Media & Broadcasting Congress 2009

I chaired the first day of the Media & Broadcasting Congress in Sydney last week. Good speakers, though I'd say the big players will need to pick up the innovation that they dropped with the recession.

The summary I gave the conference (which I also think is a snapshot of where we're at with digital) is:

"Audiences have changed their behaviour as digital distribution has become globally mainstream.

This has disrupted a much broader range of industries than originally thought.

Businesses, governments and legal profressions have been severely challenged -some to the point of extinction.

This disruption has been exacerpated by the recent recession.

That said, an increasing number of media companies are making a lot of money when they get the story right. When they offer their content in the way consumers want, there are substantial audience and revenue opportunities."

My own presentation the following day continued this to talk about how cutting off access to content (eg the record labels) rather than offering it in a way consumers want is business negliegence. Digital media is no longer about advertising for the product, it is the product. Music pirates are generally high value potential customers with HDTVs and high-end games consoles who have the money to spend if the product is right.

Will be presenting a variation on this theme to FIAM in China at the end of this month.