Technologies such as generative AI and spatial computing are advancing quickly, with headlines about new developments surfacing on a weekly if not daily basis. But which trends will really matter for public media? And who is putting effort towards them? In “Thinking Beyond Screens,” a blog series on the PBS Hub, innovators in public media are showcasing their work with emerging technology to inform and inspire their colleagues. The following article has been adapted from a post in the series with permission from PBS.
PBS’ Innovation team is grant-funded, and its mission is to focus on exploring new ideas, approaches and opportunities to add value to PBS and the system. It has already helped PBS adapt to new services and skills for approaching AI, machine learning, VR, AR, voice, and interactive video.
As we look toward the future, public media stands on the cusp of a technological revolution. The integration of AI, advanced analytics and immersive technologies will empower us to operate more effectively, transparently and impactfully. Embracing innovations in technology will amplify our reach, deepen connections with supporters and foster a new era for storytelling. And if we collaborate cohesively to build a technologically advanced interconnected ecosystem, we will be better equipped to deliver our mission.
Trend #1: Data
Is your CRM connected to your donor database and video viewing analytics? Are you utilizing the cloud and building an infrastructure for operations and reducing data silos? Have you stopped sending emails with attachments, and are you instead using real-time dashboards?
The single most important thing to do in 2024 is to set your organization up for data success. As speed of computation increases and AI methods advance, new extensions of decision-making capabilities will help business leaders address increasing complexity and make customer experiences fantastic — but only if the groundwork of setting up a data architecture has been established for efficiency, transparency and better collaboration of independent systems.
With new laws being passed in a lot of states, 2024 will be the year that organizations must gear up for a privacy-first world. Setting up data capability for collaboration will allow you to derive insights without sharing underlying consumer data. That will help deliver more personalized customer experiences, deliver content recommendations, compute fundraising propensity modeling, determine your marketing ROI and create new solutions powered by AI.
Trend #2: Live local streaming
Tech-enhanced live streaming of local, educational and experiential events will captivate audiences. Hosting town halls, concerts, festivals, virtual tours, training programs, breaking news and sports that can only come from your state/city and perspective will create demand for your content over others and strengthen your communities’ affinity for your public media station. And if you connect tech features into the stream like real-time analytics, chat, polling or fundraising, you will cultivate participation and a dialogue with your audience. The technologies powering live streaming with data allow you to connect on a more emotional and personal level, fostering deeper engagement and understanding with your audience. And while it sounds advanced, it’s actually a lot easier than you think to get started.
Trend #3: Immersive experiences — mobile XR
People want to stay entertained while they watch TV. They use their smartphone for content extension about the program, like scanning QR codes to learn more about what they are seeing on the screen. Plan ahead for this in 2024 by baking additional content into the production contract to capture footage not featured in the show, like behind-the-scenes experiences. Or work with the writers to tell parts of the story that cannot be done through a 2-D screen, like turning your living room into the set, scene and characters right in front of you with an AR portal. Shifting demographics, immersive technologies and the desire for high-quality content experiences are driving the evolution of storytelling. Audiences will embrace second-screen experiences driven by immersive tech if they are matched contextually and with relevancy.
Trend #4: Gaming
Casual games can create engagement and brand connections without having anything to do with IP. Vanity Fair reported that on only one day in mid–October 2023, the average daily active users for the New York Times Games app was 2,615,333. One year earlier, it was 886,000. That is a 225% increase! The Times is now a gaming company in addition to a fantastic news organization, but they are not trying to become Activision. They are just producing mindful games for curious readers, brain teasers and short challenges that work for their demographic for a few minutes.
Public media could be doing this too. The gaming industry is massively outpacing the rest of the media and entertainment industry. PWC reported revenue was at $263 billion in 2023 and is expected it to grow to $312 billion in 2027. In 2023 we also saw cinematic and interactive universes merge. Some of the largest and most successful film and TV franchises on for-profit media began as video games, and some of the biggest video games began as film and TV shows. And the extensions of these become multimedia opportunities. Millions of people play Wordle every day, then share, discuss and debate how they tried to win.
Trend #5: Generative AI, ML and AI
In 2024, almost every business will turn to artificial intelligence to optimize their efforts. There are thousands of ways to use AI for public media, but to do it correctly we need that data layer mentioned in the first trend. Public media can use these tools to improve automating tasks, personalizing customer experience, and decision-making capabilities. That can help us focus on our mission. But it is important to stress that they are just tools, and they need humans at the helm.
The foundational models that make this tech possible are revolutionizing every layer of the cloud computing stack from processors to systems to networks. You’ve probably heard of most of the major tools by now, like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Claude, DALL-E, Midjourney and Llama. Some of these tools can help us with day-to-day work, and some tools can help with creating.
What makes Generative Artificial intelligence so fantastic is the way we interact with it and its ability to produce something for us. In the past, we have never really been about to ask a computer to perform a complex task in plain English. We are now seeing how it can be a powerful collaborative partner and creative partner.
Here are a few ways nonprofits will use AI in 2024:
- Generative AI will be used for chatbots, writing assistants and metadata enhancements.
- Machine learning will help deliver tailored messages to specific viewer or donor segments, resulting in more targeted and efficient engagement strategies.
- AI algorithms will be deployed to analyze donor behavior, predict giving patterns and personalize fundraising campaigns.
The integration of artificial intelligence into our internal tools will amplify efficiency and impact. It will make our data more retrievable and accessible while accelerating our workflows. That will unlock value for growth, distribution, differentiation and personalization, freeing up our focus to be more dedicated to our mission.
That is my take. For a different POV, we asked Claude “How can public media innovate?” on July 30. This was the response:
If you are a product director on an agile innovation team at a public media company, you would understand your team’s crucial role in leveraging cutting-edge technologies to differentiate your company in a competitive market. Your focus should be on AI, ML, AR, and VR prototypes aimed at enhancing your technological edge and improving content delivery, complementing your primary strength in content differentiation.
Here’s how I would approach your team’s role and future directions:
- Personalization and Recommendation Engines:
- Next steps: Explore more advanced AI models for even more nuanced content recommendations, possibly incorporating contextual factors like time of day, mood, or current events.
- Consider developing a system that can create personalized content summaries or trailers tailored to individual user preferences.
- AI-powered Knowledge Management:
- Expansion: Develop an internal AI assistant that can aid in content creation by suggesting relevant research, similar successful content, or potential storylines based on current trends and user data.
- Implement a system for real-time content performance analysis, allowing for quick adjustments to marketing or content strategies.
- Content Enhancement and Localization:
- Innovation: Explore AI-driven dubbing technology to create more natural-sounding translations, potentially allowing for voice matching of original actors.
- Develop AI tools for automatic content moderation and age-appropriateness rating to streamline content management processes.
- New Frontiers:
- AR/VR Integration: Prototype AR experiences that blend with our video content, such as allowing viewers to explore fictional settings or interact with characters.
- Emotional AI: Research and develop systems that can analyze viewer emotional responses to content, helping to inform both recommendation algorithms and content creation decisions.
- Data-Driven Decision Making:
- Create dashboards that combine AI insights from various sources (viewing patterns, social media trends, content performance) to aid in strategic decision-making for content acquisition and production.
- User Experience Enhancement:
- Develop AI-driven interactive features, such as choose-your-own-adventure style content or AI characters that viewers can interact with.
- Explore predictive buffering systems that use AI to anticipate what a user might watch next and preload content for seamless viewing.
As you move forward, your key focus should be on integrating these various AI and ML applications into a cohesive ecosystem that enhances every aspect of your service. You should also be mindful of ethical considerations, ensuring your AI applications respect user privacy and promote diverse content exposure.
Do you think that this response from Claude is accurate?
There are a lot of great tactics mentioned! But we know that stations like you are already doing this work. So what is missing? To me, it is a big groundbreaking idea that will revolutionize public media. Or how you engage your local communities with technology. Or the actual tactics that tie programs to strategies. But I am not sureChatGPT will ever be able to tell us that. That needs to come from you!
Practice makes perfect progress! We are the practitioners, and this is our medium. Together we make progress. Stay focused and keep learning!
Mikey Centrella leads the PBS Innovation Team as a Director of Product focused on rapidly building and testing ideas with emerging technology, helping PBS adapt to new services and skills for approaching AI, machine learning, VR, AR, voice and interactive video.