Media gurus see user content as top threat

User-generated content is one of the media and entertainment industry's biggest threats according to a survey - a signal that some established businesses are struggling to cope with some of the web 2.0 trends.

In an Accenture sponsored survey, 110 senior executives across the US and Europe expressed their views on how the growth of user-generated content, such as amateur digital videos, podcasts, wikis and blogs, will impact on the film, advertising, music, publishing, radio and TV industries.

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Only three per cent of the executives surveyed think the use of social media is a fad that will pass in time, while more than two-thirds think current usage is likely to grow.

And while two-thirds are positive their organisations will find ways of making money out of user-generated content within three years, just under a quarter said they have no idea how this will be accomplished.

The study included interviews with industry giants including Roger Faxon, CEO of EMI Music Publishing, and Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP Group.

Sorrell and said in a statement: "The winners will be those who can probe and analyse the changes, and manage and merge online and offline most successfully."

Faxon predicted the music industry will be forced to alter its business model in significant ways to cope with the rise in user-generated content.

He said in a statement: "In essence the commercial roles of music companies will be more as facilitators for bringing music and the rights that support them into the marketplace, as opposed to being originators of the content itself."