2013: Content Gets a Ride as King

Mediashift reporting:

(Quality) Content Will be King

"Experts" once told us that quality had been killed by the need for efficiency and scaling, and that editorial operations would thrive on user- or even machine-generated-content.

Now, I see the pendulum swinging back, with media and even tech companies hiring more journalists or "content creators," and having them create original material to attract people to their websites, apps and mobile pages.
BuzzFeed, which cut its teeth on quick-hit viral images, has been producing serious political journalism. Gawker has moved into longer-form analytical writing. Tumblr, Facebook, Flipboard and other aggregators have been hiring experienced editorial managers who know how to create and present stories.
On the marketing side, media companies like Forbes, The Atlantic's Quartz, as well as Gawker and BuzzFeed, have been offering advertorial content to sponsors placed within the editorial stream.

Texaco's singing repairmen.

Those sponsors, often major consumer-facing companies like Best Buy, Remington, Starbucks or Walmart, are employing "content strategists" to help create winning arrays of words, images and video, wrapped with social media, to attract traffic, start conversations, and impart a glow to the brand.
It's almost a step back to the past, when sponsors like Texaco had singing servicemen to kick off Milton Berle and other hit TV shows, and the sponsor message was also part of the entertainment or information.
We're going to see more pushes for more quality content in 2013.

Corollary: Video Content Rises

Web-based video consumption is fast-rising, as access to high-speed bandwidth increases -- 76 percent in the U.S. alone since last year -- and people use more powerful mobile devices.
Major purveyors such as Amazon, Netflix and Hulu have brought more content to the Web and, as they compete to cut pricey content deals, are also starting to delve into their own original programming.
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2013/01/2013-content-gets-a-ride-as-king003.html?utm_source=MediaShift+Daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=52297061d1-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN