Media of the future

The media industry has been in constant evolution for over twenty years. After the rise of the Internet, which prompted companies to build and strengthen their online presence, they have been forced to welcome new players, with the arrival of social media and the impact of new technologies on their business (smartphones, smart TV, virtual reality...). What will the industry look like in the future? The transformation we've begun seems far from complete, and there's no shortage of challenges ahead.

First and foremost, organizations need to adapt to new uses. For example, they are being asked to be as responsive as possible to current events. They need to be able to find information as quickly as possible, and deliver it to their community first, while ensuring its reliability.
Users now consume content via several devices, mobile or otherwise, and sometimes simultaneously. The challenge is to know and recognize the user, whatever the device, in order to offer a fluid and coherent experience. In the same vein, the media can rely on technologies such as artificial intelligence to improve the accessibility of their programs, for example by automatically generating reliable and perfectly synchronized subtitles.

In addition, it is in the interest of companies to deepen their knowledge of users, in order to offer them personalized content. This includes targeted advertising, but also relevant commercial offers, to optimize the value proposition and chances of conversion. However, these practices are becoming increasingly regulated. States are now imposing significant restrictions on personal data, in the image of the European RGPD, in force since 2018.

The personalization of the user experience also includes enriched interaction between viewer and content, with viewers themselves becoming the directors of their own experiences. This new approach is made possible by technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, which immerse users in synthetic 3D worlds or augmented replicas of the real world.

Designing the media of the future calls on a wide range of disciplines, from computer science and design to the human and social sciences. Researchers at Carnot Télécom et Société Numérique are working in all these fields to help industry players make a success of their transformation.