“Platformless content”- How digital platforms shape content creation

International Conference on Broadcasting Media & Film Industry

October 20, 2014 DoubleTree by Hilton Baltimore-BWI Airport, USA

David Greenberg

Accepted Abstracts: J Mass Communicat Journalism

Abstract :

A fundamental paradigm shift is taking place in the media and entertainment industries. Digital was first perceived as a disruptive medium and positioned as a standalone add-on. A ?satellite? addition to the ?main? edition, digital department was frequently instructed not to overstep their digital boundaries in a way that would upset the core operations. Once digital emerged as a viable growth engine and revenue generator, media companies? perspectives on digital shifted. Content that was previously only available on ?old? media platforms was added to websites and apps. It seemed that digital finally got the attention it deserved. Still, revenues generated on ?old? media platforms continue to be significantly higher than their digital counterparts. The challenge goes further than re-posting press stories online, or re-purposing TV shows and making them available on-demand. The opportunity depends on identifying original, first-run content that is suitable for cross-platform digital exploitation in theme, style and format. While traditional media struggle with the ?future of content? and how to enable its offering on digital platforms, grassroots content is being created and watched. Frequently without intrinsic artistic merits or production values, this content frequently lacks a meaningful ?shelf life?. New media is in need of new content. There is an opportunity for content that can be produced for a fraction of what the average TV show costs. Content that is sticky, social media-friendly, and made for agile multi-platform consumption. The online universe offers endless interactive opportunities to ?close-the-loop? and enable direct, on-going interaction with viewers (frequently described online as ?viewers?). It allows for direct and focused funneling of viewers from content to commerce, through context! Digital and interactive media allows content creators to provide impulse-based commerce tie-ins, and for the first time to ?own the entire media-value-chain?.

Biography :

David Greenberg trained as a lawyer, left his practice after working for the Israeli Supreme Court and a Tel Aviv-based law firm, to pursue his true passion for entertainment and digital media. He spent five years as a TV producer at the programming and acquisition arm of PBS. In this role, he was credited with airing hundreds of hours of TV programming, including the top 10 US markets. Additionally, he developed network programming initiatives and program acquisition plans for the launch of PBS digital. He moved to the Internet and over the next decade he developed numerous entertainment and commercially-driven websites, before becoming Managing Director of Playbill.com. At Playbill, he continued to develop content and content synergies in multiple formats. He developed online products and services with Reuters, Yahoo!, Sirius Satellite Radio, Ticketmaster, the League of American Theatres and Producers and various Broadway productions. In 2004, he founded digiTALE entertainment. He is a graduate of Tel Aviv University Law School and holds an MA from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.