Content is King

Hi there,

First off, apologies for disappearing off the radar- we've been busily putting the finishing touches to some great new client podcasts- but more on that next week.

Today I just want to briefly evangelise about content. In the online world, content generators like me often have something of a crisis of confidence: do people really want all this stuff we produce? Advertisers worry about it too: if people aren't listening and watching, where will the brand exposure come from?

That's why I was pleased to see this in today's Daily Telegraph, written by one of our most respected business journalists, Damian Reece. Talking about the ongoing spat between Virgin Media and Sky (and commenting on the effect this has had on Virgin Media's subscriber numbers), Reece says:

"Virgin will never beat Sky until it reaches deep into its pockets and spends some really big bucks on must-have content. That's what really differentiates Sky from Virgin in consumers' minds and what gives Sky the upper hand in all negotiations between the pair."

Now, I'm not Sky, (and you don't have to spend really big bucks all the time) but this hits the nail on the head: companies all now have the opportunity to be content generators and content owners; and these intangible assets often represent tremendous real long-term value.

Comments

[Dr Savi]

Good to see you back.
I'm often asked a couple of questions:
1. Why bother with Blogging
2. Why are you doing all those shows (4 at the moment!) as do you really know who is listening?

My answer and hope is as follows:
1. Yes, sometimes it is frustrating to view stats from Feedburner and also thinking, 'What does that i-tunes popularity bar mean anyway'!

2. The important thing is the very nature of content is that audiences tend to be passive.

Take for example: http://www.askaninja.com - An ace and unique comedy videocast (Maybe not everyone's cup of tea - but it is really funny). Anyway, I get it (download it), watch it, share it and sometimes watch it again. But todate, I have not sent the 2 (I believe?) Ninja's presenters any correspondance.

3. The BBC are great at talking or are they 'talking-up' the number of emails they are getting. They are also great at professing what is available as a video podcast. I guess they would have stopped offering such facilities if no one was really getting connected.

4. I say to critics of content producers, that I hope that the content that I produce is of good quality and can be as acceptable as what the 'big guys' can develop. I've mentioned one show called, 'The smooth groovers licensed review' - http://www.smoothgroovers.com. They get at least 48,000 polls of the URL and 8,000 direct hits. Looking at Google Analytics they can see where they are coming from too.

With regard to the latter, all that advertisers have is stats to rely on. For example, Bounce time, Time on site and what content users are 'fishing' for. This is the beauty of what the Internet offers.

5. Instead of promoting independant content producers. The networks are appear not to want to take the risk? What are they afraid of? Or, are they really like how they were portrayed in Waynes World, lol. I noticed that Apple i-tunes now has a showcase area. I'm concerned that some of the content is inappropriate and that it was never really clear how to both get in on the selection or what standards have to be implemented technically for it to work on the ipod and AppleTV!?

6. I believe that Content production can in theory help support traditional communications to clients about products and services.

7. I hope that podcasting will not be seen as CB Radio. Instead, it will probably morph into something else but will the survivors be participants or just the 'chosen ones' - regardless of quality.