How media can survive the tech monster

Traditional media houses must build innovative products that keep audiences engaged. Photo by Eronie Kamukama

Facebook and its related products Whatsapp and Instagram could be the most frontal threats to traditional media in Uganda today.

In there, is Youtube that lurks in wings as one of the largest providers of shared content.
Facebook had been designed to carry communication of a lighter nature but that could have changed with the acquisition of Whatsapp, which allows users to share much more than just the traditional definition.

Whatsapp is now experimenting with the “Watch” feature, a content sharing platform, which wants to take on the shape of television.

“They are trying to create a platform for their users to create content in video, more like bringing TV onto the digital platforms because that is where people are and that is where they consume this content,” says Patra Kigula, the NTV digital specialist.

Yolisa Phale, the Multi Choice Africa chief executive officer of video entertainment, seems to agree on this and warns traditional media to step up or lose the market.

“Its definitely true to say that the phone and the tablet are also now regular destinations for audiences. They go there and are happy to watch content on the phone. As media people we have to embrace and understand this. We have to make sure that we give people the programming they want on the device they want and when they want it,” he says.

So two issues then arise in this regard, content and delivering the content via new ways that the changing audiences use.

But that then raises the question, is the era of appointment viewing such as families sitting in front of a TV set to watch a show, ending?

Certainly not, according to Paul Papadimitrou, a media entrepreneur based in UK and founder of Intelligencr
“Nowadays the screen is your phone. Many are watching content on the phone. It doesn’t mean they do not like the television but they are used to having content following them wherever they go,” he says.

In a multi Choice Africa organised Digital dialogue recently in Dubai, UAE, experts agreed that TV home viewing will certainly stay longer than some predict but when audiences move, either in the car, train, work or even at a social events, they want to continue to view content.

Therefore, extending that reach is crucial and perhaps it could be good for Uganda where traffic jams are menacingly crazy.

Viewers must be able to watch their favourite programmes, perhaps through their mobile phones.
This, Kigula says, must be the homework for traditional media and they should be able to give audiences what they want.

“If they can give it to me on my phone [programme], I would watch it because at any one time anywhere I have my phone,” she says.

So apparently the first line of adoption for traditional TV and even print is to find a way to follow the customer wherever they go.

This incidentally looks inevitable with the price of data coming down and the cost of devices dropping to affordable levels with very good processing power for High Definition video.

“You allow them download content, give them news highlight – news on the go; how do you keep them engaged between these places you already deliver content?” says Papadimitrou.

According to experts at the digital conference, another key area that traditional media must focus on in order to stand up to the likes of Facebooks, is to build the right content.

“The way in which content works remains constant regardless of technology. It involves connecting at the human level, giving you something to talk about with your peers and these will remain eternal. Technology changes the way we do stories but not the stories.” Prof Anthony Lilley, the director of Magic Lanterns Productions UK, says.

UK’s traditional media, he says, has survived a number of waves such as digital migration and the rise of Netflix because they got the content right. This, he believes, can work anywhere else in the world.
Content production is generally an expensive affair and this is what traditional media have to contend with.
According to John Segawa, an artiste, a play wright and content provider particularly for TV in Uganda, cost is a big issue for media houses and it illustrates the departure in regard to return on investment.

“Media houses do content such as news themselves. They know how expensive it is. But when we want to sell them our content they say we are expensive,” he says, adding: “If a person is not able to pay its worth, then it’s a problem for the content producer.”

Partnerships with media houses, he says, must take centre stage before content producers are tempted to sell to the highest bidder such as the likes of Facebook, which will further disrupt traditional media houses.
“Media houses should be part of it to share the cost. For example we have actors, but sometimes if you want equipment, the company should come in, which brings down the cost, “Segawa says.

Startup content providers, he says, always have it difficult because most companies prefer to work with big names.
However, according to Papadimitrou, exploration will set the difference between winners and those that trail them.
“Change of ideology might be needed. Some companies dare to invest and try out new ideas but others which are more traditional companies don’t,” he says.

Tailor specific content
Digital companies such as Facebook, Netflix and Amazon, use the primary data obtained from users to understand their audiences, which gives them an edge over traditional media houses.
They use such data to build tailor-specific products.

However, media houses can borrow a leaf by for instance seeking to understand their audience and what they want.
They can also use such platforms to live stream programmes, from which they can build new audiences.

However, this could be a bit risky as you cannot depend on the good will of other platforms to build a dependable audience.

Traditional, as a description, might certainly have to change even when the principal characteristics may remain for the old media as we know it to thrive.