Roma and Raja Khanna, who head up Toronto-based Snap Media, were on the main stage every day at last month’s Baddeck International New Media Festival discussing the plight of online content providers such as their company.

Snap’s mandate encompasses various forms of media, but it is becoming associated mostly with the online extension of existing brands and original Web content creation. Although Snap is not currently competing directly with traditional broadcasters and producers, Raja sees new media content as something those groups must start taking seriously.

‘I think it’s a beast they know they need to conquer, and what they will get when they’ve conquered it is still up in the air,’ he says. ‘It’s definitely top of mind for all of them. They know if they don’t do anything about it they’ll be in trouble, because they know there is the potential for them to lose the lion’s share of the public, whom they control now through the broadcast systems.’

He says if a companion website to a tv show is truly interactive, it will offer something viewers can’t get on tv and can only help build audience loyalty. He adds, however, producers must decide from the get-go the purpose of the website – whether it’s to increase interest in their program, to create a new revenue stream, or just to follow the pack.

Because new media is a fresh concept in terms of entertainment delivery, online content has not come close to reaching fruition, says Raja.

‘Nothing is doing that well entertainment-wise except for [adult entertainment] and games like Quake,’ he says. ‘Vast-market entertainment content like drama or sitcom-type stuff – nothing like that is doing very well.’

Roma Khanna, whose background includes entertainment law, says tv producers are in a great position to step forward as pioneers by offering more innovative content on their shows’ websites.

‘You may be watching a really great show and the url comes up [onscreen], but when you go check it out it’s just a brochure for the show,’ she says. ‘You may want to download the poster of a pretty actress and make a screen-saver out of it, but that’s not a sustainable experience. The next step for broadcasters is to ask, ‘What are we offering [visitors] when they get on the site and what are we going to do to make them come back and stay longer?’ ‘

Roma says traditional broadcasters have to be aware the old structure may soon be history.

‘It used to be a power balance where the producers created shows and the broadcasters decided what the audience was going to get,’ she says. ‘It’s going where the power will rest almost entirely with the audience. Instead of having something pushed at them, viewers have this multitude of choices and they’re pulling what they want. If you want them to choose you as an entertainment producer and broadcaster, [your product] better be good.’

Roma sits on the board of the cftpa and is chair of its new media committee. She says her presence there on behalf of the new media industry is one indication of the growing stature of Canada’s online content producers. *

-www.snapmedia.com