Accenture: ... How New Content and Technology are Redefining the Future of Media

Accenture has published a new paper by Jamyn Edis and Alexis Rose that's worth reading.  The executive summary:

Accenture’s Global Content Study 2007 surveyed more than 100 leaders and decision-makers in the media and entertainment sectors, including television, film, music, radio, video games, publishing,
interactive entertainment and advertising. The study solicited opinions from executives around the globe — across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific — to gauge their views of where the greatest opportunities and challenges will come over the next five years. Key findings include:

• 62% of executives look to “new platforms” as being the most important key to growth, followed by 31% “new content” and 7% “geographic expansion” as the key growth lever.
• Of these new platforms, online and mobile dominated; a combined 43% viewed online as most important (of which 17% represented a distribution of content through online portals or entertainment/information sites, and a further 13% through social networking sites and 13% through eCommerce sites), while mobile drew 17% of responses.
• 53% of executives surveyed indicated that “short form content” offered the largest opportunity for “new content,” with “long form” or “full length” video content (greater than 60 minutes) garnering 11% of responses. In addition, “video gaming” was viewed as a key growth area, according to 13% of executives.
• Asked what they believed was a top threat to the business, over half of the executives (57%) identified “consumer-based competition” or “user-generated” content; 46% of respondents viewed “piracy or IP theft” as a top three issue.
• However, despite the perceived threat, 68% of respondents believe that they will be able to harness user-generated content to create revenue within one to three years.
• Nearly 80% of those surveyed believed that there was no bubble in the Web 2.0 space, with 70% of respondents also observing that social media was a natural, “evolutionary” progression for media (versus 25% calling social media “revolutionary” and 5% calling it “a fad”.) As a reflection of this upbeat perception, over 90% of the executives said that their companies would become involved in social media over the next 12 months.
• Half of executives indicated that advertising could grow to become the most prevalent business model in the industry within five years, with digital advertising driving growth.
• Content remains king (according to 37% of respondents), although the crown is under attack by technology companies (26%) and telecommunications players (9%).
• Critically important is the need for digital readiness and a future technology road map. Only by transforming their organization and capabilities can media and entertainment expect to maximize the opportunity that digital offers. This includes increasing reach (through multi-platform distribution), engagement (through social media and interactivity) and monetization (through digital advertising). ...

Link:  Accenture [PDF].

Thanks for the tip to Terry Heaton.  His comments on the report are at Accenture: Biggest Media Threat Is Consumer-Generated.  Link:  Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog.

Accenture's Gavin Mann has an overview of the report here.  --Dennis

Comments

[openG]

Dennis
The prominence of user-generated content in the thinking of these respondents made me think of a recent post on Oreilly radar about Facebook apps. While
there are literally thousands of apps/widgets which use facebook, only a handful
get significant use, or as Oreilly descibes it, it's the "long tail marktplace with a vengeance"

link to article (oct 5th): http://www.radar.oreilly.com

bl