In just two short weeks, I will be presenting a paper at the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) in Paris. The paper makes an argument for the encouragement of user generated content (UGC) by public service broadcasters (PSBs) in Europe. Since discussing UGC is all the rage these days, it was suggested that I post some excerpts to encourage discussion on this topic. Please add your comments.

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From the introduction:

“Speaking on behalf of the UK Office of Communications (Ofcom) in September of 2006, Deputy Chairman Philip Graf noted a surprising, almost comical trend in the media consumption habits of the public. Graf pointed out that a recent user-generated YouTube video called The Easter Bunny Hates You, outperformed an episode of EastEnders…. This is remarkable in an era when public service broadcasting struggles to produce high-quality programs with high production costs and deliver them to an audience that is spending more and more time online. Young people are of particular concern since they have demonstrated diminished interest in public service broadcasting compared to the public as a whole, while showing a particular fondness for new communication technologies such as blogging and online video. The net effect could be a threat to public service broadcasting in the UK (and by implication, Europe-wide), especially for the future. Following Graf’s suggestion, public service broadcasters should take special note of these trends if it is to fulfill its healthy mandate of delivering valuable programming to the public and thereby support the needs of a democratic society.

“One obvious method of improving the future prospects for public service broadcasters is to incorporate a user generated content regime into their media system. Since young people are among the groups falling off in PSB viewing, and since that same group has shown an interest in user generated content (both consuming and producing), it would be wise for the public service broadcasters to seriously consider a user generated content system like YouTube for public service content.

“…Like commercial broadcasters, PSBs compete for a finite amount of media consumption time of the public. However, unlike commercial broadcasters, PSBs are paid for by the public with a specific charge to accomplish certain public goals. Hence, they have an added responsibility, outside of purely economic interests, to seek out under-served audiences.

“Recently, online video services like YouTube have shown a remarkable ability to collect some of the very audience demographics that are shown to be missing in public broadcasting. YouTube, MySpace Videos, Yahoo! and other video sites are among the most visited sites on the Internet, collecting tens of millions of visitors each month. And the traffic has shown regular in-crease from month to month (Comscore Matrix 2006).”

QUESTIONS: Should public service broadcasters in Europe be in the business of encouraging UGC or is that something to be left to the private sector? If YouTube already exists, why should the BBC bother? Or, is there something unique that public service broadcasting could bring to the UGC world?

Your comments are appreciated.

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Stay tuned for the next two installments in this investigation into user generated content. Tomorrow: Part 2 - Responsibilities of PSBs and Wednesday: Part 3 - Challenges and Conclusions.
Download a copy of the complete paper:
youtube-ugc-and-psb-final.pdf