Today I listened to Gary Hayes, Executive Producer for ABC Multiplatform, discussing the “hybrid media challenge” facing broadcasters brought about by the constantly shifting user landscape.
He identified four forces that are bringing about this monumental change: 1) social sharing; 2) connected on-demand TV; 3) mobile; and 4) transmedia or multiplatform, namely “agnostic content spread across a users ecosystem”. Hayes reported that 18% of all ABC content is currently viewed on mobile and this is expected to outpace PC consumption by next year. The proportion of ABC content consumed on mobile (measured by time spent engagement) is increasing by 1% each month. Touching on social media, Hayes feels that users are increasingly too busy sharing their own stories to consume curated content, and that online social content is becoming more trusted than traditional networked content.
Discussing social TV and the second screen experience, Hayes feels this combination of broadcast TV and social media is creating the most dominating combined force of engagement. He reports that 85% of TV watching in the US is now via a connected device. But Hayes feels that second screen currently lacks true engagement with the editorial content. As such, Hayes is focusing on hybrid commissioning with synchronised second screen experiences at ABC.
Hayes concluded by revealing that ABC is currently prototyping a “companion app” to help users “navigate through the storm of social TV”, which includes integrated on-demand and catch-up, voting and other social feedback mechanisms, some gamification, remote control and more. Interestingly, his final comment revealed an ambition that, in time, “ABC may become Australia’s broadband community”.
Gary Hayes was talking at the Media140 DigitalBusiness conference focusing on social, mobile and commerce.
Sarah Tierney 