Overcoming Digital A.D.D.
Pulled from a September 14, 2010 panel I joined sponsored by The Groop (a robust brand and creative house in downtown LA), where we talked about creating innovative User Experiences or UX that keep user focus on your site – as opposed to multi-moving away to other sites or digital experiences (aka regular A.D.D.).
A fun panel including execs from CitySearch, MySpace (interesting reinvention time for them), TempleHome and The Groop’s senior experience designer.
The Ten Spot: Dec 7, 2009
On today’s TenSpot – counting down to Vevo’s launch – how can it improve on the Hulu model and get subscriptions/micro and macro (macro being monthly/yearly subscriptions?) transactions; MySpace backgrounder from FT; Aardvark (Vark.com) social search eyed by Google – a blocking move for Eric Schmidt (@ericschmidt) on Twitter?; a brilliant NYT article on Jerry Maguire as “Representative Man”; niche private sale site OneKingsLane.com’s funded by Kleiner Perkins; Peter Liguori to Discovery to grown OWN; and Mahalo reaching 13M uniques quickly…
via I want my Vevo: Will video site be next-gen MTV? – CNET News
[Note: New Medici is working on Vevo's launch campaign with client MP+G] Rio Caraeff, Vevo’s CEO, says the music video is only one of the site’s features. The obligatory playlists will be available but music lyrics will also be offered. Vevo’s mission is to attract [cpm] rates of $25 to $40. “What we’re really doing is taking back control of everything,” said [Doug] Morris, who operates the largest of the top four recording companies. “This is us taking control of our future…Vevo enables us to provide consumers with about 80 percent of all the music videos in the world. So, this is really like MTV on steroids. We’re starting with that kind of audience. But now we’re in control of it. We don’t have to go through a middleman anymore.”
via The rise and fall of MySpace – FT
[Long article but light in reporting from FT - doesn't talk about why things went haywire, Levinsohn's reason for departing, but good overview for newbies] But by the beginning of 2008, things began to sour. Facebook, a rival social network that was simpler and easier to use, was gaining momentum and starting to grow more quickly than MySpace. Murdoch confidently told the world that MySpace would make $1bn in advertising revenues in 2008 – but the company missed its target. Users began to desert the site, which had become cluttered with unappealing ads for teeth straightening and weight-loss products.
New Medici: Media “Ten Spot”
Deadline / #1 ‘Paranormal Activity’ Scares Away Weekend Rivals
[Nikki Finke] can report that, as it expands for next Halloween weekend, the studio is starting to think the thriller has a shot at $100M. Which would make this the most profitable pic in modern Paramount history. After all, the project was acquired for a mere $300K, and the studio spent under $10M total on prints and advertising, “so this will be the best return Paramount has ever had,” an insider tells me. Amazing, since Paramount had been playing the movie mostly at midnight shows and in just a 100 or so dates. Then again, the hype has been so successful — right down to the claim that Steven Spielberg screened it and returned it in a trash bag.
Circle of Eight tells the story of a young woman who moves into an historic building, The Dante, where she encounters an assortment of neighbors harboring a mysterious secret that unravels in a chain of deaths and supernatural interactions. Multiple levels of interactive content enhance the audience’s connection with Circle of Eight, including hidden clues, an online and mobile game, and exclusive material that can be unlocked through game play.
Viewers can tune into MySpace at www.myspace.com/circleof8 now to watch the first three episodes of the series. Following the online run on MySpace, Circle of Eight will be available for rent exclusively at participating BLOCKBUSTER® stores, as well as by mail and through BLOCKBUSTER On Demand®. The full-length film will have additional scenes and a surprise alternate ending.
FT.com / UK – Hollywood told to rewrite script
Mr Iger advocates a thorough re-examination of costs associated with marketing and film production. The solution, he said, required “research and development, risk-taking . . . real focus on changing the status quo”. Next month Disney plans to unveil Keychest, a new technology that will allow digital copies of films to be stored remotely and then viewed and moved across several platforms, such as smartphones, or games consoles such as Microsoft’s Xbox.
Yahoo! News / Disney CEO calls for rethink of movie model
Iger advocated a fundamental rethink of the costs associated with movie production and marketing. Disney’s movies studios, which account for about 15 percent of the media conglomerate’s revenue, suffered a 12 percent fall in sales in the quarter to June 27 and swung to an operating loss of $12 million.
Broadcasting & Cable / Rupert’s Main Man: Q&A With News Corp.’s Chase Carey
[Chase Carey] I think cable networks are a great business; they have a lot of room to grow. The areas that would be at the top of the list would be international, which is a place to which we bring a unique set of strengths. In some ways, the international market is uniquely appealing. You always want to be an opportunist with the content businesses. There are ways to really expand that content portfolio. If I look at our cable group, it’s not where I’d like it to be today. I look at Discovery, it’s a road map of where I’d like to be.
NYTimes / Eisner’s Web Video Studio, Vuguru, to Emerge With Backing
Bolstered by an investment from Rogers Communications, one of Canada’s largest media companies, the budding new-media mogul Michael Eisner is expanding his Web video studio.
Mr. Eisner [...] intended to increase production of the programming that he started financing two and a half years ago. Under a dozen series have been released by Vuguru to date, but he would like the company years from now to be producing 30 series a year. “The most important thing is volume, honestly,” he said. Mr. Eisner said he expected Vuguru to generate 10 to 12 series in 2010, gradually building up to the goal of 30 a year. Read more >>
Banking the Unbankable, Coinstar Empowers Young Gamers
Truth be told I’ve known about this initiative by Coinstar for a little while now, mainly through following one of the companies (Rixty) listed in the release, so I was thrilled to see this news hit the wires yesterday because it’s a great example of a traditional brick-and-mortar based business finding creative ways to get in the new media world game. The basic premise is that Coinstar is allowing consumers (read: pre-teen and teen gamers with no access to credit cards as a way of paying for their digital entertainment addiction – I mean, hobby) to turn in their coins in exchange for pre-paid spending cards for onling games, virtual worlds and social networks.
MySpace Facelifts COO+CPO: Michael Jones, Jason Hirschhorn
Fox Chief Digital Officer Jon Miller is a busy recruiter these days. After bringing in Owen Van Natta as new CEO, Michael Jones (formerly of Userplane which sold to Miller’s AOL, and recently Tsavo Agency) and Jason Hirschhorn (formerly President of Sling Media and CDO of MTV Networks) as COO and CPO (Chief Product Officer), respectively. Think “AOL + MTV [x Facebook] = New MySpace.” After the jump, insight into where this troika takes MySpace to innovate the social network/portal. Read more >>
MySpace Facelift, New CEO Owen Van Natta
MySpace’s “loss of face” to Facebook, a rough and tumble economy and a pivotal change of company seats, i.e., Peter Chernin, at News Corp (and MySpace’s own COO and senior technical team’s exodus) has contributed to a major executive facelift of MySpace. While their track record of change with Jeff Berman as President of Sales and Marketing and pitch towards being framed as a “social portal” has helped, the inability to keep up with Facebook’s growth rate and product innovation has forced change at MySpace. With the forthcoming announcement (today) by new CDO Jon Miller of former Facebook COO, Owen Van Natta, to the CEO spot, Fox and Murdoch are betting on social competitiveness to regain position. After the jump, we’ll look at Van Natta, and outside choice, Jason Calacanis’ recommendations. Read more >>
MySpace on the Bounty
No mutiny here actually, but we like the pun – today, MySpace’s COO and SVPs of Engineering + Product Strategy jumped off the boat. Noted as a “rising star,” 27-year-old Amit Kapur (MySpace’s COO) is leaving for a start-up after 13 months at the social network portal. In charge of global ops, it’s a fresh turn for Kapur; and a dynamic story of an acquired start-up supporting player turning into a new, untethered, start-up featured role. Think Googler turned Xoogler metaphor. Read more >>
Has MySpace become “MySpaced”?
On reading Techcrunch’s advance review of a WSJ reporter’s new tell-all book on MySpace, I updated my Facebook status with bewilderment that MySpace passed on buying Facebook for $75M in 2004. And I made a Freudian typo… Read more >>
Social Networks as Tech Challenge
CES 2009 Panel: Social Networks & User Generated Media as a Technology Challenge: The Platform, the Content & the Network. Amid 150″ HD television announcements, this past Saturday I paneled a CES/Digital Hollywood discussion on the start-up requirements of social networks – what the technology challenges were, new ways to acquire users and monetize during recession. Read more >>