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Navigating the digital 'content trap' with Bharat Anand

The faculty chair at Harvard Business School's explained how media changed over decades. While some have managed to survive the onslaught, others are still trying

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Navigating the digital 'content trap' with Bharat Anand

Navigating the digital 'content trap' with Bharat Anand

The faculty chair at Harvard Business School's explained how media changed over decades. While some have managed to survive the onslaught, others are still trying

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | February 13, 2017

The-Contant-Trap

Ever thought why newspapers are seeing a declining curve? Some say because of digital. But the actual reason for declining newspaper circulation over the last 60 years is the introduction of classifieds. Ever since the time they were introduced back in the 1950s, every decade has seen a drop. Today when we consume news almost free on digital, one has to pay for a newspaper.

Well, that's exactly how this form of media couldn't cope up to 'the content,' explains Bharat Anand, a faculty chair at Harvard Business School's who heralded HBX initiative at the Godrej India Lab on Friday, February 10, on how media has changed over decades. While some have managed to swim through it, others are still trying.

Anand, who recently wrote a book named the 'The Content Trap,' explained how all forms of media in some way are going through it. Radio went through the same phase when CDs came into the limelight. CDs went through the same when music was going digital. Digital streaming and primetime viewership went through the same journey. All this was about complementing and being a substitute.

The Harvard professor made a valid point of how one should complement its content. If content is not complemented then your strategy may not always work. Substitutes are always there and consumers will make use of those substitutes.

Giving some interesting insight on how global conglomerates succeeded or failed in their respective businesses, Anand said about 85 per cent of desktops or personal computers are sold by Microsoft and not by Apple. Apple over the years has a mere share of only 7 per cent in the desktops and personal computer space. Apple may be a larger company, but with all possible errors that could happen, Microsoft still has a larger market.

He goes on to explain that when Google+ was launched, there was nothing wrong with the product. It had everything that Facebook has but could attract people because they found Facebook better. That's where the product failed and became a complement for its users.

On the other hand, eBay had a fabulous 80 per cent market share in China but today Alibaba killed eBay. What Alibaba did right was to connect buyers and sellers on the platform for free. eBay used to charge a commission for connecting buyers and sellers and that's where their business model fell drastically.

Anand compares the same thing with education. At Harvard, a lot of online business courses are available. When they initially began, they had a100 thousand students who rolled in the programmes, but only a thousand completed the programme. That's when they realised that they need to change their approach. They themselves were a part of the so-called 'content trap.' They weren't able to cope up with what students really want.

The business school then studied what all could be done and re-launched their online courses. This time, students from all over the world could chat with their peers, get their queries answered on a discussion wall on their website and apart from peer learnings, they got to learn a lot. That's when they got their numbers right and learnt that they have not got digital right.

Anand concluded by saying that media and brands are stuck in this content trap. Media and brands are still finding a way out of that trap. Till the time they don't get their content and complement strategy right, they will be trapped and the day they find a way out, they will no longer be a part of the content trap.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

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