News, entertainment find their way in a digital world

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Squeezed between shrinking ad rates and technology morphing at ever-increasing speed, traditional news and entertainment companies have to find – and sometimes invent — new ways of making money, while ensuring that content remains high-quality.

It’s all about adaptation, understanding your brand, and making the digital world work for you, said three speakers at WorldCity’s Global Connections event, “Media Americas,” held May 29.

Explaining how necessity has become the mother of innovation were BBC Worldwide’s Fred Medina, executive vice president and managing director for Latin America and U.S. Hispanic; along with Emilio Sanchez, business development director for EFE News.

World_City_5-29-15_low_res-2They were joined by Cesar Coletti, senior vice president of Consumer Marketing for History, H2 and A&E for A+E Networks Latin America, who is pictured in foreground above.

To set the scene, WorldCity CEO Ken Roberts asked the three men to rank the one social media site that is most important.

“Facebook,” they agreed. “Twitter,” was a close second, with Sanchez saying that all must be used in concert.

It was clear that this approach resonated with the audience. When Roberts asked who had read the morning paper versus checking email, Twitter or other social media, the result wasn’t even close: Digital far outpaced print among the professionals attending the event.

Still, digital wasn’t replacing traditional media, guests said, but challenging it to a kind of foot race to the future. For BBC and A+E’s History Channel, that race is on in Latin America.

BBC is “one of the most known brands for our news product, but the challenge is to shift awareness away from news gathering to broader entertainment,” said Medina. That’s where social platforms come in. A strong core follows BBC. “The ambition is to echo that,” he said, encouraging followers using social media to pull in others to such popular BBC shows as “Top Gear” and “Doctor Who.”

For EFE, the Spanish news agency with bureaus worldwide, the challenge in Latin America is serve both traditional newspapers and provide content to websites and new media, Sanchez said.

It’s vital to maintain the quality of the programming – a hallmark of the History Channel – while migrating shows to new platforms, said Coletti of A+E, whose most popular shows include “Pawn Stars” and “Sons of Liberty.”

“You want to make sure the [digital] experience is as good as with TV or even better,” Coletti said.

Tell good stories, whatever the media

The counterweight to riding waves of disruption is understanding your role, said BBC’s Medina. “First and foremost, we are story tellers,” he said. “If we are able to build great stories, the pipelines that exist enable us to reach as many viewers as possible.”

Yet, intriguingly, he noted that the majority of programs watched outside of traditional TV are seen not on computers, or smart TV, but rather on smart phones.

But the question is: Will people watch traditional-length programming on digital devices? “How do you view length-of-content and shorter attention span?” asked Martin Bidegaray, manager of Insights and Analytics at JeffreyGroup.


World_City_5-29-15_low_res-12That led to perhaps the most interesting part of the discussion. “Our challenge is that we have to cover everything” for old and new media, said EFE’s Sanchez. Videos are typically less than one minute, but high quality is expected. “That is the difference between companies that have been in business for so many decades and those in business for a few years or months.”

Drive traffic from short to long content

Medina said it’s important to drive traffic from short content – think YouTube – to platforms with longer content. “You need to follow the advertising model,” and see where the largest number of viewers are going, he said, “and try to monetize that space.”

Coletti said that if the short form is good enough, people will take the time to click to the site where the full program can be accessed: “When you have a little bit of content that is very exciting, the user will get the idea he wants to get more.”

To cash in, own rights to content

Part of the answer financially is owning the rights to content, said Medina. That way, whoever gets the show first pays the premium, be that ad-supported or revenue-shared.

The concept, called “windowing,” lets content to be shared across platforms and earn more money where demand is high. “It gives certain platforms exclusivity,” said Medina, “and optimizes the life-span of our content.”

Still, with the traditional model of ads funding media all but gone, how are companies coping?, asked Jacques Hart, CEO of Roar Media. Can firms survive with “analog dollars changing to digital dimes and now becoming mobile pennies?” What will happen five years from now?

Optimizing content at every level is key, said Medina.

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Jacques Hart, CEO of Roar Media.

“You have to look where the money is coming from,” added Coletti. “At the end of the day, if you have a show like “Pawn Stars” that no one else has, and it is a successful show, the only way advertisers can get into it is through us.”

From the beginning of time, Coletti said, people have wanted to be entertained by story telling. “If you are good at it, you will survive.”

Global Connections is one of five event series that WorldCity offers in greater Miami to bring together executives on international business topics. The Global series is sponsored by Florida International University and by Edelman, the world’s largest public relations firm.

The next Global Connections event meets June 26.