The SCREENS.tv Blog

Screen Expo Europe 2008: concentrating on content (4)

 

Content was inevitably going to play a big part in this Expo, with a dedicated Content Theatre and a growing awareness of its importance to network success.

Paul Maidment from BBC Motion Gallery had a few good pointers. Pick the right partner and develop the right brief; don't overlook the arduous process of obtaining clearances for associating famous names with your brand; and perhaps most importantly "know your audience -- don't give them fluffy content when they want factual content". That was a piece of advice that was to be repeated by several speakers. 

For example, Alex Hughes from AMiGO. "Do not annoy them [consumers]," he said. "Be sympathetic to their mindset -- understand their mission." And remember that "they're donating their time" to hearing your message.

It helps to remind yourself that you too are a consumer when trying to understand audiences, he added.

I'm sure Hughes would agree with Maidment that it's a mistake to deliver fluff when what your audience wants is seriousness. But he did point out that "there's nothing better than getting someone's attention by making them laugh or smile -- don't underestimate the power of entertainment".

Christopher Eades from Rocketgroup had some encouraging things to say for the content-creation side of the sector. It's been a positive year, he said, with quality improving -- partly because there are now more companies operating in the field, but also because the clientele is changing.

Eades has worked on the content-creation side for six years, he said, and until this year work mostly came his way from network owners. Now, it's coming from the advertising agencies, which are "finally realising the value that outdoor digital has".

With this shift in the content creators' client base come  correspondingly higher demands on content. Rocketgroup is therefore also adjusting its business model to be more client-facing -- "agencies won't settle for less than that".

Peter Miles from SUBtv was a predictably entertaining speaker, making the point (like so many others, not least Nancy Radermecher of ScreenRed) that technology is all very well, but "the main goal is engaging and communicating messages". Too many people focus on what can be done, not why, he said.

SUBtv continues to develop its innovative model that takes advantage of the characteristics of its very specific market -- university students. They're at a clearly-defined life stage, said Miles, leaving home for the first time and likely to be around their new location for three to four years.

To some extent I suppose this is the kind of audience that you don't always have to research to understand -- their student status by definition attributes certain characteristics to (the majority) of them. (One which may surprise many readers is that they spend more on personal-grooming products than the average consumer.)

Among SUBtv's latest wheezes is to distribute information on university sports personalities not only through its own network, but also through Bebo, MySpace, Facebook, Setanta and so on.

And that's more evidence of a common theme emerging from today's sessions -- screens are a (sometimes great) means of delivery, but it's not so much the means as the content and the audience that count. 

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