Metamorphosis of content consumption in media and entertainment industry

• Deepak Lamba, CEO of Worldwide Media pens down how this current lockdown has resulted in a long-term upward shift in the integration of digital technologies into our everyday and why companies will also have to be on their feet to work out a seamless mechanism to churn out larger quantities of content.
• He further shares a few reasons why it is important to innovate to survive today.

It is a fine Sunday morning in the Kulkarni household where the head of the family, Mr. Kulkarni, who used to start his day with a cup of tea and his copy of The Times of India, now has a new ritual to start his day. From turning the pages, he now swipes to the next page as he reads the e-paper of on his tablet. Mrs. Kulkarni, who used to spend her evenings at the park practicing Yoga, has made the most of the lockdown by participating in online training sessions conducted by Yoga and fitness gurus. The elder son, a chef at a leading 5-star hotel, has taken to his social media handles teaching avid foodies how to cook a host of delectable home-made recipes. His younger sister, who earlier spent ample time binge-watching the latest web series or movie with her friends, now does the same on an app that allows a group of people to come together and watch a film simultaneously.

Regardless of what type of content all these family members consume, the fact is that every generation is dependent on their devices during this lockdown to keep themselves informed and distracted more than ever before.

CREATOR AND CONSUMER IN TANDEM

With more time at our disposal, this current lockdown has resulted in a long-term upward shift in the integration of digital technologies into our everyday. Staying abreast of these behavioural changes and engaging these new audiences, media and entertainment brands can emerge as the frontrunner by leveraging their digital presence. This current scenario is indeed a crucial time for these companies as well as the consumer to evolve and adapt. By perfectly-being in sync with each other via the integration of technology, we have the chance to script a new chapter in content consumption that will see it have a lasting impression long after the lockdown is over.

ADAPTING TO THE NEW NORMAL

With the onus to inform and entertain, the media and entertainment industry, in these testing times, is exemplifying purpose and responsibility on all fronts. Leading players have acted as a force for good and leveraged their presence instead of exploiting the situation. They have put their audience first and understood what they want to see. As we embrace this shift in consumption patterns, their coverage has been authentic to its very core allowing people to consume something that they can relate to and connect with. With everyone craving a connection at the moment, major companies have implemented digital solutions like artificial intelligence and machine learning to predict consumer behaviour and foster interactivity.

ADOPTING A DIGITAL-FIRST APPROACH

With the rise in the consumption of digital content, these companies will also have to be on their feet to work out a seamless mechanism to churn out larger quantities of content. Their focus should shift on technology integration, process efficiencies, reduction of lead times and collaborating with like-minded synergies for creative ideation and innovation. This will open up a wide array of engagement opportunities for digital content creators especially, in the fields of news reporting, entertainment and lifestyle to disseminate information in a far more authentic and responsible manner.

BATTLING THE INFODEMIC IN A PANDEMIC

With the lockdown proliferating a digital boom, unverified and unreliable portals are mushrooming across the sector which leads to the dissemination of fake news across different mediums. While most of them may not have the intention to propagate fake news, seldom do they perform multiple layers of stern checks before publishing it. This has created an additional sense of pressure on these mediums to produce the news while taking time to accurately check its veracity before it loses its relevance. With these guidelines in place, digital mediums are bound to strive and become an integral part of the lives of the audience, even post lockdown, and alter the way the industry creates content forever.

CHANGE… OR PERISH

Whether we like it not, the world has changed. It is a stark contrast from how it did a few months ago and it will probably not never look the same again leading to us choosing a new way forward. While the world adjusts to this new normal of managing their professional and personal lives from home, one thing is for certain. The ways of doing business with the external environment, and the ways of managing our work internally for an organisation – both will require tectonic shifts. The companies that survive will the ones that identify this and clearly make the changes to ensure that their old models are swiftly replaced by new ones. At this crucial juncture, it is important for companies to identify genuine employee assets and protect and empower them for them to perform in this new challenging environment. At the present time, with so many professional an personal distractions and concerns, without a motivated work force, the best of plans are bound to fail. As of now though, it seems that a few of the progressive media and entertainment companies are well on their way to successfully decoding and tracing the changes in consumption patterns of families and individuals just like the Kulkarnis.

- By Deepak Lamba, CEO of Worldwide Media