Mark Thompson of the BBC recently commented that the emergence of citizen journalists, bloggers and various other forms of media demand that traditional media companies must change the way they operate drastically if they want to survive.
He said: “The media which used to be conveniently shaped by us into not quite one-size-fits-all in different chunks for large groups is going to change. It’s going to be shaped in communities by them. To me, the challenge for us is how to play a useful and effective role as enablers.”
For Hollywood and all media companies to embrace this is the key to their success and growth. To understand what enablers means is the key. While there will be room for offerings that they create directly to the consumer, I think the big money, success and advertising dollars (along with word of mouth) will gravitate toward those that learn how to do the enabling right.
While there are some obvious models being experimented with in MySpace and YouTube, there is still a lot of work to do to see if these will be sustainable. The concept is going to stay though in some type of form.
So along with the question of enabling will come the question of advertising. Will advertising in its current form be part of the new media? Will word of mouth work better along with viral conversations?
While there have been a lot of things thrown around, there is one thing for sure: There is absolutely no path that is sure in this current market and enormous upheavel.
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