Monday, May 30, 2011

A Follow up to Intereconomia Visit - Evolution of Traditional Media

Following our visit to the Intereconomia premises in the center of Madrid, here is a little follow up on how I see the traditional media evolve in the future.

After the visit, it seems that there was a general consensus amongst the director and employees that Internet TV is the future. Even though it is a very small part of their business (and thus accounts for a very small part of profits), the director still believes that it is of paramount importance for the company to be present in this medium. I believe that the traditional media will be, in the future, tailored to Internet vision; which will revolutionize we see the media. Critical changes might include the division of certain programs into different parts so as to accommodate the viewer in the sense that s/he will not have to download excessive files. An example of this could be downloadable parts of the news broadcast such as current events, international events, business/economy section, sports, etc.

We are already seeing interactivity in this area, with the development of the Internet; the media is not a one-way stream of information anymore. However, I believe that improvements can still be done in the aspect of interactivity with the media. The possibilities for viewers to give their opinions will still exist, but other features will be added (such as the possibility to hear the news in a different language, according to where you live and many more options).
The competition is going to increase and play an integral part in deciding which media channel stays or vanishes. Over the years, improvements in technology have made information available and accessible to many at incredibly fast speeds. I believe that channels with the greatest human resources will have an advantage as they will be scattered over their region of operations and will thus be able to cover and report stories more rapidly than others. In addition to this, the formatting of this information is becoming easier (I’m thinking about green screens) which news reports to be broadcasted from small, local bases. This I have had the chance to witness first hand in the Intereconomia building. Traditionally, news broadcast rooms have been great in size but now, the high ceilings and great spaces allocated to various cameras and engineers is becoming redundant. In addition to the reducing costs of personnel operating these cameras, sound engineers and more (due to the fact that it is mostly automated nowadays) and the reduction in size of the premises allow media channels to be present in more places at a reduced cost to more effectively and rapidly transmit that information to the public.

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