The process of appropriation of behaviors in a population, so that they begin to be adopted as "culture", is the result of activating mechanisms of communication and transfer, until collectively a collective identity and similar patterns are constructed.
Juan Pablo Morales*
Technology is a vehicle that transfers models of behavior, because it allows us to face today's life with standard recipes for everyone, but the speed with which technology transforms and globalizes with the masses, is much greater than that of the process of appropriation in traditional industry.
The history of consumer behavior of audiovisual content was split in two, with a clear milestone: before and after Napster. There, the technology triggered a transformation in a mind-boggling way and consumers adopted it so quickly, until they became prosumers; but the traditional industry did not react in the same way.
Despite the fact that for more than a decade, in the television industry, there has been talk of the need to innovate in the way of designing, producing, packaging and distributing content, when attending international content fairs, at least until two years ago, the practical panorama from the digital perspective was something close to an experience as null as disappointing.
And although almost all the conferences at these conventions have been repeating, almost automatically, the concepts with what we associate with digital, - the most repeated words are "Change", "Netflix" and "YouTube" -, it was until this year at NATPE when I realized that culture seems to be beginning to infiltrate the DNA of the traditional broadcast industry, and evolutionary genetic mutations within large producing companies begin to give birth, after a gestation period of more than 15 years.
As I was able to corroborate by interviewing more than ten colleagues, among studios and distributors of international content, several factors have been triggers in this process:
- Social networks that, with the exception of YouTube, practically until a little more than a year ago began to integrate advanced video streaming technology for professionals, have refocused the attention of consumers towards them, and towards the content generated by the users themselves.
- The evolution of production technologies, digitization, video compression and data distribution and transport networks has allowed the rapid penetration of content consumption practices in audiences, the improvement of image quality and coverage in multiple business models, platforms and devices.
- The possibility of identifying market niches and accessing them through programmatic advertising, so that this becomes much more specific and targeted, revolutionizing the way of marketing and generating value through the industry of content production and entertainment.
- The loss of audiences in traditional windows and their shift towards digital distribution media, accelerating the pace of phenomena such as Cord Cutting internationally.
- Mobilization, understood as the social transformation from the use of TV as a family appliance, to the use of the mobile as the personal tool for content consumption.
Market opportunities
For content producers, with the above panorama, the possibility of opening their horizon in search of new niches, expands the borders for the development of their companies.
The television and digital content industry is in search of differentiating products that involve disruptive and engaging digital universes. Traditional publishers have already begun to take a look at what is happening in the digital world and at NATPE in the halls of the Fountainebleau, it is becoming more common to find short form video producers, storytelling formats, MCN's and technology companies for digital video.
For digital content creators it is important to start exploring another type of monetization, beyond waiting for a sponsoring brand to finance the production of a web series or that through YouTube a viral dynamic is achieved that results in important benefits.
One of the most interesting opportunities for producers is the international content market. Publishers need, today more than ever, short videos for their digital platforms in a market that will continue to grow and that will not stop. Not only web fiction series, but also tutorials and universal cold content.
Content designed, designed and produced for digital and for consumption on mobile devices has a wide market and needs suppliers. It is important to think about timeless, global and easily adaptable content to any language. Most importantly, in your commercial chain, look for a trusted international distributor.
The only rule in this case is to produce good content in an industrial way, concentrating on production designs, using resources as efficiently as possible and without forgetting that in video there are two important factors to achieve this. Creative pre-production and shooting with a lot of productivity.
Beyond traditional publishers
But not only the market opportunities are in the big publishers. The virtual education sector is in one of the best moments. The dynamics of this industry are accelerating in such a way that traditional universities are choosing to establish massive virtual teaching mechanisms to recover a market that is also becoming increasingly digital. The production of video content for education will soon be another of the niches of greater growth and acceleration.
From the emergence of Moocs from traditional schools, the launch of virtual programs of renowned universities, to the constitution of new fully digital teaching initiatives, are the result of this trend that needs an industrial production of content, not only video but e-books, applications and creative multiformat tutorials.
And on the other hand, the corporate sector, leaving aside its marketing and external communications function, but with the focus on its function strictly related to human resources. Companies are beginning to shift significantly toward video and virtual in-house training platforms.
I have participated in more than a dozen processes of implementation of corporate internal training models in several success stories with results that do not cease to surprise. The result of implementing private corporate video platforms to offer staff induction, training, updating in products and even to provide live and interactive information, to show results or business plans from senior management, has resulted in enormous savings in travel, transportation, travel, rentals and time.
The secret also for the education sector and for the corporate sector remains the same as for television. The content should be intense, well planned, with three initial seconds that hook. People have short concentration periods and messages need to be structured so that they are told intelligently. Not because it's the employer's video about the new product, it means your sales force sees and understands it properly. If we learned anything from broadcasting, it is that the remote control is the best ally of good content. As Steve Stockman says, putting it to a good video, it's off.
*Juan Pablo Morales is the CEO of Nuevos Medios. You can contact him through @JuanPMoralesS
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