Endpiece

Abstract

This chapter returns to the original question of the book which was to examine the extent to which the multi-platform environment had changed the ways in which the UK television industry identified, developed and nurtured new talent. In part, this was driven by an industry concern that the online social video space was potentially drawing away new talent from the television sector, against a backdrop of more competition media ecology in which younger people in the UK were watching less mainstream television. The chapter argues that in fact there exists two distinct, but related media sectors. The analogy being that of a Venn diagram that has the television industry in one circle and the social video industry in another, with a grey overlapping section in the middle of the diagram. Easy movement between these two sectors has been more problematic than initially envisaged by the television industry. This was because television wanted to engage with the social video sector on television’s terms. It has taken television a while to understand the differing dynamics of this sector. As YouTube business models have increasingly been shaped by a wider neoliberal, market-driven commercial culture, television has often focused on the audience being assembled by the top online YouTubers and coveted these valuable advertising assets, rather than developing a relationship with the creative talent. The chapter highlights how the definition of talent and the values associated with it differ in these two ecologies and argues that the role of cultural intermediaries will remain crucial, despite the wider changes in the UK television industry.