The Future of Digital TV

In the future we won’t make the distinction between digital and traditional TV content producers, according to Terence Kawaya, founder and CEO of LUMA Partners. They will both make short-form and long-form content to be delivered on IP enabled TV’s.

Despite the disruption that digital has brought to newspapers and radio, TV is still a growth business. From an advertiser’s standpoint “it’s easier to spend $10 million on TV than it is to spend $10,000 on digital,” Kawaya said.

He noted the trends that are impacting TV: fragmentation, device proliferation, second screens and new entrants. He also pointed out some challenges TV faces. One is an antiquated UI, we have “the same clicker we used in the 1970’s.” He also said TV has reacted to fragmentation by simply charging more from advertising.

The future will be one of convergent TV, according to Kawaya. He expects M&A to play a role in that convergence (Kawaya is an investment banker). He also noted that from an advertising perspective the buyers of traditional and digital media need to converge.

The Rise of Mission-Driven Media

The Marshall Project wants to launch a national conversation on the criminal justice system which founder Nail Bansky calls a “national disgrace.” Techonomy wants to produce business news that focuses on businesses that are trying to bring positive change to the world. Witness is supporting and curating the citizen journalists who are producing video with their phones that exposes human rights violations.

These are some of the examples of mission-driven media that were presented as part of the Internet Week panel “The Rise of Mission-Driven Media and How New York is Leading the Charge.”

The panelists dealt with the question of how mission-focused journalists deal with tradional newsroom views about objectivity. Bansky, citing the Vietnam War as one example, expressed the belief that journalism can drive change even without activism or subjectivity.

There is a lot of “phony objectivity” in the media, according to David Kirkpatrick, CEO of Techonomy. “Everybody has a point of view and that is not something to be ashamed of.” Bansky added, “The issue isn’t objectivity, it’s honesty.”

Lessons Learned from the Frontlines of Mission-Driven Media

from Peter Koechley, co-founder Upworthy

1.  Purpose is a highly-powerful motivator. Among the most prominent are income inequality, human rights and climate change.

2. Quality is more important than ever. “We want to focus 100% on content that we think will make the world a better place.”

3. You have to go out and find an audience not wait for your audience to come to you. How do you do this? Social media.

4. The most memorable marketing is mission driven. Audiences must connect with a brand’s social values.