Consumer demand driving media supply chain revolution
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Joseph O'Halloran
| 05 July 2017

The new dynamics in content delivery may be opening up business opportunities, but the media supply model will need an overhaul to keep pace with this shift, says a report from the Digital Production Partnership (DPP).

Founded by BBC, ITV and Channel 4, the not-for-profit association claims to be the UK media industry's business change network. It boasts an international membership that spans the whole media supply chain, covering production companies, manufacturers, suppliers, service providers, post-production facilities, consultancies, broadcasters and distributors and not-for-profit organisations.

The DPP’s report, Home Truths: Building the New Supply Chain, was published at one of its events that brought together industry experts to look at how consumer demand is impacting the way in which content is made and delivered. “Media has become increasingly commoditised,” remarked DPP MD Mark Harrison (pictured). “Consumers are now firmly in the driving seat, dictating when and how content is delivered to them.”

Among its research findings, the DPP found that unlike broadcast counterparts, the non-broadcast sectors view technologies that enable media supply chain methodologies as an opportunity, and that as a demand-led media industry becomes the norm, only companies that embrace a flexible supply chain with conviction will likely thrive.

The DPP also suggests that the middle stage of the content lifecycle – in which content is processed, managed, moved and stored – will be the next major area for disruption in the media sector. It adds that while data exchange for automation and machine learning offers greater speed and efficiency, human intervention is still required to create opportunities. Striking a note of caution, it warns that for businesses built on hard-wired systems and contracts, the transition to assignable resources and consumption-based billing is a huge challenge – both culturally and technically.