To celebrate 10 years of the MOST Awards, we asked media professionals from media agencies and media owners what they believed was the biggest disruptor in the past 10 years, and what they thought would have the most impact in the next decade. Charlene Beukes, GM: News at 24.com, gives her views.
What, in your view, was the most disruptive influence or had the biggest impact on media over the last 10 years and why do you say so?
Without doubt, the rapid growth of digital has massively disrupted the media space and in particular the growth of mobile in South Africa. In fact it has been much bigger than a disruption, it’s been a revolution. The mobile phone has changed the way we all live, and therefore how brands communicate with their consumers.
But within this bigger picture there sits a multitude of smaller, equally important disruptions. One that we are particularly feeling at the moment is the rising tide of fake news and the massive amount of uncontrolled user-generated written and video content and what these mean for both advertisers and publishers.
Most publishers are fighting the issue in some way, through quality video and written journalism and a policy of brand safety for advertisers.
I believe it is forcing mainstream journalism to re-examine its societal obligations of providing news and information to the population. It’s made brands and advertisers far more aware of where their ads actually appear, and cautious about them appearing anywhere near fake news or low quality content, no matter the price.
What, in your view, will have the most significant, wide-ranging influence on media in the next decade and why do you say so?
We will see more and more on-demand, instream and outstream video replacing traditional TV; podcasts and streaming audio taking over from traditional radio, especially on mobile.
Apps will continue to grow in engagement as it already drives the dominant share of mobile time in all markets. The ever-more demanding consumer will be looking to seamlessly (without question) stream their media across multiple devices – it all needs to be easily accessible, on any device they choose and on their terms.
Advertisers, publishers and content developers are going to have to become super-savvy with how they speak to these consumers who will certainly only be interested in news, content, video and advertising that speaks to their very specific needs on their very specific chosen platforms. Voice driven assistants are also emerging as the next big disrupter. And then of course the role that smart data plays will dominate our futures.
