Ben Ayers

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After three years as a programme publicist at ITV I decided it was time for a new challenge and with the support of my colleagues I have crossed over into the realm of new media. As PR Manager for ITV Consumer I’ll be working closely with the team behind ITV’s rapidly growing family of websites. It’s certainly a challenge moving from the ample bosom of programme publicity, but for me, working within the new media arm of the UK’s largest commercial broadcaster is a great opportunity at a time of so much rapid development.

ITV’s Consumer division incorporates itv.com, ITV Local, ITV Mobile, ITV Interactive and Friend’s Reunited and was established to drive new revenue streams and offer up new content.

At a time when traditional broadcasters face the challenges (and opportunities) of Video on Demand and new means of distribution, working in such an area presents great challenges. There’s no doubt that the internet has seriously jolted traditional media businesses into thinking about how they fit into the new landscape. Every day my head is full of new information about the developments at ITV and every day I meet someone who has great ideas about taking things forward. The challenge for me will be making sure these great ideas and initiatives get the attention they deserve. It won’t be easy. ITV is a complex beast wrapped up in an equally complex regulatory framework and the competition for attention is fierce.

When I first started in the publicity department at ITV we used to send out VHS tapes to previewers. We tended to have a fairly formulaic process for getting publicity for our shows. It really worked and it still does, but alongside those tried and tested ways of communicating about what’s on the box, new methods are creeping in and the bizarre phrase ‘there’s more than one way of skinning a cat’ has never been more apt.

In just three years DVDs have come and may almost be gone as the format of choice for previewers. The ITV press centre is no longer a walled garden which requires a password for access. Anyone who wants background information about ITV shows has access. This has thrown up new challenges. Not least the fact that now ITV publicists really do face outwards. Bloggers and members of the public can now contact them directly for information about shows. The lines have blurred. And I predict they will blur further. Publicists, more that ever, are the gateway to TV shows. And as time goes on and the relationship between the producers of content and the consumer of content blurs, publicists will be expected to engage even further with the audience.

Also, the way publicists operate has changed radically. Social media applications are very much part of the forward thinking publicists’ toolkit. As well as RSS feeds, ITV programme information is available via Twitter. We now introduce our new seasons using social media releases. Publicists can see the potential and importance of engaging with fans of content via forums and social networks. They can identify where programmes are being talked about and, importantly, what people are saying.

The social media revolution is well and truly on the radar of TV publicists as well as most forward thinking professionals in the communications business. Gary Andrews, the editor of ITV’s press centre, is making great leaps forward in this area and has well and truly taken over the mantle of social media evangelist. His great posts here and here reflecting on web based applications and PR shows brilliantly how the new tools of the web can help us raise our game. Gary doesn’t just talk about this stuff. He ACTUALLY DOES IT. He’s written a great report in preparation for ITV’s England Legends programmes in an effort to understand the online buzz and plan his publicity campaign more effectively.

It’s a great read and shows just how much being a professional communicator has changed. In another three years the level of change will be even greater. We’ll be closer to knowing whether social networks really do have the potential to make serious money with targetted advertising or whether they will simply become even more advanced search engines for matching people with relevant information and content when they want it. (I suspect both).

We’ll know whether Twitter was just a fun toy or whether it really could grip people on a large scale. And we’ll probably know whether niche social networks like meandmybicycle will do for every one of our interests what Amazon has done for books.

But I can say with certainty right now that there’s never been a more exciting time to work in PR.