New year, new high for media?

On the rise: (clockwise from left) Max Lousada, Dom Smales, Jay Hunt, Kate Reardon

17 December 2014

This was the year that online upstarts trumped traditional media — from vloggers topping the book best-seller list to Vice News’ documentary scoops from inside the Islamic State.

Here, some of media’s sharpest and brightest minds pick their highlights of 2014 and look at what will be hot in a general election year in 2015:

Dom Smales

Gleam Futures social talent agency managing director and manager for vlogger Zoella

Media moment: “The new media beginning to move into the mainstream with both Zoe Sugg (Zoella) and Alfie Deyes having number one best-selling books on the Amazon chart. Having social talent recognised by traditional media metrics and values was a big deal for us.”

Hot in 2015: “Social talent being taken seriously by the media at large. They’ve forged their reputation with low-production values on a small screen. I’m really excited to see them given more resources and scope on other platforms as they move from YouTube and spread across the media landscape.”

Kevin Sutcliffe

Vice News head of news programming for Europe

Media moment: “Launching Vice News globally in March and following up in August by gaining exclusive access to the Islamic State. We are the fastest-growing news channel online, with over one million YouTube subscribers and 160 million video views to date.”

Hot in 2015: “After the libertarian black-market platform Silk Road 2.0 [the online market place for illegal goods and drugs] was shut down last month by the US authorities, I am looking forward to the Deep Web’s response and maybe the emergence of a new site.”

Patrick O’Flynn

Ukip MEP and former Daily Express political editor

Media moment: “The Farage-Clegg debates. You had two leaders that were not from the two main parties galvanising the Europe debate. It was the perfect lift-off for our election campaign. It was all thanks to Nick Clegg — his idea, his challenge.”

Hot in 2015: “If the next election isn’t the social media election, I don’t know what is. Yes, the BBC is important and newspapers carry a lot of sway but Facebook and Twitter will be much bigger. We can get our message out to a huge number of people in a way that wasn’t possible before.”

Kate Reardon

Tatler editor

Media moment: “The BBC2 documentary about Tatler. Not only did it bring the magazine to the attention of millions of new readers, but, quite astoundingly, none of us was trolled.”

Hot in 2015: “An unexpected yet overwhelming return of the popularity of print. The beauty of an expertly crafted evening newspaper, for example, will dazzle a new generation of readers and the joy of a glamorous glossy magazine will entertain and delight anew.”

Max Lousada

Warner Music UK chief executive and Brit Awards chairman

Media moment: “Ed Sheeran being the most streamed artist of the year, showing that great artists and great music are being consumed on new, legitimate platforms.”

Hot in 2015: “With new windowing for visual content and with more distribution platforms opening, the power of content is starting to re-assert itself.”

Jamie Angus

Radio 4 Today Programme editor

Media moment: “Evan Davis and Ian Katz reinventing Newsnight. A big moment for Today to lose such a great presenter, but Evan can make a case for Newsnight becoming unmissable again, particularly as public interest in the economy and the nation’s finances moves centre stage in the run-up to the election.”

Hot in 2015: “New competition for big beasts. I’m fascinated by the rise of BT as a major player. On the news side, the challenge for the BBC is to up its game against Vice News. Can we tell our stories as vividly for new audiences as some of the non-linear competition?”

Jay Hunt

Channel 4 chief creative officer

Media moment: “2014 was the year that people watching people watching television became a Friday night treat. Gogglebox taking off was wonderfully surprising.”

Hot in 2015: “Russell T Davies’ warm, funny look at gay life, Cucumber, and the E4 show Banana are the worthy successors of Queer as Folk.”

Gerard Grech

Tech City UK chief executive

Media moment: “The inclusion of computing into the national curriculum and the launch of the Digital Business Academy. We need to think about democratising the level of access to opportunities and training so that anyone in the UK can get the skills they need to start, grow, or join a digital business.”

Hot in 2015: “We will see the privacy debate evolve, with an increasing emphasis on empowering citizens to dictate terms of access and the amount of data they share.”

New year, new high for media?

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