Daily Marauder

Bridging TV & Broadband: Strategic Relationships – Advertising, Technology & Content

Speakers:

Greg Fawcett: VP Business Development IMG World

Chris Lucas: VP New Media Showtime

Rahul Sonnad: VP Business Development The Platform

Jan Hofmeyr: EVP Business Development Entriq

Charlie Oppenheimer: CEO Digital Fountain 

Key Takeways: 

Online Distribution vs. Cable Distribution

• In the old model, there were separate content providers and distributors.  In the new model, these two now cross paths.
• VOD delivery is quicker and easier to use online than in the cable world: Entriq
• 3 Factors to the New Online Distribution Model
  • Monetizationà How do content providers make money online
  • Accessibilityà How does a user discover the content
  • Quality 

Showtime’s New Media Strategy

• Broadband extends reach, increases awareness, and promotes buzz
• Online Distributors: Yahoo!, MSN, & AOL
• Showtime offers full-length episodes online sometimes in advance of the linear TV premiere
• Originally growth exploded in the short-form sector online but now growth is transitioning to the full length episode offerings
• How does Showtime manage relationships with the traditional cable affiliates?
  • Showtime provides short form promotional pieces to the cable affiliate
  • Online distributors eventually have the ability to overshadow the traditional cable affiliates 

New Site (NBC/Fox Joint Online Venture) Strategy

1.     Counter success of YouTube

2.     Build ad model that advertisers are comfortable buying into alongside professionally-produced content rather than user-gen 

 YouTube Weigh-In

·        Entriq doesn’t believe that walled gardens (i.e. YouTube) will be successful in the future because users will want access to all forms of content rather than just one niche (in this case user-gen).

·        Scalabilityàas more and more content becomes available, searching for this content becomes a nightmare

·        Originsà Started with short form content with not much value but gave users the freedom to do things with that content not available previously  

Online Search

• Google text search is the not the best method for video search.  Online search must come up to speed to mimic the TV experience of channel surfing

  Online Advertising

• Advertisers can choose to advertise through their own sites OR through other popular web sites such as MySpace, YouTube, etc.
  • While advertising on other sites off the brand site produces traffic views, all methods of advertising should point back to the brand site.
• Showtime example
  • Majority of revenue for the network comes from subscriptions.  Putting full-length episodes online promotes buzz and drives subscriptions.
  • Editorial in Yahoo! produces 1 million views a day at NO cost to Showtime
  • Online promotion is akin to a barker channel which promotes tune-in (and in this case drives acquisition so that subscribers are able to tune-in)

Movies, TV & Video Programming to the Consumer – All Video all the Time: Broadband, IPTV, DVD & Mobile 

Speakers:  

Curt Marvis: CEO Cinemanow

Bradford Auerbach: Digital Entertainment Services Hewlett-Packard

Roy Price: Director Digital Video Amazon Digital

Mary Coller Albert: CMO Movielink

Eric Patterson: VP Consumer Services BitTorrent

Jim Funk: Co-Founder & VP Marketing Akimbo  

Key Takeways: 

Online Movie Services Payment Model

1. Rent for 24 hours
2. Electronic Sell Thru (download to own)
3. Download to Burn to DVD
4. HP’s Manufacture and send DVD (See below)

 Marketing Online Movie Services

• Expectation of consumers online is that content availability is boundlessà the reality for online movie services is that all of the content is not available on any one site.
• Content availability is based on relationships with studios.  As an additional hurdle, when theatrical titles are in premium windows on HBO, Showtime, etc, they must be removed from the electronic sell-thru site (download to own).
• How do you market a site that has content limitations?
  • Answer: As best as possible

 Hewlett-Packard’s New Online Service

1. Allows users to search for titles through Wal-Mart (currently and Sam Goody to come) and either manufacture a DVD to send through the mail or download immediately through electronic sell-thru.
2. Some titles were never released on DVD because of space restrictions in big box retailers such as Wal-Mart.  This new service offers the consumer an option to purchase a DVD not previously available.

 Social Networking Options

• Add social networking features to the existing online movie site OR
• Partner with social networking sites to allow the site to sell their product through top ten movie lists on user’s pages

 Window Limitation

• Currently titles available to rent are only available for 24 hours compared to the unlimited time limit available for titles offered through Blockbuster and Netflix
• Sites working with studios to try and extend these windows