The media landscape has had to jump through a few hoops recently. With the continuous development of
digital media, journalism and entertainment mediums have had to modernise and grow alongside it. However, as much as this industry has had to change in the past few years, it is now also the trendsetter for other industries, as well as for society as a whole.
As we noted in a previous
media update article, titled
Three trends that are shaping the media industry, the media industry has seen a development in niche interests as like-minded people connect using the Internet. Furthermore, media intelligence has continued to develop as data becomes more of a commodity. People are also changing the way in which they consume content as a consequence of the rising
metaverse and video-based content.
We also noted in another
media update article, titled
How the media industry has changed in 2021, that the implementation of the POPI Act has changed the way that journalism processes personal information.
But what else has trended this year in the media? Saddle up, because
media update’s Lara Smit is taking you on a retrospective journey of 2021’s top three media trends.
Let’s embark!
1. Streaming is steaming!
Streaming — talk about a
steaming hot trend! This year, we’ve seen more and more people contemplate whether
streaming is a better option than cable television. With
5.11 million active streaming users in Africa in 2021, and a predicted total of 15.06 million in 2026, it seems as though streaming is quickly becoming the new entertainment preference of
many. And with the
smorgasbord of streaming platforms that South Africans have at their disposal,
who can blame them?The streaming team is also ever-increasing as we have seen the SA debut of a new streaming platform called
BritBox. This is an extremely niche streaming service that offers exclusively British series and movies. And by June 2022 (we hope), another one of the streaming
royals, Disney Plus, will be joining our streaming scene.
How exciting?Amongst the new faces, we’re also seeing some familiar ones as the “OG’s” of SA television try to keep up with the times. The South African Broadcasting Corporation and e.tv now have their
own streaming platforms! Late in 2020, the corporation partnered with the telecommunications company Telkom to create TelkomOne. Then in 2021, e.tv announced the release of their new streaming service e-Video-On-Demand (e-VOD).
Another interesting thing that we’ve seen this year with streaming is
Disney’s premier access platform. This feature allows Disney Plus subscribers to pay and watch movies before they are released on the platform at large. This is sometimes on the same day that the movie
launched in cinemas. It was first set in motion with the premiere of
Mulan in 2020 and has become increasingly popular in 2021 with the release of movies like
Cruella, Black Widow and
Raya the Last Dragon — to name a few. With the option of having brand new Disney movies at their disposal, South African Disney fans definitely have something to look forward to in 2022!
2. Podcasts get a seat at the mainstream table
The popularity of podcasts has been on a steady incline for many years. They have served as an
excellent tool for
brands, industry experts and researchers. But recently, podcasts have become a serious player in mainstream media!
Why?One of the reasons could be because more people are seeing them for their
entertainment value. For example, just about every second person is aware of ex
UFC commentator and
Fear Factor host Joe Rogan’s podcast
The Joe Rogan Experience. With about
1 744 episodes under his belt, Joe Rogan is, according to
The New York Times, “
one of the most consumed media products on the planet”. And with Spotify purchasing the podcast for a cool
$100-million, they’re certainly not wrong!
We also see podcasts diving deeper into the entertainment field with tv-show based podcasts. And examples of these are seen with the podcast developed for the popular
Netflix show
The Crown, which dives deeper into the royal drama series. The popular MTV tv show
Catfish has also released its own podcast discussing the troubled world of cyber dating.
Furthermore, there aren’t just podcasts based off of shows. No. There are also
shows inspired by
podcasts!
How interesting is that? We see this with the Amazon show
Homecoming which was
inspired by a scripted podcast released by
Gimlet Media.
3. Ye old tale of print versus digital
In the media, the debate about print versus digital is just about as popular as the nature versus nurture debate amongst psychologists. But 2021 has shown a
massive decline in African print media as a consequence of the
Covid-19 pandemic, leaving little hope for print lovers. Reports like the
Reuters Digital News Report 2021 show the decline that large media houses have been experiencing recently.
The statistics provided by this report show that 73% of surveyed people source their news from the Internet. Furthermore, the report shows that newspaper circulation has decreased by at least 40%.
However, as the
Mail and Guardian notes, many media houses have created sustainable business models as a result of the print decline and more people are subscribing to their online platforms. For example,
News24 managed to bring in
31 000 paying subscribers within nine months.
Unfortunately, these numbers do show the rapid growth of online media at the expense of print media. But what the report
also shows is that misinformation is higher than ever in Africa and sitting at 74% as a result of online-sourced information. So, there is still hope for other media sources as the representatives of truth in our media landscape.
Without further ado (and just in time for Christmas), that’s a wrap of 2021’s media trends!
What other media trends have you noticed in 2021? Let us know in the comments section below.
*Image courtesy of Vecteezy