How has consumer behaviour and audience response transformed by online media, in relation to the past?

Looking back 15 years, there where three main places the average consumer accessed their media. Television, physical CD and newspapers. 15 Years later, in 2010, there is only one place to go to access all of these mediums and that’s the personal computer.

Consumers behavior in recent times would have been every hard to predict just a few years ago as they have been transformed by such breathtaking technologies as the Internet.

Two industries that have been greatly affected by this transformation in audience behavior are the television and music industries. Both of these have been faced by the drop in the use of traditional forms of purchasing and accessing their content and the trouble of online piracy that comes hand in hand with all forms of online media.

The change in how media is consumed has affected all industries, spending on 'traditional' media such as newspapers and magazines have dropped almost 20% in the last six months. This is in contrast to the report that came out, indicating that hours spent consuming digital media increased even more, from 6 hours 14 minutes to 7 hours 28 minutes. This gives a slight indication to how audiences are changing the ways in which they used to enjoy their media, and the print industry is no different to the key industries that I have highlighted above, Music and Television.

The music industry has been seeing some very dramatic changes over the past number of years. Just as the cassette defeated the LP, the CD defeated the cassette, now mp3 is king and this has lead to a number of changes within the industry. With the introduction of paid downloads, consumers no longer have to buy a full album if they were only interested in two or three songs. This new freedom for consumers has dramatically changed the music sales landscape.

During our AS course, we got to meet one of the founders of a local record label. Andrew Ferris is the co-founder of Small Town America. Small Town America (STA) is an independent record label based in London and Derry. He had some very interesting figures on how he has seen first had the changes in consumer behavior. “STA Income 2006-07 - Physical 92% Digital 8%

Income 2007-08 - Physical 76% vs. 24%

Income 2008-09 - Physical 66% vs. 34%”

These figures are by no means unique as Andrew explained how this was an industry norm.

This year for making our music video, we met front man Deci Gallen from the band The Jane Bradford’s and he had some interesting points on how he has seen his own audience behavior change. He explains how, “ Few or no bands today will consider solely releasing on digital or physical CD, it is important to cover both bases.”

With the ever increasing figures of digital download fast approaching taking over physical sales of CDs, bands must conform to the consumers response to the online media and the new methods of doing things in this digital age.

In November 2005, the record for the best-selling digital single in the United States was held by Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl", which has sold over one million downloads, making it the first song to achieve platinum download status. Not even 5 years later and now bands are solely releasing their tracks for digital distribution, cutting out physical copies all together.

The music industry has seen another change in the behavior of their audience, piracy is now worse than it has been at any other time in the music industry. With reports such as, “Around the world in 2006, an estimated five billion songs, equating to 38,000 years in music were swapped on peer-to-peer websites, while 509 million were purchased online.”

Piracy has cause a massive crisis in all industries. In our discussions with Deci Gallen, we gain a greater insight to how this particular impact of online media affects the artists, “The Jane Bradford’s album was available to illegally download before it went on release which was unfortunate as we’re struggling financially to put out the record. Its very hard not to feel like people are stealing from you as there is no guarantee that you’ll make back the money you put into producing it.”

The consumption of media is always changing, and even in recent months we can see massive changes in the way in which people are consuming their media, in particular their music.

People are now less concerned with “owning their music” and more so access to it. Music streaming is now becoming more and more popular. Consumers will pay a monthly subscription fee, which allows them unlimited plays to a massive online library. Sites such as Last.fm, we7 and Spotify are at the forefront of these music-streaming sites. A new term has been born, calling the services that these sites offer a, “freemium,” service. This basically describes anyone’s access to these sites, but in order to avoid adds or limited plays, they have the option to pay for the subscription fee.

These services are what are known as, “in the cloud,” technologies. This refers to the content having no fixed point, such as on a hard drive, allowing consumers to be able to access it form any computer with a working Internet connection. I feel that in the future there will be a greater push for this, allowing the audience access to their content from anywhere.

The second industry that has changed dramatically due to the way in which consumers have transformed the way, in which they consume their media, is television.

Historically, when television broadcast the show that you wanted to watch, the viewer had to organize themselves around the specific time the program is being shown live, or be lucky enough to catch it on repeat.

However, in just a couple of years, the television industry has changed dramatically to how audiences have transformed how they consume the traditional media product.

Traditionally television the only way in which people could see the programs that they enjoy, now the stream of content is coming from more and more sources everyday.

Audiences are now turning turning towards the internet to watch their favorite television programs. Sites such as BBC iPlayer, Sky Player and ITV Player have been introduced allowing large media institutions a new means of distributing their content and the customer an ever more popular method of consuming the content.

The way in which the power is now in the consumers hands, their ability to choose when and where they watch their content, has been described brilliantly by (INSERT JOURNALIST HERE), “it's not a lecture anymore, it's a conversation.” I feel this depicts how the past looks in relation to the television industry in the past, how there was only one way to watch your content and that was to huddle around one TV in your house and fight over the remote, where as now, any laptop, most modern game consoles and even now portable media players are able to access this content where ever they please, now its a conversation, where the audience has a say which is an amazing transformation from just a few years ago.

Large media institutions are now beginning to hear the message and see how their audience has evolved in the digital age and therefore they must transform themselves in order to keep this new audience.

BBC iPlayer has an estimated 5.2 million regular viewers of the site. This gives an indication to how popular online streaming is becoming and what a massive potential audience it is. With networks such as MTV teaming up with Gorilliz in broadcasting a date of their live show, not only across their 68 channels, but also streaming it simultaneously online. This is similar to how even YouTube, arguably one of the original sites to offer streaming video, has been changing. Not only does Youtube now have deals with some international broadcasters, such as its deal with Channel 4, but has just recently began offering streaming of live Indian Premier League cricket. Two examples of how large institution are adapting themselves to fit their audiences behavior.

The music industry is not alone in its trouble with internet piracy. P2p sharing is very high, using software such as BitTorrent and LimeWire, consumers are able to download their favorite shows for free, hours after its been originally aired. This has lead to more and more media producers to, in order to combat their trend in illegal downloading, to offer their content for free on the internet with the possibility for a 45 second ad at the beginning of the video. This not only combats the illegal downloading of content but also allows for ad revenue as well as people to view the content in high quality, just as it was originally aired.

Based on the points raised, i feel that consumer behavior has changed so dramatically in such a shot period of time, and this change would not have been possible without online media. I feel that if businesses which to remain profitable and successful, they will have to adapt to the changing demands of their audience. This massive change has given the power to the consumers and allowed them to be in more control of their media and content than ever before.

What difference has the Internet made to media production and consumption?

Over the years, we can greater see the impact of the Internet and technologies on the media and in particular, media production and consumption.

For my A2 project, I created a music video featuring a local band, The Jane Bradford’s, while working closely with them we learned a lot about how the Internet has affected how the produce their music.

Deci Gallen, the front man for the band, made it very clear to our group if the Internet was not what it was today, he would not have been able to make the album that they had. One of the point he raised was, “Releasing the Jane Bradfords debut album wouldn’t have been financially viable about ten years ago,” he went on to say that, “Advances in computers and software mean that it is now totally possible, and indeed acceptable, to produce an album or single at home.”

This last point is something that is becoming ever more popular option. Artists and Musicians are now producing their media at home due to technology becoming cheaper. An example of this is Deci worked out, “It cost £1000 for this (mixing) but had I needed to record instruments instead of doing it in my home studio it would’ve cost closer to £5000.”

A band can now record a single on software such as GarageBand, mix it and then publish to the Internet on such websites as My Space or online stores such as iTunes.

A major impact of the Internet on production is that no longer are artists and bands limited to the talent and facilities in the local area as Deco Gallen found, “The beauty of the digital world is that I was able to outsource this (the record) to a guy called Carl Saff in Chicago. A man that I will probably never meet played a vital roll in the record’s release.” This is in massive contrast to how things where done just a few years ago, thanks to the Internet.

During our AS course, we got to meet the co-founder, Andrew Ferris, of Small Town America (STA). Small Town America is an independent record label based in London. One of the more interesting aspects of STA and what stands them out in comparison to the big four is that in many ways they carry D.I.Y. ethics in their work and as all institutions in this modern industry they must embrace technology like the Internet if they want to survive, an example of this is what co founder of the label, said to our class in our exchange, “For every stumbling block you imagine there is a free solution already on the Internet.”

Andrew Ferris produced figures which show how the Internet has been effecting sales of Small Town America and so how it is effecting consumption,

“Income 2006-07: Physical 92% Digital 8%

Income 2007-2008 Physical 76% vs. 24%

Income 2008-2009 Physical 66% vs. 34%”

The growth in the Internet has effected production drastically, as the public move from physical purchase to digital download. This has effected production in a number of ways, Deco Gallen speaks on behalf of the Jane Bradfords, “The big difference with modern music is that you can finish a track and have it available online for millions to hear that same day.”

Deci wasn’t naive to the fact that that Internet not only has a wealth of advantages but recognizes that it has its drawbacks. “The Jane Bradford’s album was available to illegally download before it went on release which was unfortunate as we’re struggling financially to put out the record. Its very hard not to feel like people are stealing from you as there is no guarantee that you’ll make back the money you out in producing it.” This is a major problem, piracy, not just in the music industry but spanning across the whole of the media world. Deci referred to this battle between the advantages of developing technologies such as the Internet and the disadvantages such as piracy, “The major downside of the technological advantages and the Internet is that despite offering you a larger audience and larger market, it also takes away a large amount of your revenue by piracy. It feels like being handed a sword going into a fist fight and then realizing the other guy has a sword as well - in other words with every new opportunity there is a downside that levels the playing field.”

Consumption has changed not just in music but also in a number of media institutions, such as television. With more homes than ever having high speed broadband at their disposal it has in recent years become more popular to stream media, especially video online.

Evolving from sites like YouTube, organizations such as the BBC are now streaming high quality content on their own sites, such as BBC player. People are now no longer limited to consuming the shows and programs when there are first aired, they now can control what they watch, when they want to watch them. This has inspired the term “On-Demand”. This has caused a massive change on the traditional way in which we consumed television.

It is not just television that has been changed by the Internet, in terms of how it’s been consumed. Why drive to the local video shop when you can log on to innovative sites such as Netfilx, stream and download your favorite and most recent movies. Instead of people having to wait in line at the cinema, sites like this can stream high quality video over the Internet and right into the home of movie lovers everywhere.

I believe that the Internet has changed production and consumption of Media forever and on the most part I feel for the better. The barrier between Artist and consumer has been reduced, bringing these to groups closer than they have ever been. Although there are problems with this new, powerful tool, I feel they are outweighed by its ability to help small artists penetrate large media intuitions and well as allow consumers to easier consume the media that they love.

Rewrote to include Consumption.