The World Congress of Science and Factual Producers (WCSFP) landed with impact in Melbourne last week. Hiding behind a dry name that accentuates a niche, this is actually a diamond in the rough of international TV conferences. It does not have the glam of Cannes, but it is where the commissioners meet the producers of the next wave of science and documentary programs.

Science and factual are fascinating to me as this genre has almost become lifestyle. This far from being niche.

I was privileged to be invited to speak on a panel about how digital media is impacting television. My co-speakers were AIMIA Victoria President Simon Goodrich and social media expert Tiphereth Gloria from the Amnesia Razorfish agency.

In the past I have been used to digital sessions being tokenistic at these sorts of events, but not this year.  Thanks to Daryl Karp the session played to a full house.  As a brief summary, the hot topic was the commercial deals that screen producers can strike with YouTube, and how those business models work.  The example of ITV missing the boat when Susan Boyle appearance went viral still has vital lessons for other broadcasters worldwide and I have written about this before, covering how the commercial deal should have been struck quicker and better.

What I most enjoy is seeing how conferences like this change year on year as digital trends change.  If we’re all around again this time next year, then my predictions were to watch out for the growth in multiplatform shows worldwide, and for Facebook implementing a transactional engine to destabilize EBay. For WCSFP and the producers there, this will be a great opportunity to provide viewers with substantial depth behind the research that is conducted for their shows.