NBCU’s MacLellan: ‘Technology the great instigator of media’
September 27, 2016
Colin Mann @RTS London
Kevin MacLellan, Chairman, Global Distribution and International at NBCUniversal and RTS Conference Chair, has suggested that although technology may be the great instigator of media, consumer behaviour is the accelerator of change.
Delivering opening remarks at the RTS London Conference, MacLellan noted the growth of technologies and its impact on content creation. “I see technology as the great instigator of media. It is the pebble disturbing the surface of the pond. Decades of technological developments have enabled new ages of media,” he suggested.
According to MacLellan, more recently the mainstreaming of broadband penetration has been a major agent. Eighty-six per cent of the UK households now have fixed access. In five years, UK smartphone ownership has grown from 18 per cent to 67 per cent and what has emerged from this connectivity is the application of TV Everywhere,” he noted. “Two-way communication with audiences has led to advanced methods of search and discovery, news and review, video serving, data collection and programmatic ad targeting. The expectations of On Demand present exciting new challenges for content creators. Technology may be the great instigator of change, but consumer behaviour is most certainly the accelerator of change. Whether consumers embrace or reject new products or programmes is the key to their success,” he concluded.