What are The Critical Media Vehicles that are making an Impact on The Manner in which Media is being Consumed in The Country today?
Everybody is a part of the media today. Shaping lives, influencing others, sharing one’s thought with the world – in person, over the phone and on the Internet... each one of us are actually a trend that is shaping media consumption in everybody’s life. Who isn’t a content writer or a journalist today? Anyone with a camera phone, with a twitter and an FB account activated can be one. A few million people everyday are reporting, shaping opinions, adding to the roar, scaring the living daylights out of the so-called establishments. Freedom of speech and connectivity together, which is a killer combo, is what makes the media today. And what we see on television, hear from the world over the radio and over our latest gadgets that grant us mobility are all a part of the media that we consume. Can we help it? We live in an ecosystem that is ever-a-changing.
So, if you ask me as to what were the most remarkable trends that have shaped media consumption in India over the last few years, in one word I would say ‘shortening’. Sounds weird, but in other words, it means everything is getting shorter by the hour. Everything is moving towards ‘size zero’. “m gng 2 da prty. r u?” – two decades back, this would sound nothing more than just a couple of randomly picked up alphabets put together in a hurry to make no sense. No more. It’s called the SMS language and is perhaps the new form in which media and information hits us. Our one day cricket has shed some 60 odd overs to become a 20-20. Our stars talk to us in 140 characters on the Twitter. The most watched youtube videos are less than three minute long. The long form editorials and reportage carry embedded in them little boxes with bullet points. We want it short. We make it short. And we deliver and consume it short as well!
There’s a reason for that. Along with China, we are the epicentres of global capitalistic greed, thanks to a billion plus consumers. And, increasing information artillery is making us both hard of hearing and uninterested. So, in the future, its not just simple, but ‘keep it short, stupid’ too. And the Internet, in my opinion, is the biggest bomb to fall on media consumers. It is the most interesting medium to watch out for, as the Internet surely comes across as a trend that is shaping media consumption in India. The mobile phone screen cannot be ignored as the most interesting interface when it comes to thinking about how Internet will influence the way media will operate tomorrow. And that will force people to think of the message in a whole new way. Therefore, mobile penetration would inevitably be the biggest opportunity to watch out for in the context of media consumption.
It’s a time when we are witnessing a ‘democratisation of access’, access to knowledge, entertainment and to a better life. When we talk about mobiles, it will be interesting to point out how I often hear that India missed the era of pagers and straight away got into mobiles. I say, it’s not just pagers we leapfrogged over. With mobile phones, a whole generation has started accessing the Internet on their handsets, without the help of computers too! And that is a massive step ahead. Changes like these leaves everyone guessing, which is a good change in my opinion. Let me move on to the next medium of consuming media – the newspaper. Newspapers, I believe, are not really growing in circulation all over the world. But news is thriving. I don’t expect anything different to happen here in India.
Everybody is a part of the media today. Shaping lives, influencing others, sharing one’s thought with the world – in person, over the phone and on the Internet... each one of us are actually a trend that is shaping media consumption in everybody’s life. Who isn’t a content writer or a journalist today? Anyone with a camera phone, with a twitter and an FB account activated can be one. A few million people everyday are reporting, shaping opinions, adding to the roar, scaring the living daylights out of the so-called establishments. Freedom of speech and connectivity together, which is a killer combo, is what makes the media today. And what we see on television, hear from the world over the radio and over our latest gadgets that grant us mobility are all a part of the media that we consume. Can we help it? We live in an ecosystem that is ever-a-changing.
So, if you ask me as to what were the most remarkable trends that have shaped media consumption in India over the last few years, in one word I would say ‘shortening’. Sounds weird, but in other words, it means everything is getting shorter by the hour. Everything is moving towards ‘size zero’. “m gng 2 da prty. r u?” – two decades back, this would sound nothing more than just a couple of randomly picked up alphabets put together in a hurry to make no sense. No more. It’s called the SMS language and is perhaps the new form in which media and information hits us. Our one day cricket has shed some 60 odd overs to become a 20-20. Our stars talk to us in 140 characters on the Twitter. The most watched youtube videos are less than three minute long. The long form editorials and reportage carry embedded in them little boxes with bullet points. We want it short. We make it short. And we deliver and consume it short as well!
There’s a reason for that. Along with China, we are the epicentres of global capitalistic greed, thanks to a billion plus consumers. And, increasing information artillery is making us both hard of hearing and uninterested. So, in the future, its not just simple, but ‘keep it short, stupid’ too. And the Internet, in my opinion, is the biggest bomb to fall on media consumers. It is the most interesting medium to watch out for, as the Internet surely comes across as a trend that is shaping media consumption in India. The mobile phone screen cannot be ignored as the most interesting interface when it comes to thinking about how Internet will influence the way media will operate tomorrow. And that will force people to think of the message in a whole new way. Therefore, mobile penetration would inevitably be the biggest opportunity to watch out for in the context of media consumption.
It’s a time when we are witnessing a ‘democratisation of access’, access to knowledge, entertainment and to a better life. When we talk about mobiles, it will be interesting to point out how I often hear that India missed the era of pagers and straight away got into mobiles. I say, it’s not just pagers we leapfrogged over. With mobile phones, a whole generation has started accessing the Internet on their handsets, without the help of computers too! And that is a massive step ahead. Changes like these leaves everyone guessing, which is a good change in my opinion. Let me move on to the next medium of consuming media – the newspaper. Newspapers, I believe, are not really growing in circulation all over the world. But news is thriving. I don’t expect anything different to happen here in India.
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
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