Interviews with Dailymotion and TFO: How to build an audience?
Dailymotion’s chief operating officer and Groupe Média TFO’s chief executive officer share some useful tips on promoting digital content.
The issue of audience engagement was at the heart of the 2015 edition of Coming to your screens. Whereas content is now distributed outside of the traditional channels, all speakers agreed on the need to explore new avenues and new practices to reach audiences.
“Don’t follow the money, follow the trends!”
That’s the watchword given by Martin Rogard, Dailymotion’s chief operating officer. He considers that many creators have been deceived by persisting illusions when it comes to broadcasting content on the web.
One of these is the “illusion of diversity”, i.e., the impression that content may very easily emerge on the Internet. Although it is true that anyone and everyone has the possibility of posting videos online, the data indicate that major platforms like YouTube and Facebook account for most of the viewing time.
“Just a few players, though, control the vast network of sources and distribution” (as we mentioned in our 2015 trends report titled The Big Blur Challenge). Mass marketing and the exploitation of highly popular topics therefore remain strategies that are often necessary to make a place for oneself on the web.
Martin Rogard adds that another major trap to avoid is the idea that the TV model can be easily transposed directly to the web. He points out that today’s creators who are the most successful are those who were born after the beginning of the Internet age and who know how to meet the expectations of new audiences, for example by engaging in dialogue and interacting with them.
His advice is to focus on the web’s main strengths: the opportunity to generate revenue from small audiences. The key to success is to target a niche and meet its needs while minimizing production costs.
Watch the full version of the interview conducted with Martin Rogard (in French):
Multiplication of content access points
The web is sometimes perceived as an additional source of competition for traditional players. Nevertheless, TFO—Ontario’s French-language educational and cultural TV channel—was quick to recognize that new platforms provide it with the possibility of showcasing its productions and reaching new audiences.
This vision paid off seeing as Groupe Média TFO’s nine YouTube channels have registered more than 100 million views to date.
Exploiting different content access points has become a new way of competing, according to Glenn O’Farrell, Groupe Média TFO’s CEO. It’s a broadcasting strategy that pays off even more when it’s used to target young audiences that are increasingly using their mobile devices to watch content.
Mr. O’Farrell adds that one must not hesitate to search for new content monetization partners. For example, why not work in partnership with daycare centres when producing children’s videos?
Watch the full version of the interview conducted with Glenn O’Farrell (in French):
Coming to your screens published a summary of the presentations of its 2015 edition. Click hereto read it (available in French).
