Convergence is King
Last year was another year of great strides in the digital sector, with a number of significant developments and milestones. For me, two particular breakthroughs come to mind: the fact that online advertising has just about overtaken traditional advertising, underscoring the business case for clients to consider the reach of digital content through new, emerging channels; and secondly, the fact that the Chinese online community became the largest in the world, boosted by the Beijing Olympics.
We are seeing a new breed of digital campaign strategies, with advertisers chasing the mass online audience. However, there is still some confusion, or to give the benefit of doubt, some uncertainty in the minds of traditional TV broadcasters and telecoms companies. There are rapid changes that are taking place in the nature of services being offered to users by the new young pretenders in the mobile and internet arena, particularly in the manner by which the services are being delivered to audiences.
Such developments will shape how mass media and communication networks will exchange and relay information to audiences within the next few years. Firstly, let’s consider Joost, which offers online users a chance to view broadcast quality content (or TV, if you like) on demand, which is sourced from a wide range of sources, from content players to film studios. Founded by the backers of Kazaar and Skype, Joost is funded, in essence, by advertising revenue. It’s a simple, smart model, and one we have seen emerge in other areas, in particular, across the social media landscape. A bit like an effective social network experience, Joost promises to offer a new TV (or content, if you like) watching paradigm based around the humble PC.
The theory sounds great doesn’t it? In reality, however, the user experience doesn’t always live up to expectation. In this case, the content quality of Joost can be variable, both in terms of the clarity of image and the range of content, namely programmes. I’m sure that such minor points will soon become relegated to cyber annals of history. There are also some quarters who wonder if watching TV through your PC will ever really take off. After all, it’s not really like watching television, as an activity central to most households? Is it? If so, why should it remain this way, as we become more isolated yet better wired? Another milestone from last year which will influence future audience behaviour is BBC’s iPlayer, which had a terrific flying start, living up to all expectation and more. On average, 250,000 programmes were either streamed or downloaded each day following its launch in 2007. According to BBC figures, the number of users streaming content outnumbers downloading by a factor of eight.
Joost, Azure and Babelgum have changed the nature of TV production and distribution. This will have a significant impact, as such digital content will mean that audiences can be reached and engaged through a range of platforms. This convergence for audiences has seen Channel 4 launch programmes through MySpace, and Bebo stole a march with its teen soap, Kate Modern, with the innovative integration of product placement; it has also just appointed its first global head of mobile. The BBC has taken a less conventional route but developed some excellent online content to support major shows such as Spooks and Heroes. I think we will see much more of this in 2009, as it’s a clever way for a public service broadcaster to make a play for the audience, in an area they can lay down the gauntlet to the commercial broadcasters. That said, it remains to be seen just how some of the players cosy up with one another with the much anticipated Kangaroo, the planned internet TV joint venture from ITV, Channel 4 and BBC Worldwide.
It’s not just on fixed broadband networks that new TV services will be developed. The expansion of mobile broadband was a major talking point in 2008, and the iPhone became the must have gadget accessory of the year after its 2007 launch in the UK; it also had a flying start and the 3G model will no doubt boost sales, in conjunction with new tariff packages and potential contracts through other providers, such as Orange. iPhone operator, O2, has previously confirmed that the iPhone is the company's fastest selling device it has ever had in the UK. In January, Apple claimed to have sold four million iPhones worldwide, with a nine million target for the year. Although it may have constraints as a phone, it is a well-integrated proposition as an extension of services and content enjoyed on PCs and Macs. It is, to date, the best cross screen device that offers users access to personal and third-party content across mobile, PC and the Web. Irrespective of the device, I think we will see more ‘dot mobi’ content being developed, in order to better engage mobile audiences through sharp, creative executions.
In terms of usage, 17 million people in the UK accessed the Internet on their phone in December 2007, which equates to (only) 23 per cent of mobile users. This is slowly, yet continuously increasing.
In the end, whether web-based or mobile, although digital content is king, the convergent technologies behind it is what keeps the Imperial kingdom running smoothly. But in the age of user-generated content, many have argued that content has been commoditized and that no special skills and resources are required to produce compelling content.
Talk of technology and Imperial kingdoms reminds me of China’s proud announcement on the eve of the memorable Beijing Olympics. China claimed that it had become the world’s biggest consumer of the World Wide Web; Tim Berners-Lee would be proud.
China's online population is the fastest-growing in the world, swelling to 253 million in the last year. Although use of the internet is tightly controlled by the government, the country has the most web surfers in the world, beating the US into second place, with 223.1m. News events such as natural disasters and the Beijing Olympics helped to boost the number of Chinese users by 56 per cent in the year to the end of June 2008. Online music, news and instant messaging were the most popular applications and readers of online news reached 206 million in the first half of 2008, compared with 155 million in the second half of 2007. People younger than 30 accounted for 69 per cent of total internet users and 29 per cent of users accessed the web with mobile phones, reflecting the rapid growth of mobile phone subscribers to 601 million at the end of June 2008. But with just 19 per cent of the 1.3 billion population accessing the internet, China is still lagging behind the global average of 21 per cent.
Our own experience of working in China has been a good one. As a marketing tool, the internet has grown to become the world’s most powerful, with the potential to reach a worldwide audience, which the Scottish Government has been quick to discover. In order to capitalize and build on the interest that Scotland generates around the world, CIVIC was commissioned to create ‘Scotland is the Place’. Providing a range of vital information for users looking to live, study and work in Scotland, this site has become an integral part of the Scottish immigration process. So much so that CIVIC was then commissioned to extend the portal directly to Chinese communities, which have increased in the numbers coming to Scotland. CIVIC worked closely with focus groups of Chinese web-users who were familiar with both Western and Chinese sites. The focus groups advised on the differences in the expectations and user behaviour between Western web-users and Chinese web-users, enabling us to ensure the architecture, design and content of the site was relevant and compelling to a Chinese audience. The site’s content was researched and drafted in English, before being translated into Mandarin, the business language of China, displaying simplified Chinese characters online. Although hosted, designed and built in Scotland, the website is maintained in China, through the use of Content Control, a common content management system developed by CIVIC.
As an agency, we’re also seeing more and more developments in audio video content, which can be amplified through channels such as mobile and news sites, giving an unprecedented reach and return on investment for clients.
Author: Greig Tosh, Managing Director, CIVIC