A year ago, would anyone have believed that home videos of my dog could become the kind of killer content that could topple the major movie studios and keep media moguls awake at night?

Accenture's latest piece of research has found that such a scenario is not at all out of the question. In fact, it shows that the proliferation of "user-generated content" (UGC) – including amateur digital videos, podcasts, mobile phone photography, wikis and social-media blogs – has become a growing threat to the media and entertainment industries.

Each year our global study of leading executives in the media and entertainment industries sheds light on how far trends have moved over the previous 12 months. This time last year, there was a lot of talk about how new channels – and not content – would be the engine for growth from now on; but over the past 12 months, there has been a renewed surge of confidence in content as the key driver. And the thing that industry executives identify as the largest threat is UGC. Furthermore, responses to our study show that the rise of UGC signals a fundamental shift in consumer control and manipulation of content.

The study surveyed 110 senior executives at advertising, film, music, publishing, radio, internet, videogame and television companies across North America and Europe. More than half (57%) identified the rapid growth in user-generated content as one of the top three challenges they face today. More than two-thirds believe that social media, one of the largest areas of user-generated content, would continue to grow, compared with only 3% who believe it's a fad.

The explosion in UGC presents new opportunities and major challenges for traditional, established content providers currently engaged in the development of new business models to keep revenues flowing. Today's most successful content providers share the ability to align themselves with changing consumer behaviors and identify new forms of content that complement their traditional strengths. The organizations that are currently out in front are following some clear ground rules:

• One, they are not prissy about their content. They make it easy to access and they make it available. Their logic is simple: Go where the consumer wants to go; if you don't, others surely will.
  
  
• Two, they harness all available technologies to enhance the consumer experience.
  
  
• Three, they are keenly aware of the potential of niche content. It might have a long tail, but it's increasingly important to building a mass audience.
  
  
• And four, they exploit user-generated content for new talent.