What consumers will watch and brands will face in tomorrow’s content revolution

Read the full What the Future: Attention issue

Brands increasingly operate in contexts beyond their control. Advertising, marketing and the business of attention are disrupted not only by technology and new platforms, but the multiplying effects of eroding trust, booming AI and misinformation in media.

Jeffrey Cole, director of University of Southern California’s Center for the Digital Future, studies how companies in media and digital technology across entertainment, sports and streaming networks prepare for future disruptions. He compiled lessons from this work for his forthcoming book, Disruptors At The Gate: When Visionaries, Trailblazers, And Two Guys In A Garage Turned The World Upside Down. These lessons are especially relevant for the Attention economy and how companies and brands can navigate its disruptive change.

A key conclusion in his book is that we've lived through three massive disruptions, and some of the biggest in history in 25 years: the rise of the internet, COVID, and now, AI. “Until recently, I thought AI was the biggest disruption since the printing press,” he says. “Now, we really can make the case it's the biggest disruption in human history.”

He believes brands can weather these challenges by anticipating disruption, fostering trust through authenticity, and consistently delivering transparent communication to connect with consumers in the shifting digital market.

Kate MacArthur: What's the evolution of how we're watching content and how brands are interacting with it?

Jeffrey Cole: It's not the content that's changed so much. It's the platforms that have really changed. Movie content isn't going anywhere. The thing that's hurting movie theaters is streaming. And yet on streaming, we want that same content. The thing that's going to spell the end of broadcast networks is not technology, it's the loss of programming and the loss of sports, in particular to the big tech companies. We're seeing Amazon, Apple and YouTube become big in sports.

Expect to be disrupted. It means a tremendous amount of tracking. It means being in close communication with your customers.”

MacArthur: Hasn’t the content itself changed?

Cole: AI is certainly going to add new, cheaper methods. What's happened in parallel is that the barrier to being a creator has almost disappeared. That shift has created a whole different type of content that's not really challenging traditional media, and traditional media is still existing within all this new media.

MacArthur: How important then is the shift of what we're watching and where and what does it mean for brands?

Cole: For brands, life used to be easy. To reach your audience, you only had to go to ABC, NBC, CBS. Now, brands have to work so much harder. To reach customers is so much more difficult, requires more channels, different types of content, content geared to their older audience who are more likely to be watching and giving it undivided attention to their younger audiences who may be doing three things at the same time. It is a much more difficult world to navigate, and it takes a lot more effort and a lot more different types of programming to get to them. And that's the world we live in and we're not going back.

MacArthur: What can brands do to ensure they’re not being harmed when facing content they don’t control?

Cole: What we're really talking about is classic disruption. First, expect to be disrupted. It means a tremendous amount of tracking. It means being in close communication with your customers. We saw during COVID many customers rejected advertising from brands that were doing what advertising always did: selling the product. And we're back to promoting the things that brands make and sell. But people expect more than just the hard sell. People want to have some kind of a relationship with brands.

MacArthur: In this environment of digital content and declining trust, how can brands build solid connections with audiences?

Cole: This is a pretty extraordinary time where not only is there so much misinformation, but our faith in the institutions we have trusted are really being challenged. There's no one that we trust. I would argue that the best-liked person in America is Dolly Parton. We're talking about a singer with great authenticity that people really believe is exactly who she says she is. The word authenticity can't be overused. There is a place for companies talking about their mission as a company and why they do the things they do. But that can't be every message they share.

MacArthur: How should brands prepare for future changes?

Cole: Understand your strengths and weaknesses. Look at your relationships within the company, with competitors. In particular, understand your relationships with your customers. Is there loyalty? Not all brands command loyalty, some do. Understand where threats and change may come from to be as ahead of it, and when it does come to make an honest assessment.

For further reading:

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• Ipsos Top Topics: Gen Z