The Evolution of Broadcast Media and the Implications for

Public Relations

A research paper by 4mediarelations

contents Page

Extract 1

Introduction 1

About 4mediarelations 3

Role of traditional broadcast media 4

Digital dominance 5

Social interference 6

Role of Public Relations in contemporary broadcast 7

Comment 9

Contemporary media platforms have considerably impacted the role of PR professionals and companies who are now confronted with delivering a consistent message across several platforms to targeted audiences. The days when press releases, advertising and press conferences would suffice as a means of promoting and controlling the public perception of a brand or organisation are over. Today, PR professionals must be multi-faceted, utilising traditional forms of media as well as a variety of multimedia content.

4mediarelation’s review of the evolution of broadcast media identifies the ways in which people are interacting with media today and proposes how the PR industry might adapt to the changing face of media. Focusing on broadcast PR, this white paper offers detailed analysis of how the industry is evolving and becoming more relevant. As an industry that must fight for media attention, public relations offers a fascinating example of how contemporary media consumption can support key brand messages.

Public relations has led the way in incorporating contemporary media trends. Along with marketing and advertising, the importance of promoting targeted messages across the media scape has not abated, yet brands risk losing coverage by adhering to traditional methodologies and not giving enough consideration to how people are consuming media in a digital age.

The 2013 PR Census revealed the UK PR industry is now worth £9.62 billion, an increase of 28% compared to two years ago, when the last Census was carried out. The Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA) found that PR has grown in

importance as part of the marketing mix, with 84% of 1,500 respondents saying they believe PR would increase in importance and more than half (56%) thinking the PR profession has “gained importance and credibility” in the last five years.

Nine in ten of the PRs surveyed reported that the importance of digital and online communications has grown since 2000. However, rather than replace traditional media outlets, research suggests new platforms are working in juxtaposition with the long-standing stalwarts. Brands are therefore confronted with multi-channel or channel specific campaigns which suit both the media platform and the audience.

Extract

Introduction

Evolutionary Leap

PR is often regarded as a modern profession, but the practice of strategically placing stories in the media can be traced back as the far as the 1800s. Henry Ford and Theodore Roosevelt are thought to have used basic PR concepts in order to support their political campaigns and business pioneers such as John D. Rockefeller began to build teams to deal with industrial disputes and the household perception of their ‘brand’.

The biggest evolutionary leap in PR has arguably come in the past few decades with the advent of the internet. Although most companies now have web and social media presence, research has shown brands are not fully embracing new media, are ill-equipped to do so and have a fear of the technology (Alfonso & de ValbuenaMiguel, 2006). In an age where online news, social media and other digital media channels are slowly eroding the dominance of traditional media, this could be an expensive mistake to make.

Multimedia content is the vocal chords in the mouth of the internet. In the digital age people are constantly on the lookout for new and engaging ways of digesting content, which has manifested in a variety of new media forms, particularly in the broadcast industry. Businesses transmit messages through YouTube channels, digital press releases, Video News Reels (VNR’s), Live Streaming and Events. Given the amount of content businesses produce, the advent of multimedia is comparable to translating War and Peace into digestible snippets of engrossing video, audio and visual which can be consumed anywhere and at any time; a tremendously powerful prospect indeed.

Traditional Broadcast Media

Traditional platforms have, however, not lost their dominance as a key transmitter of media messages among the general public. An Atomik Research® study found television and radio remain the most popular forms of media for breaking news and new music. What’s more, the introduction of paywalls is driving people back to the traditional stalwarts. It seems, therefore, that rather than replace old media, new channels are working in juxtaposition with them. Specialisation has come to the fore, which makes multi-channel coverage all the more important, particularly if the content is targeted.

Alfonso & de ValbuenaMiguel’s research highlighted that brands feel a little lost in the current media scape. Promoting a consistent message across numerous vital media channels has left both brands and agencies scratching their heads, and sector specialism will become increasingly important as a result.

Focus

The focus of this white paper is broadcast media with analysis of how evolutionary pressures have impacted the industry and how brands and agencies are likely to adapt in response. We will analyse radio, television and online to see how traditional broadcast media has been impacted by new platforms and how the general public has adapted its media consumption habits in response to this evolution.

4mediarelations is one of the UK’s leading broadcast consultancies. We work with direct clients and PR agencies alike to produce creative, innovative and effective broadcast campaigns that reach TV, radio and online media. Our team of experts know how to make an impact while promoting your key messages, generating unique ideas to ensure your campaign is a success and gets people talking.

The 4mediarelations group of companies includes a research arm and a lifestyle news content agency. This ensures that each story has a unique media appeal and is sold in to radio, television and online platforms by specialist staff with the contacts and know-how to get people talking.

News Data Network

News Data Network is a lifestyle news content agency which consists of a specialist team of news journalists and media professionals who work with you to formulate a buoyant news story that broadcast media want to talk about.

Presenters and producers rely on the team at News Data Network to come to them with interesting and newsworthy content for their shows that provide you with a platform to promote your brand to an agreed target media list.

Atomik Research

Atomik Research is a leading online market research agency with a strong PR background which enables them to formulate specialist PR surveys that provide vital news links for solid editorial features that the broadcast media trust.

About 4mediarelations

A recent Atomik Research® study found that New Age viewers/ listeners are happy to juggle a variety of media channels, rather than focus on a single platform. Consumers of media still, for example, go to television (19%) and radio (63%) for new music and breaking news (29% and 23% respectively), although that number is eroded when specifically targeting younger demographics.

Compared to more than two-thirds of 25-34 year-olds, 35-44 year-olds and 45-54 year olds, only 26% of 18-24 year-olds would turn to the radio for new music, preferring to listen to live streaming sites such as You Tube (58%) and Spotify (21%) instead. For breaking news, however, 63% of 16-24 year-olds turn to the television compared to only 5% who would use social media and 16% who would use free websites.

Paywalls are the biggest deterrent to using online resources, except for 18-24 year-olds, who are less swayed by the requirement to sign-up or pay for content online. More than 40% of respondents from this demographic say the introduction of paywalls wouldn’t put them off, compared to only a third of 25-34 year-olds and 31% of over 55s.

The study concluded that while traditional media still plays a dominant role, brands should be careful not to overlook any media platform and instead adopt either multi-channel or specialised approaches to public relations. In broadcast, for example, a three-pronged approach to a live event using radio coverage, live streaming and b-roll will capture the largest audience, but if the demographic in question is aged 18-24, deploying more resources to online media may be more fruitful.

Role of traditional broadcast media

The broadcast industry, along with many others, is becoming increasingly ‘digitalised’. Research from RAJAR finds 24 million adults now have access to a DAB receiver, up 10% year-on-year. Digital listening hours in the third quarter of 2013 have increased 14% from 320 million hours in the same quarter of the previous year to 366 million hours. DAB radio is still the most popular device when it comes to listening digitally, accounting for 65% of all digital hours. Listening via DTV (Digital Television) represents 14% and listening online accounts for 16% of all digital listening hours. Mobile consumption is also growing more prevalent.

There’s widespread concern that new digital technologies will allow illegal industries to prosper, particularly in relation to music downloads. However, a report by the European Commission using data on more than 16,000 Europeans found that internet users do not view illegal downloading as a substitute to legally purchasing or listening to music. While Spotify and YouTube are likely to enjoy renewed prominence, pirate streaming sites and radio stations will not impact the number of viewer/ listeners.

News consumption is likely to become more digitised in the future, with an increasing amount of people relying on websites, online magazines and digital arms of traditional media for breaking

news. A report conducted by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found “compelling evidence” about the growing number of ways people are consuming news and, in particular, the speeding up of the mobile and tablet revolution. As few as 9% of people admit to not digesting news online, highlighting the extent of the revolution.

Broadcast firms have not been exempt from the need to modernise and incorporate new channels. Radio is moving from crowd to cloud as listeners look to access media via the internet and mobile devices. Broadcasters now view radio, online and social media’s combined power en masse, and many stations have made a notable push to democratise the platforms they use. BBC stations have led this evolution, inviting users to watch shows online and interact via social media and on the web. Commercial stations have also made a big push by developing their websites to attract new users and build their marketing appeal.

In order to attract the digital generation, multimedia content production has become paramount. Arguably, broadcast has led the way in innovating in this area. As people rely more on other types of sensory interaction, the desire to ‘watch’ and ‘listen’ rather than ‘read’ has become more prominent.

Digital dominance

Social streaming sites such as YouTube and Spotify have had a profound effect on the way people consume media, while sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest are impacting the way in which people interact with it. Both of these nuances will alter the way in which broadcasters publish content, and should thus alter the way in which PR professionals strategically position their brands.

YouTube now boasts more than one billion unique users per month, with a staggering six billion hours of video watched on a monthly basis and 100 hours of video uploaded every minute. From a PR perspective, this has altered the speed and manner in which news can be delivered to intended audiences, giving birth to a new era of live streaming.

Live launches, conferences and events are increasingly in vogue as a means of promoting key brand messages and stirring hype around a product or service. Once the preserve of audience members or passers-by, live streaming has allowed such events to be broadcast beyond their immediate surroundings. TED Talks are a wonderful example of how an idea projected in a lecture hall can receive global hype. As of November 2012, TED Talks have been viewed one billion times.

News consumption is another aspect being impacted by social media. A study

by Pew Research shows Reddit, Twitter and Facebook are the leading social media sites for news consumption. The key variable, however, is whether social media is used as a pathway to news or as a news source itself. In the case of Facebook and Twitter it is very much the former, whereas Reddit stands as one of the few platforms where the latter is true.

Tom Malcolm, head of consumer at Diffusion, summarised in The Drum:

“Social media is forcing PR agencies to become much more integrated. A thread on a consumer forum can quickly become headline news and as such PR professionals need to have an understanding of how a brand’s reputation online and offline are intrinsically linked.

“The rise of social media has also had an effect on media organisations which are now in search of unique and engaging content which will drive traffic to their websites. This in turn has transformed the role of PR. To feed the media’s growing appetite for engaging content, successful PR campaigns are now increasingly reliant on their ability to create engaging content that people want to share and talk about online. This has also forced PR agencies to work more like advertising and creative agencies, as well as alongside them.”

Social interference

The key question, among the evolutions and developments in contemporary media, is how public relations will adapt in response to the changes.

Confronting contemporary media will require an overhaul of traditional methods, an open mind and willingness to change. The days when press releases, advertising and press conferences would suffice as a means of promoting and controlling the public perception of a brand or organisation are over. Today, PR professionals must be multi-faceted.

Whether protecting or promoting a brand, there is a big case for multi-channel and/ or specialised approaches in a modern media age. Research in this white paper conclusively proves:

• People are comfortable with incorporating a variety of media types into their lives, and traditional media still has a wide-reach which is unlikely to grow less influential in the near future.

• Contemporary media platforms are increasingly specialised in both audience and reach.

• Social media is primarily a pathway to news, but in some cases it can be a news source itself.

• Live events have an increasingly important role to play in public relations and will gain larger audiences in the future as new technologies are utilised.

• Multimedia is becoming a more relevant tool for dispersing content, and is only likely to grow more relevant as digital generations come of age.

The case for multichannel

There’s a strong case to be made for combining several media channels when broadcasting a public relations campaign. Primarily, the reach is likely to be extended with a multi-faceted approach, but a stronger debate is one of omnipresence.

As new media channels become increasingly dominant, ensuring brands have a presence across the board has grown in importance. The campaign must remain consistent, of course, but allowing one media campaign to be rolled out over several platforms is an exciting proposition in the PR world.

In the broadcast industry, this has manifested in forward-planning and tactically implemented campaigns. Research often forms the basis as, along with adding validity, it can be dispersed in many different forms across several different platforms. It is then a case of core campaigns and subsidiary support.

Role of Public Relations in contemporary broadcast

Core campaigns

Core campaigns are the focal event, usually broadcast over the radio or television using a spokesperson or spokespeople, live event or occurrence. This centralised focus is key to multi-channel campaigns as it ensures focussed messages are communicated consistently. Radio interviews, b-roll or live streaming must therefore be well orchestrated.

Subsidiary support

Subsidiary support is provided largely by new online channels and social media. Twitter hashtags are a particularly good example of how this subsidiary support can help boost campaigns as it provides listeners/watchers with an outlet to interact with the brand. However, online features placed on websites and utilising YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest and other platforms are similarly valuable. The key to winning over neutral social media users is being creative with how you capture their attention.

Multimedia backing

Multimedia content is the enabler of multichannel campaigns. Not only can people watch content, but they can share and interact with it in new ways across a number of channels. Broadcast campaigns

that utilise YouTube channels, digital press releases, Video News Reels (VNR’s) and Live Streaming not only engage new sensory reactions but also open campaigns up to interaction. As discussed, social sharing is tremendously powerful but is not a given. Brands must fight for ‘shares’, ‘pins’ and ‘likes’ and will find the best way of doing so is creating engaging multimedia content.

The case for specialisation

Using a single media platform to project brand messages is a similarly interesting prospect in the right circumstance. For brands with a specific appeal or identifiable audience, creating targeted messages rather than relying on mass media has proved to be a prudent tactic. Furthermore, this methodology is supported by research that suggests media consumption is becoming more specialised, with platforms adopting roles within the digital hemisphere, rather than attempting to offer a holistic service.

For specialised campaigns, industry knowledge is key. This is particularly true for new media, where brands must fight for viewers/ listeners by producing engaging content. In order for this to be achievable, a ground knowledge of the industry mixed with targeted, creative direction will give a campaign the best chance of success.

Dave Cotgreave, Managing Director of 4mediarelations, says:

“The evolution of broadcast media has been most prominent over the past ten years, with new technologies consistently disrupting the market leading to new and exciting possibilities. As a long-standing broadcast agency we have spent a great deal of time positioning ourselves as industry specialists, staying ahead of the curve in order to offer a wide-range of services to our clients.

Moving forward, we expect there will be a short period of calm as the industry adapts to a long period of change. However, in Public Relations there’s no time to rest on your laurels; the next evolutionary leap is sure to arrive soon. As technologically-savvy generations pick up spending power, communicating branded messages to mobile devices and even wearable technology is an imminent prospect.”

Comment

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