A month after MIP and most of us are still reeling in deals and picking up on conversations held under umbrellas that were prefaced with ‘in the current economic climate…’. This excuse for everything and nothing has still resulted in commissions, acquisitions and deals, so perhaps it’s time to stem crisis-creep, give up recession-speak and just get on with it. It’s heartening to see CBS’ Les Moonves trying to rally the industry out of the mire with an announcement in his Q1 wrap up that CBS are “seeing early signs of improvement in the advertising market”. However tiny the upward indicator, let’s support the trend and remind ourselves of the potential presented in Cannes.
MIP’s conference themes, table talk, stall crashers and restaurant pitches were predicated on commercial opportunities with advertiser funded production and brand involvement, cross platform investment, emerging media markets (and their key players), and virtual worlds (with very real cash).
Unifying the themes was a focus on story-telling whether it’s a drama or a webisode. Despite current reactions to having less money, historically good drama has always emerged when there is less advertiser money about and more people at home to watch. Michael Lombardo (President, Programming Group, HBO) on the programming side and Chuck Porter (Co-Chairman Crispin Porter + Bogusky) at a branded entertainment session reinforced the point that it’s the story that will deliver eyeballs at the end of the day.
Digital was the word on production trends with most major distributors and producers now creating specific web and / or mobile formats. This was supported by the launch of new platforms (e.g. Zillion TV) and the announcement of numerous digital content deals (Sony, Paramount… everyone).
There is no ‘winner’ on the digital distribution business model and Content Owners are now getting more involved in distribution deals rather than leaving it to distributors. As Sir Martin Sorrell expressed, there will be more VOD distribution but the models must improve so it can be commercialized better. This, combined with the depletion of the ad market (despite Moonves optimism), emphasised the success of Pay TV models; the envy of media companies worldwide. However whether or not Rupert Murdoch can make us pay to view his news online remains to be seen.
Audience habits received unprecedented levels of attention as media companies acknowledge that their audience comprises consumers, individuals, users, social networkers, online shoppers, gamers and people who want to share their own content and, piracy scandals aside, that of others. This multi-tasking super-viewer-user is likely to be frazzled if Future Exploration’s report that ‘Average total media consumption will exceed waking hours’ proves accurate. Future of Media report July 2008.
If the workload after MIP remains consistent then the worst is over and ‘more’ is definitely the new ‘less’.
Author: Holly Knill
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