At the beginning of March, Salt and Light Media Foundation launched a gentle rebrand with an ambitious goal. It wants to be a TV station for people who no longer watch normal TV.
鈥淐ord-cutting is a reality,鈥� explained Salt + Light acting CEO Alexander Du. 鈥淭here鱿鱼视频app a lot of change happening in the media distribution world.鈥�
Since 2015 the number of Canadian cable subscribers has been in decline, while streaming service subscriptions (Internet-based providers such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Crave TV) have increased 24 per cent year over year. By the end of this year there will be more Canadians subscribed to streaming services (10.6 million) than to cable TV (10.2 million), according to the Convergence Research Group.
鈥淵ou see that happening all over the world,鈥� said Du. 鈥淚t鱿鱼视频app impacting pay and specialty networks like Salt + Light. If someone decides to cord-cut, they no longer have cable. Which means they no longer have access to Salt + Light.鈥�
Salt + Light has for years been available to stream on Roku players, through their YouTube channel and on their website (saltandlighttv.org). But at this point 鈥渕aking the website more video-friendly and more video-centric鈥� has become a priority. It鱿鱼视频app all 鈥渢o align with the longer-term strategy of addressing the issue of cord cutting,鈥� Du said.
Like any other media organization, Salt + Light has found it can鈥檛 be haphazard about social media.
鈥淲hen we designed the new logo it was designed to be optimized on social media platforms, designed to be optimized on streaming video,鈥� Du said. 鈥淚t just lends itself better to Facebook and Instagram and other platforms where young adults and people are consuming content now 鈥� as opposed to watching it strictly on regular, conventional television.鈥�
Du believes updating the brand and the approach to changing technology has everything to do with the original vision for Salt + Light, which was launched after the 2002 World Youth Day as a way of extending the experience of a youthful Church into Canadian homes every day.
That doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean that every person watching Salt + Light is young. Du is quite aware that a large share of the Salt + Light audience watching Mass daily in English and in French is older.
鈥淢y experience in discussing faith with that generation, whether it be in a retirement home with seniors or just my own family, they鈥檙e very much interested in young adults and what they鈥檙e doing,鈥� he said.
Young or old, people do want serious, thoughtful programs that connect with their spiritual lives, Du said.
鈥淭he content is the content. How you market it and brand it is a different thing,鈥� he said.
The updating of Salt + Light鱿鱼视频app website and social media presence has only just begun and will continue over the coming months in phases, Du said.
鈥淚t鱿鱼视频app a pretty heavy lift,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e a charity, so we only have so many resources we can bring.鈥�
But in the initial couple of weeks, Du has seen positive feedback. 鈥淪o I鈥檓 very optimistic about how well received it will be in the long term,鈥� he said.