Get it Right! Connecting with Users in a Changing Landscape
Headlines abound of digital publishers cutting 7-10% of their staff. From journalists to editors, producers to animators, many are looking for their next move. What is happening in the content marketing space? If you are looking for the answer, it is complex, and you won’t find it here. But I would say that there is hope looking at us in the face…for more hours a day than you watch cable TV. It is vertical video that you find on your smartphone.
Merger Mania
With Disney buying Fox and AT&T buying Warner Bros to create Warner Media, what are their plans for vertical media? All have played with digital content, tethered and un-tethered. What are their plans for vertical marketing in a multiplatform world? With all the disruption, re-orgs and acquisitions, it is time for new leadership that embraces a mobile future, and not just a new iteration of a Netflix future.
OTT Overload
At what point will the growing saturation of OTT providers reach a point of no return? At $6 to $15 per month, times the dozens available and dozens that plan to launch, this micro and genre strategy will flame out. The rollup of those costs will exceed any median-priced cable bill. Cutting the cord implies cost savings and value creation. OTTs should learn from user behavior and provide content and marketing that fits the device rather than taking the easy way out and repurposing promos and content.
What is Content?
The question certainly applies to what is ‘mobile content?’ Is it webisodes? Branded content? Influencer content? Serial short form? Or is it Vertisodes? The most interesting play in the market is Quibi, Jeffrey Katzenberg’s mobile content venture that is gaining momentum. Through an executive suite built with a balance of tech and entertainment, and wooing Hollywood’s greatest storytellers, they are the ones to watch. It will be major storytellers creating vertical content that will move the needle and go beyond Stories-type content.
Opportunity Beckons
So, for all the displaced talent that is looking for their next move, look no further than the black mirror in the palm of your hand. Vertical platforms and agencies are springing up all over the place that need your mad skills.
