As Millennials migrate to new platforms and media companies jostle for position it’s the multichannel network (MCN) that is shaping up to seize a big slice of the advertising pie, according to panellists on the ‘Beyond YouTube’ session.
According to analyst
Richard Broughton, there’s a growing trend for broadcasters and content owners to either acquire MCNs or build up their own services to deliver content and ad opportunites to a new generation of viewers.
Broughton added that the value of MCNs such as Awsomness TV has shot up in the last three years, with many firms in this space enjoying revenue growth rates of 200% year on year with a two to three fold revenue growth increase expected over the next couple
of years.
Jeff Nathanson, who now works for Whistle Sports, said companies operating in this space needed to build their businesses around the content creators and YouTube stars. “It’s the stars and fans who set the tone in this space,” he said.
The former YouTube head of football added that now advertisers were becoming better at telling stories, the potential for creating branded entertainment and delivering ROI was “huge.”
Fremantle UK, which has its own stable of online stars and niche channels, added that its MCN’s need to be fluid with their platform choices so that they can follow their audiences.
“Tube is not as flexible at giving fans what they want 24 hours a day so we are moving away from that platform – different content works best across different platforms.”
