Ofcom and FT competition for students: winners announced!

By Janelle Oje

Children of the digital age are familiar with every trope in entertainment, effectively turning every archetype, every plot device and method into a glaring cliché. This, coupled with the fact that the internet and social media was revealed the world to be brazenly amoral, makes it almost impossible to surprise or engage a young audience. However, if the current trends tell us anything, it’s that young audiences still love entertainment, so there’s hope for the industry.

Firstly, I think it’s important to look at our current culture. Broadcasters need to understand the young audience, so let me explain us: we grew up on dystopia. Katniss Everdeen screaming “If we burn, you burn with us” will forever be seared into our brains and we recognise that the world is chaos. Quite frankly, we’re primed and ready for anarchy and sometimes, we will want to see that chaos accurately reflected in our entertainment. But we also grew up on Vine and now have TikTok, so our capacity to enjoy humour and foolishness is as potent as our desire to fix the social order. This duality means that gritty realism and serious topics like mental illness are as desired as comedy and low stakes, “feel-good” drama. Culture isn’t monolithic and neither are experiences, which is why diversity both on and behind the screens is increasingly important. By this I am not just referring to the ethnicity, religion, sexuality; I’m also talking about the medium of a story, the type of story, the message and purpose of the story.

Why don’t traditional broadcasters produce any anime? Sometimes the hyper expressive nature of the medium and the practically limitless freedom to create new worlds is exactly what is needed to accurately reflect a feeling or message. Haikyuu! is an anime about volleyball. Nothing else, just volleyball, and yet it is one of the most exciting shows I have ever watched because the medium creates a sense of urgency and power in a sport that I had never found interesting until I watched the show. Sometimes, there’s no need to explore a grand theme; at its core, Haikyuu! is just a collection of teenagers playing a sport. Or, anime could discuss whether humanity deserve to survive, which is what Attack on Titan does in a wonderfully mind-bending way. The possibilities are endless.

Why don’t broadcasters produce historical dramas based anywhere other than England or North America? Teach me about the Huns, the Mongol Empire. I want to discover the intricacies of the Chinese dynasty or the Russian oligarchs. The world is rich with stories – don’t restrict yourself to the ones that we already know. History is broader than WWI and II.

I think, in summary, the best advice I can give is to widen your creative eye outside of the comfortable and the norm. An exploration of different voices, different faces, mediums, tones, and subjects will undoubtedly attract attention. Ultimately, we still seek TV to feel something. Problem is, we’ve already felt everything you’re offering.

By Zi Rong Huang

Smart Move is to Smart App

Right now, younger generations have a polarising view on traditional broadcasting due to their lack of content and differentiation between them and their rivals. Additionally, streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have gained more momentum during the pandemic, with 4.6 million new signup subscriptions. This shows their appetite for shows.

Traditional broadcasters need to tackle two main areas to try and rejuvenate their image and attract all ages, as suggested by Ofcom Media Nations in 2010 with an average view time of 200 minutes from all ages.

The platform firstly needs to look into developing an app that is solely aimed at young generations, which would include shows could feature Youtubers such as KSI or Alfie Deyes to get the conservation started for the app. Furthermore, with the developing app popularity, this can potentially attract some younger audiences to come back and also potentially use BBC iPlayer. Shows on the app would mostly be decided by the viewers either through polls or comments on which area of interest that they would like to watch. With the engagement coming in from young viewers, this can appeal to the next generation as they will not only feel that they are listened to but more importantly would understand that BBC is diversifying their platforms.

Ultimately, the first step is putting the right content forward for the audiences and attracting back the young audiences by discussing issues that matter to them, such as racism, financial struggles and being a student in the 21st century.

Secondly, the format of the app can be different in the scenario that it can be similar to Quibi, which is a company that launched a varied dynamic approach to showing their shows to the audience. In essence, the concept of being able to have bite sizes of movies or shows into the app could be a unique selling point of being able to watch vertically and horizontally. The idea can be looked at with huge consideration as the traditional broadcasters need to make changes to their media, and Millennials and Generation Z need to see the change.

In conclusion, with approaches making content more appealing and a different style, traditional broadcasters show that their shows would change from ‘traditional’ to pragmatic. With an app that gives audiences and viewers a choice and ability to see what they would like to see; it can potentially drive up conversations for traditional broadcasters to revive their audiences. However, we have to acknowledge that their rivals are spending billions of dollars in the content; therefore, competing with content is certainly not the right approach. With a more steady and transformational approach, it is the right way to get the audience of tomorrow back.

By Sana Riaz

Traditional television has slowly been declining in popularity among young people in recent years, beaten down by the growth of YouTube, streaming platforms, and social media. Now, even those streaming platforms are under criticism, as they have become another tool to capitalise on young people and are now inconvenient in themselves. But young people are crucial to the survival of television – how can broadcasters and streaming services appeal to the audiences of tomorrow?

Increase availability on streaming services

If these platforms aren’t careful, we’ll all return to piracy. Netflix was revolutionary: a cheap, convenient way to watch whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted, ad-free. The selection was large and varied, and you could count on being able to find almost anything on this service. Young people no longer needed to torrent films or use illegal sites, because there was an easier, legal option. Now, with the creation of Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime, the shows have spread out across a variety of streaming services, and we need to pay a subscription to each individual one. No one wants to do that! Streaming is no longer a convenient way to access media – it’s too expensive to subscribe to them all, which means our choice is limited, but piracy is a relatively reliable alternative.

Diversity in media

There are a lot of complaints from older audiences that television is becoming too ‘PC’ nowadays, with the inclusion of non-white, non-straight characters that wouldn’t be seen in older films. However, this is a necessity to appeal to the audiences of tomorrow, particularly in the current climate of the Black Lives Matter movement, and equality for BAME citizens, as young people prove a desire for more representation in media. We have started to recognise the importance of being able to identify with characters onscreen – as a young Pakistani girl, I didn’t see a single South Asian on television growing up, which was incredibly alienating and no longer acceptable by today’s standards. This isn’t about tokenism; it’s about more accurately reflecting the population. It shouldn’t just be manifested as the gay, black, disabled best friend character thrown into most Netflix originals.

Take risks with new shows

We’ve had enough of the Disney live action reboots, the retelling of stories we’ve heard thousands of times, and the 9^th season of a tired show. It’s time for broadcasters to tell us new stories, let old series come to their natural close without forcing out new seasons, and show us things we can relate to onscreen. Let young people pitch ideas for films, or at least verify whether a script accurately represents teenage life – most 50-year-old screenwriters don’t remember what it’s like to be young, and things have changed a lot in 30 years.

For a new era of television, we need a new era of creators. We need broadcasting we can rely on. And we need a new mindset.