New Challenges, New Opportunities

The history of Hollywood runs in tandem with the history of technological development. However, the changes over the last ten years have been both more fast-paced and more far-reaching than anything that came before. The digital revolution and globalization have transformed the film and TV industry in ways which could never have been foreseen. The big Hollywood studios have been forced to respond to the uncertainty – and potential for profit – prompted by the popularity of the internet and the success of new digital platforms, especially among young people. Thus, Hollywood would appear to be standing at a new digital (and global) crossroads, charted by two basic movements: on one hand, the emergence of a new market for the commercialization of audiovisual products (internet, IPTV, digital reproduction devices, mobile telephones), referred to as the long tail market; and, on the other, the emergence of new type of consumer, known collectively as the iPod or net-generation. The two, linked questions set out below sum up the challenges facing the major studios in Hollywood: What new consumer habits define this emerging viewer/audience profile? What business model wil