Partnerships as a Feature of the Digital Transformation of the Media Industry

Abstract

AbstractThe purpose—this study aims to explore partnerships in the media industry's digital transformation. Partnership as a phenomenon is typical for all sectors of the economy caught up in digital transformation. However, since the media was the first industry to embark on a digital transformation, its expertise will be helpful to all other industries. The partnership assumes the participation of various content creators and the users in creating the content. The latter is most important for online partnerships in which content users participate as commentators and content evaluators. One of the main issues in the effectiveness of media projects is the trust in content.Design/methodology/approach—within the framework of this study, various types of partnerships in the media industry were examined. Traditional and network types of partnerships are distinguished, divided by the number of participants and the involvement of consumers in content creation. A model of trust in media industry partnerships is built, which can be used for further research of partnerships in other sectors of the economy. The trust model includes content personalization, the volume of partnerships, and consumer participation in this content creation. The role of partnerships in digital content creation provides an opportunity to take a different look at copyright.Findings—the proposed digital content trust model allows us to investigate the problem of trust in content in the media industry based on the participation of consumers in its creation. The chapter assumes that content personalization encourages consumers to participate in content development and makes it more trusting. In addition, trust is influenced by the scale of the partnership and the involvement of the consumer in its creation. Partnerships make media authorship collective. Since in modern media all created content is based on partnerships, this requires a revision of the copyright system.Originality/value—this study connects two trends in digital transformation: partnership and personalization (both creation and consumption) and allows us to extend the theory of collective intelligence to the media industry, which no one has done before. At the same time, a special role of network partnerships is presented, in which the content consumer also acts as a partner in its creation. Exploring this role of partnerships will have implications for other sectors of the economy in which the client begins to play the role of a partner of suppliers of products and services.Research/Practical/Social/Environment implications—many social and political problems arise around digital content use. Understanding the nature of partnerships will enable new rules for digital services in the media industry. In particular, understanding trust in the content will allow us to address the so-called fake news, which has become a constraining factor in online and traditional media development and an instrument of political struggle. Trust issues will also arise in other sectors of the economy as they become involved in digital transformation. Already today, there are problems associated with trust and, as a result, with the safety and quality of services in the financial industry, in the field of trade, etc.Research limitations—this work should be perceived as the beginning of a larger-scale study, which requires support with factual material and surveys. In the future, based on the proposed trust model, it is supposed to investigate specific media projects, particularly in video blogging content.KeywordsDigital transformationMediaSocial networksCommunicationsCommunications partnershipPersonalization