Transforming legacy media

We have spoken endlessly about the growth of digital and new mediums, but have you noticed how legacy media has steadily innovated in this space? Some wonderful innovations have evolved that merge decades of experience and clarity of news.

In our recent PRPOI Saturday Live Session we spoke to Anil Thomas (DD), Senior anchor cum correspondent DD NEWS and Radhika Bhirani (Head of Content at HealthShots, a digital health and wellness platform for women, powered by Hindustan Times on the subject. We chatted about how the shift has taken place across multiple levels to engage new and young audiences with new age mediums and new programming.

While the discussion covered several aspects of this development, we put on the PR lens and give you a quick cheat sheet on the key takeaways from the session for the profession.

What Has Changed:

Media Consumption Habits: Mediums, patience, attention span and what is considered as newsworthy. While there are certain overarching themes that one cannot ignore in what makes news, the content itself has gone through drastic customization. The evolution will continue, and the media will have to keep up with the pace.

Consumer Profile: There is a clear demarcation on the profiles of consumers that consume traditional and digital media. The way it is consumed is now different. The way it is served then also needs to change. The style of writing or storytelling will change as per the medium and platform on which the news is being served.

The Contestants have Changed: It was a fight between TV and print earlier, but now TV & print together are weighing in, to counter and keep up with digital. Changing consumer consumption habits have forced traditional media to evolve and add new mediums of communication. This is going to change further, and all media across genres are scrambling across to catch up with the consumer’s changing preferences.

Live Feedback: While TV has been doing live sessions for the longest amount of time, the feedback loop has been supercharged with digital. This is almost simultaneous as compared to the ‘Letters to the editor’ days. Every slip between the cup and the lip is watched and reported live on the live presenters. Digital has pretty much ensured they keep traditional media on their toes.

The Digital Push: The addition of credible digital channels of communication has led to multiple possibilities of creation and extending the life span of a conversation in news. Every media house now has multiple outlets that they are managing on a serious note. It is not just a presence checklist anymore. This has led to cross-promotions within their own network of each piece of news giving them more mileage.

Acquisitions in the Media: Startups will be absorbed and acquired within the larger ecosystem to add more cutting-edge talent and mediums to the existing network. Startups started by experienced professionals in the business championing free speech are also giving new age media the credibility stamp and are being watched by the larger networks. Great time to be a startup in the sector.

What Hasn’t Changed:

Fundamentals: These remain the same. Legacy media will always be the torchbearers for internal media guidelines, ethics and professionalism. They will officially set the bar for what is credible news. The line between clickbait and news is a line that we always will have to walk to balance.

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Media Relations: However, as media evolves, as a publicist one has to keep pace with the change. The PR industry has to keep up with the basics – know the publication, journalist, and news slant before pitching in a story irrespective of legacy media and new age media. Your pitch will have to evolve along with the changing media formats and media interests.

Agility: This is essential for survival across all mediums. Legacy media has a vast network and deep roots that they can rely on to acquire news. The speed with which they report it will matter as much as how and what they report. This also applies to the transformation and transition of news to cater to a larger and newer audience that will lead to longer shelf life for every medium.

Formats Dictate Content: Wires will focus on breaking the news, print will look at deeper facts, TV will want more visual content and now the edit team has to combine all that and look at a multimedia integration and cross promotion of the news piece. More skills and more talent who can match the changing needs will always be in demand. Talent that can think in diverse mediums will be the need of the hour.

About the author :

Tarunjeet Rattan, Founder, PRPOI