Youth audiences expect more from TV

The makers of hugely successful online dramas KateModern and Lonely Girl 15 have called on production companies to wake up to cross-platform content in order to keep young people watching.

Miles Beckett, co-founder and CEO of Eqal, the content company formed by the team behind the web dramas, urged traditional production firms to integrate online with TV during the commissioning process.

He said: "Younger audiences expect it now; this is how they want their content."
Beckett added, "If you look at the most popular shows around today, they all have an interactive element, even if it's as limited as texting in to vote for who you want to win a singing or dancing show. They're about encouraging the watcher to participate and get involved."

I completely agree, the youth audience are constantly on the go and are experts when it comes to multi tasking & interacting with multiple platforms - so how do we engage them? Fewer and fewer are going to sit and watch TV shows that don't offer engagement, especially when they have so much control over online content.

I am not for one second suggesting that teenagers don't watch TV because they do, BUT, they watch it in a different way than the previous generation.

They want it to be interactive and fun & participatory.

So what does this mean?

It means that traditional production companies & TV channels need to embrace this new behaviour and move forward with it, because they not only risk losing the audience but advertisers as well.

Of course TV still plays a big part in teenagers lives and will continue to do so but to take a UK example: Hollyoaks (teen drama) gets 2m viewers, but 40% of the TV audience also engage with the show online - that's huge!

This is such a rich & exciting area for advertisers to be a a part of but we need the production companies to jump on the bandwagon first.