News of television’s death is premature, heard a relieved RTS audience, who were assured that the US tech giants – Facebook, YouTube and Twitter – were TV’s partners, not predators.
“Television is amazingly resilient – the great thing about it, is that it’s very adaptable. It’s always been good at seizing the opportunities that new technology brings,” said YouTube’s Stephen Nuttall at the RTS early-evening event in November, “Social media muscles in on TV”.
Networks such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are now an integral part of the UK’s video landscape. What are the implications of their growth, not just for viewers, but for content creators, traditional broadcasters and advertisers?
An expert panel, chaired by Kate Bulkley, discussed the subject at our 'Social Media Muscles in on TV' event. The panel included Dara Nasr, Managing Director, Twitter, UK; Stephen Nuttall, Senior Director, EMEA, YouTube and Patrick Walker, Director of Media Partnerships, EMEA, Facebook.
The panel spoke about working with storytellers who make creative content, how each platform thrives in the digital landscape and how user-generated content is incremental to television.
YouTube's Senior director Stephen Nuttall, Twitter’s UK Managing Director, Dara Nasr and Facebook’s Director of Media Partnerships, Patrick Walker all took part in the event.
Read the full event report here.
“Television is amazingly resilient. It’s always been good at seizing the opportunities that new technology brings,” said YouTube’s Stephen Nuttall at the RTS early evening event in late-November, “Social media muscles in on TV”.
“Some of the greatest innovators on social media are the television companies,” added Twitter’s UK Managing Director, Dara Nasr.
Over the past year or so, online video has become hugely important to social media companies.
Children’s internet use has reached record highs with those aged between 5 and 15 years old spending approximately 15 hours online each week. In contrast, the amount of time children spend only sitting to watch television just passes the 13 hour mark.
Comedian Hugh Dennis aired the thoughts of many trying to navigate the new television landscape when he introduced this session. In a video diary shown to conference delegates, he was seen stuck inside a room for a month. His task was to watch all the content available to modern audiences.
“Watching telly used to be so easy,” he complained. “Four channels, maybe five – everyone watched the same thing in the same place at the same time, unless your family was at the cutting edge of technology and had a VCR.”
There has never been a better time to own a second-tier sports event. While first-tier contracts generate mountains of cash – such as the three-year, £5.14bn deal for the English Premier League – it is the market for second-tier sports rights that is currently the most dynamic.
The politician, who has been serving as Channel 4 diversity executive is believed to have agreed to take up the post and is currently on a leave of absence from the House of Lords, where she has sat since 2011.
Google refused to comment on or verify the move.
Traditional TV has been on the endangered species list for many years, yet it has fought off every new media predator to threaten it. But has television finally met its match with the rise of online multichannel networks (MCNs)?
“Now is the most exciting time for companies in the online video space,” claimed Rightster chief Ashley MacKenzie at “Beyond YouTube”, a sold-out RTS event in March that debated whether online channels were the future of TV.
