5 posts tagged “online”

Off to the Edinburgh TV Festival tomorrow.

2006 was the first I felt they took online seriously so lets see what happens this year. Joost and Google presenting so here's hoping.

Will report back as and when I can.

Morning everyone. Interesting article by Spencer Reiss at Wired yesterday on Joost (previously known as The Venice Project). Worth a read.

A day doesn't go by without another TV production company announcing their latest plan to "get into" online or mobile. What's this all about and will it work?

For all TV producers, in some way shape or form it's an attempt to move their business from what they see as a declining medium (TV) to a growing one (online and mobile). Some do it to be seen to be doing something (oh no... those days are back) but most are genuinely looking to either extend distribution of their existing IP and content, build up their own digital channels (essentially competing against the likes of AtomFilms), or create new IP for web and mobile. Some decide to go it alone, most hire in from outside or acquire, and only a few partner.

To understand which strategy has the highest likelihood of success, we need to recognise that for all of these businesses, television is still (and will continue to be for quite some time) their dominant medium. TV broadcasters at the end of the day hold the big production budgets, offer massive reach and are still the key to unlocking that lucrative licensing deal. We also need to understand that the television business works at a different pace. The industry is just not used to taking (relatively) small gambles quickly.

"Getting into" online and mobile is therefore more than a press release. It's about moving a business from a big, known and comfortable space into one that is small, unknown and ever changing.

• Size Matters - The size point is not unique to this area but it's an important one when it comes to managing change. Investment into online and mobile will be riskier and realistically offer less short term return. After the first couple of false-starts and when the initial excitement has died down, future investment will be assessed against the less risky and more short term opportunities of hiring another licensing guy, making that TV pilot for CBBC or keeping the DVD business afloat, and before you know it you're trying to compete in a new area with one hand tied behind your back.
• It's Not The Same -  The assumption that online or mobile is "just like TV" we all know to be false. Everyone recognises that it's a different medium. Great. Problem is that most think it simply means shorter video and more close-ups. The reality is that most great online video content (i.e. the stuff that makes the rounds and people talk about) is either hilariously funny or "out there" (or adult) such as Odd Todd,  Joe Cartoon or The Lion Sleeps Tonight...
  

  Lion Sleeps Tonight
  ...and that video ain't everthing, especially when you want people to share your brand with their mates and engage for more than 3 minutes illustrated by success of I Am Emo or Club Penguin. That means a lot of video-based ideas simply won't work and that producers need to think interactive in it's widest sense. Another problem is that many TV production companies are still of the "build it and they'll come" school of thought and perhaps don't appreciate the amount of skill, time and effort that goes into cutting through online, where consumers have SO MUCH choice. The success of happytreefriends.com didn't just happen. Princess Natasha is the same... they took her to where the audience is (i.e. AOL) rather than build it themselves. For us at Digital Outlook it will be the same when we launch Viva Voodoo in Feb.

• Kiss Me Quick - The online "world" is constantly changing and requires businesses to experiment and move quickly. That's just not how it works in a more established industry such as television. Although I'm sure most TV producers recognise this, how many can actually work in that way? It's a change-thing again. The idea is great but when it requires people to work in way that they're not used to...?

For all of these reasons (and plenty others), the more you see TV producers moving away from their core competencies (which I see as creative, financing and licensing for a linear sit-back medium) and the more independently they do it, the less likley I believe they are to succeed. Even hiring or acquiring is a risky strategy when you don't know who you're paying to deliver what.

I therefore believe that, yes, TV producers can survive and actually have masses to offer in this "new world", but at this early stage, as they take their first real steps into this area, they need to make sure they simply "know what they know (and stick to it) and know what they don't know (and partner)".

Rex Sorgatz's predictions for 2007 made me chuckle (and think) so I had to post.

Some of my favourites are...

9) Publishing. Your mom is charged with plagiarism. Her book skyrockets to the top of the best-seller list.

17) Second Life. Robots invade and kill everyone. Turns out "everyone" is 5 kids in Tallahassee.

18) Mobile. 2007: the year in mobile. If I keep saying it, eventually it will be true.

Enjoy the read and add.

With the explosion in broadband, ability for everyone to publish on MySpace and upload their videos onto YouTube, and people searching more and more for content (rather than being told what to watch, play or read), many pundits are declaring the death of the broadcaster, and the birth of the "plasma-screen-connected-to-the-internet-with-Google-as-their-EPG-to-other-people's-creations" society. Fact or fiction?

Well there certainly are a lot of signs pointing towards a very difficult time for TV broadcasters in 2007 and beyond. At the heart of this are three main shifts... consumers are spending more time online, they are creating more content, and are able to discover stuff they like through search and peer recommendations.

1. Let's explore the first in a little more detail. Be it the recent Ofcom report or what we see in our daily lives, the "dumb" box in the corner is definitely becoming less a part of who we are and our attention is shifting towards the PC, mobile media players, games console, and other devices. The clearest sign that this trend is for real is that a larger and larger share of advertising money is (finally) following. It is of course is the ultimate shock to the system the broadcasters needed to force them to wake up and respond to what their audience knew way back. This in many ways is quite a manageable change... people are using different screens to access essentially the same type of content... maybe a little shorter and some interactivity thrown in but that's it... right? All I need to do is create advertising inventory for my mates to buy and we're sorted.
2. Well... not really. That's the second point. People are not just spending time on the likes of AtomFilms or MiniClip (which are basically online broadcasters). They are shifting more and more towards what are essentially publishing platforms such as Metacafe, Bebo and yes... Vox. With this explosion in choice, competition is just a click away. The whole model of acquiring (exclusive) rights to help differentiate what is essentially a pipe with a logo and a couple of nice idents and some advertising strapped around it, is also starting to look tired. Now consumers can self publish and make money from it, be that through Google AdSense, Casale or other online advertising networks. 
3. But they still need to find this content, don't they? Yes, they do but that's where search and peer networks come in. Why trust what a broadcaster's scheduler thinks you should watch when you can find it yourself or check out what you friends love watching. Just try out the latest MSN Messenger where you can see the music your friends are playing or install LastFM to see what the wider community is up to, and get a glimpse of what may happen in the broadcast world.

All this frightens (or should frighten) the living day-lights out of most broadcasters. Beware the prophets of doom though... it's not that bad. In my opinion, while the above trends are real and will definitely have an impact on the TV business, consumers will still want shared viewing experiences (i.e. broadcast) of high production value content (i.e. not just user generated) recommended by taste-makers (i.e. recognised brands or people)... which means that THERE IS A ROLE FOR BROADCASTERS BEYOND 2007.

There is a "BIG SHIFT" needed though which I believe will determine the size of any role. While the core job of a broadcaster won't change - create great content that your audience want to share in - the skills required will be very very different. The big shift needed is towards the audience; big because broadcasters have been used to the good life of terrestrial television or their positions on the Sky EPG, where viewing is much more of a passive "feed me" world, where the need to REALLY ensure the audience want to share in what a commissioner has created is a lot less. Now, in an online world, if they don't like it, flick (or click) and they're off.

That in my mind is not only the biggest but also the hardest shift to make. Hard, because it will only work when the audience is part of the DNA of your business, and beyond a certain size and history it becomes very very difficult to change any business culture. The Titanic has left the dock and is sailing for the ice berg... only radical changes to structures, staffing, systems etc. will make it work.

All other changes become a function of this successful shift in culture, whether it's figuring how to produce the right content, distribute it, or what your channel brand stands for in this new world. Once you know your audience intimately and have changed the culture of your business to truly embrace them... this all becomes natural, easy and an enjoyable by-product. How to change that culture? That's another discussion altogether.