Nokia has predicted that up to a quarter of all entertainment by 2012 will have been created, edited and shared within the consumer's peer group rather than by traditional media groups.

The 'Circular Entertainment' phenomenon has been identified as a major trend for next year, and is set to snowball for the next several years.

Nokia's 'Glimpse of the Next Episode' combines views from industry figures with Nokia's own research to create a global picture of entertainment over the next five years.

"We predict that up to a quarter of the entertainment being consumed in five years will be what we call circular," said Mark Selby, vice president of multimedia at Nokia.
"The trends show us that people will have a genuine desire not only to create and share their own content, but to remix it, mash it up and pass it on within their peer groups."

Nokia said that a scenario might be someone sharing video footage shot on their mobile device from a night out with a friend. That friend takes the footage and adds an MP3 file (the soundtrack of the evening) then passes it to another friend.

That friend edits the footage by adding some photographs and passes it on to another friend and so on. The content keeps circulating between friends, who may or may not be geographically close, and becomes part of the group's entertainment.
This trend is driven by several factors, including the consolidation of entertainment, allowing people to access and create content wherever they are.

Entertainment is also becoming more collaborative, democratic, emotional and customised, all of which Nokia cites as 'female' traits.

"Consumers are increasingly demanding their entertainment to be immersive, engaging and collaborative," added Tom Savigar, trends director at Future Laboratory which carried out the research.

"Whereas the act of watching, reading and hearing entertainment was passive, consumers in the future will be active and unrestrained by the ubiquitous nature of circular entertainment.

"Key to this evolution is a basic human desire to compare and contrast, create and communicate. We believe the next episode promises to deliver the democracy that politics can only dream of."