tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19872157341819216302024-03-12T22:21:57.769-04:00Media ImpressionsThoughts on media, creativity and storytellingJan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comBlogger80125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-13317680674942075762024-01-06T12:51:00.017-05:002024-01-06T13:24:04.519-05:002 Billion Views and the Fastest Growing Content Genre in the World<p class="ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph" id="ember775" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large); line-height: 1.75; margin: 1.6rem 0px; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB5K-txpLLLtx5PNWxV1aZVD5qpDaOXS12ssV07u9tkJbu2vvAJV9ys2gOP9AkODVTmy0WoFmbqjvduLu-hlPbGFaKOjgTx8XxTArCXXmyFcdjERcvgUgmfmZpehQhmI_xlGWinOZGKEolSanPpF6WodvVTDAnW5qMJ_b2_eyOVJmjN3YCU0M0SUQiuv8L/s512/unnamed.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="512" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB5K-txpLLLtx5PNWxV1aZVD5qpDaOXS12ssV07u9tkJbu2vvAJV9ys2gOP9AkODVTmy0WoFmbqjvduLu-hlPbGFaKOjgTx8XxTArCXXmyFcdjERcvgUgmfmZpehQhmI_xlGWinOZGKEolSanPpF6WodvVTDAnW5qMJ_b2_eyOVJmjN3YCU0M0SUQiuv8L/s320/unnamed.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p class="ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph" id="ember775" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large); line-height: 1.75; margin: 1.6rem 0px; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);"><span style="font-size: var(--font-size-large);">Our nature and wildlife life social video brand,</span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/roaringearth/"><span class="white-space-pre" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; font-size: var(--artdeco-reset-base-font-size-hundred-percent); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;"> </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; touch-action: manipulation;">Roaring Earth</span></a><span style="font-size: var(--font-size-large);">, hit over two billion views on Facebook last year.</span><span class="white-space-pre" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; font-size: var(--artdeco-reset-base-font-size-hundred-percent); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;"> </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; touch-action: manipulation;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/latestsightings">Latest Sightings</a></span><span style="font-size: var(--font-size-large);">, our partner in South Africa, saw over 5 billion views across YouTube, TikTok and FB. For both of us, it was significant year-over-year growth and is clearly part of a broader trend.</span></p><p></p><p class="ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph" id="ember776" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large); line-height: 1.75; margin: 1.6rem 0px; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);">Wildlife and nature content is quickly becoming one of the most popular programming genres in the world, thriving on every major media platform. The BBC, Netflix, Disney and other premium streamers now spend billions per year on blue chip nature TV series that often bring in some of their highest ratings.</p><p class="ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph" id="ember777" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large); line-height: 1.75; margin: 1.6rem 0px; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);">Ad-supported nature channels in the FAST ecosystem now generate nearly 10% of all viewing and represent one of its fastest-growing categories, according to research from <span class="white-space-pre" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; font-size: var(--artdeco-reset-base-font-size-hundred-percent); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFVVvVLMr-E">Amagi</a>. </span>“Nature”, a legend of the genre, is entering its 43rd season at PBS and is more popular than ever.<span class="white-space-pre" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; font-size: var(--artdeco-reset-base-font-size-hundred-percent); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;"> </span></p><p class="ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph" id="ember778" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large); line-height: 1.75; margin: 1.6rem 0px; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);">It's the same story on social media. Many of YouTube, Meta and TikTok’s most viewed short-form videos are wildlife clips, with some of the biggest hits featuring the 94-year-old global media icon, David Attenborough. Last year, we had<span class="white-space-pre" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; font-size: var(--artdeco-reset-base-font-size-hundred-percent); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;"> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1399845747244616">multiple videos</a></span><span class="white-space-pre" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; font-size: var(--artdeco-reset-base-font-size-hundred-percent); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;"> </span>deliver over 100 million views each for the first time. Over on Reddit, the cheeky nature brand "Nature is F-ing Lit" is among the platform's fastest-growing subreddit with 12 million subscribers. And while comment threads on social media are notoriously toxic, this content seems to bring out the best in folks with comments that are (mostly) informed, civilized and even inspiring.</p><p class="ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph" id="ember779" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large); line-height: 1.75; margin: 1.6rem 0px; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);">Environmental concerns are one of the factors driving the boom. Many of the most charismatic animals featured in the content are endangered and in dire need of protection. Covid also played a role as people around the world flocked outdoors to state and national parks, leading to a deeper appreciation of nature and a desire to learn more. When they got home, they not only watched more nature content, but downloaded apps like the<span class="white-space-pre" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; font-size: var(--artdeco-reset-base-font-size-hundred-percent); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;"> <a href="https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org">Merlin Bird ID</a></span><span class="white-space-pre" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; font-size: var(--artdeco-reset-base-font-size-hundred-percent); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;"> </span>and All Trails, both now legitimate app store hits with tens of millions of downloads.</p><p class="ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph" id="ember780" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large); line-height: 1.75; margin: 1.6rem 0px; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);">Another contributor: the legalization of marajuana. Nature programming and weed are perfect companions according to<span class="white-space-pre" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; font-size: var(--artdeco-reset-base-font-size-hundred-percent); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;"> <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/3068306/tommy-chong-and-other-weed-experts-discuss-why-stoners-love-planet-earth-ii">various experts</a></span>. And we do know<span class="white-space-pre" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; font-size: var(--artdeco-reset-base-font-size-hundred-percent); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;"> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFVVvVLMr-E">Snoop Dogg</a></span><span class="white-space-pre" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; font-size: var(--artdeco-reset-base-font-size-hundred-percent); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;"> </span>is a long time fan!</p><p class="ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph" id="ember781" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large); line-height: 1.75; margin: 1.6rem 0px; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);">But the biggest factor is the inexhaustible supply of fresh and compelling content. Every day, hundreds of new wildlife encounters are captured by both professional production teams and camera-ready amateurs alike. And the footage they capture often comes made to order with riveting imagery, a powerful narrative arc and cast of characters that would make a Pixar screenwriter jealous. Novelist Ben Dolnick, in a delightful piece<span class="white-space-pre" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; font-size: var(--artdeco-reset-base-font-size-hundred-percent); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;"> <a href="https://medium.com/the-awl/everything-i-know-about-storytelling-i-learned-from-the-bbcs-planet-earth-ii-82b6d6d4fef7">in the AWL</a></span><span class="white-space-pre" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; font-size: var(--artdeco-reset-base-font-size-hundred-percent); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;"> </span>a while back described how<span class="white-space-pre" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; font-size: var(--artdeco-reset-base-font-size-hundred-percent); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;"> a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv9hn4IGofM&t=1s">2-minute</a></span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv9hn4IGofM&t=1s"> clip</a> from the BBC's ground-breaking Planet Earth 2, “taught him more about storytelling than years of expensive education.”<span class="white-space-pre" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; font-size: var(--artdeco-reset-base-font-size-hundred-percent); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;"> </span></p><p class="ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph" id="ember782" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large); line-height: 1.75; margin: 1.6rem 0px; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);">Adding to the appeal for programmers is that nature content is family-friendly, evergreen and plays to an international audience. (Over 50% of our views came from outside the US)</p><p class="ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph" id="ember783" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large); line-height: 1.75; margin: 1.6rem 0px; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);">New technology will only increase the flow of fresh daily content in 2024. More robust satellite internet connectivity is now enabling us to live stream from the most remote wildlife preserves with<span class="white-space-pre" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; font-size: var(--artdeco-reset-base-font-size-hundred-percent); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;"> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDrxi_3aE3U">narrated game drives</a></span><span class="white-space-pre" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; font-size: var(--artdeco-reset-base-font-size-hundred-percent); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;"> </span>that will generate hundreds of new hours of both long and short-form content.<span class="white-space-pre" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; font-size: var(--artdeco-reset-base-font-size-hundred-percent); margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); outline: var(--artdeco-reset-base-outline-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline); white-space: pre !important;"> </span></p><p class="ember-view reader-content-blocks__paragraph" id="ember784" style="border: var(--artdeco-reset-base-border-zero); box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: var(--font-size-large); line-height: 1.75; margin: 1.6rem 0px; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); pointer-events: all; vertical-align: var(--artdeco-reset-base-vertical-align-baseline);">Latest Sightings is dedicating more and more resources to their surging <a href=" https://latestsightings.com/app">wildlife app</a> which enables users to share their sightings with the community and earn licensing revenue from their photo and video content. It's exciting to be part of a growing content genre that is entertaining, educational and inspiring, and most importantly, good for us and the planet. We'll be announcing new programming and distribution partnerships for our growing library of content shortly.</p>Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-864545202629382532022-12-22T15:21:00.017-05:002022-12-22T15:38:01.646-05:00This Cat Has Something To Say<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></div><span><span><span id="docs-internal-guid-e0a3281d-7fff-0f59-9cf1-bb4f1bc604e6"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV8uONgEobA9v_tuZbuqm-C6XkiY10TFDM2buqdY15yuoGl6n8d6mTuWlLCyQg1G7cW9EYCBgwIhEJ--Ubp8BPsY8I7uhtuOu8C-GZYeJbgpi7VQQ9q3ssqXDndPChx56-Id-ofjD_LPBcCuZW4OklwEw5OJExyV9uPORZ251s1RJoU4DbZlE41G9wiA/s1784/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-21%20at%205.28.11%20PM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="1784" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV8uONgEobA9v_tuZbuqm-C6XkiY10TFDM2buqdY15yuoGl6n8d6mTuWlLCyQg1G7cW9EYCBgwIhEJ--Ubp8BPsY8I7uhtuOu8C-GZYeJbgpi7VQQ9q3ssqXDndPChx56-Id-ofjD_LPBcCuZW4OklwEw5OJExyV9uPORZ251s1RJoU4DbZlE41G9wiA/w320-h266/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-21%20at%205.28.11%20PM.png" width="320" /></a></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">This rare footage of a Canada lynx climbing onto a logging vehicle generated millions of views, but more importantly, a spirited and (mostly) civil comment thread on the future of our planet's forests. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 11pt; margin-right: 11pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">What we thought was just a cool clip to share of an elusive and mesmerizing animal ... turned into a kind of community forum, triggering a flood of additional content, as well as ideas for new videos, podcast episodes and articles.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 11pt; margin-right: 11pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thousands commented, weighing in with their thoughts on the importance of sustainable forest management policies, while others lamented the catastrophic impact of deforestation. Some saw the operator of the vehicle as a savior of the lynx's habitat, making the forest healthier while also reducing the risk of forest fires and enabling a sustainable supply of timber. Others saw the Lynx coming face-to-face with an existential threat that is permanently wiping out forests and its wildlife in warmer regions of the planet.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Online commenting has been with us since the earliest days of the Web, representing the best and worst of what the Internet can be. On one hand, they are a place for thoughtful and enlightened, open-to-all online discourse. On the other hand, they can be a toxic swamp of offensive stupidity and awfulness. (And many times both within the same thread.) Social media companies have only mainstreamed and hypercharged this dynamic. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Many prominent publishers like CNN.com have pulled the plug completely, disabling comments on all their content. Others, like the NY Times, have gone back and forth, more recently expanding their commitment to user comments, leveraging artificial intelligence tools and other moderation tactics to help manage the chaos. The WSJ is also giving more support to their commenting sections.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The benefits seems to outweigh the downsides. When managed properly, a robust commenting platform fosters community, brand loyalty, greater time on site and a better understanding of the audience. It gives the content an afterlife, and if moderated properly, the audience much needed exposure to differing viewpoints.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">Moderation is key. We keep a close eye on all our comment threads, removing bad players and spam immediately, and sometimes guiding the conversation when it starts to steer off the rails.</span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: large; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwjzVU2pNy1qvBKYv3F309OIzWlwD-Pqg9D9ap0_S2MZhtz1J2HkbssU-5o8jXfsZmGNVANm7QbUHK8slNByw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div></span><p></p></span></span>Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-58918568719599524362022-01-04T10:50:00.014-05:002022-01-27T14:25:21.337-05:00Fitbit For Your Media Diet<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Recently I have been awakening to the sound of trumpets and chimes from my wife’s Duolingo app. Learning Spanish amidst toyful prompts seems like a much better way to start the day than scrolling Twitter, which had been her wake-up habit of late. If you had to compare it to breakfast, think orange juice and oatmeal versus Coca-Cola and Cocoa Puffs. </span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;">For years now it’s been hammered into us how terrible junk food is for our mind and body, and finally, we are putting our media consumption into more tangible health and wellness terms. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-b415df19-7fff-962f-8d17-8d72e487a62e" style="font-size: medium;"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">University of Arkansas Public Health Professor Brian Primack leverages the food analogy in his book “</span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09B1CM6DS/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You are What you Click.</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” “There was quite a while when people were just eating whatever came out—if TV dinners became a big deal, they would just eat the TV dinners. And if fast food became more available, they would just eat more fast food,” he said in a recent </span><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/smarter-healthier-social-media-choices-11639177212?mod=rss_Technology" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">WSJ interview</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. "It's very easy to over indulge, and a lot of foods are designed to be addictive - just like a lot of social media sites are designed to bring you back for more, and keep you there as long as possible.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjgvA1O72YH0rKP61kjBqpK0lWStaTyW6pktE0TIAGCKsjoREIzFvAswyoImyyQ8GnxhHZGfGOx70v2Rcaj9ThEC7pIMH8r6i0LWq8d2KC6EJyAVx5dYki0t3800qletB6xMK12BdTQg40BwYxsul94IrxDmvtWT__k3xtI1tg4RHk8B0dODwUc6j102w=s1170" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1170" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjgvA1O72YH0rKP61kjBqpK0lWStaTyW6pktE0TIAGCKsjoREIzFvAswyoImyyQ8GnxhHZGfGOx70v2Rcaj9ThEC7pIMH8r6i0LWq8d2KC6EJyAVx5dYki0t3800qletB6xMK12BdTQg40BwYxsul94IrxDmvtWT__k3xtI1tg4RHk8B0dODwUc6j102w=w320-h176" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: right;"></div><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It took years and relentless focus from all corners of society to put in place the government regulations, public information and education that has led to a better understanding of food nutrition, and, although we still have a long way to go, better eating habits.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s early innings, but social media is finally under the same degree of focus. Bipartisan regulation seems likely, important research is finding a mainstream audience, and habits are beginning to change. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Enriching apps like Duolingo are surging, delighting their fast growing user base and rapidly turning them into paid subscribers, while Twitter failed to add any new users in the US during its last reporting period and</span><a href="https://www.emarketer.com/newsroom/index.php/us-twitter-usage-will-peak-in-2021/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is predicted </span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to start losing US users in 2022 and beyond.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 2pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And other companies big and small are addressing the idea of "digital nutrition " head on. Apple has been emphasizing and enhancing its “Screen Time” feature - it’s now one of the first buttons users see in their iPhone Settings and has a component that enables setting time limits on apps.</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://readocracy.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Readocracy</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, an inspired startup, refers to itself as "Fitbit for your information diet" and has gained the support of A-list investors who are focused on building a healthier internet. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c4043; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whereas Apple's Screen Time shows you quantity of time, Readocracy allows you to see more of the quality: deep insights about the actual information you were filling your mind with during that screen time. One of their data sets even measures the impact media consumption is having on our mood.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There’s no doubt when we eat healthier we feel better and are in a better state of mind, and the same goes when we consume healthier media content. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As the founder of Readocracy puts it: “Information can be precious, or it can be poison. It’s not how much we consume, it’s what we consume and how mindful we are about it.</span></p></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></span><br /></div>Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-12330821452930936182020-06-18T12:50:00.005-04:002022-01-04T11:11:06.863-05:00Your Next Good Idea<div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In a recent interview, Sarah Cooper described how she came up with the idea for her wildly popular Trump impersonation videos. Her 11 year old nephew had introduced her to TikTok a while back and it struck her as an “amazing tool for creating new visual interpretations of existing audio.” But nothing much came of it until this year when Trump’s COVID press conferences proved to be the </span><a href="https://twitter.com/sarahcpr/status/1253474772702429189?lang=en" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">perfect use case</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. What resulted is a reimagining of comedy itself, drawing accolades from Jerry Seinfeld and Ben Stiller among other comedy legends.</span></span></div><div><span id="docs-internal-guid-b6e09f44-7fff-fa30-2f05-cf42dfdb3c74" style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MkofwIAf4T8/XuuaDn0M_LI/AAAAAAAAOtg/PA-0wAXbPLo4Wzs8vDDLohqiLMgr8t3_wCK4BGAsYHg/s730/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-06-17%2Bat%2B4.01.19%2BPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="730" height="163" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MkofwIAf4T8/XuuaDn0M_LI/AAAAAAAAOtg/PA-0wAXbPLo4Wzs8vDDLohqiLMgr8t3_wCK4BGAsYHg/w256-h163/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-06-17%2Bat%2B4.01.19%2BPM.png" width="256" /></a></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As Steven Johnson, the author of </span><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703989304575503730101860838" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Where Good Ideas Come From</span></a><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">,” says, “We take the ideas we've inherited or stumbled across, and we jigger them together into some new shape.”</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have had 3 startups that were reasonably good enough ideas to bring to market and 5 others that weren’t. The 3 that launched were all based on something I had seen before, but now in a different light through the filter of emerging technologies and trends. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One, from the early days of the Internet, circa 1999, was for an online music school. A year earlier while working at Time Warner Cable, I had seen a pitch for a new cable network focused on music education. It was too niche for cable, but nothing was too niche for the Web. We sold the company during an overhyped moment, but it ended up, like many Web 1.0 businesses, dying. It was too early for broad user adoption.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My latest idea is a new take on wildlife programming using live cams, camera traps, and user submissions to create a new experiential platform. This one may be too late.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s great to talk about where and how good ideas emerge, but at the end of the day, luck and timing are the two biggest factors. And they are completely out of our control. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So you need to always be tinkering and brainstorming, hoping that when you think a new idea is ready, so does the world.</span></p></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></div>Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-6347235522794916692019-10-30T17:19:00.000-04:002020-01-02T18:37:32.122-05:00Walt Disney's 1957 Strategy and Cross Promotion Chart<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Although I have been an entrepreneur for most of my career, some of the most fun I have had has been my handful of stints at large legacy media companies, where I was brought in to develop new businesses leveraging the company's existing assets.<br />
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At Time Warner, in the early aughts, we created an online automotive buying service called <a href="http://beepbeep.com/">BeepBeep.com</a> Warner Bros owned the trademark as part of it's Road Runner franchise. Time Warner Cable had thousands of car dealers as local advertising clients in their various markets as well as millions of local ad avails on the cable networks they carried in those markets. We had the car dealers list their inventory on the new site and then promoted it to car shoppers via the TV ad avails. In a matter of months we had one of the larger online car shopping sites.<br />
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Earlier, in the 90s, we used some of the same tactics to launch NY1 and quickly make it a major new media brand. It didn't hurt that we could launch on Channel 1 across the market.<br />
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The stodgy old media companies often have valuable untapped assets and synergies waiting to be mined and brought to life.<br />
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But one legacy media company has been working it all the time. The chart up top was created by Walt Disney himself in 1957. It is one of the greatest examples of company synergy in history, and it has embodied Disney's approach to everything they do since. <br />
<br />
These days they are getting ready to launch their new streaming service and the amount of promotion they are providing across their own media assets is startling. As reported in The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/27/business/media/disney-plus-marketing.html">NY Times</a>, anchors and hosts at Disney's network and local TV properties are chatting it up every day and buses in their them parks are wrapped with ads for the service. Tinker Bell's 9 million FB fans are also seeing messages. <br />
<br />
Every creek and crevice of The Magic Kingdom is in on the game.<br />
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Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-48967487693639309752018-11-19T16:19:00.002-05:002020-07-14T18:43:53.320-04:00Two Video Companies Are Eating Up The Internet<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #333333;">Netflix and YouTube are the two most powerful video content platforms in the world, marrying great tech with great content and dictating the future of television and all form of digital video content. They both seem to get stronger by the day and,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.pcmag.com/news/364353/netflix-and-youtube-make-up-over-a-quarter-of-global-interne" style="color: purple;">as recently reported</a>, are literally eating up the Internet, together responsible for 25% of global Internet traffic.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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They are each the leaders and role models for the two ways we will consume all our video content shortly: one subscription based, the viewing passive, on bigger screens and featuring longer form programming; the other ad supported, viewed actively (clicking, swiping, sharing) on smaller screens featuring shorter form programming.<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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We'll probably spend an equal amount of our aggregate video viewing time with each model, but we can see a bit more clearly what the longer form models will look like - it's the same TV and film formats we've always had, just unlimited choices. The short form is much less defined, as the technology and user base is younger and open to experiencing (and influencing) new video formats.<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Netflix and YouTube's success is driving a frenzied reaction from fellow digital behemoths and the largest traditional media companies. Disney's acquisition of Fox and AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner were triggered in large part by Netflix's growing strength, and Facebook's deep dives into video with Watch and IGTV is an attempt to compete with YouTube. And Jeffery Katzenberg has raised over $1 billion from some of the biggest and most influential players in the entertainment industry to launch a new service that brings TV-level production budgets to short form, mobile viewed content.<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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It's the short form we here at Roaring Earth are focused on. Our goal is to thrill and enlighten like the BBC does time and time again with their long form nature docs, most of which can be found on Netflix. They are the incomparable masters of long form nature and wildlife content and Planet Earth 2, from a few years back, is among the most successful television series of all time.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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But there is a huge opportunity to create similar content specifically for mobile devices. We have delivered over 250 million video views to our site's video library, while developing and fine-tuning a new format we call "mini-docs." They are 1-3 minutes in length featuring extraordinary stories from our natural world that can be watched on the go, with quick loading play lists for folks that want to binge for a few minutes. This one just hit the 3 million view mark a few weeks after launch:<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="font-family: "times new roman"; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://roaring.earth/supersnake-invasion/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="512" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rooBJ-cXw6s/Xw40viHufCI/AAAAAAAAOy8/A6XAED8IQQMOlOeIgWqLCz4XeTOPRfXWQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-07-14%2Bat%2B9.22.47%2BAM.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "times new roman"; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">It is a golden age for short form and long form content.</span></div>
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Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-74765152504179206472017-09-06T16:31:00.000-04:002017-09-20T10:35:46.628-04:00Netflix's Gift To Digital Advertising<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_UlEFh-vm6A/WbBgO1QiqOI/AAAAAAAAAbY/djtbEbifJo8oyb7X_h3Zx0Rb2XZ-AHyBQCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-09-06%2Bat%2B4.52.06%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="373" data-original-width="668" height="178" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_UlEFh-vm6A/WbBgO1QiqOI/AAAAAAAAAbY/djtbEbifJo8oyb7X_h3Zx0Rb2XZ-AHyBQCLcBGAs/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-09-06%2Bat%2B4.52.06%2BPM.png" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">Netflix, Amazon and HBO have taught me, my family and most of the planet that the best TV programming does not come with commercials. It's been a massive cultural shift. Television and commercials have been as dependent on each other as milk and cereal going back to the days of the first broadcast.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">A massive business shift is accompanying the cultural shift and completely upending the media and advertising industries. Roughly 35% of the $500 billion spent globally on advertising goes to television and it seems every digital media company has a plan to grab some of it. As Derek Thompson in <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/08/tvs-ad-apocalypse-is-coming/536394/?preview=V8a17H7Oktzxy0OQJKtn-5i-QqY">The Atlantic</a> said: "Netflix's extraordinary success is the best thing that could ever have happened to digital advertising."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It's not all going away. Sports and live entertainment programming is somewhat safe. (Although <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/30/business/media/nfl-six-second-commercials.html?mcubz=1">Fox just announced</a> it will be introducing 6 second commercials in their NFL games as viewers, unable to skip the commercial, are reaching for their mobile devices during breaks in the action.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Ironically, people are becoming more accustomed and comfortable with seeing an ad in front of a short piece of video content on their phone than they are on an Emmy Award winning show on their TV. A variety of innovations including speedy load times, better targeting, shorter ads and a quick ad-skip option have made ads in front of digital video content a clean and manageable experience (for the most part). TV's multi ad TV breaks feel more anachronous and cumbersome by the day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">And short form video content is a booming sector of the media business as not only Facebook, YT and Snap continue their relentless focus and innovation, but hundreds of large and niche publishing companies build out sophisticated video production operations that churn out compelling content and further acclimate us to watching clips and short pre-roll ads on our phone. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">A recent column in <a href="https://www.recode.net/2017/8/7/16106862/pivot-video-digital-revolution-journalism-advertising-visual-media-storytelling-business-model">ReCode</a> describes a "visual revolution" in journalism that predicts not a full pivot to video, but a new format for story telling that is just another example of the opportunities for re-expressing TV advertising.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #3b3b3b; font-family: inherit;">That video that is currently soaring across social media — maybe it’s a text-heavy explainer with dynamic motion graphics, or a video-driven news story with sharply concise captions — is less an evolution of video itself and more of an evolution of the hundreds and thousands of pieces of text-based journalism that are produced and consumed digitally. Audiences that spent time consuming only the first couple of paragraphs of a news story are now watching 45 seconds of a video that conveys the same information. And, yes, sometimes with words on the screen. I believe this will become more sophisticated and more prevalent, and before you tell me that it’s intellectually inferior, just believe me — it’s not in its final form. It’s on us to innovate so that it has the power and impact we want it to.</span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #3b3b3b; font-family: inherit;">Perhaps it is just like the early days of television.</span></div>
Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-76695558204491190862016-08-09T09:30:00.001-04:002016-10-15T16:03:24.342-04:00Will We Scroll More Than We Surf?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The 30-second TV commercial is entering it's sixth decade as the most lucrative, ubiquitous and durable advertising format in history. I spent the early years of my career selling TV ads and a pretty significant % of all TV ad time sold in US these days in overseen by friends of mine. I hope the business thrives forever. And as long as watching TV programming with ads included remains something we spend hours a day doing, it will.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Scalable, tolerable (and ultimately effective) ad formats tied to massive media behavior are rare. Google's search business (roughly $50 billion this year) is the only other one that comes close in scale to TV advertising in the past 60 years.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">A third is here and it is quite possible you are seeing it in action as you read this post - feed-based content, interspersed with ads, that we scroll through on our phones A </span><a href="http://www.recode.net/2016/5/12/11651346/the-feed-mindset" style="font-family: inherit;">recent piece in Re-Code</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> highlights the Feed Mindset</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Today’s consumer lives in their feed: Scrolling and scrolling ... and scrolling ... through an infinite amount of content with the flick of the thumb. This new behavior, unheard of four or five years ago, is synonymous now with a modern internet built around the content feed.</span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">And an article in The Atlantic aptly titled </span><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/06/mobile-is-eating-everything/487148/?utm_source=API+Need+to+Know+newsletter&utm_campaign=99e8b634db-Need_to_Know_June_16_20166_16_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e3bf78af04-99e8b634db-45793237" style="font-family: inherit;">"How Mobile Today is Like TV Six Decades Ago"</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> highlights how Mobile's current advertising growth arc is similar to TV's in it formative years. TV, arguably the most most pervasive and culturally transforming media platform, dwarfing every other media format that came before it and after, finally has a real rival. The channel surfer is becoming the feed scroller. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">When the TV advertising riches started flowing, 3 networks shared the spoils. With mobile, it is two - Facebook and Google. Facebook was the primary instigator and now beneficiary of our new scrolling habit. </span></span>The ads in FB's mobile feed are the main revenue driver of the company now, quickly becoming as significant as search ads are to Google's bottom line.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">But niche, mobile-first publishers like us are also benefiting as we package our unique content for the scrollers and see rising CPMs. Digital dimes are becoming quarters, and even dollars.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">And <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "open sans" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">when </span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">the ads are presented seamlessly (natively) and are contextually relevant, they get nearly universal positive (or at least tolerable) user feedback. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It certainly feels like a powerful new publishing model.</span></div>
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Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-75163544610652468702016-04-25T14:30:00.001-04:002016-04-25T19:06:51.505-04:00Game Of Platforms<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ye0tJiNDsoE/Vx5Kx-YFmKI/AAAAAAAAAUU/LuNL6SgxDs4EHFAtBGi99wAoxuSpi5zwwCLcB/s1600/Titan-of-Braavos-Credit-HBO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ye0tJiNDsoE/Vx5Kx-YFmKI/AAAAAAAAAUU/LuNL6SgxDs4EHFAtBGi99wAoxuSpi5zwwCLcB/s320/Titan-of-Braavos-Credit-HBO.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">When I started in the media business 25 years ago, things were much easier. Consumers had little influence over the content they were served. The most disruptive and fastest growing sector of the industry at the time was cable television, an entertainment oligopoly controlled by a handful of cable operators who blessed a handful of programming companies channel slots - the equivalent of permanent shelf space in the only supermarket in town. Consumers, with no other options were force-fed a lot of dreck as the nascent cable channels, many of who went on to become great brands, were given years to find their stride.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Today, things have changed dramatically. (Although there is still plenty of dreck.) The development and maturation of the Open Web has given consumers influence over what is produced and power to anyone and everyone to be a content creator, curator and programmer. But what hasn't changed is the enormous strength of a handful of platforms, who, like the cable operators in their day, hold the upper hand.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The extraordinary opportunities the Open Web has provided along with inevitable consolidation of power in the hands of a few players was highlighted in a recent <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2016/04/10/1301496/?curator=TechREDEF">TechCrunch</a> piece:</span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #444444;">I, too, am a
believer in the open web — a platform that anyone can hack on powered by
standards (http) and great technology (servers, devices, browsers). It delivers
on the promise of the Internet: a world in which everyone is connected, and you
can command as much attention as your content deserves (no matter your budget
or connections). </span> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">But .... it is
threatened by dominant technology companies such as Facebook, Google and Apple
who have an economic interest in creating their own “walled gardens” of
Internet content that they control and monetize.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">But others think the platforms can empower publishers, and much like CNN, ESPN and HBO grew and thrived on the back of a dominant distribution platform, new media brands like Buzzfeed, Vice and Vox can thrive as the new platforms have to serve their massive subscriber base with higher quality content. This from <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/22/business/media/online-media-is-tested-when-social-platforms-come-to-town.html?emc=edit_tnt_20160422&nlid=3094050&tntemail0=y&_r=1">Today's NY Times</a>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #444444;">I think platforms, or marketplaces,
make it a lot easier for, say, the content providers or app developers that are
very, very good to rise to the top, and pretty much commoditize everyone else.
So if you’re average, it’s definitely going to be very bad. Life is going to be
worse on a platform, because you’re exposed to more competition. If you’re very
good, life on a platform is a lot better.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment--></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: 17px;"></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">YouTube Red, Facebook Instant Articles and Snapchat Discover are the most exciting examples of social networks and publishers exploring their ongoing mutual dependence. And just today<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/25/business/vox-media-tries-something-old-on-something-new.html">,Vox announced</a> a new brand that will publish exclusively on Facebook. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But as I have opined many times, the platforms will always hold the upper hand, as they own the relationship with the audience. How media companies build and maintain direct relationships with their own audience in a platform-centric media world is the ongoing challenge.</span></div>
Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-24438885390074216792015-11-04T08:11:00.000-05:002015-11-29T18:04:57.076-05:00This Micro Moment<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We are averaging 250,000 video views per day on our wildlife network <a href="http://maxanimal.com/">MaxAnimal</a>, and this month will pass the 100 million view mark since we launched last year. As expected, roughly 75% of the views are happening on smart phones. Our intention from the start was to keep the clips short (1 minute on average) and thrilling, so to connect with an audience that has a limited attention span and will readily share.<br />
<br />
Some recent data shows how well we are positioned, but also how nimble we need to be to keep growing at this pace and expand to longer form content. <br />
<br />
Google issued a study last month titled <a href="https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/win-every-micromoment-with-better-mobile-strategy.html">"Win Every Micro Moment With A Better Mobile Strategy"</a> that reports people now check their phones 150 times per day and spend 177 minutes on the device, resulting in dozens and dozens of mobile sessions averaging a little more than a minute each.<br />
<br />
And a much circulated <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/michael-wolf-predicts-what-will-happen-in-the-tech-industry-in-2016-2015-10?op=0#/#-11">presentation</a> from the recent WSJD conference included this fascinating slide:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9x8MHdSOxaU/Vi6wYYWC14I/AAAAAAAAATk/6JVPOtNJyy4/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-10-26%2Bat%2B6.58.23%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="231" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9x8MHdSOxaU/Vi6wYYWC14I/AAAAAAAAATk/6JVPOtNJyy4/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-10-26%2Bat%2B6.58.23%2BPM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Short Attention Span Theatre. The Attention Apocalypse. Micro Moment Warfare. Everyone has a name for this moment in time when GIFS are the most popular new media form, some brands are posting 50 times per day on Facebook and Vine Stars are the new YouTube Stars.<br />
<br />
Our goal (as well as the goal of some of the media companies in the slide above, particularly Vice) is and always has been to use the short stuff as a gateway to longer, richer content experiences (and building an engaged community.) Because, on the other side of the spectrum, there clearly is a craving for long-form journalism, podcasts, documentaries, high quality TV dramas and other more immersive content experiences. <br />
<br />
How much attention we have for both is the question, and can the publishers most effective at the bits, bytes and bursts engage their viewers for longer sessions.</div>
Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-66982137913791448352015-07-27T14:22:00.000-04:002015-07-30T10:53:37.950-04:00The Future of Advertising at VidCon<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fj6KVu-A-Bo/VbZ2PjQUDJI/AAAAAAAAATA/o2qTsmnqE1E/s1600/650x366.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fj6KVu-A-Bo/VbZ2PjQUDJI/AAAAAAAAATA/o2qTsmnqE1E/s200/650x366.jpg" /></a>Dozens of the independent creators featured at VidCon this year have reach as big as cable and broadcast television networks. But more importantly, because they have such an authentic and passionate relationship with their subscribers, (see picture of screaming fans) advertisers are striking marketing partnerships with them at an extraordinary rate.<br />
<br />
It seemed like every other company I spoke to during the conference was in one way or another providing services that connect brand advertisers with “influencers.” (marketing speak for social media stars.)
And many of the bigger creators - now representing every imaginable programming genre from gaming to science to entertainment - are producing content as good and often better than most of what you can find on television.<br />
<br />
They have talented writing and production teams, state-of-the-art equipment and operate like highly efficient production companies, studios and networks. Brand advertisers find them nimble, creative, and collaborative, often developing relationships similar to the ones they have with their traditional ad agencies.
Perhaps even more importantly, these creators are testing and then conquering (or discarding) every new emerging distribution platform, providing the brands a unique media lab.<br />
<br />
For a brand to be able to sit down and collaborate with an individual creator that has a real time relationship with an engaged community of millions, and has the team and production expertise to deliver a targeted and compelling brand integration in a matter of days, is truly revolutionary.<br />
<br />
The advertising industry is need of an efficiency make-over.<br />
<br />
VidCon provides a snap shot into the future.
</div>
Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-34860143358325505232015-04-16T08:51:00.000-04:002015-04-16T09:14:29.741-04:00Content Was Never King<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Content was never king, and it is certainly isn't today. Distribution was and is the most important ingredient for a content based media company to succeed. Cable networks programmed epically awful content in their early days, but were allowed years to find their voice and audience on the back of TV distribution oligopolies. The content eventually got good (great in some instances) and many cable nets became multi-billion dollar global media brands. But it was all about the distribution. It always was and always will be. Ben Franklin demonstrated as much when he launched the country's first magazine and used his role as postmaster general to ensure it ended up in everyone's home.<br />
<br />
Today's media distribution currency isn't channels controlled by cable companies, but streams controlled by social media companies. Danny Sullivan in a recent <a href="http://marketingland.com/web-streams-120690">Marketing Land Post</a>, describes an emerging "Stream Revolution" empowering media brands like BuzzFeed to insert themselves into a "constant parade of content that is pushed at viewers" on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.<br />
<br />
And last week a senior ad sales exec at Google penned a piece in the <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/cmo/2015/04/08/outside-voices-why-mobile-advertising-may-be-all-about-micro-targeting-moments/">Wall Street Journal</a> describing "micro moments" - new opportunities for advertisers to "micro-target" in the stream.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Our research has uncovered a fundamental change in the way people consume media: the old days of predictable, periodic media sessions have been replaced by numerous short bursts of digital activity throughout the day. The old model was a four-course meal in the same restaurant. Today’s is a series of constant bite sized snacks all over town.<br />
<br />
This is a pretty seismic change for advertisers. There are no longer just a few sporadic “a-ha!” moments of truth; now there are countless moments that matter.</blockquote>
The challenge for content companies, new and old, and the advertisers who are the real King in all this, is that the stream is flowing faster and faster, and playing in it requires enormous effort and time. <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br /></blockquote>
</div>
Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-2837770956044758622015-01-14T07:51:00.001-05:002015-02-21T18:13:11.440-05:00Questioning the Value of a Facebook Video View<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1987215734181921630" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a></div>
The consumer and trade press (driven by Facebook's PR machine) are abuzz about FB's extraordinary video growth. With such an enormous and engaged user base, they can focus and then dominate whatever new sector of the market they want, and quickly. (It was just a short while ago they were being criticized for lacking a mobile strategy.)<br />
<br />
What initially blew me and my partners away about YouTube was the ability it provided talented content creators (albeit with a lot of practice and work) to deliver network television size audiences in a matter of hours. And how it was scaling at a mind-blowing rate, feeding itself with better and better content, driving more and more users. (100 hundred hours of new content is uploaded every minute.)<br />
<br />
But we are now seeing equally impressive viewing #s on Facebook, and we have a clear view into their focus and determination to dominate this market.<br />
<br />
Instead of linking to YouTube or our website video player for this recent post, we used Facebook's video player:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zs-J8i7QUFY/VNYYsOJ6RII/AAAAAAAAASI/gUawVaV_bVQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-02-07%2Bat%2B8.51.47%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zs-J8i7QUFY/VNYYsOJ6RII/AAAAAAAAASI/gUawVaV_bVQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-02-07%2Bat%2B8.51.47%2BAM.png" height="291" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Because we have a relatively small fan base on FB for this new channel, these posts in the past would generate a few hundred video views, at most. But this post generated 14,000 views in a few hours. FB is clearly favoring - not just favoring, but smothering with love - posts that use their video player.<br />
<br />
It is not entirely clear what the value of these views are, other than leading to some additional likes and comments on Facebook. (And many of the views were muted auto-play.) We would much rather see the views on YT or our website, where we can monetize, link to other videos, showcase an expanding audience, and take advantage of other "channel" effects.<br />
<br />
But such enormous scale can't be ignored and we plan to continue experimenting, and look forward to Facebook providing media companies like ours a strategic plan to manage our video audience on their platform. </div>
Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-3363673455421016072014-10-30T08:04:00.001-04:002015-04-16T13:42:16.603-04:00Tune In Tips From Ted Turner<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Early in my media career, when cable networks were popping up like weeds and innovative tune-in strategies were needed, my clever boss, Ted Turner, mandated that all shows on TBS would start at five minutes after the hour, thus ensuring that such programming jewels as Gilligan's Island, Andy Griffith and colorized black and white movies, would stand out in TV Guide and the local newspaper programming listings. (All the shows at 8:00P were listed together, but only the TBS shows<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GEL0SBWtLnM/VFBIvGe3HSI/AAAAAAAAARg/C4KWubR1p3k/s1600/gilligans-island-facts-ftr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GEL0SBWtLnM/VFBIvGe3HSI/AAAAAAAAARg/C4KWubR1p3k/s1600/gilligans-island-facts-ftr.jpg" height="200" width="320" /></a>at 8:05)<br />
<br />
Ted, a media visionary, albeit often leveraging awful programming, was delivering what today a sponsored ad on Google, Facebook or Twitter might also do - help stand out in an ever-crowding media landscapes<br />
<br />
Clever tune-in strategies and tactics are needed more than ever as TV and digital video audiences are carved into thinner and thinner slices. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day this year, over 80 new cable and broadcast TV shows were launched. <br />
<br />
Based on my daily reading of <a href="http://www.cynopsis.com/category/cynopsis-digital/">Cynopsis</a>, something approaching 1,000 new web series launched from large media companies and consumer brands in the same period. Add to this the millions of User Generated YouTube videos uploaded every day.<br />
<br />
There is clearly too much video supply. I wouldn't put it in such apocalyptical terms as Michael Wolff did in a recent <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/experience/weekend/lifestyle/michael-wolff-how-media-usage-is-taking-over-our-lives/12487581/">USA Today Column</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Here we are. Living in a time when nothing is so abundant as visual
stimulation and narrative message. Media is no longer an appointment we
make, but instead the totality of our lives — transforming us.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
But
into what? Who are we then? Are we advancing or sinking? We are only at
the dawn of the age of immersive and total connectivity, of living in a
world that is once-removed, created, produced, reflected, enhanced,
packaged, filtered, shared.</blockquote>
Moving aside the social and psychological implications he raises - as only we media people can do - how does good content find and build an audience amidst such total abundance?<br />
<br />
It is certainly much more difficult than it was in the early days of cable when cable networks had distribution monopolies to rely on, and the internet was still in its infancy.<br />
<br />
The NY Times, in an article on Facebook, describes a new "world of fragments, filtered by code and delivered on demand."<br />
<br />
Ultimately, it's just much harder than it ever was and getting harder by the day. It requires a team that includes not only great storytellers, but nimble PR and social media execs, data and analytic geeks, and biz dev wolves who are on the prowl for the next new platform and distribution partnership.<br />
<br /></div>
Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-44367145740230432182014-07-10T09:46:00.001-04:002014-07-10T10:18:22.700-04:003 Million Views in 18 Hours: The Thrill of a Viral Video<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s4yXJzdxagY/U73A88pSlII/AAAAAAAAAQs/pdsdSKX51Ik/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-07-09+at+6.23.19+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s4yXJzdxagY/U73A88pSlII/AAAAAAAAAQs/pdsdSKX51Ik/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-07-09+at+6.23.19+PM.png" height="320" width="228" /></a>Last month one of our videos "went viral."<br />
<br />
It started with the comments on our YouTube channel. Dozens every few minutes, some snarky, some trollish, some genuinely passionate, others asking questions or wanting more info. At around the same time, the shares across YT, FB and Twitter started growing quickly. Then the views started piling up at a startling pace - thousands per minute, three million in less than two days. <br />
<br />
Within a few hours, old guard media outlets like CNN and ABC, along with the snappy upstarts like <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/richardhjames/just-a-great-white-shark-eating-an-inflatable-boat">BuzzzFeed</a>, were featuring the video, and before long there were very few people I spoke to that HADN'T seen "Great White Attacks Inflatable Boat."<br />
<br />
YouTube was the basecamp for this heady ride, and was where most of the viewing occured. However, our website and FB page saw a significant lift in activity. And, more importantly our niche wild animal brand, MaxAnimal, suddenly had thousands of new subscribers, and the attention of new business partners and advertisers. <br />
<br />
Just as shocking as the explosion in views, was how small the ad revenue YouTube delivered. (I kid our friends at YouTube.) But, it's impossible to build an online video business without YouTube, and the value their platform delivered to our brand could not be counted only in ad revenue. <br />
<br />
Can we recreate the magic? There is little science to media virality, but even an occasional home run like this can help us build our subscriber/fan base which makes us less dependent on the viral winds. With the increased subscriber base, all our videos are adding a steady flow of new views every day, not the least being the Shark video which is now approaching 5 million views.<br />
<br />
As a YouTube exec outlined during a recent talk, a fan base trumps an audience:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
An Audience tunes in when their told to, a fan base chooses when and what to watch.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
An Audience changes the channel when the show is over</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
A fanbase shares, comments, curates, creates </blockquote>
We are also bullish about the opportunity for niche channels to prosper in a new micro network world where subscribers are subscribing to the content they want to see. As one of the backers of Maker Studios wrote on <a href="http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2014/06/20/why-i-doubled-down-on-youtube-investments-with-mitu/">his blog</a> recently:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I have been saying privately for years now that I believe online video
will evolve into fragmented distribution and
vertical production. By “vertical production” I meant that many online
video production companies will have a strong vertical focus that will
help them win the battle to sign up talent, build stronger & more
loyal audiences and align with stronger advertiser relationships because
they serve more endemic audiences </blockquote>
</div>
Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-69226583049833204122014-05-12T12:58:00.000-04:002014-05-12T19:40:23.733-04:00The End Of The Parties?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The NewFronts were a blast. Some great parties, some great new content. Exciting time to be in the digital video industry.<br />
<br />
The head of the IAB was optimistic in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/08/business/media/for-online-video-publishers-a-new-tack-on-luring-ad-dollars.html?_r=0">NY Times</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
At the 2014 NewFronts, “we saw a new marketplace being born,” said
Randall Rothenberg, president and chief executive of the bureau,
likening this year on the digital video timeline to “1982 or 1983 in the
cable industry,” when advertisers were beginning to embrace cable by
spending significant sums to buy commercial time on CNN and the channel
now known as TBS.</blockquote>
I had the good fortune to be in the cable network industry back then and the times do seem similar - from the buzz, the entrepreneurial spirit and the wild randomness of content ideas and associated talent. However, there is one big thing missing - a monopolistic distribution platform (from the cable operators) that guaranteed shelf space and audience to the early entrants, regardless of how long it took to get the programming right. <br />
<br />
Today's ad supported programmers are dependent on fickle YouTube algorithms and a still emerging ecosystem of distribution platforms with any scale, beyond YouTube.<br />
<br />
If there is anyone to be bullish on, its AOL. Their party on a pier in the Brooklyn Navy Yard rivaled MTV's bashes in their glory years, and was attended by a who's who of advertisers, content creators and stars, all who are collaborating on dozens of new programs for AOL.<br />
<br />
At the end of the day, the NewFronts were PR events. Will the brands and their agencies who attended move dollars at the pace they did from broadcast to cable starting in the 80s? Or does the whole idea of over 100 upfront sales bazaars contradict a fast approaching new world order, where the advertisers are themselves media companies, armed with more and more tools to communicate directly with their customers.<br />
<br />
The most thought-provoking reaction to the NewFronts came from a <a href="http://www.twistimage.com/blog/archives/is-bethany-mota-the-future-of-the-newfronts/">media industry blog</a> I read:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
If I were a brand looking to truly connect, engage and build a direct
relationship with my consumers, I would be less impressed with more
video advertising inventory that can now be found online, and I would be
spending the bulk of that time figuring out who is our Bethany Mota? Is
it someone we build out from within, or is it someone we partner with
for success? </blockquote>
</div>
Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-55781873817386337572014-03-10T11:05:00.001-04:002014-03-10T11:25:20.736-04:00Jimmy's Excellent YouTube Adventure<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
During Jimmy Fallon's first four weeks as The Tonight Show host he
averaged roughly 5 million viewers per night. During the same four week
period, he racked up roughly 100 million views on the show's dedicated
YouTube channel. Some folks on his social media team have clearly
attended a YouTube boot camp or two as they are following every golden
rule for growing a YouTube audience, from a compelling welcome/subscribe
video to catchy thumbs and titles, to sharable content. And unlike the
many MCNs that are gasping for life outside the YouTube monolith, The
Tonight Show is using YouTube strictly as a marketing platform, even
choosing to run the clips ad-free.<br />
<br />
Based on the pace of
the first four weeks, the Tonight Show YT Channel could add well over 1
billion views by the end of the year. To put that in context, it has
taken Machinima, YouTube's most popular channel, six years to reach 4
billion views. And up until recently, YT has been their primary focus
and source of revenue. <br />
<br />
One could argue that NBC's parent, Comcast and YouTube are the 2 dominant televisual distribution platforms in the world, both getting stronger by the day - YouTube through new generational viewing habits and endorsements like this, and Comcast through extraordinary acquisitions like NBC and now TimeWarner Cable.<br />
<br />
But it seems YouTube is the real winner in this story. I for one am a huge Jimmy Fallon fan, but have never watched his previous show or the current one on television, opting to browse the best clips on YouTube throughout the week. Same for my teen age kids and many of my friends in the 25-54 demo.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Hillis">Danny Hillis</a>, an inventor and technology entrepreneur was quoted in a recent NY Times Sunday Magazine cover story where he highlighted Marshall McLuhan’s observation that the content of a new medium is the
old medium: that each new technology, when first introduced, recreates
the familiar technology it will supersede.</div>
Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-63435756000242030542014-01-15T12:01:00.000-05:002014-01-17T16:30:17.416-05:00Media Mogul Lessons from Ben Franklin<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DTQqHa09DEM/UtbFPajaQ8I/AAAAAAAAAQA/9YIcTM1wlO8/s1600/Benjamin-Franklin-WC-9301234-1-402.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DTQqHa09DEM/UtbFPajaQ8I/AAAAAAAAAQA/9YIcTM1wlO8/s200/Benjamin-Franklin-WC-9301234-1-402.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
One of the many fascinating sections in Walter Isaacson's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Benjamin-Franklin-An-American-Life/dp/074325807X">Benjamin Franklin biography</a> from a few years back describes our founding father as the country's first media mogul. At one point in his extraordinary life he not only published the most popular newspaper in the colonies but was the country's first postmaster general, in essence, owning the content and controlling the distribution platform.<br />
<br />
Media entreprenuers and executives of all stripes have been trying to recreate some form of this perfect business model ever since. Comcast is the biggest player today with hands in both content creation and distribution. I was part of the team that launched NY1 for Time Warner Cable in the early 90s. The initial business pitch went something like: "Let's create a local news channel and put it on Channel 1 in all our NYC subsciber homes and promote the hell of out it in all our customer communication." How could it not succeed?<br />
<br />
The problem is.... companies tend to be good at one or the other, but rarely both. The jury is still very much out on the NBC/Comcast merger. NY1 is a tiny business within the Time Warner Cable monolith. And more significantly, the most powerful media companies on the planet - Netflix, Amazon ,Google/YouTube, Facebook, Twitter - are distribution platforms. Netflix and Amazon are certainly giving content creation a strong push, but it is still a tiny portion of their business. <br />
<br />
But I am always fascinated by new attempts, regardless of the platform, demo or <span class="hw">unscrupulousness</span> of it. <br />
<br />
Here is some news on the latest, from Disney, the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/03/business/media/a-tablet-for-children-that-comes-with-its-own-penguins.html?ref=business&_r=0">"Dream Tab."</a></div>
Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-44189131553444875312013-12-03T19:05:00.003-05:002013-12-03T19:07:05.614-05:00Thanksgiving TV Talk<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The inevitable media/entertainment portion of Thanksgiving dinner conversation this year was less about the shows and more about the devices we use to watch them on/through. <br />
<br />
One cousin raved about his new $35 Chromecast, another still swears by his $99 Apple TV. Yet another, a TV Luddite, was mocked for still accessing Netflix through his kid's Wii. (A TV Luddite when I was growing up was someone who couldn't program the time on their VCR. ) <br />
<br />
The parents in the room shared teen iPad overdose stories and some of the preteens mentioned they only watch video content on their phones, and only then when they're not playing mobile games.<br />
<br />
Is it any wonder TW Cable is for sale?<br />
<br />
We are in the midst of an epic free-for-all where all previous formats of programming and models of distribution and advertising will be challenged and in many cases, cast aside.<br />
<br />
A.O Scott summed it up nicely in a story in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/01/magazine/the-big-picture-strikes-back.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0&ref=aoscott">last Sunday's NY Times.</a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Equally hard to refute is the idea that we are approaching a horizon of
video convergence, in which all those screens will be equal and
interchangeable and the distinctions between the stuff that’s shown on
each one won’t seem as consequential as it does now. We still tend to
take for granted that a cable drama, a network sitcom, a feature film, a
web video and a first-person combat game are fundamentally different
creatures, but they might really be diverse species within a single
genus, their variations ultimately less important than what they have in
common. They are all moving pictures, after all, and as our means of
access to them proliferate and recombine, those old categories are
likely to feel increasingly arbitrary and obsolete. </blockquote>
<br /></div>
Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-6952544474512873832013-09-11T20:01:00.000-04:002013-09-11T20:03:39.435-04:00The Plugin Drug<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Wow is it getting easier and easier to access the web on TV. My $39 Google chromecast arrived last week in a slick little Apple-style box. The size of a thumb drive, it plugs into the TV's HDMI port. Up pops a big screen inviting you to start "casting" video content from your smart phone, tablet or laptop.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vX7FmTa5L-U/UjEDB5hf8MI/AAAAAAAAAPY/ieSLx9fi7kY/s1600/photo+copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vX7FmTa5L-U/UjEDB5hf8MI/AAAAAAAAAPY/ieSLx9fi7kY/s320/photo+copy.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
A lot easier than Google's previous attempt at Internet TV, the Logitech
console and keyboard circa 2012, shown here as I prepare to wrap it up and throw
in into the bin of misfit toys</div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iGa4gl66h_A/UjEDD2g0TbI/AAAAAAAAAPg/6vXFZZp7S-g/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iGa4gl66h_A/UjEDD2g0TbI/AAAAAAAAAPg/6vXFZZp7S-g/s320/photo.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The chromecast has been getting a lot of press as it appears to be yet another important product that is going to help usher in the great TV disruption that still seems to be much more bark then bite. <br />
<br />
But I will point to some more compelling research, highlighted in <a href="http://allthingsd.com/20130814/why-apple-tv-is-a-cord-cutters-gateway-drug/">All Things Digital</a> a few weeks back, that indicates, devices like Apple TV and now chromecast, are truly gateway drugs to chord cutting.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Broadband users with “connected TVs” — that is, anything from a “smart
TV” to a TV with an Apple TV or Roku, or even a TV connected to a laptop
with a cable — say they are twice as likely to cut the cord as
broadband users who don’t connect their TV to the Internet.</blockquote>
And you know what happens when drugs get really cheap!<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-37193269708430851682013-07-31T17:09:00.000-04:002013-07-31T17:14:02.413-04:00Home Run<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Home runs are much less frequent in marketing than they are in baseball. Some might say it is difficult to even classify a marketing home run. But I think it would be hard to argue this one.<br />
<br />
<i> "The Blessing of the Bikes"</i><br />
<i> Pope Francis Blesses Thousands of Harley Bikers at the Vatica</i><b>n </b><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DLQyM0Q0ji4/Ufl6gGaLe6I/AAAAAAAAAO8/6MvguRpUC6c/s1600/20130617103852Pope_Harley_Davidson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="251" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DLQyM0Q0ji4/Ufl6gGaLe6I/AAAAAAAAAO8/6MvguRpUC6c/s320/20130617103852Pope_Harley_Davidson.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0JaAn7X7780/Ufl6IkLAhlI/AAAAAAAAAOs/wnxX_nT7Jio/s1600/98791245-pope-francis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0JaAn7X7780/Ufl6IkLAhlI/AAAAAAAAAOs/wnxX_nT7Jio/s320/98791245-pope-francis.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ApAN_UkeVuE/Ufl6T7aAz3I/AAAAAAAAAO0/GD1F9Be10xk/s1600/popedavidson4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ApAN_UkeVuE/Ufl6T7aAz3I/AAAAAAAAAO0/GD1F9Be10xk/s320/popedavidson4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
With so many media and promotion options, so much data, so many channels and platforms, so much of everything to be thinking about, some times it is just about a big freaking idea.<br />
<br />
A popular new Pope looking to show he is cool and different, a brand not afraid to try anything .... millions in free media exposure later.<br />
<br />
I want to know who thought of this and what tips they can share on creativity.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-69715424187567304952013-06-14T09:01:00.001-04:002013-06-14T11:51:00.926-04:00Standing Out In The Chaos<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Digital media is one cluttered, frenzied, assaulting market. Sometimes it feels like thousands of general contractors are all working independently on building the same skyscraper. Some great ideas, approaches and products, but overall ... total pandemonium.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-D34jPjUfTOE/Ubr_dZwqfEI/AAAAAAAAANA/QST6mcav2yA/s1600/MarketingFlowchart-LumaScape.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="234" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-D34jPjUfTOE/Ubr_dZwqfEI/AAAAAAAAANA/QST6mcav2yA/s320/MarketingFlowchart-LumaScape.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<br />
One media property that stands out in it's ability to leverage all the tools and technologies, and create an engaging environment for visitors and advertisers alike is The Bleacher Report. (Their purchase by Turner also represents one of the smarter new media company acquisitions by a traditional media company in recent years - millions of new visitors come from ever present links on the CNN.com home page.)<br />
<br />
Seamlessly bringing together professional sports reporting, user generated commentary via social media apps, online video feeds and contextually relevant and perfectly targeted advertising, Bleacher makes it all easy on the eyes. They also quite effectively lead visitors to become subscribers through a variety of frequency-capped sign up tools.<br />
<br />
Here's my experience this morning as I was taken to a Bleacher story from CNN:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oodj6LbRJLo/UbsJmK2FoLI/AAAAAAAAANo/MFKicLkKofE/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-06-14+at+8.14.54+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oodj6LbRJLo/UbsJmK2FoLI/AAAAAAAAANo/MFKicLkKofE/s320/Screen+Shot+2013-06-14+at+8.14.54+AM.png" width="320" /> </a></div>
<br />
Perfect tie-in for Dewars and their "For The Man Who Deserves More Than a gift"campaign. (I was actually sipping a Scotch last night during the game.)<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><br /></i><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sM_Ad8v2wOM/UbsOhrl42eI/AAAAAAAAAOE/OsnDFjllxdI/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-06-14+at+8.31.21+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sM_Ad8v2wOM/UbsOhrl42eI/AAAAAAAAAOE/OsnDFjllxdI/s320/Screen+Shot+2013-06-14+at+8.31.21+AM.png" width="320" /></a> </blockquote>
Multiple video clips through out the story with pre-roll ads from Dewars<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EiXDPLJ2lKQ/UbsOoShonDI/AAAAAAAAAOI/Lwwq74bsapA/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-06-14+at+8.28.22+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EiXDPLJ2lKQ/UbsOoShonDI/AAAAAAAAAOI/Lwwq74bsapA/s320/Screen+Shot+2013-06-14+at+8.28.22+AM.png" width="303" /></a></div>
Tweets from fans, ESPN reporters and NBA players also embedded in the story to add more color.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RJE_DWQDkz4/UbsRxylr1YI/AAAAAAAAAOY/3sDBj-Z6dyM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-06-14+at+8.45.48+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="269" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RJE_DWQDkz4/UbsRxylr1YI/AAAAAAAAAOY/3sDBj-Z6dyM/s320/Screen+Shot+2013-06-14+at+8.45.48+AM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Frequency capped pop-ups to convert visitors to subscribers.<br />
<br />
The only lost opportunity as I see it, was the addition of a highly shareable piece of branded video content for Dewars supporting their Father's Day campaign and deepening the brand integration experience.</div>
Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-81411270307281493002013-04-17T19:59:00.000-04:002013-04-17T20:06:43.432-04:00Online Video Television Time<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mh7zTPB-Kv4/UW82NxEjMhI/AAAAAAAAAMg/vU8kwXAoBB8/s1600/IMG_4816.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mh7zTPB-Kv4/UW82NxEjMhI/AAAAAAAAAMg/vU8kwXAoBB8/s320/IMG_4816.JPG" width="240" /></a>The average American watches 170 hours of TV each month, resulting in a $70 billion per year advertising business. Depending on which research source you reference, this viewership, on the biggest screen in the house, is either shrinking slightly, growing slightly, or staying the same. And no matter how vehemently and often we portend the death of traditional TV based on our kid's emerging viewing habits and other anecdotal evidence, the more indestructible the "single most profitable big business in America" appears to be. (Another record-breaking upfront is in the works.)<br />
<br />
I am in a sector of the media business that is growing faster than any other, online video, yet is surprisingly (based on all the hype) insignificant compared to TV. Viewership is 7 hours per month and annualized ad revenue in the $3 billion range - 4% of television for both metrics.<br />
<br />
This dose of reality was the topic of a recent <a href="http://www.beet.tv/2013/04/gannetts-payne-online-video-slow-to-take-on-tv.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BeetTV+%28Beet.TV%29&utm_content=Google+Reader">Beet.TV clip</a> titled "Online Video Slow To Take On TV." The exec featured in the clip, from Gannet, makes a great point - one of the reasons that television continues to boom
over online video is that television’s place has been primarily in the
home while online video’s place has been primarily at work. "We need to get into the home before we can see massive growth," he says.<br />
<br />
We recently launched a new online video venture that is growing quickly, albeit in online video terms. It features amazing content from one of the top producers of this type of content in the world. I asked my kids to take a look and give me feedback. Before we could gather around the iMac in our den, my 12 year old had it loaded on our connected TV in the living room where we watched <a href="http://maxanimal.com/">MaxAnimal </a>clips for a good hour or so.<br />
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Television time!</div>
Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-91545630540713994072013-02-06T18:23:00.000-05:002013-02-06T18:23:09.178-05:00YouTube's Amazon Strategy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T4yQTJeKrFQ/UQ_KUDaA_mI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/7qOAK4A-1As/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-02-04+at+9.45.14+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="119" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T4yQTJeKrFQ/UQ_KUDaA_mI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/7qOAK4A-1As/s200/Screen+Shot+2013-02-04+at+9.45.14+AM.png" width="200" /></a></div>
More often than not, I will see this "Skip Ad" icon pop up when I am browsing YouTube, if I even see an ad at all. Quite different from the 120-second commerical breaks on many of the network TV video sites. Seriously ... I tried watching a much-hyped recent episode of the Jimmy Kimmel show on ABC's online video portal. Within minutes of being told that the show would be presented "with limited commercial interruption", a commerical break of four consecutive 30-second commercials interrupted the action; an eternity when viewing in lean-forward mode on a small screen.<br />
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Seems You Tube is going the route of Amazon, forgoing profits and easy money in exchange for customer growth and loyalty. They are running lots of ads, but the sheer volume of content and traffic on YouTube dilutes the impact, resulting in a very pleasant, and addictive viewing experience. No company has been as successful as Amazon with this approach. As reported in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/technology/amazon-earnings.html?_r=0">Times</a> last week, "Amazon has had plenty of opportunities to raise its margins in the past, but instead routinely has chosen to reward its customers."<br />
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Certainly Google doesn't have the unique "profits will come later" flexibilty Amazon enjoys with the markets, so we will see. They also haven't been chained to enormous content production budgets like the networks, but that is also changing quickly.<br />
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Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1987215734181921630.post-71903252488468895272013-01-03T17:16:00.001-05:002013-01-03T17:16:36.829-05:00Is Cable Television Really Dying?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iaDqw-QBgOI/UOYCJ5mMcbI/AAAAAAAAAL0/Gn_nfzpxC_g/s1600/cable-tv-digital.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="136" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iaDqw-QBgOI/UOYCJ5mMcbI/AAAAAAAAAL0/Gn_nfzpxC_g/s200/cable-tv-digital.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Great piece last month in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/magazine/the-mad-men-economic-miracle.html?pagewanted=2">NY Times Magazine</a> on cable television's extraordinary business model. A must read for anyone who wonders why so much junk, along with a handful or truly great programming jewels, can continue to generate such enormous revenue year after year, despite the endless prediction of a collapse.<br />
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After describing "cable's ascendance in to arguably America's single most-profitable big business" and why demographic and technological factors are already very slowly killing it, the author paints his picture of the future:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Perhaps we’ll get a truly free digital marketplace, one in which each
program competes on its own without any outsize monopoly profits for
whoever owns the wires and the channels. In many ways, that would be a
much better system. Cable providers behave like OPEC, a cartel that
keeps prices high and limits innovation. With little or no barrier to
entry, better ideas and programs would win, while old, monopolistic
conglomerates would crumble. If entertainment becomes anything like more
competitive markets — cellphones, say — there should more variety and
lower cost. </blockquote>
Ironically, as the author notes, there may be much less gambling on big budget shows like Game of Thrones, Mad Men and Breaking Bad.<br />
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Jan Rennerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06515854181906690388noreply@blogger.com