How are media organisations meaningfully engaging young audiences in the “attention economy?”...

Some reflections following the Future Media Hubs Next Generation group visit to Cardiff 22-23 October 2024.

Future Media Hubs (FMH) is an international network of media organisations that focus on innovation through collaboration and knowledge sharing. Their main goal is to accelerate the development of the media industry and its local ecosystems by facilitating partnerships between public as well as commercial media organisations. 

The FMH Next Generations subgroup meets online monthly to discuss content and innovation for audiences ranging from 12 to 34 years old and considers topics such as media strategy, positioning, streaming concepts and wider technology innovation, diversity, and insights on audiences all considered from the user’s needs and perspectives. 

Wales was an ideal choice of location to host their in person meet-up as a nation committed to the Wellbeing of Future Generations with the Act (2015) meaning every public body needs to commit to sustainable development which considers the needs and impacts on those who come after us. This policy has received global recognition with the UN recently agreeing a pact for future generations. Alongside this, Cardiff is the first city in the UK to be formally recognised as a UNICEF Child Friendly City: a city with children and young people at its heart.  Colleagues from both The Office of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales and Child Friendly Cardiff joined us during the visit to share more about their work and priorities with a particular focus on the role that culture and media play in their work.

Wales is also home to one of the UK’s largest cluster of screen-based companies. Enabled by high-quality facilities, skills and talent alongside significant investment in innovation including the UKRI Strength in Places funded Media Cymru programme, the Cardiff Capital Region cluster has witnessed significant growth in the past 10 years. Recent data reveals that turnover in the media sector in the Cardiff Capital Region grew by 55% over the past 5 years - the highest for any UK city including Manchester and Birmingham. 

We shared the innovation journey taken by Cardiff's creative producing companies and broadcasters on shared goals to make our sector greener, fairer and more global in its outlook with some significant new developments including the recent launch of fivefold studios advanced production studio, Cymru Broadcast Centre and Canolfan Mileniwm Cymru | Wales Millennium Centre's XR R&D programmes and Bocs venue. Delegates visited BBC Cymru Wales, ITV Wales and Boom Cymru to hear about their work with young audiences.  It was welcome to share learnings with contemporaries in the Basque Country, where there are similar linguistic and cultural opportunities and challenges. The delegation particularly enjoyed hearing from Guto Rhun , Young Audiences Commissioner at S4C about the Hansch brand which continues to grow in and beyond Wales.  

We all had one thing in common: we recognised that the astonishing pace and rate of change is providing an incredible raft of challenges for the sector - making innovation an essential component for us to compete locally and on a global stage. Each of the Future Media Hubs members shared their latest or most pressing projects/themes which coalesced around new approaches to news and storytelling, new formats, social media brands, educational games and lifelong learning projects, building fans, relationships/bonds and communities. Perhaps the most frequently discussed theme was trust and authenticity. Young audiences traverse an environment that saturates them with information therefore authenticity has to be earned – a challenge all media producers we spoke to were very aware of.

There was also a large focus on technology as an enabler, but not a solution. Head of Future Media Hubs Sarah Geeroms outlined that there’s a strong need for European media to collaborate pre-emptively on themes such as data and AI, trust and transparency, new formats and experiences and business model innovations.

The gathering of nations wasn’t just about sharing knowledge and championing successful commercial ventures. It truly underlined the importance of networking, intercultural dialogue and open sharing of ideas, successes and challenges. At the visit to Cardiff Youth Services Digital Content Creators space https://www.cardiffyouthservices.wales/index.php/en/, a student from the United States shared how she had two years prior taken part in an exchange between her high school in California (a leader in broadcasting education, where the school coached students from the age 11 to produce a daily broadcast bulletin) and Cardiff. The exchange between Cardiff and California extnded a bridge between two places, enabling her to travel to Cardiff to participate in delivering the Digital Content Creators Summer School in 2023 prompting her then to take up an undergraduate degree at the School of Journalism at Cardiff University in September 2024. She now mentors the promising young content creators at Cardiff Youth Service, helping to arm young people with the confidence, toolkit of digital capabilities and creative flair that will set them on their future paths. It’s inspiring to see that in addition to the “skills” advantage here, cultural enrichment and exchange is also at the heart of these projects.  

Cardiff Youth Services deserve a special mention for the visionary work they deliver to develop skills, confidence and opportunities for young people in the city around digital and content production. Whether it’s music, podcasting, storytelling or production the young people they engage develop an understanding of the possibilities for the creative industries and for using the skills they learn in their daily lives. With creativity and critical thinking two of the OECD’s most critical skills in demand for the global economy, it’s vital that young people everywhere have the same opportunity to engage with programmes like these. It was wonderful to see a group of Cardiff’s young people welcome our international delegation as friends, showcasing their interviewing, podcasting and production skills and rubbing shoulders with some of the most influential representatives from European production companies and broadcasters. No doubt a daunting task, but they handled it with such ease and professionalism. We need to see more of this level of resource, commitment and investment in young people so that they too can feel like they have a role and a place in the creative industries.  

 And finally…. 

Diolch o galon/sincere thanks to Future Media Hubs for providing fresh energy and impetus to widen our circle of learning, to look to others and be inspired by their learnings. Whilst both young people and the creative sectors are facing an unprecedented set of challenges globally, this also provides an ideal time to innovate and rise to the challenge. There is so much more to discuss, to learn, to share. But this is an ongoing conversation.

 As for our friends in the Future Media Hub Next Generation Hub, we’ll see you 2025….