industry has been growing at a stable 10% year-on-year and is currently valued at Rs 1,15,500 crore. However, it continues to underperform to its true potential. Advertising, for instance, is only 0.33% of GDP in India compared to the global average of 0.64%. Digital media advertising in 2014 grew at a staggering 44.5% in 2014 over the previous year.<br /><br />Achieving the true potential<br /><br />Faced with such digital explosion, the Indian media industry must search for ways to monetise this growth. But Indian monetisation benchmarks could be very different from the west—both for subscription and advertising. An advantage India has over west is that Indian media has shown tremendous growth over the years. In fact, demand could potentially grow by tapping into the latent needs of the Indian media consumer looking for more choices, according to the BCG-CII report.<br /><br />Look at these facts — India already has 250 million digital screens (smartphones, tablets, laptops and PCs), which is more than the number of TV and film screens put together. This number is projected to multiply to 600 million by 2020, implying that every second Indian will have a personal media consumption device. Indian media and entertainment industry has the potential to reach $100 billion (Rs 6,50,000 crore) turnover by 2025, with adequate infrastructure and the government support, surmises the CII.<br /><br />As Indian content finds global acceptance, there is opportunity to export Indian content. The industry must leverage on multiple monetisation models. As advertising alone might not meet the growing content needs, media needs to tap into multiple pools by building differentiated content. <br /><br /><em>(The author is Founder & CEO, Quintype)</em></p>
<p>We’ve all heard the famous Hudson River plane crash as the finest example of citizen journalism on Twitter. Janis Krum’s Twitpic and accompanying tweet reached millions before the traditional media got to it.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Digital content is exploding across mobile, video, social media. Now you find more content online than in print and TV. Traditional media is discovering the new way news is perceived and shared by today’s tech-savvy generation. According to PayFort’s infographic on Global WebIndex’s media consumption report, globally, 16-24 year olds spend an average of 7.5 hours per day online with mobile devices representing 43% of their online time. <br /><br />Thanks to the advent of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, people now spend an average of 0.75 hours a day on online TV. Even as digital media grows phenomenally, traditional mediums like TV, radio and print continue to lose consumers. <br /><br />While these trends are from internet-rich countries like the Netherlands, the UAE, Sweden etc. emerging markets like India, Philippines, and Mexico are catching up fast. Social media, the infographic notes, is fast emerging as a key threat to traditional media: users now spend “roughly one in every three minutes online” on social media. Today, the New York Times now has more Twitter followers than print subscribers.<br /><br />Digital adaptation by traditional media<br /> <br />Successful media players have focussed with multiple monetisation models including bundles between online and offline offerings to attract consumers. Examples galore: HBO has made its content available to subscribers on every platform by increasing the value of the package to meet customer demand and expectations. ESPN has unleashed scores of apps and games in every app store along with a masterpiece of a website. CNN has turned its cnn.com a serious news site by using apps both internally and to communicate with viewers. Using TV Anywhere authentication, FOX News offers channels streaming on iPads and iPhones with an interactive app experience for viewers. In the UK, two of Britain’s biggest media groups, DMGT and Reed Elsevier, have successfully adapted to digital. <br /><br />Ahead of a changing media landscape<br /><br />According to Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the next decade will see a consumption explosion with the rapid growth of digital media. India already has 250-300 million digital screens which include smart phones, tablets, laptops and PCs.<br /><br />As people consume and spread content through multiple channels digitally, traditional print and broadcast media must find ways to survive. The traditional media must integrate with digital and social media by turning challenges into opportunities. The idea is to boost their bottom line through online content.<br /><br />Successful traditional media are learning to use technology to retain their customer base. Certainly, Indian media is picking up steam. Many of them are evolving to meet the needs of consumers with revised marketing strategies to cash in on the new advertising opportunities.<br /><br />Traditional media adapts to digital<br /><br />nTelevision: The TV advertising industry is gradually shifting its focus from traditional mass targeting to specific data and audience-driven TV advertising. With the advent of set-of-boxes, the demand for subscription-video-on-demand (SVOD) is booming in India. Fuelled by SVOD, TV networks are creating new distribution channels with branded apps and websites to distribute their content to subscribers.<br /><br />nPrint: The digital shift of consumers has made print media suffer the most. Some have adapted to pay walls to make users pay for content. But most readers are reluctant to pay for content. The solution is many news outlets have managed to reach out to a larger audience by offering free content while generating ad revenue through online video and display ads. To reach out to the targeted audience, advertising should run the full spectrum of digital and traditional media.<br /><br />Smooth transition into the digital age<br /><br />To succeed in the digital age, media organisations should ensure a smooth transition into the digital sphere without compromising the quality of their digital media sites. Given the amount of digital explosion today, media organisations cannot afford to create haphazard digital construction in order to merely keep up. Compared with the West, India still has a long way to go in closing the gap in digital divide. But India’s growing tech-savvy middle-class has made fastest uptick in smartphone sales in the world. As people can access the Internet virtually anywhere anytime, media will benefit greatly by shifting to the new age digital tools.<br /><br />India has the potential to emerge as a global M&E hub. According to a joint publication by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Indian media and entertainment (M&E) industry has been growing at a stable 10% year-on-year and is currently valued at Rs 1,15,500 crore. However, it continues to underperform to its true potential. Advertising, for instance, is only 0.33% of GDP in India compared to the global average of 0.64%. Digital media advertising in 2014 grew at a staggering 44.5% in 2014 over the previous year.<br /><br />Achieving the true potential<br /><br />Faced with such digital explosion, the Indian media industry must search for ways to monetise this growth. But Indian monetisation benchmarks could be very different from the west—both for subscription and advertising. An advantage India has over west is that Indian media has shown tremendous growth over the years. In fact, demand could potentially grow by tapping into the latent needs of the Indian media consumer looking for more choices, according to the BCG-CII report.<br /><br />Look at these facts — India already has 250 million digital screens (smartphones, tablets, laptops and PCs), which is more than the number of TV and film screens put together. This number is projected to multiply to 600 million by 2020, implying that every second Indian will have a personal media consumption device. Indian media and entertainment industry has the potential to reach $100 billion (Rs 6,50,000 crore) turnover by 2025, with adequate infrastructure and the government support, surmises the CII.<br /><br />As Indian content finds global acceptance, there is opportunity to export Indian content. The industry must leverage on multiple monetisation models. As advertising alone might not meet the growing content needs, media needs to tap into multiple pools by building differentiated content. <br /><br /><em>(The author is Founder & CEO, Quintype)</em></p>
