How will Blockchain transform media?
In media, there are some critical issues that need to be addressed. There have been countless incidents involving pirating, and plagiarism. The centralized style of our current media infrastructure allows for the original work of creators to be easily replicated. In addition to this issue, media has begun suffering from the way it extracts information from consumers without their consent. As a result, consumers are getting turned off, the phenomenon of ‘ad-blockers’ has erupted, and content providers are not able to as efficiently market towards their audiences, which prevents them from further developing the relationship with consumers that is imperative to the overall success of the media industry. Blockchain technology is being employed by a few key players to address these issues.
But first, what is blockchain?
A blockchain is essentially a digital ledger of transactions that is shared by users in a distributed network of computers. By utilizing cryptography and decentralized verification of transactions, all users on the network may access the data on the ledger safely, eliminating any need for central authority or middleman.
Here are some of the biggest issues facing today’s media industry and how blockchain works to resolve them:
Plagiarism
In today’s media environment, the value of digital assets can depreciate due to the fact that they are easily reproduced. This is especially common in music, television and film. However, the implementation of blockchain technology has makes it feasible for writers, producers, and designers to make records of the origins of their works and implement public sharing limitations, making it much more difficult to replicate their creations.
Po.et is a great example of how blockchain technology has been implemented to give power back to creators. Po.et is a shared universal ledger invented to document metadata and ownership info for digital creative assets. Po.et is an extension of Proof of Existence, the first non-financial employment of the blockchain. Using blockchain technology, Po.et has aimed to produce the most systematic, globally-verifiable account of digital media assets. Like blockchain technology has worked to restructure the financial industry through its immutable and distributed ledger functioning as a platform for financial applications, Po.et has revolutionized the publishing industry by creating an immutable ledger for creative work.
Weak Bond to Viewer
Blockchain’s function of eliminating the middleman allows for more opportunities for businesses to develop direct relationships with consumers. Blockchain technology empowers content creators to interact with consumers more directly. The removal of centralized third party platforms, such as YouTube, Facebook, or Amazon, also frees content providers up to provide more diverse material targeted to their audience as opposed to advertisers.
HIT Protocol
iPowow, the market-leading Participation TV platform solution, has recently announced a blockchain initiative called HIT Protocol. With HIT Protocol, viewers are compensated for watching, participating and engaging with content. Consumers watching a television show or ad linked to the HIT Protocol will see a message on their TV screen or second screen device (iPhone, iPad) to vote or engage in a game or contest. When a consumer initiates the call to action, he/she will be presented with a message asking if they would like to be able to earn HIT tokens for their continued engagement. When the user has signed up and given his/her permission, that record of consent is documented on the blockchain, and the user can start accumulating HITs each time he/she is watches and engages with content. Once consumers earn a certain number of HITs, they are able to spend them on the HIT digital shopping plaza to purchase digital goods.
Data collection
The current infrastructure of media has been designed in a way that extracts consumer data without their consent, and often without their knowledge. Blockchain can be harnessed to distribute more power to the consumers when it comes to controlling their own data. This recognition of the value of data and the consumer’s right to control their own data will transform the media industry, making it more user-friendly.
One example of a blockchain-based initiative addressing the issue of data collection is the Brave Browser. Brave has focused its mission on restoring the web, by providing users with a more secure, high speed, and high performing browsing experience. Utilizing blockchain technology, user browser data remains private on their devices until they manually delete it, meaning that third parties will never be able to manipulate user data.
Suffice it to say, media today is headed towards decentralization. This movement manifests itself in the increasing number of businesses that have begun to utilize blockchain technology, that has prompted the use of tokenization in pre-existing media companies. Although most endeavors at a decentralized media channels are not yet fully established, blockchain is sure to continue to gain traction in the media ecosystem.
