Get on the Digital Media Bandwagon or Lose!

Digital media and marketing have left the door wide open.  The endless opportunities that digital media has offered to the consumer have nerves bundled with excitement, confusion, and with great anticipation of what the future holds. 

Big data collection of what consumers want and how to market via the second screens (tablets, smartphones), particularly in real-time is the challenge. 

“Free” was the selling point for consumers that frequent YouTube and Hulu, which was the basis for their popularity.  According to Accenture, consumers are now willing to pay more for quality digital TV.  Consumers’ interest in digital TV opens up avenues for essentially everyone in the market (i.e., broadcasters, advertisers, producers, filmmakers, actors and the list goes on).

Let’s look at numbers

According to Gigaom, digital media will rule.

•    Globally, digital media will account for 37 percent of advertising revenues by 2017, up from 26 percent in 2012.”

•    Internet advertising will be the fastest-growing segment, at a 13.1 percent CAGR

•    Video gaming at a 6.5% CAGR and TV advertising at a 5.3 percent CAGR will also show strong growth.

•    Segments traditionally related to print—newspapers, magazines and books—which will grow by an average of less than one percentage point

•    By 2017, physical purchases will represent just 53 percent of consumer spending.

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Nielson Ratings of Websites Top 3 out of 10   since March 2014

1.    YouTube              154,528,000  viewers

2.    Facebook             127,815,000  viewers

3.    VEVO                   65,591,000  viewers

Who started it all?

YouTube with amateur video showing and Hulu with premium video content streaming of movies and television shows changed the way viewers watch television.  Viewers watch movies and T.V. series via Netflix other Web channels.  The attraction of the "on demand" feature of these shows lure viewers. The consumer can watch their favorite shows whenever they want and as many times as they want, it's called "have-it-your-way TV".

Consumer interests in and demands for sites like YouTube and Hulu have given them the shield of protection from Hollywood’s vehement attack on digital media with costly lawsuits.  Hollywood lost the legal battle with YouTube and has jumped on the digital bandwagon by entering sharing agreements with YouTube to place their branded content on YouTube’s website (Kidane, B.).  

What does this mean for actors, other talent, agents, and managers?

Actors and other talent promote themselves through social media (Facebook, twitter, websites, blog).  They have access to casting directors, well-known actors, big name agents, etc., literally at their fingertips.  They no longer rely solely on talent agents and managers for exposure.  Casting directors and agents have separate divisions/sections within their companies to surf the web for new talent.  

Although, digital media has offered talent a platform to promote to the masses, agents and managers continue to have a role to play in the entertainment field.  Guidance and advocacy are needed for talent as they spend time perfecting their craft.

Social Strategy1 highlights the importance of jumping on the bandwagon.

Evolution is rapid in the world of technology.  It is highly recommended to stay abreast of the current trends in this fast pace business, embrace it or get left behind.

Kidane, Blane. (n.d.). Digital Media – Shifting Entertainment Landscape.  Retrieved 06/07/2014 from http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~ebayrak/teaching/599F10/PR/blanep1.pdf