Media share views on changes to prevailing technologies and content

Participants at a forum held on Thursday in Wuzhen sought to tackle the problems and challenges facing media organizations as they go through the process of transformation into the new media environment.

The forum on "Media Transformation and Communication Innovation" was held on the sidelines of the fifth World Internet Conference. It looked at how media organizations can communicate in a more innovative way, and how media organizations might develop in the future.

John Hoffman, CEO of the Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA), speaks at the forum on "Media Transformation and Communication Innovation" held on the sidelines of the fifth World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province, on November 8th, 2018. [Photo: China Plus]

CEO of the Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA), John Hoffman, said that mobile devices will be at the core of digital transformation, and called on the media industry to be prepared for this migration. Hoffman also predicted that by 2025, 5G networks will cover 40 percent of the world's population, and that China is expected to become the world's largest 5G market.

Wang Binying, deputy director-general of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), speaks at the forum on "Media Transformation and Communication Innovation" held on the sidelines of the fifth World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province, on November 8th, 2018. [Photo: China Plus]

In terms of the impact of new technology on media transformation, the deputy director-general of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Wang Binying, stressed that the development of new technologies will generate new intellectual property that needs to be protected. She said that China ranks first in the world when it comes to the number of trademark registration applications, copyrights, and applications for intellectual property rights protection. Wang also noted that the services provided by the WIPO will become increasingly important as the global digital economy develops.

Cao Guowei, the president and CEO of the news portal Sina, speaks at the forum on "Media Transformation and Communication Innovation" held on the sidelines of the fifth World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province, on November 8th, 2018. [Photo: China Plus]

The president and CEO of the news portal Sina, Cao Guowei, said that online influencers earned 18.7 billion yuan, or some 2.7 billion U.S. dollars, through e-commerce transactions in 2017, and that live webcasting is expected to generate 30 billion yuan this year. He said that China is leading the world in the development of new media, and that it represents the future of new media worldwide. In this future, everybody will be able to produce and share new media, and robots may replace humans in the production process.