The entertainment companies have the content. The devices on which to view that content are everywhere. Advertisers are willing to pay to get their ads on those devices. The importance of the money generated by new media distribution was enough to send scriptwriters onto picket lines to make sure they got their fair share. So why is the entertainment industry still asking questions when it comes to digital distribution? Because the answers aren’t easy when talking about attracting audiences in a fragmented market place, and what to do with not only new content but the libraries of material available at Warner Bros., Disney, and NBC Universal. What these companies do know is that the viewer (often called the consumer) is in control. They actively seek out what they want and no longer passively sitting on the couch to view what the networks offer. With the viewer in control, the companies must respond to not only what they want in content and how they use that content, but how they use the devices, including laptops and PCs; mobile devices and cell phones; and advanced video game systems that connect to the Internet. For viewers, having access to short audio or video clips from favorite television shows or movies stop being an entertainment experience and become a personalized experience when those clips are used, say, as a ringtone. So the companies respond by making content available through as many formats as possible. They are collapsing release windows to make digital versions available through download on the same day as DVD releases. Network programming is getting streamed at websites the day after television broadcast. The same day (June 10) that Disney announced it would make available select feature films for free at its website, entertainment industry professionals from across the country gathered at a West Hollywood hotel for the OnHollywood conference. The hot topic from the speakers and panel discussions centered on digital distribution and how the industry struggles to get its arms around the best business models that attract both viewers and advertisers. Vince Manze is emblematic of the new thinking in Hollywood in these matters. At least that was the introduction he received by moderator Sandy Climan for the discussion he led titled “Hollywood’s Next Move: the Future of Digital Entertainment.” Manze has been president for programming planning, scheduling and strategy at NBC Universal for about three months, a position he said allows him to get above the trees and see the big picture when it comes to digital distribution. With a focus on all the NBCU outlets, the traditional broadcast channel and the cable stations, what had been challenges become opportunities in Manze’s eyes. “It’s a matter of creativity,” he said. The networks and the big entertainment companies will survive by taking their content and getting creative about how they use it. NBCU made a big investment in Hulu, a website founded in conjunction with News Corp. that offers feature films and full episodes of television shows. This spring, rather than follow the decades-old format of staging upfronts for advertisers to sell the fall network television lineup, NBCU instead showed advertisers how to take advantage of all of the opportunities offered throughout the company. Manze said he recently supervised short promos for the new “Hellboy” film that joined the red-skinned character played by Ron Perlman with hosts of NBCU cable programs. “We will have promos for the movie and the channels at the same time,” Manze said. At Warner Bros. the company’s digital strategy is to make its content available in as many places as possible as a response to viewer demands to watch what they want when they want. Thomas Gewecke, the president of Warner Bros. Digital Distribution, closed out the first day of the iHollywood Forum conference on June 9 outlining that strategy. Warner Bros. focuses on what the viewer wants to do and delivers it in a business model that makes sense, Gewecke told an audience of about 40 people seated in a conference room at the Roosevelt Hotel. The company is willing to try anything to see if it works in getting to an audience, and partners with anyone bringing a good idea, Gewecke added. To get the films out in multiple formats, Warner Bros. has taken to bundling digital copies with DVDs. Last year films were made available through video-on-demand through cable, satellite and online download the same day of release as the DVD. The company will expand it offerings in 2008. This strategy results in more copies sold through video-on-demand and higher sales for physical discs, Gewecke said. Collapsing the release window also realizes a cost savings as what had been two separate marketing campaigns DVD and video-on-demand becomes one. The two formats promote each other. “We get a multiplier effect by targeting the marketplace at a crucial time when it is released in the home entertainment format,” Gewecke said. IT Movers & Shakers AlwaysOn, the media company hosting the OnHollywood conference named its second annual Hollywood IT list recognizing entertainment leaders and dealmakers who understand the growing impact of information technology on the entertainment and media economies. Valley-area companies named to the list included Disney CEO Robert Iger; George Kliavkoff, chief digital officer, NBC Universal; Kevin Tsujihara, president, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group; Steve Wadsworth, president, Walt Disney Internet Group; Michael Bonner, vice president of new media distribution, NBC Universal; Chuck Dages, executive vice president, Emerging Technology, Warner Bros., and Kevin Mayer, executive vice president, Corporate Strategy, Business Development and Technology Group, The Walt Disney Company. Expanding Online The Warner Bros. Television Group will make its programming available online this September through branded channels offered by preferred partners Dailymotion, Joost, Sling Media, TiVo and Veoh Networks. “These new premium partnerships fit our overall digital distribution strategy by providing users the opportunity to access our content where and when they choose,” said television group President Bruce Rosenblum. “These partnerships will further the reach of the high-quality content we are creating to fuel our branded, ad-supported niche destinations which will benefit both the user and the advertiser.” Staff Reporter Mark Madler can be reached at (818) 316-3126 or by e-mail at [email protected] .
