Visual Media Shift: Will Apple Create Content to Sell More Devices?
By Rob Scott
January 2, 2012
January 2, 2012
- Analyst Nathan Safran, writing for Mashable, discusses the emerging shifts regarding the creation, delivery and consumption of visual media.
- “Content creators make it, cable providers deliver it, and viewers consume it on the big screen in their living room,” he writes, in regards to the traditional model.
- “In the last few years, however, we’ve seen a fundamental shift in the visual content landscape,” he explains. “For the first time since the advent of cable television in 1948, the lines are blurring as the quality of content created by non-prime networks — and even individuals — continues to improve. Plus, content increasingly reaches us over the Internet, consumed on whatever screen we happen to be in front of.”
- Safran suggests this will have an impact on the rumored Apple television offering and what that might entail in terms of possible subscription packaging and licensing issues.
- “Perhaps it’s time for Apple to get into the content creation business and license its own content. Imagine if the company approached a number of successful producers and convinced them to create an Apple series, for instance, ‘TV Series X by Steven Spielberg, exclusively on iTunes,’ or Quentin Tarantino, or Tom Hanks.”
- However, Safran adds that the term “content creator” does not suggest that Apple will become the next Disney. He believes “content facilitator” is a more accurate term, “suggesting that Apple target other established, successful creators to generate compelling content that Apple would then exclusively distribute.”
- Apple’s TV will still require participation from the usual content creators/owners, but if the company offers exclusive content, it may help drive hardware sales. According to Steve Rubel, EVP at Edelman: “Seems like Amazon and Apple are really opposites. Amazon uses devices to sell more content. Apple uses content to sell more devices.”
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