I headed down to Sydney yesterday for the Future of Media Summit 2008 hosted by Ross Dawson and his Future Exploration Network. Firstly, congratulations to Ross and his hard-working team for putting on such a professional and informative event. It went off without a a hitch and everyone was extremely accommodating.

Officially the #FOM08 event was held in two parts: the conference session with live simulcast between Sydney and Silicon Valley, and the "Unconference" sessions allowing for debate and open forum conversation on various topics.

However, like last month’s PubCamp events in Sydney and Melbourne, there was a third aspect to the event that only half the attendees were aware of – the Twitter back channel and live commentary being conducted by many of the audience. For me, this was at least as informative and stimulating as the conference itself.

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Excellent and insightful post on the new media landscape over at Gavin Heaton’s Servant of Chaos blog. Have a read, its very interesting.

It might provide you with even more motivation to attend the Future of Media Summit next week in Sydney or San Francisco.

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Hot on the heels of last month’s PubCamp events in Sydney and Melbourne comes the third annual Future of Media Summit. The summit is two simultaeneous events held in Silicon Valley USA and Sydney Australia merging seamlessly by video, online discussion and cross-continental panel and conversations.

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Source: Simon Canning, The Australian

ABC television chief Kim Dalton has called on the federal Government to extend Australia’s TV content standards to web-based video, a move that would greatly increase government regulation of the internet.

But Mr Dalton will argue in a speech at the CCI International Conference in Brisbane today that with more TV being delivered through broadband internet services there is a risk of our culture being lost under a tide of cheap-to-access overseas programming.

He warns that unless urgent moves are taken, Australian content could be wiped from the new broadcasting landscape in as little as five or 10 years.

"Consumers are demanding more extensive online, video-based entertainment," he says in the speech. "The business model here favours cheap, foreign video content and … online content is putting pressure on established business models.

"It is likely that existing regulatory arrangements to deliver local drama, documentaries, comedy, children’s, news, current affairs and other programming may have diminishing effects on the market as the existing business models of broadcasters are challenged and the content offered becomes, increasingly, foreign.

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By Craig Wilson

At the Sydney PubCamp Web 2.0 Media Day much of the discussion and vigorous debate centred around the topic of traditional verses new media. The room largely divided into two camps, with the majority supporting new media. This was fairly predictable given the nature of the day and the web 2.0 focus of the event.

What surprised me was the strength of conviction and belief in one form of media over the other. There seemed to be very little middle-ground.

As a representative of an advertising agency I saw the debate from a very different perspective. We are heavy users of traditional media but very interested observers and emerging users of new media. Our view is definitely that there is room for both and will continue to be for quite some time.

The passionate new media fans clearly believe that new media will swamp, overtake and render extinct the traditional media channels such as television, radio and press. Clearly there is evidence that Gen Y and younger have adopted significantly different media consumption habits than their predecessors. TV viewing in declining, radio and press have experienced a similar downturn in overall consumption.

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Neil Perkin has a simply brilliant presentation answering my question: What is Media in 2008?

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When I began the Media Hunter blog my world-view was much narrower. I intended to write about media, marketing and advertising news and issues in my local region as it related to my clients and our agency. Initially that meant most posts covered radio, television and press stories, with maybe a little bit of online news for good measure.

The dialogue has changed dramatically over the year or so that Media Hunter has existed. So much so that I now have been forced to ask myself, what is media in 2008?

A decade ago, or maybe even less, media in regional centres was easy to identify. The local TV stations, local radio stations, local press and perhaps some outdoor were all the available and relevant media for marketers to utilise. It was all pretty straight-forward.

Now the landscape has changed forever, even for regional marketers. Increasingly we are talking to clients about a diverse range of "media" options. Blogs, podcasts, online sponsorships and more. 

Now I believe that we can broadly consider:

• Traditional media – TV, radio, press, magazines, outdoor

• Digital media – websites, mobile phones, digital TV, e-books & e-letters, video games

• Social media – blogs, social network sites, sharing sites, virtual worlds and more

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Source: Simon Canning, The Australian

THE number of Australians over 45 will outstrip those under 45 this year, making baby boomers the most powerful media consumers.

Charlie Nelson

Charlie Nelson says the number of people over-50 will grow rapidly. But it is a section of the community most media and marketers continue to ignore, even though these people have $218billion burning a hole in their pockets and are desperate for a place to spend it.

The decision by most media to ignore a part of the market unhindered by the stress of mortgage rate rises or the cost of rearing children continues to perplex those who have closely followed the rise of the boomers.

According to market researcher Charlie Nelson of Foreseechange, the number of people under 50 will grow by just 2per cent between 2001 and 2011 while the over-50 population will explode by 32 per cent during the same period.

"The baby boomers are the ones who are spending the most on discretionary items; it is the one demographic that is growing," Mr Nelson said.

"In terms of the percentage of total discretionary spending, people aged from 55 to 64 have gone from 13 per cent of the total market in the 1990s to 17.6 per cent. At the same time the 65-plus market has grown from 11.7 per cent to 14 per cent."

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Source: Lara Sinclair, The Australian

THE new multi-channels set to be launched by Australia’s free-to-air television networks next year will only maintain, not increase, according to a new report.

The report The Way We Watch: Maximising Multi-Channel Payback, released by consultancy firm Deloitte this week, said it would be hard for the networks to increase viewing given the growing number of new media services.

Deloitte said the networks must build strong channel identities for their multi-channel brands with flagship programs and strong marketing support.

"Few new channels succeed in attracting more than 1 per cent audience share by their second year," the report states.

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