2009 Australia - Digital Media - Online Media Industry

Most of the media companies have a vested interest in protecting their traditional businesses. Over the last 50 years they have been able to obtain certain political advantages that have allowed them to carve out monopolistic markets.

The new digital media are undermining the traditional media’s privileges and their grip on their monopolies. They are now all jockeying for a position in the new Internet economy. Sectors include TV and radio broadcasting, newspaper publishers, film and video industries. The traditional industry has turned the corner and is now well and truly on course to dominate the digital media market, launching events using their traditional media and supplementing them through new media activities.

The more adventurous traditional media firms, (Seven, Nine and the ABC) made early attempts to gain market share in the digital media space, and publicly funded organisations like the ABC and SBS are now gaining market share amongst digital viewers.

Quality content is crucial as digital platforms are becoming relatively commoditised. Telcos tried to claim this territory but continue to struggle to leverage their natural advantages.

Alongside the ABC and News, Fairfax Digital has continued to compete for digital viewers. Other players include Lachlan Murdoch, News Limited, Ten, Macquarie Southern Cross Media, WIN and Austereo.

However, they are increasingly being faced with more competition from overseas media companies.

In terms of advertising and marketing in the digital media era the traditional media companies have made quantum leaps in comparison with the telcos. While the Internet companies like Google have clearly been the leaders to date, media companies are now also making great progress.

New advertising models, permission-based marketing and premium sales activities are being used to attract people to events and services. New video applications are emerging as the Internet media companies seek to exploit the added speed and capacity of broadband infrastructure.

The most significant driver behind these developments has been the arrival of broadband. This has opened up consumer markets. For decades only corporate users have been able to afford data services.

The Internet quickly used this new data development to create an enormous number of consumer applications. Broadband improved the quality by allowing for video-based applications; and, just as importantly, it has made access to digital media affordable to the mass market.

The other technology driver in the market has been mobile. There is no doubt that mobile data applications have caught the attention of the media, but after nearly ten years less than 5% of mobile revenue is being generated by services other than voice or SMS.

The business models used by operators are definitely not working for mobile media. The operators’ own portals are not delivering the services customers want at a price customers are prepared to pay.

Interestingly, straightforward mobile data traffic has increased significantly.

Operators are making far more money from traffic (capped data packages) than they are from content. This might result in them finally changing their closed business models. However, there is a limit to the mobile networks’ spectrum capacity, and we will have to wait for true IP-based wireless broadband to become available before the operators can fully deliver on the promise of mobile data.

The dynamics of converging markets and technologies is bringing sweeping changes to the telecommunications, entertainment, video and multimedia markets, characterised by expanding product/services developments.

At the heart of a digital home is the technical concept known as the media centre. This combines voice, video and data applications and includes VoIP, broadband TV, digital video recorders (DVR or PVR), home networking, CD and DVD playback and MP3.

Cable TV operators, telcos, consumer electronics and IT companies are all competing for the media centre business in the digital home. The initial business model to deliver these integrated products is know as a triple play model, according to which voice, video and data applications are all delivered over one single access subscription. However, this telco-driven approach is rapidly being overtaken by the business models introduced by the Internet media companies.

Home networking, in a broader sense, is migrating beyond its PC-centric beginnings to incorporate a variety of consumer electronics devices, from digital TVs, to multi-room DVRs, digital media adapters, energy management devices, set-top boxes and game consoles. The incorporation of IP-based connectivity into more CE and PC devices is being driven by both telecom/network operators and consumer electronics manufacturers. IPTV and multi-room DVR demand is driving cable, satellite and telecom operators to consider a variety of new high-speed home networking technologies.

Key highlights:

• The ABC is the online media leader under the right policies they could follow the example of the BBC, a truly converged public broadcaster which leads the world.
• The dumbing down of the public media, offers great potential to the new online media companies.
• Online media will be driven by the ‘thinking society’.
• The diminishing role ninemsn in the online media landscape Focus moving away from the telcos and ISPs as media players.
• Massive changes in the mobile media market business models.
• Large uptake of mobile media expected in the under 25 years old.
• The marketing battle between ninemsn and Fairfax Digital.
• The difficulties Seven is facing with its  TiVo strategy.
• Triple play models are not delivering the revenues they predicted.
• 10% to 14% of houses currently have some sort of networking.