In-house content creation is set to grow in 2020, according to a new study, but companies can do more to share existing content between departments.

The survey, commissioned by digital asset management specialist Canto and carried out by Sapio Research, found that next year will see an average 9% increase in PR and marketing content creation.

This follows a recent report commissioned by Speak Media, which found that nine out of 10 in-house comms bosses are experiencing 'content chaos' and struggling with content creation, citing a shortage of both skills and resources, together with fragmented business units and increasingly tight deadlines.

Canto’s '2020 Content Trends Report' analysed responses of 202 decision makers spanning marketing departments in companies of all sizes, from SMEs to enterprise and blue chip. It found that content creation will grow in significance in 2020 – up 9% on average – as it increases from 32% to 35% of total annual marketing spend.
In companies with more than 100 employees the proportion of budget dedicated to content creation in 2020 is due to rise further from 38% to 42%, an increase of over 10%.

Meanwhile, the gap between in-house and outsourced content creation looks set to widen, according to the report. Some 32% of respondents said they currently create more content in-house than they did a year ago, while 23% said they outsource more of their marketing content creation. 

But next year, 36% of marketing teams plan to create more content in-house with outsourcing only set to rise for 18% of organisations. The remainder plan to insource and outsource content creation at about the same levels.
This trend is magnified in companies with more than 100 employees. Of these, about half (49%) of marketing teams plan to insource more of their marketing content creation.

Mike Paxton, head of UK business development at Canto, says, “Our research shows that the need for high quality content is only growing in significance as brands continue to battle to boost awareness and reputation in crowded markets. What is clear is that higher content output must demonstrate value for organisations and this is one of the main reasons for the upward trend of insourced production. In order to maximise the value of content, it needs to be stored, shared and discoverable in a user-friendly way that’s instantly accessible to all internal team members and external agency partners.”

When it comes to repurposing existing content, it seems that it can be hard to find, with 71% of respondents citing experience of not knowing content already existed within their organisation, suggesting that teams are not doing enough to share content internally.

To read the report in full click here.