Contentinople - Networking the Digital Media Industry

In 2007 Light Reading launched Contentinople.com, a new website covering the rise of the digital media industry.

The Market
Sophisticated digital consumer devices such as the iPod, Xbox, and Zune – along with the broadband networks that connect them – have quickly moved the distribution of content to the digital world. This is driving massive demand for new digital content distribution networks, in addition to an entirely new ecosystem of business and technology relationships.

In a period of just a few years, these changes have altered how the multibillion-dollar entertainment markets function – and provided huge opportunities for technology companies. Companies are making the move to new content distribution standards and systems. Old-line entertainment and telecommunications industries are trying to adapt, but they are struggling to come up with workable business models that tap into a potentially lucrative and massive global market for digital content distribution. A new generation of startups is trying to fill in the holes by developing new devices and tools to facilitate the creation of the digital content network.

All this activity reaches across a wide market for technology, embracing categories as diverse as:

• Content aggregation and distribution platforms
• Digital content development
• Video sharing
• Digital advertising infrastructure
• Mobile content platforms
• Media servers
• IP-aware set-top boxes and connectors
• Content delivery networks (CDNs)
• P2P technology and platforms
• Streaming video standards
• Digital rights management (DRM) software
• Networked consumer devices
• Content management platforms

These technology tools will enable the formation of the new digital content distribution system. It is early days, and we believe that the deals and decisions made in the next 12 to 24 months will have huge impacts on the market down the road.

We believe this is a unique situation in that an entirely new industry is being formed. The competition is drawing players from diverse markets – including media companies, internet companies, and telecommunications companies. All of these companies are trying to formulate new business models to make money in the distribution of this new content. They will also need to build new networks to support these business models.