Entertainment & Media Outlook 2011-2015 - PwC

What’s the impact of social mediaon APN and the industry?One of the biggest challenges withsocial media is that you can builda large audience on Facebook orTwitter, but how do you monetisethis audience? It’s relatively easyto build a large social media basedfollowing, but driving this audienceback to your online platform, whereyou drive revenue, is hard. Some ofthe businesses which are succeeding,such as the online coupon businessGrabOne, have built brands quickly byusing social media to target specificdemographics, which is where themedium’s strength lies.You’ve mentioned outdooradvertising is very strong atthe moment – why is this?Since technologies such as flat-screenpanels and other digital displays havecome into their own, we are reallyseeing advertisers embrace thesenew and exciting mediums to reachaudiences in a way they haven’t before.Rather than relying on the type of staticimages and messaging traditionally seenon billboards or posters, digital mediagives advertisers more ways to engageand draw audiences in. Because ofthis, we’re seeing companies who havetraditionally ignored the outdoor space,such as Foxtel and Audi, making use ofthe dynamism offered by new mediums.At APN, we are seeing healthy returnson our investments in this area.Another important considerationaffecting outdoor spend is theeconomic environment. When timesare good, outdoor advertising spendtraditionally increases, yet it’s thefirst channel to suffer when recessionhits. The current environment simplyreflects we’re coming out of a recessionand businesses are feeling optimistic.Outdoor advertising also supportsother mediums such as radio, print andtelevision well and so many businesseswill want to reinforce their campaignsin the outdoor space, where thereis also less audience fragmentation.Outdoor is a powerful medium to buildbrands.What opportunities do you seefrom the National BroadbandNetwork (NBN) and Ultra FastBroadband (UFB) initiatives inAustralia and New Zealand?The types of NBN/UFB initiativescoming through in Australia and NewZealand are enormously positive andoffer huge benefits for businesseslike APN. But to take advantage ofthese developments, we need to upour investments in new products andnurture a culture of innovation to getthe best out of our existing assets.In the pipeline are more interactiveservices, new business models, brandsand apps being developed. At APN, wewant to ensure we’re at the forefrontin delivering new experiences to ourcustomers.Radio is one of APN’s keychannels, what is its role inAPN’s large suite of assets?Radio is a very robust medium – it doesnot suffer material downturns in a tougheconomic environment. It’s dependable,serving up pre-packaged content to aregular and loyal audience, just likenewspapers. Yet, where advertisershave migrated from print to online,they’ve stayed with radio because it’s aresponsive and cost-effective advertisingmedium. Advertisers like reaching localaudiences and this locality is a big reasonas to why audiences keep tuning in.While sites like iTunes are havingsome impact on music radio, talkbackis still going strong and there’snothing to indicate radio’s imminentdemise. Yet, looking further aheadit will be interesting to see howdigital car radios will impact thistraditional medium. Digital radioallows more listener personalisationand it’s unknown whether thiswill lead to significant audiencefragmentation or just be anotherhuge opportunity for radio operatorssuch as APN. I am betting the latter!With the emphasis on new productdevelopment, do you see mediacompanies needing a culture shift?In a word, yes. The culture of a digitalorganisation is quite different tothat of a traditional printing-basedpublisher. Publishers who fail to makethis transition internally will miss outon new opportunities and eventually,they’ll lose the audience too. We as anindustry need to increase our metabolicrate, in other words, respond faster andnot be afraid of trying new things. Asan organisation, we do not want to “diewondering”, so it is incumbent on usto shed any conservatism and changethe way we individually think aboutour business to allow new productdevelopment to thrive.What role will partnerships play inmedia companies in the future?One of the fundamental skills ofall great media executives mustbe the identification, creation andongoing successful managementof partnerships. If you are not agreat partner, then you will fail.Partnerships will be local and global.In a fragmenting media environment,media companies must partner forcontent, technology and distribution.There will be no exceptions.New Zealand Entertainment and Media 2011-2015 | Outlook 9