At this week’s International Conference on Broadcast Training, held in Kuala Lumpur, a range of speakers offered their thoughts on how broadcasters should keep up with technological developments and generate creative content that will be compelling for their audiences.
Thailand
Thailand’s Anothai Udomslip told delegates that sources of information are easily accessible to modern audiences, so broadcasters must think beyond just reporting information, to craft their reports and stories with quality and creativity.
“We have to think about the multi-dimensional aspects of creative content and the fact that people consume programs long after they are broadcast. We have to work harder to remain relevant,” said the Director of the Academic Institute of Public Media in Thailand.
Referring to the recent democracy movements in his country, Udomslip said: “In Thailand people are talking all the time about freedom of expression and democratic development, so we need to talk about these things on air. Our content has to have meaning and values for our audience to make use of. It also has to inspire and give insights for people to develop themselves.”
Korea
Jaehon Song from KBS Korea presented examples of compelling stories that were a success with audiences and commercially. A reality series about fathers looking after their children showed “conflict, love and emotional communication,” and a series based on playing practical jokes on your young children were both big hits in Korea. The broadcaster used YouTube channels to post entries from the audience.
Discussing the K Pop phenomenon, Song gave an example of the group EXID (pictured above), and how it went from obscurity to success thanks to social media.
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“In the fast changing K Pop market there is fierce competition, most bands gain sudden popularity but don’t last very long. Exid had a dance hit that was moderately successful on the charts for a few weeks, but then other groups took over and the young girl group was relegated to playing in rural shows and small shopping centres.
“But one day a fan posted an amateur video taken with a handphone on YouTube, and it gave them a big success. Then they did many street performances which also went viral, and the group is now a huge success…
“This group is not much different from other K Pop groups, but viral marketing put them on charts. Distribution channels are changing. Consumers are also producers. Traditional media is losing power and there are other strong players in the market, so content creators are changing the formula of content,” said Jaehon Song.