A World of Differences

The entertainment and media (E&M) industries are diverse with steady growth but difficulty can come with keeping up with the ever-changing media landscape. In fact, for majority of the countries looked at in the paper, E&M spending is growing more rapidly than the GDP. For these companies to succeed they should be targeting the youth as we adopt new media quickly and consume more of it. To do this media companies have to understand the young and as a result be able to predict their movement to the next trend. E&M spending is growing much more rapidly in younger markets such as Pakistan than older markets like Germany. While the E&M is growing world-wide, specific cultures and tastes in content still remain key. Therefore business models are being evolved to support the co-existence of local and global content with companies like Netflix admitting that locally produced content is its future. Local tastes are clear here in Australia but more so in countries such as India and China in which the latter will soon overtake the US in box office revenue. Interestingly, this will be the first time that the US has not held a leading place in an E&M area. Lets continue to use China as an example. China has a heavily regulated media market and companies must understand these obstacles. The Chinese market often blocks foreign companies and requires a certain amount of airtime to local content. Furthermore, all content must be reviewed and approved by the government before being aired. In addition, they limit the foreign films they show each year to about 20. These are all things that international companies have to take into account when planning their global strategies.

E&M companies need to be constantly learning and act in response to thrive in today’s media landscape. Focus needs to shift onto the power of youth, localized content, the deepening of markets and the potential for brand-new business models. As a young person I can vouch that targeting the youth in a must. We are constantly consuming media, often from multiple sources at once and are quick to adopt new technology and platforms for media consumption. Furthermore, we are more likely spend via digital transactions for instance I subscribe to multiple online platforms such as Netflix, Spotify etc. In fact I consume and even buy majority of the media I consume online including film/TV, music and video games.

 

Chris Lederer & Megan Brownlow, ‘’A World of Differences’: Special Report: Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2016-2020’. Price Waterhouse Cooper,