SUMMARY

Audiences are moving from passive consumption to active participation in content creation. The success of games such as Life Is Strange, in which every player makes decisions to shape the game’s overall narrative arc, are testimony to this. While most personalization to date has been through recommendation engines or audience segmentation, personalization in the future will increasingly come to involve individualized content, in which the consumer shapes their own narratives.

For businesses, success in this new paradigm means knowing your audience, crafting content that will land and then delivering that content in thoughtful and flexible ways. The innovations in this chapter speak to each of those requirements in turn.

__ENTERTAINMENT TAKEAWAYS

1.  Involve your audience. Whether it’s making use of music preferences to design a recommendation engine or asking your audience to vote on the plot of a TV show, consider how audiences can be involved to help shape content. Of course, it’s essential that this is done in a way that feels natural and sensible for the content in question – rather than being presented as an obtrusive bolt-on. Effective engagement means more immersive, tailored programming and ultimately a more loyal audience. Live performers, from stand-up comics to musicians taking song suggestions, can be a good source of inspiration.

2.  In a crowded market, use novel formats to stand out. One of 2016’s most talked-about releases was Beyoncé’s Lemonade, an hour-long visual concept album that emerged on a streaming site a day before being offered for paid purchase. Later in the year Netflix released the entire first series of The Crown – a drama about the British monarchy – in one go. The success of these novel approaches is no surprise, as novel formatting is increasingly a way of standing out from the crowd.

3.  Understand that loyalties lie with content providers, not producers. Yes, audiences still look out for their favourite artists, actors or writers but, increasingly, power is with the curators rather than the creators of content. Spotify’s playlists can make or break careers in the same way that a top billing on Amazon Prime or Netflix can ensure a series’ success. With subscription and streaming services gaining larger audience shares, expect that power balance to persist.

4.  Explore flexible payment models. As loyalties shift, asking readers to pay for access to a single newspaper, for example, could become increasingly problematic. Many consumers access content almost exclusively from social media feeds, meaning they may stumble upon articles from a specific content provider only once or twice a year. Paywalls need to be flexible to accommodate this occasional access, without giving everything away for free. That’s the logic underpinning PayOrShare and Blendle and it is a logic applicable to areas far beyond entertainment.

5.  Stay agile: the paradigm is still shifting. Despite the massive changes and upheavals in both content creation and distribution channels for the entertainment space, we believe that this is only the tip of the iceberg and that change will continue to accelerate. Technological convergence, together with the dominance of a few global media players, will ensure that this discussion has a long way to run. Make sure you that don’t rest on your laurels and keep your organization fresh and agile.