Off to the AOP conference in the Park Lane Hilton. First up is Sly Bailey, CEO of Trinity Mirror.
“The economics have changed” she says, and central newsrooms and production departments producing high-quality multi-media content for multiple outlets will be the way forward. “There is pain as we go about making our business fit for purpose”, she says – redundancies are being made as 100 new digital jobs are created.
The newest development is hyperlical sites closer to the community than local newspapers ever could be – down to postcode level. Next they will feature maps and CEO-coded content.
“In a few years time we will look back and say this was the defining moment in digital media.”

The second session has Emily Bell of the Guardian, Peter Cowley of Endemol, Andrew Walmsley of I-Level and Ajaz Ahmed of AKQA.

Emily: “ultimately you will end up stopping things with smaller audiences.”

Andrew: “It is important to realise we are in an industry which is structurally growing”
“Digital will become the core of marketing communication for virtually all brands.”

Peter: “The will be a tipping point this year where good quality video content is viable online.”

Ajaz: Profound changes – self creation, ‘channel me’, the power of search. This is perfect informtion. “There is no need for a media crisis – there is a content crisis.”

Andrew: “Advertisers don’t have the automatic right to be there on social networks.”

Emily: “The global audience is definitely an opportunity. It is inevitable that if you are a strong brand you will find new global audiences.”

The future?
Andrew: the growth of grass roots

Peter: fragmentation of media

Ajaz: the consumer is ahead of the media owners and advertisers.
More often than not the big brands’ audience figures are as big as the big media sites.
COFFEE!!!