Forming vertical partnerships with social media platforms and joining forces with other broadcasters to create scale will be strategies that broadcasters adopt to compete with the might of Apple and Facebook.
During the Thursday evening sessions ‘Business Models and Breaking into the Future’, chaired by broadcaster Andrew Neil, his panel dusted off their crystal balls to reveal their business models for the future.
“There’s going to be more vertical integration with social media channels,” said Phillip Luff, MD of Scripps UK and EMEA. “In the US we are doing this already, working with Snapchat and Facebook Live across both advertising and creative editorial content.”
Tom Toumazis, chairman of social media network TheLADbible, who has previously held senior positions at ITV, Sky and Endemol thinks that scale is going to become increasingly important for broadcasters.
“Google dwarfs even the major operators, and partnerships between TV companies are going to be important. Broadcasters will need to scale up and come together.
If antitrust legislation doesn’t allow this, then major tech companies will take over and there isn’t going to be a game left to play.”
However, according to Susanna Dinnage, executive VP and MD Discovery UK, there is room in the market for all players. “Broadcasters are going to see a lot of change as we become more familiar with data sets but there is room for all of us.
With applications such as Facebook Live, broadcasters can reach new audiences – it doesn’t have to be an either/or.”
