The sphere of media industries has been absorbed by the telephony sphere. Every electronic mass media format introduced in the 20th Century, including film, radio, and television, is now in the process of absorption into digital telecommunications networks. To survive in the 21st century, the companies that produce and distribute traditional media types must adapt to an entirely new environment. The new networks include digital broadband provided by cable television system operators and telecommunications companies offering wireline and wireless access.
A pioneer of participatory media
For twenty years, Robert Tercek has pioneered the process of creating new types of content programming for digital platforms. Tercek has the unique experience of producing content for every digital platform, including cable and satellite television, CD ROM and game consoles, narrowband and broadband Internet, interactive television and wireless networks. Tercek’s professional focus as an executive, a public speaker, and an educator has been to identify the design attributes and business opportunities for multimedia content in a two-way network (as opposed to the traditional one-way broadcasting channel introduced during the first century of electronic media).
The new media landscape is a Darwinian battleground
Although the new digital environment of the 21st century presents many challenges for programmers, it ultimately opens up a vast array of new opportunities which will reward those media companies and brand marketers who are willing to engage with an audience of active participants.
Previously, many major media companies could count their competitors on one hand. The nature of broadcast media ensured that an oligopoly of publishers would compete within a well-defined arena. TV broadcasters worried only about a handful of free-TV rivals, cablecasters jostled for prime channel slots among a set of branded rivals, and so on. But in today’s digital environment, the primacy of a major media brand is vulnerable to disruption by a new entrant almost overnight.
The transition from dedicated analog distribution channels to versatile digital channels presents media companies with their principal challenge: their content offerings must now compete with video, radio, and text in the same channel, as well as voice, chat, email, text messaging, VoIP, instant messaging, blogging and other forms of personal communication. The combination of common standards, open access and low barriers to entry ensure that a lively competitive environment will foster an endless sequence of innovative variations on traditional media types.
Survival of the fittest
TV shows and movies are not optimally suited for survival on a two-way network. The most familiar types of electronic content must adapt to survive in the new networks. Linear one-way programs will be transformed into a two-way dialog between creator and audience. In order to compete with made-for-the-medium fare, static fixed-media content must become responsive and interactive. Likewise, the locked programming schedules set by TV executives has been replaced by instant on-demand access chosen by a consumer from a menu or playlist. Channels and programming blocks have been dissolved by search, linking and viral syndication. Today’s empowered consumer has usurped the role of the programmer.
These changes have caused a wrenching dislocation within the traditional media industry, where the decades-old business models have been undercut by fast-moving technology. The mass audience of the previous century has dissipated into a vast number of individual consumers who tend to move faster than the media companies who cater to them. The business of advertising, marketing, retailing and merchandising have been likewise disrupted.
Are you ready for transformation?
Change is good. It wipes away the old and makes room for the new. Today’s audiences are more engaged and more identified with their favorite content than ever before. The transition to the new digital networks presents opportunities for incumbents and innovators.
On this web site, Robert Tercek shares his perspectives and insight from 20 years’ experience at the leading edge of digital transformation in every part of the world.
