the fragmentation of content and time… and its implications for brands
TRANSCRIPT
Alan SoonFounder & CEO
[email protected]@alansoon
@splicenewsroom
Spark Conference 2016:The fragmentation of content and time… and its implications for brands
Why this matters to me.• Career journalist • Radio, TV, newswires, magazines, online • Ex-CNBC, Bloomberg, Star TV, Channel NewsAsia, Yahoo • Newsroom strategy and operations consultant • Digital transformation and change management • ONA Singapore co-founder
The big theme: Fragmentation of content and time
Trend #1 The content experience is fragmented.
News now lives everywhere.
Ongoing Disruption
The news distribution model continues to evolve.
v1.0 PortalsContent host: Own site, Desktop Discovery/Distribution: Home page
The news distribution model continues to evolve.
v1.0 Portals
v2.0 Search
Content host: Own site, Desktop Discovery/Distribution: Home page
Content host: Own site, Some Social, Desktop Discovery/Distribution: Home page, SEO, Social
The news distribution model continues to evolve.
v1.0 Portals
v2.0 Search
v3.0 Social
Content host: Own site, Desktop Discovery/Distribution: Home page
Content host: Own site, Some Social, Desktop Discovery/Distribution: Home page, SEO, Social
Content host: Social, Mobile, Desktop Discovery/Distribution: Social
The news distribution model continues to evolve.
v4.0 Syndicated PlatformsContent host: Social, Publisher Platforms, Mobile Discovery/Distribution: Social, SEO, Platform Apps, Podcasts, Newsletters
The rise of ‘homeless’ media.
NowThis: “The first video news network for the mobile and social generation”
Facebook Instant Articles
LINE News
Quartz Daily Briefing
Publisher
Audience
Direct relationship. Publisher has full control of UX, brand, data.
As distribution changes, so does the relationship with the audience.
Publisher
Audience
Website
Indirect relationship. Publisher has less control over UX, brand, data.
Audience
Audience
GoogleAMP
Audience
YouTube
Audience
Apple
Audience
Newsletters
Audience
Medium
Audience
As distribution changes, so does the relationship with the audience.
Ask:What is your audience’s first contact
with your brand?
“Ultimately a brand doesn’t want a particular post and piece of media. They want a strategy for making content across many networks. Not many companies that can compete with us on that.”
— Buzzfeed CEO Jonah Peretti
BuzzFeed’s vision.
Trend #2 The evolution of lock screens and
notificationsWithin 1 Year
“To anyone paying attention, it’s becoming apparent that the golden age of apps is coming to a close.”
— Casey Newton, The Verge
3 companies own the top apps of 2015.
Source: Nielsen
Ask:Do we really need a whole app just
to do that??!!
The post-app media world.
This is the home pageof the phone.
Content at a glance.
The post-app media world.
The post-app media world.“People have different ways they want to consume information. Search is one way. Social is another way. And we think push notifications might be yet another. We see that as an evolving medium and want to be a part of that.”
— Facebook’s Product Director Michael Cerda
Ask:If you had to build a content
publisher that only lives on the lock screen, what will it look like?
Trend #3 Further fragmentation of time.
Ongoing Disruption
Average attention span of humans: 8 seconds
Average attention span of goldfish: 9 seconds
“Because attention is highly multitasked, the average American has over 31 hours of activity in a day.”
— Michael Wolf, Tech and Media Outlook 2016, Activate
Source: Michael Wolf, Activate (Tech & Media Outlook 2016)
More than half of the waking day is spent on tech and media.
Source: Michael Wolf, Activate (Tech & Media Outlook 2016)
79% of time is spent on 5 apps44% of time is spent on 5 websites100% of time is spent on 18 TV channels
Ask:How much more content can we put
in front of consumers? How do we stand out?
Trend #4 Bots are here.
They’re changing how publishers work.
Within 1 Year
Workflow automation changes everything.
Workflow automation changes everything.
Slack as an operating system for newsrooms
1. Collaborative group and private chatrooms 2. Automated hub for discovery of stories 3. Works across devices and platforms
How do you decide which stories to run on Facebook?
And many more options to add…
More bots are coming.
But that’s the boring part.
Ask:What if we could teach the bot to recognize, recommend and craft
stories.
Trend #5 Chat bots will be the battleground for
content.
Within 1 Year
#ballsyprediction
Recap: Remember this?v4.0 Syndicated PlatformsContent host: Social, Publisher Platforms, Mobile Discovery/Distribution: Social, SEO, Platform Apps, Podcasts, Newsletters
Well, there’s a fifth version. And we’ll be there within a year.
v5.0 Chat BotsContent host: Chat platforms Discovery/Distribution: Messenger apps, always-listening services
One last thought…
Ask:What will news look like as a bot service?
thesplicenewsroom.com
Alan [email protected]
Alan Soon is Asia's leading specialist on newsroom operations, digital transformation and the business of media. He is the Founder & CEO of The Splice Newsroom, an editorial consultancy that builds, develops and transforms newsrooms.
For more than 20 years, Alan has worked in radio, TV, news wires, magazine and online across Asia. He started out as a reporter and grew into other operational roles including producer, editor, newsroom manager and eventually a business leader.
Alan led one of the largest digital news teams in the industry as Yahoo’s Managing Editor for India and Southeast Asia. He’s also worked at CNBC and Bloomberg across Asia.
Alan is a regular speaker at international media conferences and is a co-founder of the Online News Association in Singapore.