Timely Takeaways from “The Currency of Audience”
A new report from CMF publication Perspectives examines how IP and audiences can foster a stronger industry amid global-trade pressures.
Perspectives, a publication of the Canada Media Fund’s Foresight and Innovation team, has released its latest report on the audiovisual (AV) and interactive digital media (IDM) industries.
Focusing on IP, The Currency of Audience invites creators to go back to basics.
The publication combines market analysis with international and domestic case studies to demonstrate how the relationship between IP and audiences can offer strategies for Canadian producers to succeed internationally.
From tapping into underserved markets to leveraging success across multiple platforms, these strategies represent a significant global growth opportunity for the sector in a moment of disruption within the industry and from US trade pressures.
Reviewing the fundamentals of the AV (movies, series, etc.) and IDM (video games, virtual reality) industries with a fresh perspective, the report examines a relationship that is foundational to the development of content — audiences and IP.
1. IP is an audience-development strategy
“IP-focused strategies can focus on reaching and expanding audiences, which is critical for success in a fragmented and saturated media landscape,” explains Jon Montes, Research Lead in Foresight and Innovation at the Canada Media Fund (CMF).
In collaboration with CMF Analyst Corinne Darche and research partners at the international consulting firm Nordicity, the team developed an IP framework with the potential to rethink the “production value chain,” which refers to all steps in a product’s creation.
They found that creators who take an active role in finding and cultivating audiences — and who can provide evidence of engagement and interest — are better positioned to negotiate financing and distribution deals.
This means the traditional order of events would change.
While the global marketplace still operates on the premise that creators sell content to distribution platforms and those platforms sell content to audiences, today’s reality is that audiences are no longer captive; they are seeking out content that is meaningful to them.
A competitive market, therefore, doesn’t require more content but content that has already earned an audience. Audience is key to breaking through at a global level, says Montes, “how can IP be developed in tandem with audiences so creatives and producers are set up for success?”
One clue can be found in video game development, where direct engagement with would-be players is often built into the earliest stages of prototyping via social media, development logs, newsletters, alpha/beta releases and other activities.
Using such channels to validate IP appeal is used less often in AV sectors but worth exploring, since developing content while building an audience supports success from production through to distribution.
2. IP gives creators leverage
Investing in the creator-audience relationship can put creators in a stronger position when they bring content to market, affecting the entire value chain. Creators who are involved in cultivating a loyal community of interest, as well as marketing and promotion of their IP, have more leverage with platforms.
And if the objective is to create a sustainable AV or IDM company, developing the connection between IP and audiences is critical, as platforms are in the business of attracting and monetizing those audiences.
But what would this look like in the funding space?
Rather than the status-quo model that supports specific content projects, Montes believes that funding “platform-agnostic IP development” could offer some stability to production companies, “[allowing] them to step off that project-by-project treadmill and develop IP that is informed by audiences so that they can then create content that meets those audiences on the right platforms.”
But, he adds, more work needs to be done here. “Some programs are starting to dip their toes in [but] it’s an emerging way to think about this,” he says. “How would it actually work? What are the metrics? It can’t be one-size-fits-all.”
| Support for IP development is being explored through the CMF’s Slate Development Pilot Program and the Creative BC-CMF Video Games Business Development Program, which you can read more about here. |
3. IP transcends geography, language and culture — lessons from Korea
Canada can learn a lot from K-content models, as the international success of South Korean media exports demonstrates how IP transcends domestic borders.
Webtoons, a form of typically episodic, digital comics, are one example of successful Korean IP that has disrupted traditional, top-down production approaches to development. Uploaded by Korean creators who make, share and monetize their work internationally, webtoons represent a low-risk way to engage directly with audiences and have been a starting point for some of the country’s most popular IP.
| Read more about the Tower of God and All of Us are Dead webtoons here. |
These examples also illustrate how engagement with audiences can span geography, language and cultural communities. Content that is rich and authentic can still be rooted in specificity of place if the story has universal themes. This concept is not new to Canadian creators, nor is leveraging an audience attached to a specific content format.
4. Authentic IP = global opportunity — lessons from Kim’s Convenience
A few years ago, a Canadian series that engaged an underserved community proved that authentic, community-oriented IP can tap into global audiences.
Korean-Canadian creator Ins Choi turned his own life and experiences into international success by debuting his play Kim’s Convenience at the Toronto Fringe Festival and Soulpepper Theatre before it was adapted into a 30-minute episodic TV series on CBC and ultimately picked up by Netflix.
The series was a massive hit, averaging just under a million viewers on CBC per episode. It ran from 2017 to 2021, during which time Parrot Analytics found peak demand was more than eight times higher than that of an average Canadian show, with a steady season-over-season increase in audience interest and engagement.
| Another example of authentic, community-driven IP unlocking audiences is Sort Of — a dramedy rooted in being a South Asian, gender-fluid millennial. Read more about these case studies here. |
“It’s a growth opportunity that the Canadian sector is well positioned for,” says Montes. “Underserved markets have export potential. And it’s very clear that there is talent in this country that can reach them.”
5. “Transmedia” offers new clues to engage young audiences…
A throwback from the 2010s, “transmedia” refers to storytelling that isn’t bound to a single medium and stories built on interaction between traditional and digital platforms. Today’s creators have fully embraced this former buzzword, and while it used to be a nascent strategy, today it is the expectation since once-novel digital platforms are today’s established media players.
Young audiences have been immersed in digital worlds since birth, so revisiting how children and youth interact with content across platforms can help creators understand how audiences of the future might engage.
For better or for worse, kids’ digital and real-world lives collide constantly. Entertainment and community don’t exist in one or the other anymore, and evidence is clear that this generation rewards content that does both. Crossovers and cross-platform interactions are crucial strategies for engaging with a young audience and potentially expanding it.
| Read more about how data from the Media Technology Monitor and the Pew Research Center illuminates how children and teens are engaging with content today here. |
6. … and so does User-Generated Content (UGC)
Digital creators have become especially popular with young audiences as they foster a sense of community. From YouTube to Ryan’s World, Roblox to Piñata Smashlings, a modern pipeline has developed that moves audiences from digital hubs of UGC to more traditional AV.
“Children really are the future for audiences,” concludes CMF Analyst Corinne Darche. “And they are likely still going to be as digitally immersed as they are now. [Our industry] can start adapting engagement strategies now to expand and embrace that.”
