The Audiovisual Industry Facing the Digital Revolution: Plunging the Predigital Fishbowl into the Digital Ocean

The transformations at work in the audiovisual industry and its regulation are part of a more global process, namely the digital transition. Once we emphasize this inclusive framework, we aim to identify what the collective invention of a desirable digital audiovisual future could look like. In a first step, we discuss the main features of the digital transition, especially in terms of unpredictability and pervasiveness across all industrial and cognitive human activities. In a second step, we consider the particular case of the audiovisual industry, underlining the increasing influence of online platforms in the distribution and consumption of audiovisual content. In a third and final step, we claim that, in the digital era, the future must be proactively invented rather than passively predicted. It is indeed up to us, through relevant present decisions, to make a desirable audiovisual digital future happen, made of a symbiotic relationship and a fair sharing of value between historical publishers and pure players.