Rich Fiscus
8 Nov 2007 9:33
Hollywood is still unsure how to make money from digital content. At least that's the message a panel of experts that included representatives from Google and NBC Universal at a New York conference on Tuesday.
"When you take a show like "Heroes" or "The Office," that show ran once 30 years ago," said Ron Lamprecht, senior vice president, digital distribution, at NBC Universal. "Just in the past couple of years, so many new choices for consumption have developed on so many platforms," he said, pointing to Hulu, an online video service formed by NBC Universal and Fox owner News Corp. "Hulu is a big bet for NBCU and News Corp," he said. "Our play for video outside of NBC.com is Hulu and the launch partners in Hulu." Those partners include MGM and Sony Pictures Television.
Despite the interest in new ways to deliver video, they're not giving up on television as a medium yet. "Broadcast television is still very powerful, it's still the only way to do certain things," Laprecht said. "I think there is always going to be a place for consuming a TV show or movie in a certain environment," like a movie theater or a living room.
And it's not just the delivery method that's under a lot of scrutiny. As content has moved into the world of internet downloads and mobile phones, providers have been struggling to find ways to keep advertising money flowing. While advertisers appear happy to target internet or mobile customers using the same ad dollars they spent on television in the past, no single model has emerged to place a value on advertising. While television ad dollars are used to target a mass audience, internet based video typically involves ads that are shown to a much smaller audience. However, that also means you can tailor ads more specifically to your audience.
George Shababb, chief operating officer of TNS Media Research said "We need to address some of the measurement issues that exist today." He added "Eventually, we'll get to a point when we can bring these different measurement systems together into one,"
Source: PC Magazine