2013: A WORLD
TURNED INSIDE OUT DESIGNING THE DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT FUTURE: VISUAL-TAINMENT AND BEYOND JONATHAN HARGREAVES
2013: A WORLD TURNED INSIDE OUT
DESIGNING THE DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT FUTURE: VISUAL-TAINMENT AND BEYOND For the last seven years, Edelman has surveyed UK and US audiences’ relationships with technology and entertainment companies and the services they provide through new and emerging platforms. Over this period, one dominant story has leapt out of the data: the dramatic impact that new technology has on the way people engage with content and increasingly, entertainment. It sounds like hyperbole, but in fact, nearly everything has changed to some degree; none of the parameters of the industry and our previous entertainment experiences remain exactly as they were. Many aspects of technology, devices, platforms and their respective roles in the consumption of content and entertainment have evolved to the point of revolution (see appendix One: A History of Digital Entertainment). In 2012 the impact of multi-screen usage highlighted the development of a new age. This was not just the obvious multi-tasking and seamless use of content over new technology and social networking platforms, but also the global nature of this interaction which was radically different, as exemplified by phenomena such as Gangnam Style and the Harlem Shake. So in 2013, the scope of the survey was extended to include India, China, Brazil, Korea, Turkey and Germany. This White Paper maps out the extraordinary new behaviours we observed in the 2013 research and attempts to provide some deeper analysis from the world of neuroscience to the drivers and consequences behind some of this year’s key insights. It also provides some practical guidance as to how we can design for these new behaviours now and in the future.
3
THE JOURNEY 2005-2013
From ME to Global Addiction The data has clearly shown the growth of two factors between 2011 and 2012. Firstly, in 2011 there was clearly a trend for people to share information about themselves as broadly as possible, treating their own personality as a brand and engaging whereever possible with the online world. We called this the ME age. In 2012 this developed even further as tablets and new form factors created second-screen opportunities the ability to share ‘ME’ evolved dramatically. The ease of access provided by the iPad made this trend accelerate even faster with multi-screens becoming mainstream in the UK and US by Christmas 2012. It was not unusual to see younger children multi-task between a tablet, laptop and television and love the experience. Another phenomenon began to emerge with the mobility of devices and sharing, driving a global exchange of entertainment content that originated not just in Hollywood or London, but in Korea, China, India and elsewhere. This globalisation has been driven by hugely visual content that has created a new form of visual-tainment often comparable to the intense, highly sensory and visually arresting style of content traditionally found in Pan-Asian markets. This visual addiction has also created a new kind of ‘emotional captivity’ as multiscreens and the power of sharing deeply engages audiences everywhere in a form of global addiction.
THE KEY DRIVERS OF THE GLOBAL ENTERTAINMENT ‘ADDICTION’ PHENOMENA ARE: 1. Global Immersion and Emotional Captivity: The 2013 research showed an overwhelming desire in all countries surveyed for immersion and interactivity with not only traditionally popular local but also with truly international entertainment. This content is emotionally driven and analysis highlighted that these audiences were emotionally captivated by this new content, with a global need expressed by 70% of those asked to use content as an ‘experience enhancer’. 2. Multi-tasking and Sharing as the New Norm: Again in all markets, there was a trend toward multi-tasking with 96% of those surveyed claiming to multitask between electronic devices to access content and importantly, a strong preference to use this behaviour to share their experiences. The global reach of visual-tainment is a new development and is driving deeper feelings of connectivity. 67% of people agreed that ‘because of some of the entertainment content I’ve seen from all over the world I feel humans are more connected than ever before’. 3. Sharing Entertainment and Joy: A key element of this sharing at a global level was the desire to share positive experiences emotions and joy. Globally people were 5 times more likely to share positive news than negative, with consumers from emerging markets significantly keener to share joy (23%) than those from developed markets (16%). Overall 77% of people were keen to share funny content. 4. Visual Addiction and Visual-tainment: The majority of respondents felt online entertainment creates global connectivity and this is driven by visual content. 63% of respondents agreed that ‘I am more open to watching online videos from far flung places than I was a year ago’. This reveals a new visual approach to entertainment and content that we call ‘visual-tainment’ and an almost addictive approach to visual content as typified by phenomenally successful video downloads such as Gangnam Style. 5. More platforms and More Open Minds: Clearly more platforms are being used to consume entertainment and more so in emerging markets. TV remained the number one in UK, US and Germany but laptops and mobile devices were closing fast. In Korea and China mobile devices are already the number one choice. Furthermore, sharing entertainment destigmatises choices with six times as many people proud of their choices rather than embarrassed. Again, 62% of people agreed “Social media has allowed me to absorb and share content from all over the world.”
4
5
Global Addiction, Our Brains and Designing a Digital Future These phenomena behind a new global addiction to content are grounds for optimism with people openly believing they are more open to new ideas and cultures. New experiences that are overwhelmingly positive are being shared globally and people are genuinely finding joy in the experience. A new picture of a multi-polar world that looks beyond Western paradigms is emerging. To get a better understanding of what might be driving these factors and the implications for society, we have worked with neuroscientist Dr Jack Lewis to explore some of the positive issues, and also to look at the potential downsides of an ‘addictive’ approach as this new world of engagement with visualtainment evolves. The following section of this White Paper looks in greater detail at the qualitative data, in all markets, behind these trends and provides some insight into the impact this may have on our brains, our culture and our society. It also provides some conclusions on how to design for this new world.
Global Entertainment Addiction GLOBAL IMMERSION, VISUAL ADDICTION AND EMOTIONAL CAPTIVITY: The 2013 research showed an overwhelming desire in all countries surveyed for immersion and interactivity with not only traditionally popular local content but with truly international entertainment. This content is emotionally driven and analysis highlighted that these audiences were emotionally captivated by this new content with a global need, in 70% of those asked, to use content as an ‘experience enhancer’. The rise of a global approach to new digital entertainment is driven by a near universal need for immersive and interactive experiences. Globally people want their content literally all around them: 88% would watch more than one episode of their favourite programme in one sitting establishing a new binge viewing habit; 73% try new ways of interacting with their entertainment and 65% interact while watching their entertainment. New technology platforms are extending the emotional relevance of entertainment making it more accessible and real with 63% using social media to interact with talent from entertainment they like. This emotional captivity is highlighted further by the fact that 7 out of 10 global respondents enhance their entertainment by simultaneously using another device. These experience enhancers were captive by their constant use of social media and were significantly more likely than average to socialise content about entertainment. They were also biased towards males below the age of 28 who were college educated and importantly, this behaviour was highest among those residing in the emerging markets of China, India and Brazil. These markets lead the world in this new behaviour. In India all of the new behaviours highlighted in the illustration on the next page were seen in over 80% of the sample, making it the most significantly developed market for these new behaviours. At 88% in India, 86% in Brazil and
6
7
81% in China, these markets are the most likely to ‘Try new ways to interact
that you can show the same visual to people in completely different countries
with entertainment, compared to 62% in the US and 63% in the UK. In China
and continents and they will all get something out of it. They might even get
immersion was most advanced with 98% of respondents saying that they
the same thing out of it as there are certain emotions that would be triggered
‘Watch more than one episode of their
that are common to all of us regardless of where we come from. It’s all about
favourite TV programme in one sitting’.
the extent to which you are recruiting specialist parts of the brain and if you’re NOT (as with images) - then you’re likely to get a natural emotional response.
This extraordinary development reflects
Novelty is also important - the more we are exposed to novelty, the higher
fast changing social and media patterns
the bar goes in terms of what we find entertaining. So the more explosive,
in the developing world, but what does
the more it gets you to sit up and take notice - the better. It then needs to
it mean for culture and the way people’s
deliver information quickly as none of us have any time and at a rate that never
brains and thoughts are shaped in this new
leaves the mind idle - this kind of visual delivery is arresting, it’s low on time
environment?
commitment and it’s intuitive to process so crucially, it’s low on cognitive effort - and it’s the combination of all of these things that makes it so appealing.
According to neuroscientist Dr Jack Lewis, a key driving force behind the rise of this
DESIGNING THE FUTURE: Clearly there is a need to develop content that
visual content and its addictive nature is the
works across multiple markets, culutures and countries. This is not simply
concept of ‘Cognitive Effort’. The phrase ‘a
creating ‘neutral’ content that conforms to bland global norm but rather should
picture paints a thousand words’ really is
focus on novelty, powerful visual images that reduce the need for cognitive
true and chiefly because it is far easier for
effort and have a strong emotional and immersive conection to the audience
our brains to decode a visual image than
that encourages lengthy if not binge viewing and can be consumed and shared
it is for them to decode words. Decoding
mulitple times. In light of this, this Psy and the Harlem Shake may be front
pictures is a very natural activity and inside
runners of what is to come.
our brains, there’s a huge amount of power devoted to doing just that. The visual cortex is massive, encompassing the whole of the back of the head and along the underside of the brain - all devoted to visual processing. Evolutionarily we naturally learn to interpret the information that comes into the eyes. Some parts of the brain specialise in oriented lines, and then a bit further forward there are bits that put those lines together into shapes and objects, and a bit further on there’s even somewhere dedicated to faces because as humans they are so incredibly important to us. So, instantly you can put together all of the information associated with meeting someone - their face, their name, how you know them, where they come from etc - it’s a large amount of information that needs to be processed, all in a split-second, to enable you just to recognise a face. Words, however, are far more difficult. The whole process takes much longer and we have to be taught how to do it. Unlike decoding visual images it is not something that’s natural to us, it’s not innate so when we are children we need to be trained to decode words and then we need to practice - the more you do it, the better you get. There is a far greater cognitive load on the brain when it’s asked to look at words and we invariably do what’s easiest - so we automatically connect with images. One of the other key factors at play is obviously the emotional response that is triggered by strong visual images. Because the interpretation of images is completely natural and you don’t need any specialist skills to do it, it means
MULTI-TASKING, CONNECTIVITY AND SHARING AS THE NEW NORM: In all markets there was a trend toward multi-tasking with 96% of those surveyed claiming to have multi-tasked between electronic devices to access content and importantly a strong preference to use this behaviour to enable them to share their experiences. This behaviour is also creating new commercial possibilities with 60% of people claiming to watch content whilst simultaneously using their personal device to buy merchandise. Again this was much more prevalent in India (80%), Brazil (73%) and China (75%) compared to the UK and US (49% and 45%) with the emerging world pioneering the way with this behaviour.
8
9
The need to share is driving the rise of multi-tasking and we have seen the
your reward pathways. Whereas, if it arrives earlier than expected and also
‘need to share information’ close-in on ‘the sharing of information about
includes a free gift then your expectations have been exceeded and you will
friends’, both now standing at 76% and surpassing the sharing of ‘information
experience a disproportionately positive reward. Any variation either side of
about yourself’ at 74%. Again this need to share is more developed in emerging
your expectations create disproportionately positive or negative rewards and
markets where 84% share friend information; 83% entertainment and 82%
these moments of profound positive or negative reward really steer people’s
information about oneself compared to respective averages of 61%, 58% and
future behaviour. In this context, one of the primary drivers of these findings
66% in the UK and US.
about sharing and using multi-tasking to facilitate sharing is the fear of missing out. People will pay for and then share content that other people haven’t seen
When it comes to paying for content in the UK the driver is the opportunity to
because if they didn’t they would risk not getting the reward they had assigned
be first – with 39% of British people wanting to to watch things first compared
for themselves, being the connector i.e. the one who introduces others to
to 23% last year. Within this UK sample, those aged 35-44 value being the first
things they haven’t experienced before and the one who receives the social
highest at 85%. Increasingly, year on year more and more Brits value being the
currency that this creates.
first to watch or listen to something. In 2011 it was just 14%, in 2012 it was 23%. When it comes to accessing the wisdom of the crowd - and again in the People in the UK are also more likely to spend money on entertainment if it is
context of our brains as prediction machines, one of the key elements is the
very popular – up to 46% this year from 41% in 2012.
important concept of ‘Cognitive Effort’. If we are faced with too much choice it becomes impossible for us to make an informed decision. We need others
Data on this is more pronounced in younger audiences with the 18-34 year old
to help us - to pre-filter the information or to tell us about the rewards they
respondent group the most likely to simultaneously use another device whilst
have received from the different outcomes available. In this way we are able
watching entertainment content with 60% claiming that they did this ‘always’
to construct decision criteria that are easier to wrap our minds around. It also
or ‘most of the time’. This compared to the global figure for all age groups of
provides us with evidence of the rewards received by others by making this
51%, and just 35% for the oldest 45-55 age group. The younger demographic
choice, which appeals to our loss-aversion.
is also most likely to use multiple devices to enhance an entertainment experience with 77% claiming they were likely to do this compared with the
Another element that’s key in the area of multi-tasking and sharing is
oldest 45-55 demographic with a total of 55%. The youngsters are multitasking
the idea of reciprocity which is important to humans and highly visible in
more too with 85% of 18-34 year old respondents likely to multitask compared
social media. Usually when we lose money we experience a decrease in our
with 67% of the oldest group of 45-55 year olds.
neurological reward pathways; this is, in essence the brain developing feelings of displeasure. So if the reward path were an engine: high revs = happiness, low
Dr Jack Lewis explains from a neuroscientific perspective:
revs = sadness. However the exception to this is if we give money to charity.
As far as the brain is concerned, it’s all about decision making. Our brains
If we give to charity we actually register a positive on the reward pathways.
are essentially prediction machines. We can’t have everything so how do
Importantly, if other people witness us being philanthropic then we get an even
you pick something? For every outcome, based on our past experience, the
greater reward and this is true for giving something online - if we give away
way the brain’s pleasure pathways or reward pathways are wired is to assign
or share information or content that’s of value to our community of friends or
a reward value to the outcomes associated with the available options. As
contacts then we will receive a neurological reward for doing this. If we do this
humans we are extremely loss averse and whenever we make decisions we
on social media and others see us doing it the reward will be increased and this
are trying to make the choice that will bring us the maximum reward, avoiding
activity has real social currency.
any kind of loss. So, we weigh the burden or pain of the cost against the
10
potential reward of outcomes A, B or C. If we were watching the decision
DESIGNING THE FUTURE: The idea of ‘reciprocity’ is key to designing
making process on an MRI scanner, the outcome that registered highest on
entertainment. The content not only has to be accessible, multi format,
the scanner would be the one we would go for. What has already happened
interactive and shareable, it has to allow people to reciprocate and reward
to us is fundamentally important in this process because we assign the reward
one another with ideas, insight and fun. The key here is creating social media
values against outcomes based on our previous experience. For example, if
currency that allows expectations to exceed. Everyone engages to get an
you have bought something online and you expect it to arrive in two days and
added reward and experience enhancement over and above their expectations
instead it arrives in seven days and it’s also broken then your expectations
of traditional entertainment formats. This is the key not only to satisfied
are not met and this will result in a disproportionately negative register on
customers but also new commercial models for these customers.
11
SHARING ENTERTAINMENT AND JOY: A key element of this sharing at a global level was the desire to share positive experiences emotions and joy. Globally respondents were 5 times more likely to share positive content than negative with consumers in emerging markets significantly keener to share joy (23%) than those in developed markets (16%). Overall 77% of people were keen to share funny content. This seems somewhat at odds with the view of the world portrayed by more ‘traditional’ media outlets – is it a natural reaction by individuals exposed to a constant flow of bad news stories via 24/7 global news? According to Dr Jack Lewis, motives
Jaron Lanier points out that social media platforms, by their very nature, are encouraging us to live our lives through increasingly reductionist models of friendship, or travel, or life experience. For example if something terrible happens - someone gets mugged and they post that this has happened on Facebook - the only thing anyone can do about it is ‘like’ it. Our experiences are constantly being reduced by the platforms by which we are sharing them with the world. In this example, the medium through which you are reporting what’s happening to you is biased towards the optimistic. Likewise, it’s very hard to give a nuanced expression of an experience you’ve just had using only 140 characters. DESIGNING THE FUTURE: The design of social currency is very different to traditional media formats - they need to be weighted towards positive and uplifting new stories and gossip. Due to reciprocity, people want to share this with friends and family. They will be very cautious about not wanting to be seen as overly negative and relate what and how they share to their own ‘personal’ brand. Entertainment that understands and engages with this will be able to achieve far more currency, particularly those who meet the need to be the first to share content that is surprisingly good and exceeds expectations set by traditional media and reviewers.
play a crucial role in this behaviour. The motive of the mainstream media is to sell newspapers or attract viewers and anything that poses a potential threat
VISUAL ADDICTION AND VISUAL-TAINMENT:
to life and limb will penetrate the public
The majority of respondents felt that online entertainment creates global
consciousness. Bad news tends to be
connectivity and this is driven by visual content. 63% of respondents agreed
over-reported because everything else is
that ‘I am more open to watching online videos from far flung places than I was
a little bit dull by comparison. Whereas as
a year ago.” This reveals a new visual approach we call ‘visual-tainment’ and an
individuals going through our daily lives,
almost addictive approach to visual content as seen in phenomenally popular
our motives are normally slightly different
video downloads such as Gangnam Style.
and we are more likely to share good news. It’s also about expectations and the
There is a new form of global entertainment that is visually addictive driven
potential for come-back. For a journalist
by highly stimulating and arresting visual style, strong primary colours,
there is an expectation that they will share
overwhelming energy and opportunities for user generated variation. This
bad news and there is also relatively little
new excitement is best exemplified by videos such as Gangnam Style and the
potential down-side. For individuals - if
Harlem Shake both of which have been global phenomena.
they only shared negative news or content then it’s highly likely it would reflect on them as individuals and their reputation
This global visual connectivity is a new development and is driving deeper
might be damaged or their popularity would decrease. It also plays into the
feelings of emotional engagement. 67% of people agreed “because of some
important concept of reciprocity referenced earlier and the idea of mutual
of the entertainment content I’ve seen from all over the world I feel humans
benefit that is so apparent in social media.
are more connected than ever before.” The interesting point about this connectivity is the change in model where entertainment can come from
This also needs to be considered within the context of the technology
anywhere not just Hollywood or Bollywood. This is particularly marked in the
platforms that we have available to us. In his book You Are Not a Gadget,
emerging world but also increasingly so in developed markets such as UK and US. For example when presented with the statement ‘I feel more connected
12
13
with the world at large because of social media’ 62% of global respondents
a link then you get an additional layer of satisfaction from the multi sensory
agreed. In India this increased to 72% and in China it stood at 73% in both the
pairing. Again novelty is key - we don’t put that sort of visual/auditory cognitive
UK and US it was 57%. In addition to this, 65% of respondents in India and 67%
processing effort into decoding absolutely everything you see or hear because
of respondents in China agree that ‘Sharing entertainment online makes me
the vast majority of it is completely irrelevant - if you’ve seen it before you
feel like a global citizen - globally 51% of people agree with this statement and
won’t tend to bother.
in the UK and US this stands lower at 40%. DESIGNING FOR THE FUTURE: The obvious design implication is for visual Even language is becoming less of an issue as demonstrated by the percentages
content to take precedence, however, there is a more nuanced impact. That is
of respondents who have ‘watched or listened to entertainment content in a
covered by the idea of visual-tainment, namely the visual has to completely tell
language that I do not speak’. In emerging markets, the majority of respondents
the story, in a way that makes it overwhelming in terms of colour, novelty and
had consumed content in a foreign language and even in the UK, a market that
emotion. It needs to do so in a way that is addictively ‘shareable’ and showable
has been almost a solely English language market (occasional art house film
on a mobile format. So the visual becomes the source of entertainment
aside), 42% have consumed content in a foreign language in the last year.
conversation and social currency. This can involve giving the concept over to the audience to re-interpret and create themselves as pastiche. In this way the
Two of the key dynamics driving this
visual becomes Visual-tainment.
new global phenomenon are the ease with which individuals can share across platforms and the growing mobility of people and their devices. As people move more they take their content with them, and share it; they download local content and they send it home and advertise it via social media. In this way content is naturally evolving internationally with the growth of mobile platforms and multitasking behaviours that we see in the survey data. Dr Jack Lewis thinks this comes from the fundamentally important neurological concept of Cognitive Effort, discussed earlier when we looked at ideas around ‘Emotional Captivity’. The visual content that we are increasingly seeing is novel, highly arresting, short and it’s in a form that we are used to de-coding - making it easy to watch, easy to understand and then it’s a really easy decision to share it with others. Very often there is a visual/auditory pairing that serves to enhance it’s appeal. Visual and auditory work very well together as the brain is able to process them in parallel to a much greater extent than any of the other senses. Because the talking head is such an important concept to us as human beings, we are incredibly good at putting together the voice and the movement of the mouth and in a noisy environment that sort of multi sensory integration boosts the signal in the same way turning the volume up would do if you could only hear the sound. The sound and the visuals do not necessarily need to be related but if there is
14
MORE PLATFORMS AND MORE OPEN MINDS: Clearly more platforms are being used to consume entertainment and even more so in the emerging markets we surveyed. Television remained the number one in UK, US and Germany but laptops and mobile devices were closing fast. In Korea and China mobile devices are already the number one choice. Furthermore, sharing entertainment destigmatises people’s choices with six times as many respondents proud of their choices as were embarrassed. Again 62% of people agreed “Social media has allowed me to absorb and share content from all over the world.” An interesting element of the new global openminded-ness is how proud people are of their choices and content. They see it as defining themselves and are six times more likely to feel proud than embarrassed by these choices. Dr Jack Lewis reiterates the power of visual content to create connections and sharing across cultures. As outlined earlier in the document - there’s a huge area of the human brain that is devoted to decoding images. It is something
15
that’s completely innate and a strong visual image with a high degree of novelty
APPENDIX 1
will minimise the cognitive effort required
A SHORT HISTORY:
in processing it and also maximise the
From Digital to Social Entertainment and Beyond
register on the brain’s reward pathways that is associated with seeing something genuinely novel and new. The decision to share comes from the other drivers that we have talked about such as wanting to be first - the one that introduces others to great content and the
Nicole Brzeska (nee Harvey) Jonathan Hargreaves
fear of missing out. For the last seven years, Edelman has surveyed UK and US audiences as to their trust in entertainment companies and the services they provide. Over this period, one dominant story has leapt out of the data: the dramatic impact that new technology has on the way people trust these businesses. DESIGNING FOR THE FUTURE: The key implication of this trend is that content needs to be developed to work across more formats but also in a
The changes during this short space of time are dramatic. It sounds like
way that talks to more open mindedness and cultural exchange. People are
hyperbole, but in fact, nearly everything has changed to some degree; none of
proud of their entertainment choices and even the diversity of their taste both
the parameters of the industry and trust remain exactly as they were and many
internationally and culturally. Formats that understand, engage and allow
have evolved to the point of revolution.
people to explore this new global open mindedness will clearly have a much greater chance of reaching a global audience in the years to come.
This White Paper maps out this extraordinary journey and focuses on four distinct generations and six trends that have taken barely seven years to manifest.
2005-2007
2007-2009
Gateway to Individuals
Share This
DERT Age DET Age
16
2009-2011
SE Age Come Play
2011-Present
MME Age All About Me
17
2005-2007:
DERT and Choice Our first year’s findings in 2006 highlighted the impact of (what now seems the quaint term) ‘social computing’. MySpace was very much the platform of
2007-2009: The Genie is out
Digital Entertainment Technologies
choice and the story that year was the havoc that this new technology wrought
Jumping forward two years, it became clear from our findings that although
upon the music industry, as well as on trust between content providers and
the lid may have been put back on the bottle, the genie was out.
consumers.
The story in this year focused on new technologies – digital entertainment was everywhere. We witnessed the emergence of
The subject of the debate was an agenda dominated by digital, entertainment,
Facebook, the maturity of YouTube, the first stirrings of Twitter
rights and technology issues (DERT). This coincided with the first explosion
and the newest kid on the the block - the iPhone.
of peer-to-peer ‘sharing’ as ‘friends’ sites, such as ‘Friends Reunited’, morphed into the phenomenon that became MySpace. The impulsive sharing of contacts amongst peers evolved into the sharing of content - primarily music. No longer was it an individual accessing Napster, but a network.
With these new technologies, the world decided that it liked to share. In this distinct shift from broadcasting to sharing, there was a profound sense of being connected and staying connected. In 2008, we saw how these connections galvanised around common interests. The sheer power of the internet was
Unsurprisingly, in the traditional media, an unholy row dominated between the content owners and the new businesses facilitating
recognised and unleashed, most aptly seen in Obama’s digital presidency campaign which mobilised 3 million people to raise over $500 million online.
these networks. Edelman’s research in this year showed that trust pivoted on
A new word ‘app’ started to appear and came to summarise
the key issue of value (both pricing
the glamour of all this interaction. Choice quickly became a
and availability of content) and how
part of the vernacular and trust became defined very much
aggressive or progressive these
by the openness of the industry. The story jumped from
entertainment businesses were
rights and technology policing to one of content and content
towards this newly empowered
everywhere, while alarm bells began to ring about what all of
consumer. The white knight for
this meant for our privacy.
content owners was the promise of Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems that would use new technologies to police, contain and monetise content.
Although the communications mantra of the time was “content as king”, people still talked about rights management. Indeed, Apple brilliantly encased content in DRM software but the opportunities to share and shape new content simply made locked-down content unappealing. The issue now evolved to which companies could engage best with this exciting new way of sharing content. The ones that did grew hugely; those that did not were left nursing diminishing revenues. The obvious example here is MySpace, the once-darling of the media industry which eventually sold for a sixth of what Murdoch bought it for, after haemorrhaging 10 million users and 48% of its workforce in a month.
18
19
2009-2011:
2012-PRESENT:
The Social Entertainment Age – Come Play!
The Age of Multi-Media Engagement and Me
If the previous era was all about content, 2009 brought a realisation of what the web was really intended to be. Perhaps it was spurred on partly by the doom and gloom of the financial industries, but this was about having fun. “Come play,”
This process gathered even greater momentum by mid 2011. The explosion of new devices and technologies brought about fresh challenges for companies in creating multi-platform content and greater opportunities for individuals to play.
said brands and platforms. Here, anyone could create, anyone could consume.
We have witnessed the arrival of the ipad and the development of ever more interesting ways of sharing, from
Smart content owners began to develop
location-based services to Groupon. We are also seeing the
an approach that integrated entertainment
way Facebook is turning into an entertainment company
with information using social networks. We
in its own right, and how Twitter is becoming a content
described this as the emergence of social
player, channel, aggregator, commentator and network all
entertainment and the story was now not about
in one.
protecting content but enhancing it, making it available and finding new ways of creating
The key story here is the recognition in the power of ‘me’.
value from it.
It’s my choice of platform, my choice of entertainment and my choice in how I interact with it. The British
The launch of the iPad, the real impact of
Monarchy embraced this theme wholeheartedly by
mobile, the emergence of apps into the
announcing the Royal Wedding on Twitter and televising it
mainstream and the unleashing of power onto
globally on YouTube, much to the delight of fans (and non-
the consumer opened up an era which brought
fans) worldwide.
true engagement. This was the first time that Twitter became mainstream after its 2006
In this new playing field, the individual becomes the brand,
launch and it really epitomised everything that
and it’s the talent that is beginning to emerge as the real seat of
this era stood for: social collaboration and
power. A case in point here in the UK is @ITVLauraK who took her
collective individualism.
58,800 Twitter followers from her time as the BBC’s Chief Political Correspondent with her to her new post at ITV. In this era, “community”
With the triumph of Twitter, kudos went to those entertainment to
shows such as X Factor which used social make TV at least social again. The success rode
is rapidly becoming the new “target audience”. This is all about the ME – not us – Generation and it will be interesting to see how this blurring of boundaries between brands and consumers evolves.
on its deep audience engagement and mutual participation. It’s worth a quick pause at this point to reflect on the sea change of the music industry’s journey: from initially trying to kill networking legally to using it as a means of crowd sourcing its talent. Everything has changed.
20
21
Respondents report spending more time with the internet and social media for their entertainment
Six key trends and a world turned inside out
This leads directly onto the second trend: the express desire of consumers to
The scale of the change is hard to estimate and in our Trust in Entertainment
see significant interest in being able
research, we have tracked this rapidly changing landscape as it manifests
to use mobile devices to interact with
itself in six key trends today. These allude to what is coming next and over the
entertainment, access social networking
years we have observed the emergence of the single most important trend:
sites and vote for contestants in reality
multiplatform.
shows. The XFactor ‘boo/clap’ iPhone
augment their entertainment by interacting with it in real time. In 2011, for the first time in our research, we asked how people would like to engage with their entertainment. More than 50% said they’d like to use their computers to access additional online content related to their entertainment. We also
Consumers are interested in additional content that is connected across platforms
app is a fun case in point here. In our 2011 research, we asked people what forms of
Experimentation with interactivity has
entertainment they spent more
been around for a while with varying
(or less) time with over the
success. The infamous ‘red button’ as
past year. The overwhelming
well as attempts by studios to include
majority reported spending
‘value-add’ interactive features in
more time with the internet
packaged DVD sets comes to mind.
and social media than any
However, only recently do we see true
other form of entertainment.
engagement resonating. The potential of augmented reality to truly immerse, engage and entertain is now a reality spurred by iphone and ipad adoption.
This does not reflect a seismic
Q8. In the past year, do you believe you are spending more, less or the same amount of time with the following types of entertainment? Base: UK 2011 respondents: (n=504); US 2011 respondents: (n=517)
shift to the web away from
Our definition of what constitutes entertainment itself is changing and is
TV or film or other traditional
a trend we will continue to see evolve. In the Social Entertainment Age,
entertainment sources. Instead,
we saw how social networks
it suggests that people are
are now considered a form of
accessing the web whilst
entertainment, a departure from
engaging with that very content. This is a powerful insight. In a fragmented
their previous classification as
world, the internet is an opportunity for traditional entertainment brands as it
sources of information. For two
can provide the connective tissue between screens and consumers.
years now, the internet has beaten the film industry as a most turned to source of entertainment (TV remaining the primary source),
Q12. Next, we’d like to ask about your preferences for interacting with entertainment. How would you indicate your level of agreement with the following statements? Base: UK 2011 respondents: (n=504); US 2011 respondents: (n=517)
The internet continues as second most often turned to source of entertainment in the UK
highlighting a need for studios to embrace the web to maintain top of mind with consumers. *NOTE: 2011 Internet/Web data was calculated using the sum of data points for Internet – news/information, Internet – download/stream movies, Social network, Online streaming music service, and Video game on social network for comparison with 2010 data Base: UK respondents. 2011: (n=504) respondents ages 18-54; 2010: (n=552) respondents ages 18-54 Q5. What source of entertainment do you turn to most often? [select one]
22
23
Remaining top of mind with consumers goes hand in hand with understanding
This disconnect between consumers and the entertainment industry gets
what they need or want and communicating appropriately with them. This
heightened when we consider the paywall issue. Of course it is natural that
sounds obvious, but in fact is highlighted in our research as a key challenge
the move from free to pay would incite consumers who are previously
facing the entertainment industry today. There appears to be a conflict
used to free content. In fact,
between what consumers desire versus what the industry thinks consumers
it often simply just turns them
desire.
away. Potential Times readers clicking links in Twitter are often
In our 2011 research, sound/ picture quality and personal enjoyment were cited
annoyingly met with a paywall,
as the most important purchasing decisions for consumers.
whilst The Guardian remains a shining international example of how the media industry can embrace new technologies.
In the US, personal enjoyment and visual/sound quality are rising in importance as influential purchasing decisions Q10. How important are each of the following things to you, when you are considering making an entertainment purchase – extremely important, somewhat important, neither important nor unimportant, not too important or not at all important? Base: US respondents (n=517)
Being one of the first to have new entertainment has dropped dramatically in importance in the US
Whilst there is a lot of
Overwhelmingly the move from free to paid/ subscription models is received negatively
experimentation in monetisation, the industry seems capable of articulating the need for revenue models as it relates to business. However, there is a significant opportunity to articulate the value proposition to consumers by emphasising the benefits and therefore helping to minimise consumer negativity. It’s interesting to see just how far we have come in such a short time. Just However, what is often communicated by the industry as major selling points
seven years ago, Hollywood was complacent at the centre of the entertainment
ranked rather low in the minds of consumers. Examples of these messages
universe, hoping that this thing called technology would just go away.
include being the first to have new entertainment, having the ability to share
Today, it’s a whole new world with content companies scrambling to partner
the entertainment legally or having the entertainment on a number of devices.
and monetise a universe where the consumer is the driver. This is the ME
Q14. If your favourite media companies started requiring a paid subscription for previously free entertainment, how would this impact your feelings toward those companies? Base: UK 2011 respondents: (n=504); US 2011 respondents: (n=517)
Generation. Individuals are not only driving the brands, they are becoming the brands. This is a world turned inside out and technology is definitely not going away.
Q10. How important are each of the following things to you, when you are considering making an entertainment purchase – extremely important, somewhat important, neither important nor unimportant, not too important or not at all important? Base: US respondents (n=517)
24
25
In summary: the trends that define the ME Generation 1. Rise of multiplatform and entertainment fragmentation 2. Express desire of consumers to augment their entertainment by interacting with it in real time 3. Social networks are now considered a form of entertainment 4. Conflict between what consumers desire versus what the industry thinks consumers desire 5. The move from free to pay is alienating consumers 6. ME brands are happening now!
26
2013: A WORLD
TURNED INSIDE OUT DESIGNING THE DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT FUTURE: VISUAL-TAINMENT AND BEYOND JONATHAN HARGREAVES