Creative Content Online - the conclusions

Dear reader

I can't believe it. Almost uninterrupted sunshine since I got back from the Commission Conference on 'Creative Content Online' in Paris on September 18/19. Perhaps by continuing to blog on the subject the rays may continue to shine. I doubt it. But, in any event, I wanted to drill down a bit into the conclusions drawn at the four workshops because there are some interesting pointers here for future EU policy.

Workshop 1: How have consumer behaviour, use of content online and supply evolved?

• There's a real need to measure consumer behaviour on the Internet (consultants: sharpen your proposals!). OK, nothing revolutionary here but it's true nonetheless. A few interesting, perhaps somewhat random, stats and observations were mentioned. Internet and video games aer more popular early pm than late; teenagers can consume 12 hours of content in 7 hours by multi-tasking (PWC); 63% of consumers in France aren't willing to pay for online content; the "conversational consumer" creates the space for developing online offerings; VOD is one of the main vectors of change.
• The need to segment content. The message here is that if we can't stop  audience fragmentation and bring audiences together, it's going to be really difficult to develop viable online business models. So there's a need for cooperation between content owners and distributors to make added-value services of sufficient size accessible to consumers.
• Changes to the regulatory framework. We need 'plug and play' licensing. We need VAT breaks to create a level playing field in VAT terms between online and offline offerings. (More about this in my next post). Content owners and ISPs need to work together to deal with piracy, along the lines of the MOU recently signed in the UK (see previous posts) and the Elysee Agreements in France.

I'll focus on the conclusions of the 2nd workshop ('What financial models for creative content online?) in my next blog. Suffice to say that they're nothing to do with sub-prime mortgages.

Have a good week

Laurie Kaye