Online Communities transcript

Transcription from podcast

Kate – Hello, I'm Kate Bulkley. I'm an independent journalist and I'm here with Ingrid Silver. She's a partner at Denton Wilde Sapte and we're here on this podcast talking about online communities.

Kate – So Ingrid, I mean, online communities, like MySpace, like YouTube, they have been phenomenally successful. They have, you know, millions of hits per day. Is this the new broadcasting platform of the future?

Ingrid – I don't think it's as straightforward as that to the extent that MySpace, for example, is not necessarily the future. For example, if you ask a 15 year old teenage girl what she thinks of MySpace, she'll say it's full of perverts and weirdos watching adult content and it seems that the teenage community is actually moving away from MySpace. So, the target audience that I think Newscorp was really trying to reach out to when it acquired MySpace is not necessarily going to be there. So, I'm not sure that online communities as we know them, irrespective of their size and volume and proliferation are really the future or about to replace broadcasting platforms. Having said that, I think the online community is very much so going to replace broadcasting platforms over a period of time because the way that they are structured and their very nature makes them just so much more viable than the traditional broadcasting platforms that we know. For a start, they're far cheaper to roll out, you don't need to get into someone's home before you have them as a viewer, you don't have to establish some sort of subscription mechanism to get hold of that viewer and they are not limited by the physical realities of physically rolling out a network or territorial boundaries that traditionally constrain broadcasting platforms. It's going to take a little bit more than just having the online presence. Broadcasters and content providers are going to have to identify ways of actually getting the content to the consumers and they're also going to have to find ways to monetise that content in this new environment.

Kate - It's interesting you talked about, you know, the quality of the content out there. There's been lots of examples - the fellow who dances for the Star Wars track in his underwear, lonely girl 15 who, of course, may now be a fraud, we hear that she has actually been signed by CAA, which is of course a big talent agency. But, you know, some of this content, even though it isn’t good in the sense that it isn’t professionally produced content, is actually quite attractive to these users, particularly the youth audience, it seems to be very attracted to this. How do you think that's going to work with sort of the, let's say traditional media who's used to broadcasting, and this new or younger generation who really wants to interact and wants to show themselves and wants to be part of the media, how do you think that’s going to evolve?

 
Ingrid - At the moment, we're in a very transitional phase where people are just coming to terms with the fact that there is this proliferation of content and ability to distribute. Once they come to understand this new environment, they're going to realise that most of the content out there is complete rubbish and they are going to want help to find the sort of content they actually want. So we're going to see a filtering mechanism appear and I think consumers are going to be prepared to pay for that and that’s where the monetisation will come in. There will be subscription mechanisms, payment mechanisms and so on. Having said that, I still think that the viral element is going to be critical in growing the market share of those particular filters and brands because people will still rely on recommendations and so on to be drawn to those environments. I think the content providers are facing an enormous challenge in terms of managing their investments and at the end of the day it's about sort of identifying what viewers want to see. So, in a way, it’s the same question they've encountered in traditional media - what content are people going to want to watch? It's just that the competition is that much greater and diverse and I actually think part of the solution lies in advertising. As you know, a lot of the restrictions on advertising are gradually being lifted and also advertisers are looking at multi platform solutions, which I think will help the content providers sustain their investment into more diverse portfolios of content production. But I think also the advertisers themselves are going to have to be a lot more creative in their output and actually provide infotainment, advertainment, advertorial etc etc, to play in this area. So effectively, I think the content producers and the advertisers are going to have to join forces if they are going to succeed in this new environment.

Kate – From your legal perspective, what's going on in that part of the forest? In other words, are there any problems from a legal perspective in terms of online communities that big media companies or broadcasters in particular need to worry about?

Ingrid –I don’t think that the challenge is for the broadcasters as such because actually the broadcasters are in a very strong position from a regulatory point of view in this online environment because they have evolved in a world where they have had to comply with a very stringent regulatory regime and so in a way they have already gained the trust of consumers in the online world. So the worry is not so much for the broadcasters. The worry is definitely for the consumers and the viewers and definitely for the regulators because here we are in a world where suddenly there is absolutely no control over distribution, there are no territorial limitations and there is no visibility of who is distributing content and therefore it's all very nice to have rules about what content is acceptable and I don’t think that’s a very difficult thing to do. We already have those rules to a certain extent. The challenge is really enforcing them and I think the reality is that, ultimately, we all have to accept that the rules aren’t really going to be enforceable in this environment and that people who want to bypass these rules will always find a way to do so and so part of the solution is going to be firstly to create filters and portals and rely on brands that are familiar to consumers, to allow consumers to access content that is acceptable and that they trust, and also part of the solution will be to educate viewers and consumers through media literacy education to assist them in effectively surviving and navigating through this online world of accessing appropriate content.

Kate - So its not all doom and gloom for the media companies. They can probably get in this online community environment, they just have to do it in a wise and safe way as well as thinking about how to monetise it.

Ingrid – Absolutely, I think online communities are making everyone very nervous at the moment. They are definitely disruptive, they undermine a lot of the investment and business models that exist in the traditional media world. But if you look at the benefits or opportunities they offer, this is a very exciting time for broadcasters and I think this is an opportunity for them to really expand their reach and their offering and bring something to viewers that they have never been able to do before and also monetise what they offer.

Kate – Great thank you very much.