Leading the Industry Through Massive Changes Where Content Is More Than King – Content Is Life

As we’ve been many times over the past 100+ years, Technicolor is at the forefront of a changing media and entertainment industry. But this time it’s different. The changes are so massive – being driven by a demand for content the likes of which we have never seen before – that it’s shaken the industry to its core and even changed the definition of what it means to be a studio. Newer players like Netflix, Hulu, Apple, and Amazon Studios are setting the bar, and traditional studios are responding and evolving with their own content distribution platforms. The race is on for content and the greater share of attention from an audience looking to engage and interact in more meaningful ways. That’s why in 2017, we saw spending on streaming services reach $9.5 billion, a 30% year-on-year escalation that indicates just how much the race is heating up.

“Though these changes are being driven by the unprecedented demands for content, they’re also being driven by who’s demanding the content,” says Technicolor CMO Sandra Carvalho. “No longer is the audience passive, like the baby boomer generation whose viewing habits were dictated by the networks. Generation Xers had more choices thanks to cable TV, premium channels, and other offerings, but this so-called MTV generation still did not have real control of their content experience.”

Which brings us to today. “Today’s predominant audience, the Millennials, want real control and influence over their content,” Carvalho says, “not only the type of content they want to see but where, when, and how they want it. With their heavy use of devices across multiple platforms, and their equally heavy engagement with the content they consume, it’s no longer enough to say Content Is King. Today, Content Is Life.”

Creating Meaningful Engagement

Millennials want to bring together the content they love with the brands they love, to make it part of their identity. Today’s entertainment landscape, the wide availability of technology, and the popularity of social platforms empowers them to do it, and we’re seeing interaction at a scale never seen before. This is a generation with personal brands, their own narratives, and social interests that drive not only where they spend their time, but how they spend their money.

Succeeding in this content and technology-driven, multi-platform world means finding ways to meaningfully engage with an audience that has massive amounts of content at their fingertips which they can interact with anytime and anywhere they want. It means engaging with them on their own terms:

• Providing content that’s personalized and authentic;
• Understanding their buying profiles and how to talk to them;
• Delivering a seamless, anytime, anywhere experience;
• Creating a visually inspiring experience that never compromises on quality.

As Carvalho sees it, “The winners will be those brands and storytellers who best understand this audience, who realize video continues to be a great asset to engage with them across multiple platforms, and who can leverage technology to make these interactions really meaningful. The good news is we don’t have to do it alone. The one-size-fits-all approach is over. No one can be a subject matter expert of everything, in every type of content. Realizing this, partnerships are thriving as are multi-platform engagement strategies.”

It is absolutely critical at this time to recognize there isn’t one company that can do everything in every area of expertise. We must come together and use the full combination of our strengths and capabilities to create these new and future experiences.

The industry is shifting their focus to a more diversified set of platform-based, technology-driven services.  New technology platforms will be key to meeting the complex communication needs of today’s consumer by enabling the delivery of automated, proactive, and personalized communications, using multiple delivery channels based on the preference of the recipient.  Younger consumers in particular have a whole different set of values, beliefs, attitudes, and lifestyles, and have an increased familiarity with digital technologies, communications, and media.  These “digital natives” are indeed distinct and comprise a Mega Trend that organizations need not to ignore.