Khalik Sherrif, CEO, e-tv Group, South Africa
Transcript:
“Television as a medium will remain strong because at the heart of television is content. What has changed in the recent past, is that the methodology of how the content gets delivered has become easier. Technological advancements have been made to ensure that content can be distributed, content can be delivered to households, to telephones, to PCs, and to television sets, much easier than before. The barrier to entry into television has become much easier.
It means that the content access, or access to content, has evolved, and people can get content wherever they are. As long as we TV people understand that, as TV companies, as long as we understand that we need to adapt our content to get to our audience in whichever methodology there is, whether it be digitally, whether it be through the traditional means of getting TV across, we need to adapt. And that is the resilience of television. We have been able to adapt, because we understand the one maxim in television: A nation gets the TV it deserves.
Now having said that, that is how it used to be in television, a nation gets the TV it deserves. But, because of delivery mechanisms now, that has changed. A nation now gets the TV it wants and when it wants it and how it wants it. So, what we should do, as television businesses, we should adapt to find ways in how we can reach our audience, where to find them. Because, what we have proven over time, is that the best experience of consuming video is on the couch. But it’s available on your phone, it’s available on your PC, on your laptop, it is also available on your television. The challenge is that there are so many companies now bringing you content, and easily so, the only differential that will allow television to remain at the heart of the home is: Is your content relevant? Is it what your audience want to watch? And if you remain comparative with content, you will remain the best medium strong. Long live television. Thank you.”