There is a surge in Christian digital content fueled by church media and new distribution channels.

But how much of the content is being discovered, and is it accomplishing its intended purposes, e.g. reaching the lost, discipling the saved?

New generation creators are also wondering: Will content discovery lead to sales or donations, to funding the development of resources.

Presently, there are two creation-distribution models in play in Christian broadcasting. One, an older model that has assuredly left it’s mark on the world. One, a new model with a potential for impact never imagined.

Two creation-distribution models

The first is the traditional model, where the creator buys or secures time on radio and television stations for terrestrial broadcast delivery or simulcast streaming delivery. The second is the direct to the viewer model being used by creators.

In the first approach, we have an ecosystem that has been tracking performance for decades. We know the system works for the creator and the distributor. In the second method, there is a lot of forward inertia, but we don’t have large scale data collections efforts to tell us about the size of the audiences being reached or anything about the return on investment for the products being delivered this way.

I suspect that a great deal of the digital only content is only getting a few clicks.

Direct to viewer distribution may seem like its the optimal way to reach this new market of consumers hungry for infinite choice, but the reality is, only a small fraction of product is being monetized for those creators.

The traditional model still has a big advantage. Its terrestrial platforms help creator partners with  distribution, promotion, marketing and response. The direct to consumer creator has to do-it-herself when it comes to creating demand, purchasing marketing. And that’s not cheap.

The conundrum: The traditional folks have audience and marketing assets but less access to unique and compelling new programs. The digital folks have unique and compelling content but less access to audience and marketing assets.

The collaborator inside of you

This is where we think an approach found in traditional Christian broadcasting can be brought to the new Christian broadcasting. Collaboration. Like the days of old, distribution owners can work with content creators to leverage existing audiences (the old way) around original digital content (the new way), the result of which will be greater than if each side continues to go its own digital way.

We think there is a “collaborator inside of you – content creators and distribution owners – just waiting to come out.

We think the more the two sides get together (again), the more we will see bold new ideas, the lifeblood of media. Ideas about building new media brands and rewarding all sides, monetizing across different channels, creating a new ecosystem. Ideas about curating content to make it easier for resources to reach their intended audiences.

There is so much stuff out there that the average consumer is struggling to find the right stuff.

Five of a kind

So the men of Dan chose from their clans five capable warriors to scout out a land for them to settle in.
Joshua 18:2

So helping sufficient numbers of people find the right content, making sure the new creators find a voice in the marketplace, is a concept that is not going to go away any time soon. Content may be king. Distribution may be queen. But to reach scale in a digital market of infinite choice, collaboration is “five of a kind.”

Collaboration between creators an distributors may be more important now than ever before.

There are concepts on the edge of development with the massive potential to reach the entire world with the gospel. Some are gaining traction, some are generating dialogue among thought leaders.

We believe they’re all worth pondering and praying about … old and new alike.