The special report from Chris Lederer and Megan Brownlow have identified 5 Shifts in the global Entertainment and Media Industries
- Demography – young markets are growing more rapidly than old
- Competition – ‘Content is still king’
- Consumption – rise of subscription content services. The competition is in distribution rather than content.
- Geography – fastest growing markets are Indonesia, India, and Peru; but those generating greatest absolute dollar growth is still U.S. and China.
- Business model – growth of technology and digitization driving the shift in relationships between large companies and giving way to smaller ‘specialist’ companies; forging new business models and industries.
Points of Interest:
Competition:
‘Content is still king’. Companies are expanding globally but tastes and cultures in content remain local. Local content is still important within the global market.
Consumption:
Interesting point about the big battles tends not to be for access to content. Not only is content more abundant, more accessible due to the growing amount of “prod-users”, but distribution is no longer scarce. Hence there will be more competition between cable networks, online platforms, and telecommunication companies fighting over gaining access to distribution.
Geography:
The study points out Government regulations as an important third factor; and that those markets which are most heavily regulated have some of the most growth.
This was a fascinating point. This is evident in countries such as South Korea and China. Previously, the South Korean market was regulated in such a way that it demanded its domestic theatres to screen a certain amount of local films. This contributed to a huge growth in the local film making industry. China’s restrictions and blocking of giant successful tech companies such as Facebook, Google, Netflix was used in the study to exemplify how the restrictive environments tend to limit what companies broadcast and publish, who owns them, ‘with a common focus on maintaining indigenous ownership and control.’
It is suggested that this often takes form in government funding for local content, regulations that prevent excessive outside influence and protect local artists. This is perhaps not just happening in Asia, but also in our local industry in Australia. I have always seen how problematic it is that our main source of funding for any creative projects is governmental funding. Not to be harsh, but this just reveals how crippled our film industry is. Sure there are production companies in Melbourne, largely for producing TVCs rather than making films, but take a look at our theatres and commercial cinemas, it is almost as if they are operating as two separate industries. It is also an indication of the scarcity of opportunities available. From what I can see, one of the largest cause of this problem is the lack of audience. The lack of demand at the moment for Australian content; which also leads to stagnate competition > leading to poorer quality of content being produced (and ultimately being screened) > affecting the market’s expectations of local content. Why is there the initial lack of demand (post-70s/80s) is another research project for another time.