Five Topics That Will Drive the Media Industry's Conversation in 2018

Brand Safety and TransparencyBrand safety and trust will have even greater influence on business practice in 2018amp160 The MediaVillage Brand Equity Valuation Study fielded in May 2017 among 750 agency and marketing executives found thatamp160amp160brand safety ranks first in importance to agency buyers39 and planners39 media decisionmaking processamp160amp160Marketers ranked brand safety as third most important signifying agency accountability for delivering on a brandsafe environmentamp160 Marc Prichard PampampG39s marketing head stated in the December issue of Digiday magazine that quot2018 is the year of brand safetyquotamp160 Brand safety and trust covers a variety of areas including viewability data third party verification leakage in programmatic ad buying eliminating fraud and contentamp160The New Workplace CultureThe historic lack of female diversity in the media industry has been the quotelephant in the roomquot for years as has sexual harassmentamp160 2017 was the year of bringing the hidden pain of sexual harassment to the forefrontamp160 MeTooamp160and Time magazine39s quotPerson of The Yearquot issue personifyamp160just that What began with the outing of Harvey Weinsteinamp160was followed by a waterfall of resignations among quotcelebrity levelquot media talent journalists and media executivesamp160 2017 was a watershed year and 2018 hopefully will be the year of meaningful ongoing progress and permanent positive change in this areaamp160 One thing we know for sure is that workplace culture in the media entertainment technologyamp160and Silicon Valley sectors will be forever transformedamp160as it relates to the role of and respect for women as they continue to make major contributions in all the sectors that touch our business livesamp160Net NeutralityWith the FCC voting to roll back the rules on how internet service providers treat traffic on their networks the impact on how cable and wireless providers handle this newfound empowerment how it impacts consumers from an access and pricing standpoint as well as the overall consumer online experience has yet to play outamp160 2018 will begin to prove out the supporters39amp160belief that an open internet will drive innovation reinvigorate broadband investment and better deliver on consumer demand for more content delivered in more tailored and affordable packagesamp160amp160The flip side is that if consumers are negatively affected all bets are off if a major consumer backlash were to occurChanging Consumer Content Consumption amp160Media ConsolidationComcast bought NBCU ATT Adworks is buying Time Warner Disney l ABC is purchasing the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox and the NFL cut a 15 billiondollar deal with Verizon to stream gamesamp160 As cordcutting continues to grow and consumer content consumption rapidly migrates to OTT the streaming content war will reach a new level in 2018amp160 Disney39s existing content coupled with 21st Century39s Fox39s TV shows and movies makes them a formidable competitor in the streaming worldamp160 Netflix is planning on spending 8 billion on content in 2018amp160 Add to that formidable players like Apple Hulu and Amazonamp160 Add to that Facebook YouTube HBO Now CBS All Access Sling TV and DirecTV and the streaming conversation will be very interesting in 2018 as content producers and distributors look to stay connected with audiences changing viewing habits through directtoconsumer video offeringsConsumer Trust amp160The Evolving Perception of News OrganizationsNews is important to all of us from a business and personal standpointamp160 The context around the implications of news and events is equally if not more importantamp160 That said in 2017 the new descriptor for so much of our news is now quotFake Newsquot and the implications for news organizations has not been good as this new descriptor is in direct conflict with how news organizations position themselves with consumersamp160amp160CNN quotThe Most Trusted Name in Newsquot Fox quotMost Watched Most Trustedquotamp160 That said Pew Research states that America39s trust and confidence in mass media quotto report the news accurately and fairlyquot has dropped to its lowest level in Gallup polling historyamp160 Only 32 of Americans have a great or fair amount of trust in the news media versus 50 in 2005amp160 Among the 1849 audience that number has dropped from 55 in 2001 to 26 today and the 50 audience has dropped from 50 to 38 over the same periodamp160 A 2017 Harvard Center for American Political Studies in conjunction with Harris Insights shows that 65 of voters believe the media is quotfull of fake newsquotamp160amp160America will remain divided along political lines in 2018 so it will be critical for the news networks to attempt to regain viewer trust before the erosion of that trust cannot be won backAll in 2018 will be a year of continued change on the business front as we look at a competitive media landscape that will continue to evolveamp160 The changes and challenges media sellers buyers and content creators and distributors face will be in areas that affect us from a business and personal standpointamp160 From a personal perspective we all have female friends wives mothers and daughters whom we love and respect we all have internet service we depend on news organizations to keep us informed and provide context in an independent journalistic manneramp160and we often relax by consuming entertainment and sports content that we pay foramp160 In short at some level we all live in the world we work inClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT | BECOME A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTOR

Five Topics That Will Drive the Media Industry's Conversation in 2018

Author

Publish date

Channel

John McMenamin

FEMA and the Ad Council Encourage AANHPI Communities to Enhance Disaster Preparedness in New PSAs - Ad Council InSites

More Videos:

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT | BECOME A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTOR

Five Topics That Will Drive the Media Industry's Conversation in 2018

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

John McMenamin

FEMA and the Ad Council Encourage AANHPI Communities to Enhance Disaster Preparedness in New PSAs - Ad Council InSites

Cookies