MediaCon opens with address by Lord Mayor.

The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Críona Ní Dhálaigh opened the event welcoming speakers and delegates from Australia, UK, United States, Canada, Israel and Norway to the historic venue of the Mansion House. Ahead of the anniversary of the 1916 Rising the Lord Mayor urged production houses, broadcasters and content creators to create compelling work that also serves wider social purposes.

“The power of story is great as it conjures up pictures and images in our mind. Technology and the global reach of film and television have changed the power of the story. Today we re realizing the truth of the statement a picture says a thousand words,” she said before continuing, “when you make decisions about investment make decisions that are ethical as well as being good for business.”

Michelle Spillane, RTE Television’s Head of Global and former executive, Warner Brothers and ITV spoke about how RTÉ’s increased use of social media platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram was increasing their audience share and engagement, especially with newer audiences in relation to their event coverage.

“We saw a good uptake on Snapchat from our coverage at Electric Picnic and huge views of talent we recorded on Facebook video, but the uptake on Snapchat wasn’t as big at Electric Picnic as it was at the Rose of Tralee, interestingly,” referring to the modern 56 year old festival. Spillane went on to attribute the huge uptake on Snapchat for RTE driven through the Rose of Tralee as opposed to Electric Picnic due to the Rose of Tralee being “a huge television event.” Spillane said although she had to be careful about drawing early conclusions there were huge opportunities for further integration in future.

Also speaking at the morning sessions BBC Trending presenter Anne-Marie Tomchak held a Facebook Live demo.
Picture Sean Earley
Paul Quigley of Newswhip who recently announced 25 jobs in their Dublin office spoke on how they gauge audience engagement.