Broadcasters can embrace change: BBC’s Grade

Michael Grade, chairman of the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC), gave the keynote address at the 2006 National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) conference last month. In his speech, excerpts from which appear below, he gave advice to traditional broadcasters looking to compete in the convergent world. Looking around the convention floor yesterday, NATPE is unrecognisable for this visitor returning after a ten-year absence. So many new faces, some old faces, and, as Johnny Carson once memorably remarked, a few new faces on old faces! I also detected a measure of fear around the convention. This is understandable: the media world is changing out of all recognition. It’s pretty clear we are on the eve of another revolution in our industry and, like Vegas itself, it will produce some big winners and, of course, some big losers – hence the fear. One estimate suggests that, in ten years time, 10% to 15% of all available new content could come from new providers.…So it may be that in the future we end up with several tiers in this new world – with different places and spaces for players of different sizes and ambitions. ...The big broadcasters and content-providers will be valued by their audiences so long as they provide something genuinely distinctive. Yes, content will continue to be the force that drives the market forward. But it’s about some different things too. The new technology will demand new ways of working. For example, it may mean rethinking the way material is commissioned and produced. The old model in broadcasting is the linear model. Content is commissioned, slotted into a linear schedule, broadcast once via a single channel to a single platform and then lost forever – well, that’s a cartoon-version of reality, of course, but this audience understands what I mean. In the new model there is no schedule. Channels become much less important. Search engines guide the viewer to particular kinds of content. And that content comes in many different versions that work on so many different platforms. Programmes won’t even have to be their traditional length. They will be any length the viewer wants. You can build an interactive community around the soap , with blogs and online chats, and teasers for upcoming storylines, and votes on which twist the plot should take next. There are exciting opportunities here to stimulate more intimate engagement with the audience. ...The template of what constitutes an effective creative team is likely to change radically. A successful project will need not just great writers and producers and directors, but great marketing people too. People, that is, who really understand how to engage with and respond to the changing audience needs as they are revealed by this new world – experts who understand the challenge of marketing not just the blockbusters, but the niche content. Also, you’ll need savvy rights people too….The rights issues will have to be grappled with at the very start of the creative process, not some way down the line. And let’s not forget to include smart software engineers to develop all those interactive elements in the most creative way – and to ensure that the necessary labelling is built in so that your content is easy to find, of course by an efficient search engine. It will always remain true that it must be creativity that drives content and not technology. But, in order to ensure our audiences reap maximum value from our content in a multi-platform world, technology has to have a seat at the creative table.

Broadcasters can embrace change: BBC’s Grade

News | 02/17/2006 5:00 am EST

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