NATPE - National Association of Television Program Executives

C21Media.net’s Can digital Hollywood deliver?

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 21:56:42 +0100

Hollywood is stepping up its efforts to create original online series, but is the studio system capable of coming up with a hit Internet format, and just how do you judge success in this medium? C21 Media.net’s Jonathan Webdale, in a story filed on October 31, asks Can digital Hollywood deliver?

Sorority Forever (left) debuted on MySpaceTV in September, the latest among a rapidly lengthening roll-call of online shows emerging from Hollywood’s studio system in a bid to crack the dark art of Internet entertainment.

If a couple of guys in a garage can create a phenomenon like Lonelygirl15, then surely the collective talents of Tinseltown can come up with something better.

Well maybe, but Sorority is playing it safe, drawing on the popularity of LG15 lead Jessica Rose and the coproduction skills of Big Fantastic, the outfit behind web series Sam Has 7 Friends and the Michael Eisner-backed Prom Queen.

Sorority comes out of Warner Bros. Studio 2.0, the division the company set up two years ago to tackle perhaps the greatest challenge facing Hollywood right now: how to come to grips with a medium that’s threatening its existence.

Can Jessica Rose really come to the rescue? At the time of this writing – 18 episodes into the series’ 40-installment run – MySpace was clocking up reasonable numbers, between 50,000 and 200,000 for each.

It’s not clear how the show’s performing on TheWB.com (left), Warner Bros.’ broadband revival of its one-time TV network, but either way, Sorority still doesn’t look like the breakaway hit Hollywood’s holding out for.

If only the web weren’t there at all. Life would be so much easier. People would stay glued to their TV screens and continue to consume the multimillion-dollar-per-episode dramas and sitcoms the studios have traded in for decades.

The Internet isn’t exactly blowing all that away, but it is exerting considerable pressure on the status quo. The plot Hollywood is having to figure out is how to take its big-budget genius and apply it to an environment that plays by an entirely different set of rules, if indeed there are any rules at all.

The trouble is, no one’s written a script like this before. But at a time when TV advertising is purportedly in decline and viewers are spending more and more time online, it’s critical that someone come up with a working draft soon.

Gemini Division (left) is NBC Universal’s (NBCU) first attempt, a 50-episode online sci-fi series that kicked off in August. The plot is unmistakably a Hollywood product, and so is its star, Rosario Dawson, who first sprang to fame in Sin City as a machine-gun-toting, fishnet-stocking-wearing hooker.

When NBCU announced Gemini in April it came with the news that it was setting up a new digital studio. But in truth the Peacock trumpeted the creation of the same operation back in the autumn of 2005. If the aim this time around was to erase all memories of series such as Junior Year Abroad and About Face, it really didn’t need to bother.

What is different now is that NBCU has to some extent honed its business model, partnering with Omnicom Media Group to try to bring in the agency’s clients at the earliest stages of potential projects.

“We’re lining up advertisers and brands before we move forward into production, which is a little different from how other folk are looking at this,” says Cameron Death (left), VP at NBCU Digital Studio.

“We have a first-look deal where we’re providing Omnicom with a look at our slate prior to other agencies and they’re pulling us in early and giving us a look at some of the brand plans and briefings that are occurring with them. Advertisers and brands are critical to us and the studio’s success.”

Gemini has been entirely funded by advertising, although Microsoft, Cisco, Intel, Acura and UPS were wooed by Creative Artists Agency before NBCU was named U.S. distribution partner.

The show actually comes from Electric Farm Entertainment and is co-owned by Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI). The two collaborated last year on Afterworld (below), Sony’s first foray into original digital – a futuristic multiplatform animated series for which Dawson provided a voice-over, and which has sold globally since its debut in the U.S. on Anheuser-Busch’s ill-fated Bud.tv.

“It was a property that defined us as a group because we’ve always been a traditional TV company and through the success of Afterworld I was able to bring in a mobile and digital team,” says Marie Jacobson, SPTI’s executive VP of programming and production. “That’s really spawned what we’re now setting out to do, which is create a full suite of original proprietary digital projects.”

Jacobson says the experience of Afterworld taught Sony some important lessons that it’s carried through to Gemini, the first international sale of which has been sealed in Australia, where Afterworld aired to great success on Sci Fi Channel.

In the pipeline is Woke Up Dead, an online zombie comedy with Napoleon Dynamite star Jon Heder, which also comes from Electric Farm – a firm set up by veteran Hollywood producers Stan Rogow, Brent Friedman and Jeff Sagansky. NBCU has again claimed U.S. distribution.

Jacobson (left) says the series will debut early next year and that Sony has another six projects in the works, three of which it will look to launch next spring. “We’re definitely spending seven figures on development but we’re not being silly. We’re investing very tactically.”

NBCU isn’t exclusively choosing original web productions that are entirely ad-funded and has nine shows in development, some of which it will fund and produce in-house, but it's actively pitching all to advertisers right now. Jacobson says Sony’s approach is less brand-centric.

“Advertising is critical to our success but I don’t think like a media planner, I think like a programmer and a development executive. Something that’s really important to me personally is that we apply the same creative standards to whatever we commission for the web, and it’s not dependent solely on whatever advertisers we have on board.”

NBCU’s Death says the Digital Studio’s attempts at weaving brands more deeply into its web series will not compromise their integrity. “I won’t put anything online that I wouldn’t feel comfortable putting on air or putting the Peacock logo on. We’re upping the game in terms of the level of production quality, the star power and the way we’re having brands interact with the content,” he says.

Over at CBS Interactive, director of web original content Jigar Thakarar has just presided over the launch of the company’s first two online shows. The first, an Ikea-sponsored comedy, stars … wait for it … Illeana Douglas, Jeff Goldblum, Tom Arnold, Craig Bierko, Kevin Pollack, Justine Bateman, Robert Patrick and Ed Begley Jr.

CBS acquired the show from SXM a few days after it debuted on YouTube, pulling it from the world’s biggest video-sharing site in favor of running the remaining episodes exclusively on TV.com, a business CBS picked up with its $1.8 billion summer acquisition of CNET Networks.

“It’s a little bit of a departure from our primary model, which is developing shows ourselves, taking them to sponsors, pre-funding them and then distributing them through our Audience Network,” says Thakarar, referring to CBS’s string of online distribution partners – AOL, MSN, Yahoo! and Bebo among them.

This model has been adhered to with the company’s second web series, a clip show about primetime TV called The Dial, which it’s also chosen to window on TV.com before considering a wider release. Created and funded in-house, the series is currently without a brand on board.

“We’re putting it up to test demand and we’re actively seeking out sponsors for it now,” says Thakarar. Several other projects are in the early stages and again, bringing in advertising partners from the outset is a crucial part of the equation.

“What we’re pitching to them is scripted, branded entertainment that they’re going to see and have input on. These ideas were generated with an advertiser in mind but it’s not going to be overt product placement to the extent that the story doesn’t come first. Although the brand is featured and is in some cases the star, the entertainment value is really what we try to focus on and strive for.”

Gauging success on the Internet is also something the studios are still very much trying to come to grips with. NBCU’s Death says it’s “an interesting philosophical discussion” the Digital Studio group has all the time.

“Would I turn down tens of millions of views on YouTube? No, not at all, but I think we need to change the conversation about what success looks like. What I look for is how engaged people are with my brand and how much time they are spending with it, and that’s a very different measure from just a raw view number.”

Indeed, if this barometer were applied to Squeegees (above), the first original series to come out of Disney-ABC digital studio Stage 9, it certainly wouldn’t qualify for hit status. Having shown promise, with its second episode racking up over 300,000 YouTube views, by the fifth installment the number had dropped to little more than 3,000.

Barry Jossen (below), ABC Studios executive VP of creative and Stage 9 general manager, says that such a narrow definition doesn’t do justice to the Handsome Donkey co-production, which debuted in February. “We think it’s been very successful. It premiered on ABC.com and YouTube, sponsored by Toyota. Following the initial launch we’ve expanded the distribution to a number of different sites. Mevio, Hulu, eBaum’s World are examples. When we aggregate all the views together, Squeegees is now at over 2.5 million views, which is a significant number for any original online video.”

A further mark of the series’ success, he says, is that Disney-ABC Television International has now sold it to MSN Europe, where it’s due to launch soon. “We have very high expectations it will perform well there too,” he says, and Stage 9 is already in post-production on Handsome Donkey’s next project, Decisions Decisions.

But hopes of having Stage 9’s second series – an ambitious sci-fi action thriller called Trenches – out by last spring were dashed, highlighting the challenges Hollywood studios are encountering with web content.

“It’s probably the largest production ever made for new media, loaded with visual effects and space battles. Due to the complication of the production and the cost structure we have, it took a long time to complete post-production, which has now finally happened. You’re going to see it this fall,” says Jossen.

“There’s a lot to be learned but there’s also the issue of building up enough inventory so that we can have regularity and frequency of releases. What’s been going on over the past six months has been a re-evaluation of our development and getting projects through the production process.”

Some are skeptical that any of the studios will succeed in original digital entertainment, partly due to the fact that their main motivation is rationalizing their businesses rather than innovation for innovation’s sake, and also because newcomers tend to succeed in new media.

“NBC and CBS didn’t make it in cable, Ted Turner and MTV Networks did – they were new brands on a new platform,” says Herb Scannell (left), chairman of Next New Networks, owner of a portfolio of Internet TV channels.

He should know. Prior to co-founding Next New in January last year, Scannell was vice-chairman of MTVN and president of Nickelodeon. Like former Disney CEO Michael Eisner with his digital media studio Vuguru, Scannell decided to step out of the Hollywood system and try to create web content from there.

Obama Girl (below), star of one of Next New’s channels, Barely Political, is probably the biggest success story to have emerged from these attempts. “She regularly gets 2 to 3 million views any time she makes a video. Barely Political last month had 42 million views,” says Scannell.

He gives short shrift to the Hollywood studios’ attempts to generate online hits by bringing in the likes of Rosario Dawson. “It’s a strategy that can work. Stars are stars and they are of every medium but I think stars are also born of a medium,” he says.

Disney’s Rossen is unfazed by such comments and admits great creativity can come from anywhere, but believes that the opportunity and the resources that the studio system provides mean it’s as good a place as anywhere for it to happen.

“What I can say with a lot of confidence is that the transcendent pop cultural hit from new media has not emerged yet. We’re pioneers now. There’s no path to success, no path to profitability, no path to longevity, so we’re all out here forging ahead, trying our own ideas to find that formula and establish an industry that will have durability.”

What the studios have learned so far:

Quality
It’s absolutely essential to have high-quality content, both in terms of production values and in execution. It needs strong storytelling and good performances.

Delivery
People want great, deep storytelling but they also want it fast. Asking them to wait six months for a narrative to play out in such an immediate medium is asking too much.

Awareness
Having proper marketing and promotion is crucial to make sure the audience knows where the content is and how to find it.

Ubiquity
Having distribution that enables the audience to access the content from multiple locations is very important.

Sponsorship
Since most content is available free but there is some cost involved in producing it, you must have sponsorship to drive the whole system.

Community
Video drives viewership and creates an audience, a community. Once that is formed it needs a place to congregate. Interactivity or social networking are helpful tools in building and maintaining the community.
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NATPE VideoNuze’s Will Richmond says “Broadcasters Must Do More to Succeed with ...

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:51:12 +0100

Even before the recent economic crisis, broadcast networks were facing unprecedented challenges. An article in The Wall Street Journal, “Network Audience Keeps Eroding,” caught my attention as it highlighted the current season’s viewership shortfalls. The article pointed out that four of the five major broadcasters have suffered double-digit percentage declines in same-day primetime viewing among 18-49-year-olds as compared with a year ago.

To me, the overarching thematic challenge that broadcasters now face is how to successfully address the core 18-49-year-old audience. This group is important not only for traditional reasons relating to its appeal to advertisers, but also because it represents the leading edge of audience behaviors that will only accelerate in the future.

So what should broadcasters be doing? Here are three suggestions:

Broaden definition of programming and brand promise

Broadcasters must re-imagine what constitutes compelling visual entertainment. The traditional paradigm of 30- and 60-minute time blocks, scripted to accommodate preset advertising pods and programmed sequentially on specified evenings, is increasingly meaningless in an on-demand world. Programming should be looked at as anything that entertains the audience, on their terms, period. This is particularly relevant for 18-49-year-olds who arguably have the most entertainment alternatives.

Though it breaks with traditional success formulas, network executives should be excited by this, as it loosens creative constrictions. Further, it offers up the opportunity to expand a network’s “brand promise” to become positioned as a “wherever, however, whenever entertainment provider.” Going forward, networks should view themselves as being in the entertainment business, not just the TV business. This would also help bring advertisers along, as they too are suffering from diminished consumer access.

Embrace new distribution platforms and help drive new development

In the above vein, broadcasters must fully embrace new distribution platforms like broadband, mobile, VOD and DVR. Creating programming specifically for these platforms, suited for each one’s strengths and weaknesses, is essential. Simply repurposing TV shows for these platforms is insufficient to meet 18-49-year-olds’ entertainment appetites.

Further, broadcasters need to take a leadership role in how these new platforms evolve. It is not enough to accept what technology and service providers choose to prioritize and offer. Instead broadcasters must have their own roadmaps and requirements, and work actively to see that their needs are met. This is a new role for broadcasters and they need to learn to embrace it.

Focus on experience, not just ratings

Broadcasters need to look at their shows as the hub of an ongoing and immersive entertainment experience, not just a once-per-week interaction to be measured in ratings points. A network’s “customer relationship” is repeatedly put on hiatus between episodes (and worse, between seasons!), thus undermining the viewer’s loyalty and engagement. A friend recently lamented to me that NBC is offering just 14 new episodes of The Office this season. Realistically, what kind of customer relationship should NBC expect to have when so many other weeks of the year pass without offering a product to its customers?

Broadcasters have incredibly compelling assets that can be the basis for deeper audience engagement and experiences. Mining all the various interactive tools and capabilities that 18-49-year-olds already regularly engage with is crucial to bonding with audiences and creating excitement and ongoing loyalty. To be sure, some of this is already happening, but in perusing the networks’ websites it’s obvious there’s a lot more that can be done.

Final Thoughts

Broadcasters are getting squeezed by audience fragmentation, new technologies and the shift to on-demand consumption. The 18-49-year-old cohort is ground zero for networks to maintain their future health. What the networks choose to do, and how well they succeed at it, is surely a business school case study in the making.

What can we learn from Wilmington

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:23:28 +0100

On September 8, the charming port city of Wilmington, North Carolina, located between the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean, became the nation’s test market for the upcoming DTV transition. The Wilmington market, ranked 135th in the nation, comprises 180,000 total TV homes, of which only about 15,000 (7%) rely solely on over-the-air reception. While that is less than the estimated 15% of U.S. television households who currently receive their television programming through over-the-air signals (according to a study published by Frank N. Magid Associates), Wilmington may still serve as a fair sampling of what we can expect on February 17, 2009.

However, according to a Nielsen research paper released Wednesday, October 15, nearly one in five U.S. households are partially or completely unprepared for the transition to digital broadcasting, which translates to more than 9 million TV households (another 12.6 million households have at least one over-the-air TV set) that will not be able to receive a digital signal after the switch occurs in February.

That’s why NATPE News felt it was important to share a recent Jessell at Large column, written by TVNewsday editor and co-publisher Harry A Jessell, which was published on September 12 and entitled (http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2008/09/12/daily.3/) Wilmington DTV Test Portends Feb. Crisis. In that article, Jessell reported that, in his estimation, “about 5 percent of the homes that rely on off-air reception for some or all of their TV were either unaware or unprepared for the market’s early DTV switch.”

Jessell went on to report:

The FCC, the NAB and the local broadcasters poured a tremendous amount of money and countless man-hours into making sure everybody in the market was ready for the big event.

Martin was down there so much you would have thought he was running for public office.

I wasn’t there in the weeks leading up to Monday’s switchover, but the broadcasters assure me that the effort was extraordinary. If fact, some said that they were beating the DTV drum so loudly that some of their viewers had begun complaining and demanding that they knock it off.

Yet, despite it all, 5 percent of the homes still were caught short.

I am now going to assume that the good people of Wilmington are the same as Americans everywhere – just as technically savvy, just as tuned in to what’s going on in the world and just as prone to putting things off until the last minute.

If that is the case, then we should expect that at least 1.7 million homes will be at a loss on the morning of February 18, 2009, the morning after every full-power TV station as a matter of law must turn off its analog transmitter.

According to the NAB, 34.2 million of the 113 million homes in the nation still get TV via antennas on at least one set. Five percent of 34.2 million is 1.7 million. But that, I think, is the best-case scenario.

No other market will get the same kind of attention that Wilmington has received. Neither the FCC nor the NAB has the resources to mount anywhere near the same kind of campaign in the other 209 TV markets as they did in Wilmington.

So, I’m thinking that the actual percentage of homes left behind will be around 10 percent and the actual number will be 3.4 million.

That’s an awful lot of homes. There are many executive producers who would love to attract that many households to their programs.

From all accounts, the FCC and the local broadcasters in Wilmington are working hard to take care of the callers. Dan Ullmer, the chief engineer at WCET, told me in an interview that the station’s hired people to follow up with the 150 people who complained directly to the station.

Connie Knox, the GM at Capitol Broadcasting’s WILM, the CBS low-power affiliate, says that “one of the coolest things that has been happening” is local firefighters have been hooking up converter boxes and antennas for those who can’t do it themselves. “In a way, television is part of the public safety venue and that’s what they’re all about,” she says.

That is cool, but there is no way the FCC and local broadcasters are going to be able to cope with the problems of 3.4 million homes – more than 8 million people – no matter how hard they try. Firefighters pitching in is not likely to happen in markets much larger than Wilmington.

So, the first lesson of Wilmington is that the FCC and local broadcasters have to prepare for the flood of calls they will receive on February 18. In larger markets, this may mean setting up phone banks of some kind and perhaps finding volunteers to answer calls and, if possible, go to the homes of people who can’t figure it out for themselves.

Is the FCC going to be willing to take most of the calls as it has in Wilmington by broadcasting its toll-free number? Broadcasters have spent a lot of time worrying about what happens before February 17, but very little, I think, to what comes after.

Other lessons and observations:

Broadcasters must put much more effort into educating folks about antennas. Judging from the phone calls in Wilmington, the big problem is not the converter boxes, it’s the antennas – getting the right one and getting it in the right spot.

Keep in mind that Wilmington with its flat terrain is ideal for broadcasting. The reception problems are going to rise significantly in markets with hills and valleys and with DTV signals in both the VHF and UHF bands. In Wilmington, all the stations are U’s.

Broadcasters should begin touting the benefits of digital so that off-air viewers have an incentive to switch to digital well before the analog cutoff.

Andy Combs, the GM of WWAY, Wilmington’s ABC affiliate, says that his station has received e-mails and calls thanking it for its multicast weather channel and the improved pictures.

“We’ve been broadcasting a digital signal for six years,” he says. “People are calling us now saying, ‘Wow, what an awesome picture,’ and they could have been watching it all along.”

Broadcasters need to do more and longer “soft tests,” in which they replace the programming on their analog signal with informational graphics.

To date, most soft tests have been brief. WCET’s Ullmer suggests that the tests be extended to a full half-hour during times when a lot of homes are normally watching TV. I would go even further.

All the stations in every market should cooperate on at least one, one-hour soft test a month or so before the deadline. Instead of a graphic, the hour could be filled with a program explaining the transition and how to hook up converters and antennas. If the program is done well, I bet the stations could even find sponsors.

The government needs to permit at least one station in every market to continue broadcasting an analog signal with a graphic after the cutoff.

This is what is happening in Wilmington. The stations didn’t actually cut off their analog signals. They just replaced the programming on them with an informational graphic containing the FCC help-line number.

The lawyers tell me that the FCC can’t permit analog broadcasting past February 17 on its own authority. If so, the NAB needs to go to Capitol Hill and get the law changed.

The government should stagger the cutoff dates so that the millions of confused and frustrated viewers don’t all take to the phones expressing their confusion and frustration on the same day.

This definitely would take at act of Congress. But so what? We now have the evidence of Wilmington to show that no matter what broadcasters and the FCC do, millions will be left behind on February 17. The deadline could be set for March 17 in some markets, April 17 in others and May 17 in still others.

Those April and May dates, by the way, could be reserved for stations in the northern climes that are going to have a tough time making final changes to transmission facilities and towers prior to Febraury 17 in the dead of winter.

Martin said Wednesday that the Wilmington experiment is “going smoothly.” And, in a sense, it is. The FCC and others are efficiently fielding calls and following up to ensure that most complaints are resolved.

But Wilmington isn’t America and 3.4 million is a whole lot different than 1,500.

Understanding Branded Entertainment

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:36:44 +0100

NATPE’s VideoNuze Editor Will Richmond Helps Us to Understand Branded Entertainment

Readers of VideoNuze know that I have been tracking brand marketers’ varied broadband initiatives, which are whittling away traditional demarcations between advertising and content. Broadband is opening up a whole new frontier for brands to engage their audiences.

Moderating a panel discussion on Branded Entertainment, we had a stellar group of panelists who have been on the front lines of branded entertainment, including three from agencies (Jeremy Lockhorn from Avenue A Razorfish, Joe Frydl from Ogilvy Entertainment and John McCarus from Digitas/The Third Act) and two from independent video sites making a strong push into this area (Rob Barnett from MyDamnChannel and Peter Hoskins from ManiaTV).

The whole area of branded entertainment is still in its infancy, meaning different things to different people. The panel’s consensus was that these projects must provide “entertaining consumer experiences in which brands receive ‘permission’ to market their products.” Joe, who’s produced the Hellmann’s “Real Food” campaign (now back for its second season on Yahoo), emphasized the importance of presenting content that’s authentic to the brand while also finding partners who can deliver big audiences.

Those partners can vary, as John mentioned that in a recent 45-webisode series it created for Holiday Inn Express, 90% of the series’ views came from 10% of its overall distribution sites and that these were mainly smaller outlets. That sparked a consensus that when picking distribution partners, those with narrower but more passionate audiences were preferred to larger, but less-focused outlets. Peter and Rob both noted that their smaller size and more focused audiences allow them work more closely with brands to tailor content for their audiences’ interests.

That synched up with advice from Jeremy (and seconded by others) that when it comes to branded entertainment, brands must be involved from the start of the creative process. Content companies still tend to look upon brands as little more than checkbooks, with products to be written into scenes after the creative is essentially complete. That bias needs to change fast if branded entertainment is to succeed. To increase the odds of success, Peter noted that ManiaTV focuses on episodic content, as consumer relationships build slowly over time.

The role of agencies is certain to change as branded entertainment gets more traction. Since it’s still so early, panelists concurred that agencies need to “embrace ambiguity” and focus on “earning attention, not buying attention” for their clients. Listening to the panelists, it seemed to me that agencies looking to operate successfully in this area will also need significant business development/partnership skills, as pulling distribution into these campaigns is quite important.

Branded entertainment is yet another greenfield opportunity that broadband is opening up. Given how many agencies and others are setting up branded entertainment specialty units, it’s certain to get more priority by brands.

The News Market

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:04:33 +0100

Editor’s Choice: NATPEVideoNuze on TheNewsMarket

NATPE VideoNuze editor Will Richmond sat down with Romina Rosado, global head of marketing for The NewsMarket [http://thenewsmarket.com/], the web-based video marketing and distribution platform that enables news and marketing video content producers – broadcast and online journalists, marketing, PR, bloggers, investors, employees and other video professionals – and some of the world’s leading brands and organizations to tap into a seemingly unlimited pool of video consumers.

While much attention in the broadband video industry has been focused on consumer-oriented companies, The NewsMarket [http://thenewsmarket.com/] is showing that there are other profitable niches for those with deep domain knowledge and creative business models.

The NewsMarket’s fundamental insight was recognizing that broadband would be a great platform for news video to be disseminated and that broadband’s growth would eventually change both the role of public relations/corporate communications professionals and the media’s coverage of news.

On the one hand, PR people would need to offer up more video assets to augment their traditional text and images-based materials. And on the other hand, as consumer penetration of broadband increased, the news media would need improved access to video assets to help them cover stories online in a way that met changing consumer expectations. As its name implies, The NewsMarket’s vision was to serve these two worlds, helping marry PR and news reporting to broadband in an efficient, cost-effective manner.

But executing on this vision has been turbulent. Founded in the dot-com heyday, The NewsMarket clung to life in the early 2000s waiting for the market to stabilize and catch up. The good news is that not only has this happened, but The NewsMarket is now using its core competencies and relationships to expand its services.

The way The NewsMarket works is that companies, government agencies and other providers pay a fee to upload and have their videos (e.g. product demos, executive interviews, etc.) hosted at a secure site, where pre-approved media outlets are then able to download and edit. There are now 17,000 media outlets in 193 countries accessing video. Broadband’s progress is evident, as Romina explained that a year ago NewsMarket videos were used in the same proportion by traditional broadcasters and online news outlets. Now the latter account for 80% of usage, including many newspaper sites as heavy users.

About a year ago The NewsMarket addressed bloggers by making a portion of its total videos available in a product called VideoCafe. But in response to the blurring demarcations of media and bloggers’ displeasure at the limited quantity, The NewsMarket is shifting course to give bloggers access to the full library. It’s also adding lots of HD video as sources are increasing their video quality.

The NewsMarket has also expanded its portfolio by providing white label “broadcast newsroom” services for others’ sites. About 70 customers have signed up for this. Microsoft [http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/nov06/11-16BroadcastRoomMA.mspx] is one example (no login needed).

The NewsMarket has taken the next logical step by introducing its BrandTV product, whereby brands and others can set up their own channels in custom environments. YouTube is an obvious alternative for companies considering a quick and cheap alternative. But its unmanaged environment poses obvious issues, particularly for the growing list of companies getting more serious about using video to deliver their messages.

The NewsMarket’s lessons are not only to be persistent in the face of adversity, but also to be creative in thinking about what kinds of macro changes broadband forces and how inventive business models can take advantage of them.