Notes from a True Media Mogul

A great interview on The Business Insider about the sacrifices, drive and determination required to be a successful business leader in the media industry.

Impact of Convergence on the TV Industry

The question was posed to me- "How will the merging of TV, the Internet, and phones/mobile devices affect the television industry? Is it still just the TV industry?

The TV industry is multi-faceted. If this question refers to the content producers, the impact will be extremely positive. The platform convergence along with the democratization of content creation will result in the continued leveling of the playing field and the emergence of great innovation in content, with lots more places to distribute.

From a TV service distribution standpoint, the impact will be the negative erosion of the subscriber base for cable and satellite companies who have not made broadband a staple offering among their bundles. According to a recent report from ChangeWave Research, among traditional TV viewers, 20% say they're likely to downgrade or cancel their current TV service package in the next 6 months. The likelihood of canceling is highest among Cable subscribers (22%) and Satellite subscribers (22%), and lowest among fiber-optic TV subscribers (7%). Finally, from a TV advertising standpoint beyond the targeting, contextual and behavioral tracking benefits the convergence will provide, there is an overall sentiment that audiences will be more likely to engage with a brand on an interactive platform than the would be with a traditional TV ad.

While Boomers clearly want to see fewer ads than they do with conventional broadcasting, 68% say they are willing to view at least some ads online.


Broadband video now represents a significant threat to traditional TV viewing. According to the ChangeWave Research Study:

• 69% of Boomers say they've watched video content on their computer over the past 90 days
• 48% of respondents say they'd be willing to pay a monthly fee for a Video-over-the-Internet subscription if it provided the same programming currently available on their TV service
• 79% watch YouTube.com as the leading online website Boomers use to watch video
• 39% TV Network Websites
• 16% Hulu.com
• 11% iTunes

From the perspective of the longtail, the number of choices may be too overwhelming to consume on some of these devices unless software, search, and other providers begin developing deeper personalization capabilities to enable consumers to only get what they want or need on these devices instead of the entire universe of offerings.

Lastly, I believe the convergence will ultimately continue to fragment the overall media landscape, not just the TV industry and its respective la familias- bada bing!

King of Hip Hop Expands Digital Strategy with Tricked Out D.O.A. Video

Just when you thought the game had been fully revolutionized, Jay-Z returns with partner Klickable.tv to blaze a new trail in interactive video capabilities. You might remember when you heard that Jay-Z and LiveNation, the concert, ticketing and promotion firm, formed a multi-tiered partnership. Now Jay-Z collides with the wide world of web video, along with partner Klickable.tv, introducing a ground-breaking method of interacting with and further monetizing web video.

A quick visit to Roc4Life.com Jigga’s online base for all things Roc-a, won’t immediately lead you to the candy, but I’ve got your direct link here to the D.O.A. video tricked out with a lot of Klickable action. This appears to be a strong sign that a more in depth strategy is on the horizon for the Roc4Life site.

Your first reaction might be, yes I’ve seen videos with advertising overlays that allow me to click through to a landing page like I would be able to on any other rich media or display unit, that’s nothing new. That’s not what this capability delivers. Imagine MTV Pop-up videos meets interactivity and the web. Klickable’s technology is touted as being very simple and allows a user to take a video they’ve produced and designate interactive regions associated with the video, and then publish.

Klickable.com is a bootstrapped startup in New York who’s CEO and founder was recently interviewed on chubbybrain.com. In the interview, Roger Wu expands on the simplicity of the solution and the key differentiators which I think really make this a remarkable new offering. In fact, I took the liberty of summarizing for your from Roger’s interview, the top three most beneficial points that distinguish Klickable from other similar product offerings. They are in order of importance:

1. The technology is truly really simple and does not impact the original video in anyway; meaning you don’t have to re-edit your video to use Klickable.

2. The decision to interact with the video is purely up to the user. Nothing is forced on them like a typical ad. Mousing over the video or a publisher’s call out that the video is interactive (a la Jay-Z) are the only hints a user will get. Therefore, it is all about the user’s choice and can be a non-invasive experience.

3. You can designate any area of the video to integrate an interaction.

The bonus and most important benefit from a monetization standpoint is that the interactions can actually be ads. They could be ads that can be sold at a premium because the creative publisher can make them highly contextual and they are all user-initiated.

So as you join Jay-Z to celebrate the “Death-of-Autotune”, and learn more facts than you would have ever imagined about the actual video, including cameo appearances, product placements and other key facts, take the Klickable solution along for a ride from a user perspective then ask yourself where has this tool been all of your video publishing life?

RushmoreDrive.com Search Engine Founders interviewed on FOX Charlotte

On Barack Obama and the use of Digital Media

The use of digital was a key element in the election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America and a historic moment in which America has also elected it's first African American in the President.

The web site, mobile messaging, online video, online donor programs and more all contributed to build a strong grassroots effort.

Comcast's vision...social networking from your set top box?

We love to network online, and we love cable TV, but what the hell does the nation's largest cable company want with a social networking tool? The acquisition of Plaxo by Comcast, could quite possibly revolutionize the effort to converge the digital living room with the PC.

This could also be a play to bolster the value proposition of Comcast.net, the company's destination for it's cable modem service subscribers. My question is how many subscribers ever take advantage of anything other than an email address from their ISPs? This was the whole premise for bringing down the walled garden of access model that once buoyed AOL to 24 million subscribers. People want the Internet in no uncertain terms. The don't want to be inhibited on their to it either. It is a broad universe of content and utilities that have already been set free by millions of publishers. Why then would a cable company want to acquire a networking tool like Plaxo? It has to be a bigger more grand plan than the obvious addition of uniting comcast.net subscribers.

"They had to be thinking of a master plan - dance with the record, dance with the record-

Thinking of a master plan...this ain't nothing but sweat inside my hands"; sorry I had a "Paid in Full" moment there. Comcast has a plan that will enable cable box subscribers to perform social networking functions across cable boxes, which while novel is already in play with TiVo, tv tuner enabled laptops and more. Maybe I'm wrong, and maybe their motive is more innocent than that. Maybe they are more or even less visionary, but whichever the case, it is Comcast, a media behemoth in the making. Keep your eyes on this savvy and resource rich firm. What do you think of Comcast's acquisition of Plaxo? What does this acquisition mean to you, the Black Web early adopter?

T*W*E*N*T*Y**O*N*E - Hollywood won't go bust ...they get Digital Media!

Hollywood's Adoption of Digital Media to promote it's products deserves many accolades and this post is one such acknowledgment of the job they are doing. In promoting the Sony Pictures release '21', Sony has done a fantastic job of not only producing an intriguing movie, but they have also constructed a killer digital campaign!

From widgets, to gaming, and a live webcast of the world premiere of the movie scheduled for March 12th, 2008, Sony has put the full digital monty to work.


Examples include:
The 21 Game Widget: