I attended the Digital Media Conference in Silver Spring, Md. (put on by Digital Media Wire) Friday. Among the several interesting presentations was a panel discussion on the top five trends to watch in digital media (consumer trends, mobile and more).

Joe Bates, director of research for the Consumer Electronics Association, John Barrett, director of research for Parks Associates, and Jen Wu, analyst at M:Metrics all presented.

It was interesting that none of the trends the three panelists presented overlapped.  So we come out with 15 trends. I'm posting my notes from the session (below) because I think they're worthwhile to consider.  If you'd like my notes from some of the other sessions, let me know.

What's Next: 5 Digital Media Trends to Watch

June 22, 2007 - Digital Media Wire Conf.

Joe Bates: Consumer Electronics Assoc.

Disruptive distribution – More people are still buying physical media (though we’re further along in music and video), but then using it through digital means (ripping it to a computer, etc.).  CEA study – only 20 percent prefer digital downloads to physical DVDs, or 30 percent of “early adopters”. Reasons: Easy to share physical copy, hassle-free, DRM blocks/restrictions, afraid “something would happen” to digital media (corruption, lost file, etc.).

Greater consumer control – Digital recording options increasing, getting more choice from places like iTunes, Amazon, Google/YouTube, free streaming network shows, etc. More emerging on-the-go services (HD Radio, satellite radio and video in vehicles)

Greater realism – More high definition displays.  Half of all displays in 2007 sold to consumers will be high-def. Wii is not high-def, but it’s more realistic (like playing tennis with the Wiimote).

Greater connectivity – Growth of networks (personal through Bluetooth), WiFi, services (social networks, VOIP).

Greater portability – Consumers want easily transferable content. Consumers will be able to use devices to connect to centrally stored media. Laptops overtook desktops in 2005 in sales. Portable entertainment becoming more popular.

John Barrett: Parks Associates

Trends in the next 12 months

MySpace ecosystem grows beyond MySpace – Lots of people are using more than one social network. They will start combining with embeds and widgets and links, and there will be more overlap between the users.

Multitasking continues to grow – Listening to music while surfing the Web, etc.  TV and computer at same time – many are looking up information about the TV show they’re watching (13 percent), more instant message, e-mail, “work” or other activities.

Authentication and legitimization become more important – Average age of bloggers are 26 years old. So much “noise” out there that the demand for quality content will increase to help them filter “noise” from legitimate content.

Web 2.0 starts to bust – Much different from 1999 – 2000 dot.com bust, but IPOs will be too expensive for most start-ups, venture capitalists will be more selective with investments. One of the reasons is that monetizing content is “tricky”.

Video sharing is more about video than sharing – Entertainment video content most consumed are movie previews, TV programming, music videos, then home movies/user-generated content.

Jen Wu: M:Metrics

Five trends all about mobile.

3G datanet growth continues– encouraging mobile content consumption, but downloading and streaming are still clumsy (quality and reliability are still issues), so most people will continue to do specific activities on their ideal device.

Handset = music box – Lots of listening, sharing will increase, collection of music will move to the handheld device.

User-generated everything – More of the mobile community will use them for photo and video sharing. Lots more people sending photos to another phone. Lots more using cell-phone taken photos as wallpaper, more people making their own ringtone.

User participation – Growth of using mobile for participation in marketing, media (voting on American Idol by text message). 

Opportunities in marketing – SMS leads to opt-in marketing, user-involvement marketing campaigns.