Reinvent for Growth? Yes, certainly. And?
A short take on the thought-provoking & well presented- if eventually less than powerful- report from Accenture on the state of the Media Industry.
Accenture released this report last week, a bold and unequivocal call (some would argue, a wake-up call) for the media industry to get its act together or face inevitable, if not immediate, atrophy.
There are resonant and important (if familiar) touch points around serial churners, the challenge of content discovery, and a near doubling of preference for social content vs SVOD.
While there has been consistent insight on these lines from some of our more astute commentators (looking at Evan Shapīro , among others), this is based off the Global Entertainment Study and neatly packaged with their shiny 'Media Thrive Index' in a desire to raise the urgency of this call.
We believe are the two keys to survival and success for legacy media businesses: get radical and get outside your comfort zone.
The calls for radical action and brave moves are much needed(and the report considers giving us some example with gaming and CTVs), but one must say these themes are familiar.
Absolutely relevant and notable, but not revelatory?
(I mean, my buddy at the coffee shop gives me great advice which I often ignore- “get out of your comfort zone, man”.)
BUT!
I sound harsher than I feel. I cannot agree more that this shake-up is something that has been overdue and surprisingly unable to really gather momentum. This part, even if obvious to some, rang true:
For most companies, even “radical change” means building on existing strengths, or “core competencies.” But for legacy media companies, that won’t work. Film production efficiency, advertising sales excellence, and seamless broadcast operations aren’t enough to build on.
In fact it has not been an uncommon lunch/post-work drinks conversation to talk about the need for a big break, taking the hard calls, making bold changes (I personally can be accused of overusing the phrase “death by a thousand cuts”!); though admittedly these calls are more easily made by us from the trenches and battle stations, than the big fancy War Rooms.
However- lastly and most dear to my worldview- while focusing on strategic reinvention, surely a report on the Media Industry should passionately embrace (or at the very least feel obliged to address) what many consider its beating heart- those old, lazy, amazing bedfellows- content and creative.
A rallying call for the reinvention of media organisations, but without pontificating on how they can better harness creativity, embed or dive into the creator ecosystem, reimagine their approach to the creation and propagation of stories, entertainment and information? All with the looming spectre of generative AI?
That, I humbly submit, is a miss.
