Content: the past, and the future - we must challenge our assumptions

In the past - i.e. pre-web, pre-mobile, pre-social-media, pre-twitter, pre-facebook, pre-realtime - most larger players in the content industries were focusing on controlling distribution, production and marketing;  it was all about scale and domination, and about achieving hit-driven, repeatable mass-market success.

The Internet has completely changed this (or rather, it is changing this). Yes, it took much longer than we thought, back in the late 90s, but it turns out to be a much deeper and much harder change (or...reset?) than we ever anticipated. Right now, we are in the middle of a major paradigm shift across the entire content industry framework - not just within some of the 'scenes'. Future success in content can no longer be based on control and domination (and I am saying this without any critique), rather, it has to be based on attention, trust and engagement. And much of it will start with 'free' or more precisely 'feels like free', making the challenge of getting and then converting i.e. translating that attention in actual income, even bigger. 

The bottom line: we must really question our assumptions if we want to stay ahead (see the video below).

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Comments

[Martin Wilson]

Gerd,

Good post. Digital technologies have certainly changed the playing field. A big challenge for media owners to understand their role, how they add value and can commercially capitalise in the new content environment.

I posted something with very simliar vein yesterday; The New New Media – changing shape of content http://www.indigo102.com/blog

[Gerd Leonhard]

thanks for the comment Martin