Latest Articles
An influential think-tank calling for more Web 2.0 use in school and technology experts agree, arguing that children should get used to collaborative tools before they enter the workplace.
more
The UK Government launched its programme to help protect children from exposure to potentially harmful content on the Internet, including some forms of advertising. New Media Knowledge spoke to AOL, one of the companies involved, to see what real impact the new group would have.
more
Last week, Twitter launched its US Presidential Election microblogging site and, with social media likely to play a big part in the outcome, politicians this side of the pond should be looking closely at its impact, experts say.
more
Related Articles
Many thanks to everyone who took part in the NMK survey over the last month. The quality of the response was extremely high with some very good ideas for future development, events and courses. And the winners, selected randomly from all the responses that included contact details, are... more
-
Ofcom’s annual report, The Communications Market 2007, weighs in at over 300 pages, and provides a comprehensive overview of television, radio and internet services. more
-
Deloitte’s ‘State of Media Democracy’ survey shows a strong demand for user-generated content, but also considerable cause for celebration among traditional media producers. more
-
US trade body the Online Publisher’s Association has introduced new metrics to account for consumers’ behaviour online. Initial results show that content sites account for nearly half of consumers’ time, with that proportion rising on a monthly basis. more
-
A poll conducted by AOP finds that readers prefer online publications to print for speed of access and convenience. more
-
Related Events
When: June 13th, 2007
Location: LSO St Luke's, 161 Old Street, London EC1V 9NG
Price: £345.00 Reduced to £245.00 if you are eligible for a discount.
more
When: January 26th, 2006
Location: The Bell & Compass (downstairs bar), 9-11 Villiers St, Charing Cross, London WC2N 6NA.
Price: Reduced to £20.00 if you are eligible for a discount.
more
When: December 1st, 2005
Location: The Bell & Compass (downstairs bar), 9-11 Villiers St, Charing Cross, London WC2N 6NA.
Price: Reduced to £20.00 if you are eligible for a discount.
more
When: June 7th, 2005
Location: the ICA, The Mall, London SW1Y 5AH
Price: £125.00 Reduced to £100.00 if you are eligible for a discount.
more
When: December 9th, 2002
Location: ICA
Price: £6.00 Reduced to £5.00 if you are eligible for a discount.
more
NMK New Media Exports Survey
The UK new media industry may have an international reputation for creative and technical excellence, but how can companies translate this into export earnings? Our survey outlines key trends and opportunities...
New Media: Entering the Global Market
By Tom Campbell
The UK’s new media sector has a well-established reputation
for its creative and technical excellence, but this is only just
beginning to translate into international clients and earnings.
For many new media agencies, it seems that the potential for
overseas work is considerable, but still largely untapped.
The UK’s creative and media industries have traditionally been
strong export earners. Television content brought in more than
£500million in international revenues in 2003, while export
sales for computer and video games are in excess of £1.2
billion. Similarly impressive figures exist for advertising and
design services, for which the UK enjoys a strong trade
surplus.
How well is this success translating into new media? The
industry is evolving quickly and defies easy definition and
measurement in the same way. However, research recently
undertaken by New Media Knowledge provides some indication, and
suggests that new media agencies are beginning to seriously
consider the potential for overseas work.
Levels of Activity
According to NMK’s research, two-thirds of agencies have
completed commercial new media work for an overseas client, with
more than half believing that their export activity will
increase over the next 12 months. However, levels of export
activity are very uneven across the sector and remain low in
most firms. For 50% of respondents, export earnings account for
less than 10% of total turnover.
Of course, new media covers a diverse range of creative and
technical activities, and the precise nature of work being
undertaken for overseas clients varied considerably. Those most
cited were marketing, production, design, content and technical
services, but more specific activities were also identified as
particularly important, such as e-learning, content localisation
and search engine marketing.
Key Markets
As the findings show, there was a strong feeling that the EU
was the market with the best potential for new media products
and services (over 80% of companies surveyed saw the EU as a key
market), almost doubling North America. Together, South East
Asia and China, was considered the next most promising region
(20%).
Export Activities
Businesses had a clear idea of their perceived strengths
abroad. Perhaps not surprisingly, most agencies felt that their
reputation was most strongly based around the more creative and
highly skilled activities, such as design, content production
and technical solutions, rather than value for money. Over 70%
cited design, content tipped 50%, while 45% rated technical as
their key perceived strength. In fact, for the less value added
services, there is now considerable outsourcing taking place.
More than half of all agencies have used a supplier from outside
the UK, and this is predominantly for development or low-level
technical services and administrative tasks: hosting, database
management, and customer support. As yet, there is relatively
little outsourcing of design or creative services.
Getting Better at Export
Clearly, many UK new media agencies are exporting their
services and regard it as a growing market with considerable
potential. However, levels of activity vary and there are a
number of barriers in place that are discouraging businesses
from exploring commercial opportunities overseas. The most
frequently cited were a lack of knowledge about markets, and an
inability to identify clients, agents or partners in other
countries. For many of the smaller agencies, it seems that the
required investment in time and money are such that exporting is
not something they can consider at the moment.
Clearly, better support and market intelligence is needed if
new media agencies are going to realise their potential. The UK
government already invests considerable amounts in promoting the
export activities of British business in established industries
such as manufacturing, defence and medicine. It is time that
those in the UK’s new and fast-growing media and technology
sectors are also given the same opportunities to participate in
the global economy.
ORDER THE SURVEY...
To receive a copy of the New Media Exports Survey email the
Editor
editor@nmk.co.uk, giving
your User Name.
You must be a member of the NMK site to receive the survey. Not
a member already?
Register now.
Comments
You must be logged in to comment.