AOP speaker profile: Andrew Murray

Q. In what ways do you think the advent of the internet has changed the way people consume information?

The internet has made three key changes to consumption patterns, these are:

1.     Location Free Consumption

2.     "Byte Size" Consumption

3.     Interactivity

In short each of these has made a small, but cumulatively large change in the way information is sought and consumed.

The reader as editor gives us a glimpse into the final key change, interactivity. Now as well as being editor we also want to be a contributor. Thus Web 2.0 principles such as blogging, Twittering etc. lead to us always wanting to interact with the information we receive. 'Citizen journalist' is an over-used phrase, but the interactive reader is to my mind a better definition. Comment is valued and a growing part of the infosphere. 

Q. How have changing consumption patterns affected the way traditional publishers source and distribute their content?

There is no doubt that traditional publishers are becoming more aware of the power of ‘crowd-sourcing’, particularly as the numbers of cameraphones and mobile blogging and emailing devices continue to grow.

Traditional publishers are becoming more aware of the power of ‘crowd-sourcing’, particularly as the numbers of cameraphones and mobile blogging and emailing devices continue to grow.

There is no doubt that traditional publishers are becoming more aware of the power of ‘crowd-sourcing’, particularly as the numbers of cameraphones and mobile blogging and emailing devices continue to grow.

Thus sourcing of news stories is now often from the crowd rather than from the wires. Citizens with cameraphones can be there more quickly than a news team and as being first is all with breaking news the lack of quality does not matter. I believe that publishers are also becoming aware of the factors of byte size consumption and location free consumption.

We see more sites and software applets designed for on the move consumption and delivery (think Twitter) while major publishers such as the BBC have recognised the growth of mobile access to content through devices such as iPlayer.

Q. Do you think publishers are effectively monetising their content online? Can you think of any good examples?

What is clear is that the market has changed. With so much content available for free, customers will rarely pay for access unless you have something value added. It appears the best model for monetising content at the moment is ad-supported and obviously Google are the market leaders here. The challenge for traditional publishers in the next few years will be the rise of location free consumption.

Previously newspaper publishers and book publishers have been shielded from the worst effects of the new media market by the commuter effect. People who regularly travel on public transport will still buy their paper or book for consumption on the move, but will they continue to pay 80p for their Guardian in the morning when they can access the guardian.co.uk site from their iPhone. Some will (mostly those 40+) those in the 25-40 bracket may switch, those under 25 probably never considered buying a newspaper. This is a major challenge publishers will need to face.

Andrew will be speaking at the AOP IP and copyright forum "Who owns the content?" and "does it matter?" on Thursday 20th November 2008 at IPC’s offices in London.

Full schedule and link to online booking. 

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