Oracle Announces Research Results on Impact of the Digital Age on Future Media and Telecommunications Business Models

News Facts
Today Oracle, in partnership with United Kingdom-based trends consulting group The Future Laboratory, launched the results of the “Capitalizing on the Digital Age” study, which explores how the digital world changes consumer behavior and the challenges that it will present for communications and media companies in the future.
Drawing from a panel of global experts – including Martin Lindstrom, author of “Buyology;” Hugh Garry from BBC Radio 1 Interactive and Anders Sandberg from the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford – the study explored how current and emerging social, cultural, economic and technological forces would impact the future business models of communications and media companies.
The panel assessed influences such as the rise of “freemium” services, the increasing professionalism of the creative consumer, and technological advances such as semantic search to build a picture of consumers’ media consumption in the next five to 10 years.
Among the phenomena predicted in the study are:
Contextual branding – Predictive and geospatial software will enable brands to target consumers through contextual branding. Current advertising formats and models will become increasingly redundant.
“Supertising” – As multi-screens allow different members of a household to watch diverse content at the same time, ad profiling will be tailored to the individual.
Emotional profiling – Emotional engagement and depth of connection will replace eyeballs as the dominant media trading currency.
Privacy for sale – Consumers will realize how important their personal data is to companies wishing to provide them with tailored, immersive entertainment.
Recommendation culture – In the digital future, tuning into a particular TV channel will be replaced by a service that allows viewers to navigate choices and recommends options based on preferences.
Digitally augmented reality – Video visors and ultimately contact lenses will digitally enhance everyday life into a three-dimensional, wrap-around immersive experience.
In addition, “Capitalizing on the Digital Age” offers suggestions for communications and media companies to take advantage of these future opportunities. A few examples include:
Build and maintain customer trust – Trust will be the most important aspect of a brand, the key to gaining access to more profitable relationships with customers and competitive differentiation.
Become the recommender – The company that consumers turn to when navigating a bewildering sea of choice will be well-positioned to profit.
Establish smarter billing systems – Communications and media companies will need to adapt to changing revenue models and cater to micropayments and revenue-sharing models for third-party partnerships.
Leverage valuable customer data – With the ability to know more about the consumer – including where they are, what they spend money on, and what content or applications they download – communications and media companies have an inherent advantage for tailoring future immersive experiences to the individual.
The full report is available here.
Supporting Quotes
“The media industry is grappling with numerous challenges presented by the public’s digital lifestyles. Falling advertising revenues are increasing the urgency of dealing with questions such as how to capitalize on new technologies, engage new audiences and encourage consumers to pay for digital content. ‘Capitalizing on the Digital Age’ sheds some light on the steps that communications and media companies need to take to prosper in this environment – for instance, building more intimate ties with their audiences and getting their systems ready to capitalize on new delivery and revenue models,” said Gordon Rawling, EMEA senior marketing director for Oracle Communications.
“A new digital economy is being forged – value will lie in having access to customers’ habits and desires. In exchange for this, companies will offer help to navigate the vast sea of digital choices. The only way to pull any of this off, though, is by gaining trust,” said Tom Savigar, strategy and insight director at The Future Laboratory.