Content creators must become marketing experts, says Maker Studios

Maker Studios’ chief content officer, Erin McPherson

Content creators will soon need to also become “marketing and branding experts” as online content continues to radically transform how consumers experience entertainment, says Maker Studios’ Erin McPherson.

In a new report by TV content market organiser MIPtv and MIPcom, the chief content officer of the LA-based multichannel network, McPherson, claims that eventually we will stop referring to ‘online’ and ‘traditional’ content, with content “simply storytelling delivered over a number of platforms and devices and in any number of formats.”

However, she admits that “rising above the noise” will continue to be a challenge, despite technology helping to curate and serve viewers with content that will interest them.

“We are still at the beginning of a radical transformation in the way consumers experience content. Living room creators now harness massive audiences, and the parameters of storytelling are wide open,” she says.

In the MIP white paper report, titled ‘Builiding the new digital content market’, BBC Worldwide’s chief digital officer, Dan Heaf, also argues that “content for the OTT platforms and for TV is one and the same,” but admits that keeping up with audience trends is important.

“TV is largely perishable, whereas books are not. What audiences want to watch today is not what they will want to watch in five years’ time. But people are still reading War And Peace today. People want freshness in TV, which means in five years’ time we still have to create content that is new.”