Media Wave: Business of Screen Content

Indie Game rides Kickstarter to Sundance and Beyond.

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:36:11 GMT

Pick of the Posts. January 30th 2012.

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:35:39 GMT

2011 in Focus

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 01:37:34 GMT

The YouTube Interview Part Two - Monetisation.

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 01:37:00 GMT

Pick of the Posts. December 19th 2011.

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 01:34:00 GMT

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth.

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 01:33:29 GMT

The YouTube Interview

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 02:02:47 GMT

Movr - Interview with Eamon Wyss.

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 02:01:31 GMT

Pick of the Posts. 12th December 2011

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 02:00:27 GMT

Interview with Anthea Foyer - Canadian Social Media Strategist.

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:01:15 GMT

Distribeautiful - Q&A with Steve Kearney.

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:00:22 GMT

Pick of the Posts. 5th December 2011.

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 23:57:36 GMT

Pick of the Posts. 28th November 2011

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:54:51 GMT

SPAA 2011. Sharing the Distribution Love.

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:52:16 GMT

SPAA 2011. Your Underground Audience: The Mavericks of Piracy.

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:49:35 GMT

SPAA 2011 - Conference-in-a Blog. Part One

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 02:50:32 GMT

Flash is Dead

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 02:48:04 GMT

Pick of the Posts. 21 November 2011

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 02:44:15 GMT

Seph McKenna interview.

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 11:00:58 GMT

New Indie Pic gets online buzz

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 10:58:13 GMT

Pick of the Posts. 14th November 2011.

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 10:53:15 GMT

Battle for the Global Living Room.

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 01:51:56 GMT

Pick of the Posts. November 7th 2011

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 01:49:25 GMT

Jim Shomos and the Australian Content Levy

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:15:44 GMT

Pick of the Posts. October 31, 2011.

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:15:12 GMT

Convergence Review Submissions Due.

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 01:50:10 GMT

Peter Herbert on the SAFC Convergence Forum.

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 01:49:26 GMT

Pick of the Posts. October 24th

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 01:40:24 GMT

Funding the Cosmos - Debra Allanson interview

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 00:11:43 GMT

Innovative production and distribution - Liz Watts.

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 00:11:03 GMT

Pick of the Posts 17th October 2011

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 00:05:22 GMT

Killing the Audience?

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 03:47:46 GMT

Pick of the Posts. October 10th 2011.

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 03:47:12 GMT

Touch Docs: How-to paper from Jennifer Wilson

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 23:40:40 GMT

Pick of the Posts. 3rd October 2011

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 02:16:08 GMT

The Jammed on Fairfax - largest result to date

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 02:13:39 GMT

Amazon takes on iPad... kinda

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 03:50:54 GMT

Pick of the Posts. 26th September 2011.

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 01:03:16 GMT

iTunes is a mess.

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 04:30:39 GMT

Pick of the Posts. 19th September 2011

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 02:22:39 GMT

Pick of the Posts. 13th September 2011

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 11:28:29 GMT

What Type of Producer are You?

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 02:57:39 GMT

Big Push on Piracy in Australia?

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 02:57:12 GMT

Pick of the Posts. September 12th 2011

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 02:55:21 GMT

Red Dog Piracy?

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 04:34:53 GMT

Pick of the Posts. 5th September 2011

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 04:34:17 GMT

Wrap-up : Screen Australia Convergence forum

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 03:12:37 GMT

Wrap Up: Digital - Where's the Money?

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 03:12:24 GMT

Andrew Urban on Convergence and Australian Content

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 03:11:54 GMT

Pick of the Posts. 29th August 2011

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 03:11:34 GMT

Convergence update 3

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 12:14:05 GMT

Convergence Update

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 03:37:09 GMT

Entrepreneurship

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 13:41:09 GMT

Australian Content and the Convergence Review - Part Two

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 04:16:59 GMT

Pick of the Posts. 22nd August 2011.

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 04:16:22 GMT

Australian Content and the Convergence Review - Part One.

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 02:25:37 GMT

Pick of the Posts. 15th August 2011

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 02:25:02 GMT

Film Festivals - Curation going begging?

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 02:38:07 GMT

Q&A with Sabiene Heindl - MIPI.

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 02:37:55 GMT

A Director's quest for Audience. Andrew Traucki Q&A.

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 02:36:41 GMT

Pick of the Posts. 8th August 2011

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 02:36:19 GMT

Ricky Sutton - Fairfax Digital and Australian screen content.

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:08:03 GMT

ScreenLaunch - CEO Ross Howden.

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:07:47 GMT

YouTube's Life in a Day - does it work?

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:07:27 GMT

Pick of the Posts. 1st August 2011

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:07:08 GMT

Half Year report card.

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 03:45:44 GMT

Carbon Tax Moment for our Screen Content Industry?

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 03:45:29 GMT

Pick of the Posts - 25th July 2011

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 03:45:16 GMT

Screen ACT Producer Pod

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 03:44:55 GMT

P2P - Ahren Morris on crowd funding Troll Bridge.

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 03:39:28 GMT

The Quikflix/Sony deal.

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 03:39:08 GMT

Pick of the Posts 17th July 2011

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 03:38:53 GMT

New life for old Shows.

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 03:23:55 GMT

Pick of the Posts 11th July 2011

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 03:23:34 GMT

Animalia social media strategy

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 02:55:43 GMT

Reaching "TV" Audiences on the Web.

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 02:58:31 GMT

Onscreen Drafting - a new development methodology?

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 02:58:14 GMT

Pick of the Posts 3rd July 2011

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 02:57:59 GMT

Pick of the Posts 27th June 2011

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 12:54:33 GMT

Crowd Funding - doing it right and fast.

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 12:53:01 GMT

Connected TVs - a personal perspective from the Content Generation.

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 04:19:08 GMT

Pick of the Posts 20th June 2011

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 04:18:53 GMT

Pick of the Posts 13th June 2011

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 06:19:47 GMT

Global Citizenship and the Media Business - John Tarnoff.

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 06:19:17 GMT

IPTV directions - William Cooper

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 06:18:45 GMT

X|Media Lab - Global Media Ideas - Tim Chang

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 04:59:15 GMT

Crowd Funding analysis - The Wisdom of Crowds?

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 03:37:52 GMT

Global Media Ideas - John Tarnoff interview (audio)

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 03:37:34 GMT

Global Media Ideas - interview with Dr William Cooper

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 03:36:54 GMT

Pick of the Posts 6th June 2011

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 03:35:40 GMT

Online content - Producers speak.

Mon, 30 May 2011 03:25:18 GMT

Fans keep digging The Tunnel.

Mon, 30 May 2011 03:24:56 GMT

P2P Jackson Pellow (Screen Australia) continued.

Mon, 30 May 2011 03:24:21 GMT

Pick of the Posts 6th June 2011

Mon, 30 May 2011 03:24:03 GMT

The Tunnel breaks through.

Mon, 23 May 2011 03:06:52 GMT

Pick of the Posts 23rd May, 2011.

Mon, 23 May 2011 03:06:12 GMT

Pick of Reader's Comments

Mon, 23 May 2011 03:05:53 GMT

Planets Aligned for Producers?

Mon, 16 May 2011 02:33:31 GMT

Pick of the Posts 16th May 2011

Mon, 16 May 2011 02:32:57 GMT

P2P - Jackson Pellow on Screen Australia's YouTube strategy, more from Dario Russo on Italian Spiderman.

Mon, 16 May 2011 02:32:42 GMT

Convergence Committee submissions due.

Mon, 16 May 2011 02:32:30 GMT

Beyond the Box Office - iTunes lurks.

Mon, 09 May 2011 01:48:32 GMT

P2P - New MediaWave Feature

Mon, 09 May 2011 01:48:15 GMT

Pick of the Posts 9th May 2011

Mon, 09 May 2011 01:47:56 GMT

Web Series Article - Big Blunder.

Mon, 09 May 2011 01:47:45 GMT

Web series numbers blitzes TV's best.

Mon, 02 May 2011 02:35:35 GMT

Pick of the Posts 2nd May 2011

Mon, 02 May 2011 02:35:15 GMT

Pick of the Posts 25th April 2011

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 11:43:13 GMT

A Tale of Two Conferences.

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 02:24:52 GMT

Pick of the Posts 18th April 2011

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 02:24:38 GMT

Questions of throughput and live content.

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 01:39:48 GMT

Distribution strategies from two Melbourne companies.

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 01:39:15 GMT

Big week for Conferences

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 01:38:59 GMT

Pick of the Posts 11th April 2011

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 01:38:44 GMT

Elements of Transmedia success.

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 02:49:57 GMT

Pick of the Posts 4th April 2011

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 02:49:47 GMT

YouTube Revenue

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 02:49:36 GMT

Screen Australia guidelines - All Media Fund.

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 03:41:39 GMT

Pick of the Posts. March 28th, 2011.

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 03:41:26 GMT

Interview with TigerSpike's Zac Jacobs.

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 03:41:07 GMT

EXCLUSIVE - Australian downloaders targeted.

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 04:55:37 GMT

Wrapping Up

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 02:41:39 GMT

Interview with Lonely Planet's Nigel Dalton.

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 02:41:28 GMT

Pick of the Posts

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 02:41:18 GMT

Conference in a Blog - Digital Directions Part 2

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 02:58:52 GMT

Pick of the Posts

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 02:58:17 GMT

The Tunnel preview and Free tickets offer

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 02:57:58 GMT

Digital Content Survey

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 02:57:24 GMT

iiNet vs Hollywood - Anthony Palmer Comments

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 03:20:41 GMT

Pick of the Posts

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 03:19:47 GMT

Conference-in-a-Blog. Digital Directions. Part 1

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 03:18:42 GMT

Pocket Power!

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 03:26:01 GMT

Digital Directions Conference - Special Offer

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 03:23:00 GMT

Pick of the Posts

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 03:21:50 GMT

What if...?

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 02:42:59 GMT

Pick of the Posts

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 02:41:59 GMT

Pocket Power! Preview from Jennifer Wilson

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 02:41:45 GMT

MediaWave - 2011 style.

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 06:19:08 GMT

Welcome to New Look MediaWave

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 23:55:44 GMT

Welcome to the first MediaWave media way bulletin of 2011.

As promised last year when moving into a new look for the newsletter and website, not just a new look, but a whole new set of features.

Our aim at media work has always been to bring you the latest insights into the emerging business models for online media in Australia and overseas. Now we want to set up Media Wave as a destination site for other resources.

Here’s what will be rolling out over the next few weeks.

Company database - A comprehensive listing of all the Australian companies that produce content and deliver services for online media outlets.

White papers. A series of how-to guides, intended to help screen content creators make decisions about engaging with new formats for online content.

Skills Directory - A place where Media Wave members can list their skill sets for potential employers and collaborators.

Facebook Fanpage - a constantly updated link farm, designed to give Media Wave members an up-to-the-minute update on what’s being written about online media.
Events Calendar - Self-evident really, the difference being our focus on events, conferences and festivals that feature online content.
Jobs board - A place where employers or collaborators can post positions available.
Useful sites - no explanation necessary.

What is our focus for 2011?

First of all we want to keep the basic MediaWave service free. We’ll be looking for new sponsors and offering MediaWave members access to paid content - the how-to guides that I mentioned earlier.

We want to give members more opportunities to interact with other members of the MediaWave community. Members will be able to have their own profile page and create their own networks. A place where members can post their projects and look for collaborators. A bit like Facebook really, but more focused and nicer!

New Expert Group/User differences

Eagle eyed MediaWave readers will notice that the much loved expert group has morphed into a Contributors group. We want to broaden out membership of this group to anyone from the industry who’d like to make a contribution to Media Wave.

If you were at the beach...

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 02:16:32 GMT

2010 - The Expert's Choice.

Sun, 19 Dec 2010 10:28:17 GMT

MediaWave's first full year of reporting on developments in the online media space is drawing to a close. Looking back at the stories, we picked a good year!
Will 2010 be seen as the tipping point - the year when the trend towards disintermediation, commoditisation and unbundling finally started to be a real prospect for the video consumer?
Have a look back at some of these developments- Google TV, Amazon Studios, the new Australian aggregators (Fetch, T-Box, Hybrid, MUBI ), YouTube Leanback, the iPad , the rise of smartphones, HuluPlus, Apples 99c TV shows - the list goes on.

To wrap up the year, we've asked our Expert Group to each nominate one thing that defined 2010 - it could be a new service, a new platform, a piece of content, anything. |
The Experts got into a friendly punch-up about whether the iPad was the paradigm-shifter of 2010. I have tried to put their banter into a series of linear posts!

My Pick
Im not voting for hardware, boxes or platforms of any description. Not even the iPad (gulp)!
For me, the most significant developments have come out of content acquisition by non-traditional distributors and top of the pile would have to be the Netflix for their huge buying spree of 2010.
Netflix have demonstrated a serious intent to overturn the distribution landscape, using the only strategy that the studios understand money and lots of it.
Honourable mention goes to Amazon Studios - see Jon Silver's comments below.
In Australia, Fairfax TV gets my nod as the most significant development. Why? Because, like Amazon Studios, Fairfax Digital is a new distribution entity - one that doesn't come with the baggage of a broadcaster or studio.
They have a big corporation backing them and while it's early days, if their "interesting content for interesting people" promise is delivered on in 2011, they'll be one to watch.
Honorable mention goes to MUBI - see Andrew Urban's comments below.

Simon Curry

Forecast that 2011 will be the year of (surprise, surprise) Internet TV, whatever that may be. Internet-ready TVs with imbedded EPG capabilities are likely to emerge en-masse and accordingly drive prices down and deployment up.
These devices will likely include multiple digital TV tuners as well as streamed/download-play content. This in turn is likely to drive ISPs to un-cap downloads from preferred content aggregators and subsequently open direct relationships between local screen producers and the content aggregators who will be seeking new and innovative screen content above and beyond normal mainstream fodder.
Gradual introduction of NBN will also accelerate this trend. We can only hope.

Justin Brow

Online screen content? An interesting factor to consider, I'd suggest, is The Cloud. (Can we nominate this as 2010??)
'Tangible' retail for any form of screen content (irrespective of delivery platform), is dead, or at least, asphyxiating.
Over the next couple of years, the notion of visiting the 'video shop' (or EB games, record store etc) will appear soooo quaint. (I still use the terms '*videos* and *records*, btw...)
If I had some money to stash, I'd do it in data centres... I don't reckon the allure of holding a CD case will last much longer.

Jon Silver

The major industry development for me is all about Amazon and the final piece of the strategic jigsaw that fell into place last month.
Amazon Studio's first look deal with Warner gives Hollywood the chance to trawl the Internet for talent to see if it can find the next Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity early on.
But lets just think about what the growing Amazon nexus really means in a broader context. Amazon.com through its various branded divisions and subsidiary companies is now a vertically integrated online film production-distribution-exhibition entity. It plays the Hollywood game selling DVD's via Amazon.com and Amazon VOD and now developing scripts and projects via Amazon Studios.
But flip that over and look at it from the POV of the aspiring filmmaker trying to gain entry into the industry where barriers to entry are astronomically high and what they can now do by leveraging Amazon companies. A script or low budget film might win the Amazon Studio annual prize and get produced by Warner and Amazon.
But the filmmaker can also get immediate online audience response to those scripts or their films as well as professional critique and possibly development. They can PRODUCT-TEST online free!
If the script or film is not picked up, the filmmaker can self distribute the program via CreateSpace (an Amazon company) which puts the film onto Amazon VOD for streaming rentals or download to own (so they can make money) and onto the DVD catalog of Amazon.com.
The filmmaker can use another Amazon company Withoutabox to find the right kind of festivals anywhere in the world for their film and can seamlessly upload and pay festival entry online. They can also take advantage of Amazon's online publicity and promotional services available on a fee for service basis via Withoutabox and IMDb (another Amazon company).
And using CreateSpace and Withoutabox gives the aspiring filmmaker automatic credits on IMDb, the world's largest online movie database and they can also place their program for streaming on IMDb.
And from an exhibition point of view, Amazon VOD (although geoblocked to the US - it is still the world's largest individual film market) streams via boxes like Roku to your large screen home cinema or if you are lucky enough to win the Amazon Studios annual prize and Warner actually does make your film, you will see it exhibited at movie theaters. How cool is that?
A decade or so after the emergence of online VOD, who knows where this new industry will end up but Amazon has certainly given the emerging filmmaker the greatest opportunity in the 105 year history of this business to get noticed and to get their films seen by an audience.
THAT for me is a MAJOR industry development. Whilst I adore my iPad , it dwarfs it.

Debra Allanson

I nominate iPad .
Even the most cynical of technology-naysayers have been seduced by the tangibility it lends to possibilities and promises that have shimmered, mirage-like, on the horizon only to disappear on closer inspection.
And if I were to nominate a second...it is the promise of the NBN and what it means for delivery of new services to the fabulous aforementioned device.
Let's hope it's not another mirage.

Jennifer Wilson

Im not voting for the iPad . Yes, Apple created a bit of a game changer device, but having been in mobile for years, it is not as radical as the iPhone was and whether it holds ground is, to me, still to be proven.
To me, the game changer will be xBox Kinect which is already going mainstream weeks after its release - with hackers rebuilding it to their own desires in ways that will only be more exciting.
My number one thing: apps. To me, 2010 was the year that native mobile services (in the form of apps) made such an impact that I predict we will see a huge rise in apps on computers now. I share the idea that the world wide web may be peaking and the internet connected small app is likely to be our preferred way forward.
And coming back to the iPad why do we like it? For browsing? Its OK. For email? Blackberry is still better (even if smaller). Its the apps that we love.
So for me, not a device, but a content/service format.

Rob Wellington

The iPad doesn't represent the power of mobile devices - that was already done and dusted - thanks Nokia, et al. That's not why the iPad is "exciting/interesting/scary/challenging".
The iPad has added something to mobile devices AND computing AND media consumption.
It combined a media browser with a game machine and app platform (hardware, development environment, shop and the 70% to developers deal - woo hoo!) And, of course, it's way easy to find and install all this stuff.
No other device of it's type put all this together so perfectly and it did it first.
I still reckon it's about who shifted the paradigm, not who jumped on the band wagon.
And while I hope Android prospers I can't see it as a real threat to iOS as it suffers from the same problem as PCs. Lots of different hardware specs causing inconsistency and lowering the common denominator.
I also predict: The PIES again like 2010!

Chris Adams

"iPad ," in this context, is just a name. It's what the iPad represents across services, OS, UI, distribution, et al that makes it the best paradigm of '10.
Multiple studies show that by 2013 80% of the world market of tablet PCs will be Android. Even if that is simply TechCrunch hype, its the device, not the brand.
iPad has everyone HERE excited, but in the US, it's old news and most of my friends - who are the SERIOUS early adopters and had the iPad the day it came out WILL buy the new version but have already gotten the Galaxy and the only reason they are going to get the new iPad is that they are gadget junkies and need to have both experiences, not because the iPad is better.
I did a recent survey amongst 100 top media, entertainment and technology professionals who are serious bleeding-edge junkies and over 80% have both iPhone and Android, BOTH iPad and Galaxy. It's not that they can't decide, it's that they want tactical experience to form their long-term opinions.
That the iPad is the new thing here in Australia means nothing against Australia's place in Asia, NOT in the US. I believe that China, Korea and Japanese companies will come out with a sub $100 tablet PC device in the next 12-18 months and that 80% of those devices will run the Android OS.
To ignore the power of the mobile OS - regardless of the device - is folly.

Peter Bain-Hogg

One more vote for the iPad . It is a ground-breaking device. There would be no tablets in competition if Apple hadn't come up with the iPad first.
Actually, if Apple hadn't done half the things they've done we'd all still be working in MS-DOS. Actually we wouldn't be. Computers would still be in the hands of a few software engineers, rather than in everybody's hands.
And without the iPad we wouldn't have what I think is the most exciting/interesting/scary/challenging development in online content. - The App Store and in particular the move by newspapers to put their content online and charge for it.
I'm not scared by that. I embrace it. I'm excited by it.
I love being able to read The Australian every day on my iPad . I love what The Monthly has done. I get Vanity Fair and The Age and The New Yorker and Wired and I'm very happy.
I'm paying less because I'm not paying for newsprint. I'm getting less ads and I'm reading more stories. I'm challenged by the opportunities to develop apps for the brands I'm working with.
I'm interested in what else is turning up in The App Store. I love the games available. I'm intrigued by the simplicity of what works in the gaming space, things like Angry Birds, Flight Control, Doodle Jump, and Paper Toss, Paper Toss, FFS...!
The iPad isn't perfect, but what is? No manufacturer would release the perfect product otherwise there would be no upgrade and replacement path, which is, as we know the path to big profits. The next iteration will probably have telephony and camera options.
The iPad is the leader in the space. It's a great presentation tool as well, and I love the fact that I can work on my iPad remotely from my Desktop or Laptop either through the MobileMe cloud or via LogMeIn.
So VOTE ONE : iPad
And I'll sign off by stealing my favourite line of the festive season....
Merry Christmas and Appy New Year!

Peter Herbert

The iPad , simply because it is universal. At MIPCOM this year the laptop took on the look of Watts' Steam Engine as everyone iPad ded their way from meeting to meeting.
But, a nod please to the fight back of the old mongrel free TV and their digital channels. Us media sophisticates might love the iPad but let's follow audience trends for a moment.
Amazingly, they are showing that they still love free content on the broad spectrum. For me, the Aussie story has been the success of Go! and the profit numbers it has dealt into the media game.
The Nine network is suddenly no longer on the nose and big money is pouring back into the oldest of technologies. The question I leave with is what's Gina Rinehart think she's up to?

Nick Bolton

I nominate a consumer behavioural shift to accepting that content online can be paid for.
2010 is the year in which there has a been a shift in consumers will now be prepared to pay for (quality) content. iTunes was of course the forebearer of this in the music industry, and now seeing what Murdoch is doing with The Times, and Wall Street Journal, with what MUBI is doing in the film market, and with walled exclusive video content around sporting events, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for publishers of whatever content.
Still along way to go but I sense there is a behavioural shift.

Paul Baiguera

Space to Watch - Amazon Studios.
No doubt it will quickly fill with mountains of crap but with some real money being put behind it they may just have come up with a new way to extend the reach of the Hollywood threshing machine and give themselves a future great feeder mechanism for their VOD service. Will they extend into 'TV' and web only formats? Do they only have Warners along for the ride to use their logo and hide their vertical integration? (anti-trust anyone?)

Brad Giblin

Between crowdfunding and film-focussed stock exchanges, this year has marked a major change in the way that financing of media productions can occur.
Decisions to fund projects are shifting away from executives and towards crowds. Interestingly, the types of projects that tend to be successful through crowdfunding have integrity, community engagement and a strong artistic angle, proving that online audiences not only seek high quality, authentic content, but are prepared to pay for it.
The largest Australian project ever has just been crowdfunded, the relaunch of the New Matilda website. It closed this morning, raising around $150k of its $175k target, and securing the rest from an unknown benefactor (although not in the form of a donation)

Andrew Urban

My nomination for Propellant of the Year is: MUBI's deal (launched Nov 2010) with Sony Playstation 3 to deliver quality arthouse movies through the PS3 platform in Aust & NZ, and all over Europe.
In Australia alone, 1 million players in the market, 600K of them online.

Interview with Robert Hutchinson - ABC Commercial.

Sun, 19 Dec 2010 09:35:00 GMT

Robert Hutchinson- General Manager, Digital Business Development, is responsible for digital business inside the commercial division of the ABC.
His job covers digital content licensing, selling ABC content on to other platforms, (iTunes, streaming video on platforms like Fairfax), ecommerce (including the ABC shop online) and new product development.
I was interested in the ABC's different content offerings on their various online platforms - iView, ABC shop online, the ABC YouTube channel and the ABC MySpace page. |

ABC on YouTube.
He told me that the ABCs YouTube channel contains a small selection of their distribution catalogue which is editorially managed to appeal to a younger demographic. The selection is made to appeal to the 25 and younger audience thats why titles such as Beached Az and a range of other comedy titles predominate.
However, the ABC is aware that an older audience is looking at YouTube and they have adjusted their content mix accordingly, adding documentary content. They also offer previews of new ABC TV shows to YouTube subscribers.
ABC iView plays content as part of the total broadcast rights for a show. They have a 14 day window after a show is aired on ABC TV to allow catch-up viewing.
Once that window is over they can monetise in a variety of places, in a variety of digital forms, (if the ABC is the distributor),

The ABC MySpace platform is older than YouTube platform and is going through a lot of changes and is not a major focus of attention for the ABC.
They are maintaining it as best they can and most of the activity is from the music label of the ABC. What happens with MySpace next year will shape their MySpace offering.

Monetistation
The interesting thing about the ABC YouTube channel is that it contains advertising and at first glance this seems to be a little at odds with the ABCs image of being commercial-free.
Robert explained that the ABC has been licensing content to platforms that use advertising and YouTube is seen as just another one of them.
The content from the commercial division is from the commercial back catalogue and it can't be given away. Rights for this content were granted on condition of making money from them with independent producers standing to get some money returned to them.
He predicted that this type of arrangement would become a more important source of revenue for independent producers back catalogue.
He added that YouTube itself is not allowed to put ads around new shows or promos of shows with a non-commercial right.
Response from the vast majority of viewers has been that YouTube carries ads and that the ABC has the right to monetise programs under the commercial right agreement that they have.

Web Native content.
I asked Robert if the ABC has plans to develop original web-native content.
He pointed to Beached Az as an example of web-native content that they picked up and developed into two series.
There is a lot of interest in web-native content at the ABC, but Robert feels that this requires a type of commitment from both the producer and the broadcaster that is different from the traditional program making process.
Both parties will need to commit an open-ended length of time to be fully engaged with the social media environment as the person or the character they are playing.
If content creators can develop projects with a good community following and keep posting content every day in response to what is going, such projects could be monetized on YouTube, generating a worthwhile return to the content creator.
Production costs would need to be kept low. It's quite different for the old paradigm of finance/pre/production/post and broadcast. Its more like a 6-month, 7 day a week commitment to a live-to-air TV show.
Something where there is a scripted component that is turned around very rapidly and is very responsive to the audience. He likened it to comedy nights where you get an immediate reaction to material.
Robert would not be surprised if the ABC moves into these areas in the near future. He pointed to the success of ABC Radio's ABC Open project, which produces locally based stories.

Content regulation thoughts
I was interested to get Roberts personal take on the "regulation of Australian content on the web" debate.
He said that distribution on the Web is incredibly fragmented - the days of single destination having a big reach are gone.
Most of the content that the ABC represents online is Australian (around 70-80%). In a free-for-all discovery space (eg when an Australian doco is available in 4-5 places) there will be a demand for Australian content in a free-form world. Great Australian content isn't getting obliterated.
Non-exclusivity will always generate more money than exclusivity - you will make more money by being in multiple places.
Traditional distributors are suffering from format overload - the costs of transcoding are militating against distributors chasing money on the internet.
The ABC, on the other hand, has the ability to do multiple transcoding and so can do low-cost distribution on multiple platforms.
When rapid and cheap transcoding is widely available, there will be an explosion of screen content on the web, including Australian content.
Robert likened this process to the way that niche content was finally released in the DVD catalogues and classic Australian content (such as Wake in Fright) was finally released on DVD.
The ABC has a rich back catalogue of Australian content and once the complicated rights issues are sorted out, we could start to see this available on the ABC sites as early as next year.

You can see Robert's answers to MediaWave's 5 Questions

Netflix Content Empire expands

Sun, 19 Dec 2010 09:11:34 GMT

The rise of Netflix is one of the most is interesting case studies of how old distribution concepts like windowing and territoriality are being challenged by an aggressive new player.
Before Netflix started spending huge amounts of money to acquire content, studios were hanging on to their good stuff. Now they are starting to get into deals which put this on the table, in exchange for some hold backs.
The new deals with Disney are a case in point - Netflix won some and they lost some.
In return for getting access to previously unavailable shows like Scrubs and more episodes of Lost, Netflix will lengthen the window for streaming shows such as Wizards of Waverly Place from 1 to 15 days after broadcast.
Netflix content guy Ted Sarandos explained their strategy recently :
I highly value completeness over freshness. For our customers, its much more about being able to watch the entire run of a show, as it is about being able to see time-shifted episodes.

HBO thinks about Going it Alone

Sun, 19 Dec 2010 09:07:07 GMT

HBO has been around for 38 years and during that time it has been a major part of cable subscription packages offered in the US. Now cable subscriptions are falling as consumers warm to over-the-top platforms like Netflix, Google TV and Apple TV.
HBO itself is expected to report a loss of 1.5 million subscribers this year.
What to do? Maybe broadcast yourself?
Time Warner chief Jeff Bewkes said that if HBO wasn't constrained by being part of expensive cable packages, it could sell content via new online platforms.
Before that happens, HBO will see how their new product HBO Go fares in the marketplace.
HBO Go allows cable subscribers to access HBO content from multiple screens if they provide their password.
is also developing tablet and smart phone applications.
Bewkes also referenced Netflix, stating that they could "be in competition with other media companies, but they'll have to buy all the rights"
He predicted that Netflix's business model is "not sustainable" at its current $8-a-month price if it's aiming for higher-quality content.

I would have given you a link, but Australian viewers can't access HBO Go.

Vutopia - Cable Industry bites back.

Sun, 19 Dec 2010 08:54:08 GMT

While the focus has been on Netflix's content buying sprees, the US cable operators have been quietly developing their own counter offers.
Vutopia offers existing cable subscribers streaming access to hundreds of back-catalogue movies from major studios for a single monthly fee.
Vutopia was developed by In Demand, whose president Bob Benya said
Vutopia is another subscription service that, with the totality of what cable provides, is the competitive response to Netflix and other products as well.
Benya said theyll look to expandVutopia's content holdings next year, though it would take time to catch up to the breadth of Netflix.
Vutopia has a different look and feel, including a gadget that lets users select movies by "mood", ranging from "Crash!Bang!Boom!" to "Nostalgia Trip".
While these don't sound like moods to me, I look forward to the day whenVutopia lets me add a free-form mood search.
How about - I'm so over Christmas"?

Leanback update - Personalise Channels

Sun, 05 Dec 2010 12:00:48 GMT

One of the key drivers for the new consumption patterns for online video is personalisation.
Put that together with la carte selection and you have viewing the way people will demand it in the near future.
A few months ago, YouTube launched Leanback, a sandbox for the type of search-based viewing that will see its full flowering on Google TV.
Launching Leanback serves you up an unending stream of YouTube video, which you can interrupt by typing a search term directly on to the screen. |
This is pure la carte viewing of unbundled content. It works on YouTube because all the content is free - so no problems with choice based on cost.
Now they have added personalisation, which gives the user the ability to create a channel based on search terms. YouTube will add to your selection by intuiting other related content, a bit like Pandora, based on your likes, time viewing and so on.

And we like It.
Early reports are that Leanback viewers are consuming 30 minutes at a time, about twice the amount of regular YouTube. So it's a start.
Throw in a remote that's actually a smartphone or tablet delivering a parallel stream of information and you have something like the full bag of tricks.
So your reruns of I Love Lucy will be so much more engaging.

XML's Brendan Harkin gets Big Chinese Gong.

Sun, 05 Dec 2010 11:52:00 GMT

The rise and rise of the XML global brand has been boosted with Australian founder, Brendan Harkin, being awarded the International Contribution Award at the Fifth China Creative Industry Awards.
Anyone who has been to an XML Lab will know that they are a fascinating combination of a free-wheeling, creative get-together with a very strong focus on emerging business models in the online space.
Brendan has clearly made this structure work for the Chinese, as well as a number of other Asian countries. He and partner Megan Elliot have worked tirelessly to move into the Asian market, opening the eyes of Australians to the scale and diversity of what's going on there when they return to run local labs.
In accepting his award, Harkin said:
The creative industries, which underpin every industry, are Chinas next great stage of development. Its a privilege and an honor to be recognized for X Media Labs contribution to this dynamic industry.

Funky workaround uses DVDs to stream.

Sun, 05 Dec 2010 11:51:42 GMT

These stories make it all worthwhile - I love examples of Rube Goldberg style fantasy entrepreneurialism. Makes me think of those "Hologram Health Bracelets".
New start-up Zediva aims to beat video streamers like Netflix and Fetch by streaming direct to customers off DVDs. Founder Venky Srinivasan explains:
Our users rent a physical DVD, along with a DVD player from us for a fixed amount of time. They then control that DVD player remotely over the internet and stream the movie privately to themselves. Think of it as a really long cable and a really long remote control.
I wonder if he said that with a straight face?
Zediva charges $1.99 for a movie compared $3.99 on iTunes and Blockbuster.
They only have 40 movies on offer at the moment.
Srinivasan is confident that he has found a legal loophole that will allow him to take on the big guys. A bit like the Canadian outfit Net.tv that tried to re-stream US TV before they were shut down.
Good luck with your project, Venky - you'll get first round VC funding anyway.

Optus content offering up for grabs?

Sun, 05 Dec 2010 11:50:59 GMT

Optus is reportedly in discussion with Australian online content aggregators with a view to setting up some kind of screen content offer to counter the likes of Telstra T-Box and bolster flagging mobile call revenues.
Amongst the suitors are said to be Nine MSN, Fetch, Hybrid and Foxtel (really? 50% owned by Telstra?)
It would be easy to say "just the usual content suspects" without having any detail of their offerings, but if one of these were picked tomorrow, Optus subscribers would probably get a re-badged version of content that they could already get elsewhere.
The exception could be Hybrid TV who, of all the suitors, is the most likely to come up with something that makes the content offering more compelling.

Better use of FTA channels?

Sun, 05 Dec 2010 11:50:06 GMT

Peter Herbert's piece on the new digital FTAs last week raises interesting questions about the relationship between downloaded TV shows and the opportunities around the new multichannel FTA TV space.
Peter's assertion that the FTAs are making money out of cheap, largely recycled US content makes me wonder what would happen if some network programmer decided to do something that was popular AND vaguely interesting. I mean, GO! is running "Here's Lucy!" (two episodes back-to-back!)

So how about this?
Some forward looking and adventurous FTA programmer could look at all the Bit Torrent information about TV shows being downloaded around the world. What they were, who was downloading them, how many downloads and what was being downloaded in Australia. |
Services like Jumpwire Media can do this and if they are too expensive, a gang of GenYs could get this data in a matter of minutes!
Armed with this "ratings" information, they would go to the program distributors and make them offers for programs that fell outside the top 10 (too expensive and too mainstream), hoping to find the next Mad Men.
Remember there was a time when the only way Australians could get to see new episodes of Mad Men was to download or borrow them from friends?

WWG's USPM.
Now the new WWG Channel (Watch Without Guilt) would have a program offering that has a proven audience, with a lower cost of acquisition than the other channels.
The audience that has previously downloaded the programs could now appointment-view or time shift along with the ads that went with them. Viewers of the new WWG Channel wouldn't have to use some bridging technology to cross the last metre to the TV and they are guaranteed the sleep of the just. Money is made where previously it was being lost.
Sounds too simple? Maybe. I guess you have to factor in the inertia of free to air broadcasters, a formidable obstacle.

Maybe it's just the Christmas thing, but....
What about local content? Trawling the Torrent information for Australian content probably wont yield many results, because there is simply not that much Australian content online, apart from the catch-up services.
Perhaps in return for handing over another cash cow, the Government could insist that all new digital multichannelers pay a levy on advertising revenue to put into local programming, a bit like the arrangement with the pay-TV channels.
Come to think of it, why wasn't this put in place for the existing multichannels?

Quick facts about the Rise of Netflix.

Sun, 28 Nov 2010 10:58:06 GMT

Based on a mail-order DVDs, Netflix decided to give away its new streaming service to existing customers in 2005.

A few months ago, they spent nearly $1 billion to stream movies from three Hollywood studios Paramount, MGM and Lionsgate

Netflix now has more than 16 million subscribers, even though their catalogue dosen't offer the most recent TV or cinema releases.

Its now the biggest source of streaming traffic in North America, during peak evening hours.

Netflixs stock price has quadrupled since January.

Its now worth more than some of the Hollywood studios that supply its content.

Netflix has a new subscription offer: $7.99 a month for unlimited downloads of movies and television shows.

Foxtel - meet T-Box and Playstation!

Sun, 28 Nov 2010 10:52:59 GMT

Reports around the traps that Foxtel will start to supply programming to Telstra T-Box early in 2011.
After all, they are pretty close. Wonder what took them so long? Perhaps pressure from Telstra to improve on the decidedly boring content offered on T-Box.
Foxtel is emerging from the cable TV bunker with increasing enthusiasm these days - they will also make a cut-down version of their offer to Playstation owners.
Deal includes 30 channels for $19.50 per month. Playstation owners must think it's (almost) Christmas, following the MUBI offer announced in the last few weeks.

Can Protectionism ever be Cool again?

Sun, 28 Nov 2010 10:51:34 GMT

This should be boom time for Australian small-screen content creators. The number and scope of online and broadcast outlets is exploding. There's soft money from the government via the agencies and the offset.
Looking at the top 10 programs on FTA this year could get you justifiably excited - the top six are locally-produced drama/lifestyle/event programs.
But is there more diversity or is it the same old stuff in more places? Peter Herbert's article about the shortening odds on a fourth commercial FTA highlights the money being made by the existing licensees slicing and dicing the left-overs.
There seems to be no second tier of more adventurous, cheaper local programming. Something that could evolve into a Mad Men or Skins. You might think this would be a consequence of more money in the pockets of the FTAs, but clearly you'd be wrong.|
There are a few bright spots - Fairfax Digital and Hybrid TV are making the right noises about Australian content and hopefully the stuff they produce or distribute will have a bit more flair and depth.
Has the horse bolted, again? It's a bit uncool to get all protectionist these days. But countries like Korea and France seem to take concepts of protecting cultural content as a given.

Here's some comment from the MediaWave Expert Group on the industry action list we posted last week.

Jennifer Wilson

A levy on ISPs with funds going into aScreenrights-like system?
While I think I suggested this, sadly, the Free Trade Agreement we have with North America would preclude this.
However, I believe that if ISP offered customers the options to make a small monthly contribution (eg $1 or $2), maybe on an opt-out- basis; with this money going to content producers to make (Australian) content specifically for digital platforms and provided at no additional cost to consumers.

More support for web-only content for funding agencies?.
Can I change that web only to native digital? I do think we are seeing a shift to the internet (away from the web) especially with the rise of apps (both mobile and online!). I would love to see more support for native digital content from funding agencies which could help more Australian content be developed. The NSW Digital Media Initiative is a great start!

Andrew Urban

Funding for the establishment of a trusted source of information about online rights and clearances with checklists of terms and contract templates?
There is a huge appetite for older Australian content, notably the heritage, linear content from old TV shows (Sons and Daughters, Number 96, Young Doctors etc) and it would be great if we could support a fund that not only provided solid, up to date information and support for new screen producers to ensure they get their rights negotiations correct; but also to try and fight to get the rights cleared on classic Australian content that we are currently not able to access.

Subsidy paid to producers/distributors/aggregators for getting Australian content online.?
Yes, preferably via an aggregator service which is supported by Screen Australia.

Funding for the establishment of a trusted source of information about online rights and clearances with checklists of terms and contract templates? This is also a function of the aggregator, with Screen Australia co-authoring, together perhaps with Centre for Screen Business.

Rob Wellington

Film-focused institutions can not manage digital content successfully - they don't get it.I think we need a new agency for funding digital content by cultural and educational institutions, purely artistic new media and other non-moving image content.That organisation could foster partnerships with their producers and film makers.

Murdoch and Jobs go Daily

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 19:33:00 GMT

Rupert Murdoch and Steve Jobs are working on the launch of a new iPad- based publication called The Daily, due at the end of November.
Just when you think Rupert has lost the plot, he pops up with a 99c per week news aggregator on the coolest platform around.
Word is that the content will be video-rich, which is maybe why there's a lot of re-training of journalists as video producers.

CONFERENCE IN A BLOG - SPAA 2010

Sun, 21 Nov 2010 11:16:16 GMT

Session: Australian Films Online - Boom or Bust?

I chaired this session with speakers Stuart Cunningham, Andrew Urban, Ricky Sutton (Fairfax Digital) and Tim Parsons (Quickflix).
I launched the session with some observation about the promise and reality of Australian content online. My one-day survey of iTunesshowed that out of 1556 titles on iTunes Australia, there were 15 Australian titles.
They were:
Animal Kingdom, Australia, Ned Kelly (Gregor Jordan), Bootmen, The Road Warrior (Mad Max 2),Babe ,Beneath Hill 60 ,Wolf Creek , The Jammed, Black Water, Charlie & Boots, Bra Boys, Maos Last Dancer, Bran Nue Dae, Garage Days.
A curious selection that amounted to a paltry 0.9% of the total available content. And this is for iTunes Australia!
Clearly there is no effort going into a curated catalogue.

Stuart Cunningham - QUT
Stuart presented a survey done by Jon Silver of QUT into the state of Australian content online. You can view his complete presentation via the link at the end of this article.

Andrew Urban. (Urban Cinefile)
Andrew shared his frustrating efforts to mobilise an aggregator of Australian content going back many years. He told us that some of the bigger players were interested, but told him that the time wasn't right. Others told him they would take up aggregated Australian content in a heartbeat if it wasn't for the onerous task of clearing rights.
Andrew ended on a bright note, detailing the recent launch of Mubi in Australia and the promise of a channel for Australian content via their PS3 platform.

Ricky Sutton . Fairfax Digital.
Ricky gave an upbeat overview of the newly-launched Fairfax Web TV portals (including TheAge.tv). His straightforward invitation to Australian content creators from a non-aligned media organisation with fantastic audience reach is most welcome.
Tim Parsons (Quickflix)
Tim pitched the new-look Quickflix. They plan to migrate their existing mail-order DVD customers to online delivery in the near future. The great thing about Quickflix is that they have an existing catalogue of around 2500 Australian titles that can potentially be made available online.

INDUSTRY ACTION POINTS
What this session really pointed out was the lack of an industry-wide action plan to get more Australian content online and make it accessible.
Here are a few points to kick off the discussion (in no particular order).
Should there be:

More support for web-only content for funding agencies?.

Subsidy paid to producers/distributors/aggregators for getting Australian content online?

Subsidy for the cost of transcoding independent content?

Funding for the establishment of a trusted source of information about online rights and clearances with checklists of terms and contract templates?

A fund to help producers buy back their rights from inert distributors?

A consumer subsidy system like the French Music Card?

Content Regulation on IPTV?

Marketing support for online content?

A levy on ISPs with funds going into a Screenrights-like system?

Support for producers to set up their own aggregators with effective search optimisation ?

Session : Content Futures on the NBN.

Put together by Debra Allanson, this was a thought-provoking look at how the NBN will enable for Australian screen content.
Brad Giblin - Film Victoria.
Surveys of Australian content on Bit Torrent show that the figure is around 5% local content.
Branded content on IPTV - Brad thinks that brands (for example the Geelong Football club) will get into the business of bundling up content for like-minded fans.
US Cable channels may define the way we access international content. They will move to cut out the middle man in territories outside the US.
Google Ads will work on global TV. Localisation and targeting will give them an advantage that will surpass license fees.
Games are the growth area. Cloud computed games will make boxes obsolete. The business model will be pay per use. Game shows will become live experiences - the promise of interactive television will finally be delivered on.
App stores will appear on TV - apps on TV will do what they do on the iPhone/iPad.

Sue Maslin- Producer.
Producers working in transmedia need to be digital natives. Opportunities to develop transmedia projects for the NBN need to start right now.

Geoff Heydon. - (Alcatel-Lucent).
The NBN will extend the audience reach for content creators from inner city to all Australians.

Session : Maximising Digital Rights.

Nick Abrahams - Norton Rose lawyers.
Platform is King - content is now coming out on a non-exclusive basis, including product from movie studios. There will be pressure by platforms to have all rights to all platforms as windows collapse and proliferate.

Australian Online Feature Films - Stuart Cunningham SPAA 2010

View more presentations from simonbritton88.

PBL - Hulu deal rumours

Sun, 21 Nov 2010 11:09:00 GMT

Rumours are around that PBL Media may be doing a deal with Hulu which may end an era of geo-blocking for Australian viewers.
Hulu's content partners are NBC, ABC and Fox, so the deal would have to be structured not to cut across existing relationships with the other Australian networks.
As the broadcasters rush to get catalogues content attractive to online viewers, Network Ten's new FTA Digital channel Eleven announced a partnership with CBS - the only network without a Hulu presence.

Six Things to Love about Amazon Studios.

Sun, 21 Nov 2010 11:08:03 GMT

As reported last week, Amazon, has launched its new screen content venture, Amazon Studios.
For me, the announcement was one of those moments that is so startling and yet so predictable.
Why should we love Amazon Studios?

It's so on the money. The Amazon Studios play makes so much sense. After all, the parent company owns IMDB and Withoutabox, two properties with a strong screen content focus.
Amazon Studios plays on crowd sourcing, unbundled content and all the things that are good about online media.

It's trusted. Amazon gets distribution. From books to DVDs to online content, Amazon has been enormously successful in delivering a bulletproof distribution system. Their Amazon Unbox service was a visionary. They have experience in online distribution of screen content.

They have no allegiances. So many of the new online screen content distributors/aggregators have old allegiances to broadcasters that stop them doing something really interesting. Okay, Amazon Studios has a first look deal with Warner Brothers. But Amazon is in the driver's seat and Warner's is the most innovative of the old studios, so together they should do good things.

It's global and open. Australian content creators should be able to access Amazon Studios on the same basis as their North American cousins. The submission process doesn't favour heavily produced content. You can submit simple animatics if you want.

Amazon has deep pockets and is based on a highly profitable business. Its not a VC backed start-up with a make or break mindset.

It's Penthouse and Pavement. The barriers to entry are low but the potential to make a big splash is high. A screen content creator that gets into the Amazon Studios pipeline can go all the way to a mainstream release through Warner Brothers and a profit share.

SPAA Preview - Australian Movies Online - Boom or Bust?

Sat, 13 Nov 2010 19:47:32 GMT

I'm heading up to Sydney for the 2010 SPAA Conference this week. I'll be blogging for MediaWave and presenting a session on Thursday at 2:00 called Australian Feature Films Online - Boom or Bust?
If you're going to SPAA, please come along. As a MediaWave reader, I'm sure you will have something to say about our topic.

We want this session to do a few things.|

Have a look at the current state of online distribution of Australian feature films. Stuart Cunningham (QUT Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation) will present findings from initial research that his colleague Jon Silver has done. This will give us a snapshot of who is doing what to distribute Australian feature films online.

Look at the issues facing feature film producers in getting their content online. Andrew Urban, publisher of Urban Cinefile will present a case study of a project to aggregate Australian feature films.

The aggregator/distributor perspective. Ricky Sutton (Fairfax Digital) and Tim Parsons (Quickflix). These two represent the new generation of distributors who are making an effort to get Australian content online.

We'll finish with an all-in discussion/problem-solving session, ranging over such questions as:

Should the Agencies support producers to get feature films online and/or market them?

Do we need online content regulation?

Should there be more support for web-native content?

Do we need a rights clearance agency?

What about subsidising consumers to buy content online - like the French music card scheme?

Do we need a rights buyback scheme?

By the end of the session, we hope to have some concrete ideas to take forward and tell to anyone who will listen!
If you can't make it to SPAA and you have suggestions or concerns about any of the above - please let me know. I will bring your query to the conference and let you know how it went in the next issue of MediaWave.

Google TV hits speed bumps

Sat, 13 Nov 2010 19:18:55 GMT

Fox has announced it will join ABC, CBS, and NBC in blocking access to their content on Google TV.
This leaves Google TV with content from MTV, Time Warner and some smaller providers.
Google is working on getting access to Hulu Plus.
Seems that the big producers are wary of letting an intermediary come between them and their audiences (like iTunes did with online music).
If there is a concerted boycott, what will that leave the owners of Google TV enabled sets with?
A lot of interesting niche content and a platform for indie producers. And maybe that won't be so bad?

iiNet test of Fetch successful?

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 19:59:58 GMT

Five months after launch, iiNet is set to ramp up promotion of its IPTV service Fetch TV.
Two other minor ISPs have partnered with FetchTV - Adam Internet and Internode. This limits the potential number of subscribers. Fetch would love to sign up Telstra but that won't happen. Getting Optus into the fold would be the prime target.
The most interesting news here is the FetchTV subscription rate. One thousand subscribers paying $29 per month doesn't sound like a lot of cash in 6 months.
FetchTV is bankrolled by Astro All Asia and deep-pocketed Malaysian, T. Ananda Krishnan.

Tropfest via YouTube

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 19:09:13 GMT

Filmmakers entering Tropfest 2011 will be able to upload entries directly via YouTube.
Entries will be accepted from anywhere in the world and finalists will be flown to Australia for the screening.

YouTube/Tropfest

Hulu revenue doubles from last year

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 18:51:24 GMT

Hulus sales will total $240 million in 2010, up from $108 million in 2009.
The reporting doesn't say how much is from the newly launched Hulu plus subscription offer and how much is from advertising.
Ad revenue came from 352 companies including U.S.s top 25 advertisers.
These sort of reports must be very encouraging for catch-up services in Australia and portals such as Fairfax.

MediaWave at SPAA

Sun, 07 Nov 2010 10:15:06 GMT

At next week's SPAA Conference, I'm producing a session called Australian Movies Online - Boom or Bust ? It's on Thursday at 2:00.
The panel includes Stuart Cunningham (QUT), Andrew Urban (Urban Cinephile) and Ricky Sutton (Fairfax Digital).
We will ask whether the promise of online distribution is being delivered on, and if not, what we as an industry can do about it.
I'll give a preview of the session in next week's MediaWave

MediaWave at SPAA

Sun, 07 Nov 2010 10:15:06 GMT

Verizon demos 4 sec movie download.

Sun, 07 Nov 2010 10:00:32 GMT

Okay, its a promo video, but interesting to see that Verizon (a US based ISP) chose to test the download speed of their new fibre network with a 2.3 gig movie file.
That's 2.3 gig, not your usual 700meg AVI file that is the standard for video file sharing. It downloads in 4 seconds.
This is the sort of sizzle that the NBN should get out to consumers. It's a tangible benefit that will help to bolster it against attacks from the likes of News Corp.

Watch Verizon movie download video

Verizon demos 4 sec movie download.

Sun, 07 Nov 2010 10:00:32 GMT

Watch Verizon movie download video

Canadian Web series initiative

Sun, 07 Nov 2010 08:24:35 GMT

Canada-based Independent Production Fund (IPF), has announced the IPF Web Series Program, which has funded eleven new projects.
Canada has a great track record of funding transmedia. The IPF was founded in 1991 investing $50M in more than 200 television series. The Bell Fund, established in 1997, really kicked Canada's reputation as a centre for transmedia production up a notch.
This new program attracted around 170 proposals from Canadian producers, from which 11 projects were funded.
They will split a total of $AUD1.2M to produce around 16 hours of content.
Here's a selection of the funded projects.|

In the Rough
In The Rough is a comic drama about a young golfer who battles the ups and downs of professional play while balancing his tenuous relationships with everyone around him off the green.

Mod Town
The main pulp and paper industry in a small Maritime town shuts down due to changing times. To save the town, (and himself), Alex starts a new business in Internet Moderation. The folks switch their vocation in a hurry, and the townspeople begin to change after spending their days exposed the under-belly of the internet culture and it used to be such a nice place!

Papillon
Papillon is a comedy web series about a discount airline (more like a defunct airline) and its motley crew of misfits. Fly Papillon the airline that promises to put the flutter back into flying in other words, no customer perks including in-flight drinks, meals or seatbelts.

Ruby Skye P.I.
When fifteen year old Ruby Skye discovers that one of her neighbours has fallen for the so-called Nigerian email scam, she launches an investigation. But the trail leads in unexpected directions to disastrous and hilarious consequences.

Canadian Web series initiative

Sun, 07 Nov 2010 08:24:35 GMT

In the Rough
In The Rough is a comic drama about a young golfer who battles the ups and downs of professional play while balancing his tenuous relationships with everyone around him off the green.

More Google TV pushback

Sun, 07 Nov 2010 07:44:32 GMT

In the latest round of Google TV blocking, SyFy.com has stopped users from viewing free episodes of series like Sanctuary, Stargate Universe or Caprica.
SyFy belongs to NBC Universal which has a track record of blocking Google TV access to NBC.com
This latest block from NBC adds to the list of broadcasters who are denying access, including Hulu, ABC and CBS.
My guess is that that Google TV users will find a workaround, just as Australians who really want to watch the geo-blocked Hulu have done.

More Google TV pushback

Sun, 07 Nov 2010 07:44:32 GMT

Australian publishers' iBooks angst sounds familiar.

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 10:23:57 GMT

The iPad promised a window for Australian publications through its iBooks shopfront when it was launched a few months ago.
But the promise hasn't eventuated as Apple has dumped out-of-copyright titles in the local iBookstore.
Better news now - Apple launched the a local iBookstore with content from six local publishers.
According to Australian Publishers Association chief executive Maree McCaskill 'nearly every publisher would want to have their stuff in the iBookstore. It will be a real success when we get the greater volume publishers in to give a greater variety of Australian content.'
Sound familiar? Australian screen content creators face similar hurdles trying to get independent content on to iTunes.

Australian publishers' iBooks angst sounds familiar.

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 10:23:57 GMT

MUBI Launch - window for Australian indies?

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 08:23:22 GMT

The people from MUBI promised Australian independents an outlet at the official launch of their Playstation 3 application last week.
MUBI's catalogue of curated independent content has been available via a web browser, but it's newest version is delivered via an Internet-connected Sony PlayStation 3.
They already have a catalogue which includes the work of Griffith, Chaplin, Tarkovsky, Bergman, Fellini, Antonioni and Godard.
Now Australian distributors Hopscotch and Umbrella have signed up with MUBI, who are reportedly looking for other sources of local content.|
It is reported that MUBI will do a 50/50 revenue share with content creators, while bearing the costs of getting their titles online.
Their offer includes an unlimited 30 day subscription for $19.95 as well as pay-per-view charges of $1.75 for shorts and $6.25 for features. There is free content including Ki-young Kims The Housemaid, Metin Erksans Dry Summer, and the Mexican film Revolucion.
MUBI's founder, Efe akarel has a realistic take on file sharing: Piracy exists because were not making the content available; people do want to pay for convenience and quality. Film consumption is moving from ownership (physical medium) to access (download).
MUBI has a strategy for acquiring indie content through its Garage section, a kind of holding pen for untried content. These films have the potential to make it on to the main platform. They have social media tools to assist filmmakers to promote their content. Users can discover films via recommendations.
What this means to You
It's great to see an aggregator starting with interesting independent content, rather than another offer based on Hollywood fodder.
While there are a million PS units in Australia, with 65% Internet connectivity, whether MUBI's subscription model will extract money from the gamer/ downloader and cashed-up-Bogan demographic remains to be seen.
Here at MediaWave, we believe that content "boxes" are a transition platfom, but that's not to say that platforms like MUBI wont move to IPTV in future. So I would be looking at their offer with great interest, as long as their deal terms are non-exclusive.

MUBI Launch - window for Australian indies?

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 08:23:22 GMT

CONFERENCE IN A BLOG - Content Futures

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 12:28:13 GMT

The Institute for the Broadband Enabled Society (IBES) and AIMIA put on a one-day workshop in Melbourne last week.
This is my highly selective highlights package.

Ricky Sutton, Fairfax Digital.
Ricky talked about the new Fairfax site AgeTV, which features an eclectic line-up of factual/news programming. They made their program choices by surveying BitTorrent for the most popular video content and buying something similar.
This accounts for why there is a lot of military content, personality documentaries, comedy and crime on the site.
Fairfax has bought content from the ABC, including The Gruen Transfer, Summer Heights High and The Librarians.
They have commissioned their first original content in partnership with SBS and are looking to do more with Australian content creators.|
They want to be known as the channel with "Smart shows for Smart People."
Other Fairfax brands will have similar content with regional differences (eg Smh.tv).

My take on theage.tv ? Well its popularist content is a little at odds with The Age's reputation as a quality broadsheet. Still, I can understand the strategy for populating the site with accessible content to get the traffic flowing.
It will be interesting to see what original content they produce in future and it's very encouraging to see a new online player opening their chequebook to Australian content creators.

Kursten Leins (Ericsson).
Kursten stated that the technology for delivering video content is running ahead of the business models. For example, consumers are currently being billed for potential consumption (in the form of broadband "plans") instead of actual consumption.

Robbee Minicola (Hybrid TV).
Robbee gave a spirited presentation about the current state of broadband in Australia (yes, she hates it and the telcos that dominate it) and what plans Hybrid TV/CASPA has in the online content space.
She predicted the demise of content boxes once IP TV enabled sets hit the market. She encouraged Australian content creators to engage with Hybrid via their website. Content on CASPA/
The Hybrid TV business models has three modes:

Pay per view

Free - ad supported

Subscription to a channel (for example one with educative content). Interesting that Hybrid is looking at more than just entertainment content.

Brad Giblin - Film Victoria.
Consumer attention is now split almost equally between games/TV/ online.
BitTorrent is currently the biggest IPTV network in Australia. BitTorrenting of Australian content is roughly in line with box office (about 5%) - this could be a ballpark figure for Australian content regulations if they are ever applied to online.
The ABC could be the logical place for Australian content online.
IP TV has the potential to deliver personalised branded content (example the Geelong Cats Channel).
Brad sees games as the disruptor in online content, once they begin to be delivered via platforms like Google TV or directly to consumers via dedicated games servers.

David Court (AFTRS Centre for Screen Business).
The Baby Boomers reinvented the film industry and later the TV industry in Australia. But now they are holding it back. You don't see any 30-year-old heads of screen agencies today as you did in the 70s. Real change won't come to the industry until there is a generational change in screen agencies.
David sees online audiences as an asset that content creators need to nurture and engage as they move through their career.

My Take on the Content Forum
While it's great that IBES and AIMIA are working at the interface between the NBN and screen content, I had hoped for a more problem-solving approach from this day.

The NBN has an image problem. The sizzle hasn't been sold to consumers. So while Rupert has passed the message down the line to his lieutenants to tee off on the NBN, (and a fine job The Australian is doing, too ) the consumer is not seeing enough positive messages about the benefits.

Content creators aren't being encouraged to engage with the future of content in a post NBN world. Could organisations like IBES, AIMIA and NBN Co work on the screen agencies to make funds and outlets available to online content creators? Content exclusively created for online delivery needs to shed itself of its poor cousin status, and be funded in the same way that TV and feature content is funded.
The group of thought-leaders assembled for this forum might have had come up with a few public statements about the content opportunities promised by the NBN if the day had been set up to do this, rather than as a set-piece-and-discussion day.
Hopefully its just the start of a continuing program on a similar theme from IBES, AIMIA, SPAA, and the funding agencies

CONFERENCE IN A BLOG - Content Futures

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 12:28:13 GMT

The Institute for the Broadband Enabled Society (IBES) and AIMIA put on a one-day workshop in Melbourne last week.
This is my highly selective highlights package.

Pay per view

Free - ad supported

Subscription to a channel (for example one with educative content). Interesting that Hybrid is looking at more than just entertainment content.

My Take on the Content Forum
While it's great that IBES and AIMIA are working at the interface between the NBN and screen content, I had hoped for a more problem-solving approach from this day.

Myspace's New USP - Curated Content

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 08:57:52 GMT

So Myspace is repositioning itself. Again.
Over the years it's moved from a messaging platform, to a social network for independent music, to an online music retailer and now to this new incarnation - "social entertainment hub".
Let's face it, it had to do something and at first glance, the strategy looks promising.
The new platform will be rolled out over the next six months, with Myspace aiming to create a new class of super users, known as "curators".
New features like Topic Pages will provide tools for curators to track their favorite screen content, music, actors and games and share them with followers.
The strategy echoes that of iTunes Ping and the Facebook "Like" button.
Everyone in the content area wants to be part of the search/recommendation traffic flow, so you could see studios, labels and indies embracing the new Myspace.

Myspace's New USP - Curated Content

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 08:57:52 GMT

More ads for Ten's online content?

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 08:25:45 GMT

One of the appeals of watching TV on the web - less ads - may be taken away by the Ten network.
Most online viewers will accept pre-and post-roll advertising and YouTube users are familiar with pop-ups, but will they accept long form programs split up into as many as six parts, with ad breaks?
Ten is using an Australian built platform Movideo to deliver content in a range of formats. Movideo has been developed by the MCM group.

More ads for Ten's online content?

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 08:25:45 GMT

Ziggy agrees with Rob

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 07:49:13 GMT

Ziggy Switkowski's article in The Australian echoes Rob Wellington's piece for MediaWave "NBN - Not Enough".
Both discuss the need for better wireless infrastructure in Australia.
Curious to see The Australian publishing something that mentions the NBN in a vaguely positive way.

Here's Ziggy's article.

Ziggy agrees with Rob

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 07:49:13 GMT

Here's Ziggy's article.

NBN - Not Enough.

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 22:29:30 GMT

Rob Wellington, latest member of the MediaWave Expert Group thinks that the NBN won't be enough to enable true innovation in screen content.

The National Broadband Network has been attacked recently by Andrew Urban in MediaWave and elsewhere.*

OK, let's put aside the fact that we have been paying through the nose for the Internet and that less than 25% of Australians subscribe to a broadband.
According to a recent report from Akamai "...Australia has an average connection speed of 2.8 megabits per second (Mbps) and sits 48th in the world."

The reason we need to go faster should be obvious by now. Music has led the way, TV is going to follow inevitably and with Web 2, we will do more and more online. Web 2 means we want to do more and more - not that we can - we've already been reaping the benefits of Web 2 for years.
HTML5, the next web standard, will provide incredible power in the web browser, on the computer, phone, gaming device or tablet. Video will be all pervasive.
Film makers will find themselves making niche content for well informed, highly focused international audiences.|

iMovie on the iPhone will enable you to shoot, edit and publish your video on YouTube, using only your phone, in a few minutes. Files will live online, accessible from any device, from anywhere, and shared with anyone - a click and they're published. Your applications available to you on any of your devices.

Speed will become more and more important. So if I was going to start building a national broadband network today I'd aim for faster than 1Gps. The game is 'leap frog' not 'catch up' (or you never will).

Korea's 100Mbps broadband service has supported the country's development as the new leader in Massive Multiplayer Online games.
They will have 1Gbps by 2012 and are in the process of multiplying their wireless broadband from 1Mbps to 10. They reckon it will cost $24.6 billion and will create 120,000 jobs. The network will pay for itself quickly and will reinforce a content industry with a very good-looking future.
An industry that's only resource is human brainpower. An industry we are letting die on the vine in Australia.

We're stuck down here, thousands of miles from anyone. If we don't need a decent Internet connection - who does? Perhaps we can start making money from our ideas rather than just shipping dirt to China and buying it back as cars, fridges, bikes, etc?

BEFORE the NBN is finished we need to start work on the NWN (National Wireless Network). The future of content is not just WHEN you want it but also WHERE you want it.

For $50 a month, right now, you can carry around a very, very fast computer that knows where it is, which direction it's facing and what's around it.
It can display video, 3D, maps and images, while playing high quality stereo sound. It can also record video, images, sound and attach your location to the recording.

It's also a phone and a browser and a million other things but we've seen a mere fraction of what it could do. People are combining the features into new ways to work and have fun. And it has a profitable and popular distribution/retail system for everyone who wants to help it do more.
Thanks Apple. And Google are hot on their heels.

So if we have portable super computers in our pockets then there are a few things that are obvious.

Wireless is the future and luckily the CSIRO have some brilliant technologies in development - I hope we don't lose them OS yet again.

Location is going to be the new context and a platform for content. People will create location specific content, for example the people at the back of the concert could see what the people in the first few rows are filming as they film it. The new astronomy app for the iPad is a perfect example of location based content.

We'll need to start building the Next NBN not long after we finish the first.

* Editor's Note: We published Andrew Urban's article on the NBN in the interests of robust debate from a respected commentator. MediaWave believes that the NBN is a crucial asset for Australia. If you want to see naked NBN bashing, open any page of The Australian.

NBN - Not Enough.

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 22:29:30 GMT

Rob Wellington, latest member of the MediaWave Expert Group thinks that the NBN won't be enough to enable true innovation in screen content.

The National Broadband Network has been attacked recently by Andrew Urban in MediaWave and elsewhere.*

BEFORE the NBN is finished we need to start work on the NWN (National Wireless Network). The future of content is not just WHEN you want it but also WHERE you want it.

So if we have portable super computers in our pockets then there are a few things that are obvious.

Wireless is the future and luckily the CSIRO have some brilliant technologies in development - I hope we don't lose them OS yet again.

We'll need to start building the Next NBN not long after we finish the first.

Girl Friday gets on TV

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 21:32:41 GMT

One the pioneering mobile and online comedies Girl Friday has secured a TV broadcast slot on ABC2, starting Friday 29th at 8:25.
The show will screen in 4 minute episodes.
Watch out for some great work by Tanya Lacy in a supporting role.

Girl Friday

Girl Friday gets on TV

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 21:32:41 GMT

Girl Friday

Fairfax launches theage.tv (quietly).

Sun, 24 Oct 2010 10:44:25 GMT

They've hinted at it for a while, but Fairfax has now launched its dedicated screen content portal www.theage.com.au/tv
Ricky Sutton, from Fairfax Digital, spoke about putting the site together at the AIMIA/IBES Content Futures workshop today. |
They have acquired content from a range of different providers, including the ABC, based on their own survey of what subjects are popular on the Web.
They have done 17 different content deals, concentrating mainly on factual/news programs, with some comedy and drama.
Their tagline is "Smart TV for Smart People". They are looking at commissioning more original content, having completed their first co-production with SBS.
More detail in the article on Content Futures.

Fairfax launches theage.tv (quietly).

Sun, 24 Oct 2010 10:44:25 GMT

Hulu Plus to halve subscription?

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 22:29:02 GMT

Possibly spurred on by Apple's drastic price cut to its iTunes TV shows, Hulu is mooted to be cutting the subscription to its Plus service from $9.99 to $4.95.|
Hulu Plus is an ad-free version, with a more in-depth catalogue.
Seems that the current offer isn't attracting too many punters.
There are a lot of options for paid TV shows online, not to mention the Torrents. Not surprising that Hulu Plus is struggling to find its price point.

Hulu Plus to halve subscription?

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 22:29:02 GMT

MUBI comes to Australia

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 14:49:29 GMT

MUBI is "an online movie streaming service that brings an ever-expanding film library of acclaimed independent, foreign and classic films into the home".
From November, MUBI will be offered to Australian viewers through Sony PlayStation 3.|
Interesting move by Sony - offering non-mainstream content through a games platform.
Looks promising for Australian content creators - Tropfest winner Abe Forsythe, will "..talk about what MUBI means for art house and independent films in Australia" at the Chauvel on November 3rd.

MUBI comes to Australia

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 14:49:29 GMT

US Networks block Google TV

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 14:17:13 GMT

Reports from the US that Hulu is blocking access to its programming through Google TV, point to a bigger issue that needs to be resolved if the Web and TV are going to peacefully coexist.
In the blue corner, Google TV promises consumers the most versatile platform for viewing content. Whether it's from aggregators like YouTube, hardware-direct channels (VierraCast), TV portals like Hulu or even BitTorrent sites, Google TV is sublimely agnostic.
In the red corner, the network's online video platform Hulu and catch-up sites provide users with a TV-on-the-web experience.|
Right now, you can hook up a T-Box, CASPA, Boxee, Apple TV, X-Box, or even Kylo to your TV, but none of these solutions offers the combination of ease of use and potential range of content that Google TV promises.
I say potential, because the networks' move to block Hulu on Google TV will limit consumer options.
This is the missing piece of the puzzle.
Believe it or not, we in Australia can actually see one US show, Simon Fuller's "If I Can Dream", on Hulu now. Could this be the beginning of the end for geoblocking? But that's another story.
"If I Can Dream" streams well in full screen mode and, like most TV shows, comes with ads. I repeat, it comes with ads. It looks like a TV show.
Why wouldn't the advertisers and the producers of the show want the most possible eyeballs, regardless of platform? And wouldn't Google TV offer them a way of tracking not only views, but user data as well?
Google TV/ Hulu standoff strikes me as the TV industry in lather. Taking a leaf out of the music industry's book - in the absence of strategic plan, just block.

US Networks block Google TV

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 14:17:13 GMT

Porn studios take on illegal downloaders

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 10:40:05 GMT

While the legitimate screen content industry has searched for online revenue streams, the porn industry has been getting on with making money hand over fist.
Now they are getting concerned about illegal downloading eating into their rivers of gold.
You may recall an earlier MediaWave article about independent studios in the US banding together to pursue illegal downloaders by accessing individual's ISP accounts. These records reveal who has downloaded a specific piece of content illegally.
Their campaign is gaining momentum and reports are coming in of individuals who have been identified with pirated films settling with the studios for around $1000-$1500. |
Some downloaders are taking the studios to court, in a move that could prove a watershed for the industry. If the court actions become too many and too expensive (as it did in the case of the music industry) the campaign may stall.

Name and Shame
The porn industry has a trump card that could give their efforts extra push.
Being outed as a porn user (and an illegal one, at that) could be a bit messy for some people.
Given the cost and effort involved in successfully prosecuting individuals, this move by the pornos is probably a scare campaign, or to put it more succinctly, a shakedown.
To add impact to their campaign, the porn industry has published examples of ISP records that show the illegal downloading of a particularly prized piece of content, "Miss Big-Ass Brazil".
Could this be the start of a "name and shame" strategy that will spread to mainstream content?
Think about it, would you like the world to know that you had been downloading episodes of Bullpitt!

Google Leanback - a glimpse of the Big Picture

Sun, 17 Oct 2010 10:42:13 GMT

Readers of MediaWave will know that I have been banging on about "unbundled" screen content.
The world of unbundled content is :

Cut free from channels, categories, programming and tastemakers

The opposite of programmed TV or cinema exhibition

Found by users searching keywords and recommending to others

Distributed non-exclusively on multiple platforms via multiple aggregators or by the content creators themselves.

Priced according to what the market will pay and if they won't pay, it's monetised indirectly.

Unbundled content is the future.|

Google/YouTube has launched a product called LeanBack, which gives us a glimpse of how unbundled content will work. If you've seen Clicker or Kylo, you will notice the similarities. All platforms aim to give you access to unbundled video content.
LeanBack was launched 6 months ago, but has been smartened up in advance of the launch of its big sister, Google TV.
The first Sony/Google TV sets went on sale over the weekend in the US.
You don't need a Google TV to use LeanBack, it's accessible on any PC. I won't describe how it works - you can have a look for yourself.
LeanBack also gives us a look at monetisation strategy that YouTube/Google will use in future. Early versions of LeanBack were ad-free, now Leanback/YouTube content will come with pre-roll and overlay ads.
It's the start of the big experiment by Google TV. How will people use web based content on their big screens?

More Movies on X-Box Live, Nine MSN

Sun, 17 Oct 2010 10:36:52 GMT

Foxtel and Microsoft will make a content subscription offer to Xbox 360 users soon.
Xbox Live connected consoles will be able to access pay-TV channels, catch-up TV episodes and a movie pay-per-view service.
Subscriptions are around $20 per month.

Nine MSN is planning to launch more iPad apps, including some with long-form video.
Monetisation will be either free-with-ads or pay per view.

French Content Industry gets Le Big Subsidie

Sun, 17 Oct 2010 09:11:24 GMT

It's been coming for a while, but the French have officially announced their scheme to socially engineer the music buying habits of their 12-25 year-olds.
French citizens who fall into that age range will qualify for a Carte Musique - a kind of discount card for buying tracks online.
The face value of the card is 50 but you only pay 25, the difference being made up by the French government.
The European Commission has given the scheme its tick of approval.
The scheme has built-in safeguards, including a 5 million ceiling on expenditure with any one service. Hopefully this will allow a greater diversity of players and stop iTunes from having a taxpayer-funded picnic.|
The French don't muck about when it comes to protecting their cultural identity, faced with a relentless onslaught of globalised content. They have promised free newspaper subscriptions to all 18-year-olds (don't even think of asking for the International Herald Tribune or The Guardian).
The French have put a two-year window on the Carte Musique, during which time they expect to sell about 2 million cards. That means an investment of around 50 by the French government. Let's see, that's around AUD 70 million.
I see no sign that the Australian government is even thinking about giving the Australian online content industries a leg up.

Big interest in IAB Web ratings project.

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 09:28:05 GMT

The Sydney-based Interactive Advertising Bureau has received a strong response to its Audience Measurement Services tender announced last month.
The project aims to bring something like objective ratings to the Internet, allowing advertisers some comfort when working out online campaigns.
For screen content creators, getting official ratings of online content will be a big step forward.

ACTA - we are near agreement (then we get a website!)

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 09:10:10 GMT

ACTA - the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement had its latest round of negotiations in Tokyo last week, promising that a draft agreement would be released soon.
The aim is to get uniform global anti-piracy laws. At the moment, copyright infringement of Australian product, taking place in, say, Romania, would have to be pursued under local law.
If ACTA is successful, signatories will have a global legal framework to pursue pirates.
Australia is one of the member countries.
Finding the ACTA website is hard. A search of all the keywords turns up the opposition, the Australian Clay Targets Association and the Australian Coffee Trader's Association.
DFAT has the best official summary.

Google TV demo site

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 07:46:48 GMT

Google has a smart demo site for its Google TV offering.
The interface looks impressive, but how does it perform?
One of the early reviews isn't that complimentary.
Still, we are getting a glimpse of the new world of unbundled content.
Speaking of content, some commentators have been echoing MediaWave's reservations about the lack of a differentiation between IP TV players.

Coincident TV : Interview with Winter Mead

Sat, 09 Oct 2010 21:22:46 GMT

Coincident TV is a technology company that produces tools to create an interactive video experience for the user.
The unique thing about content authored with their technology is that the viewer can access social media tools and view ancillary content without leaving the player for other websites.

Their biggest success to date has been the Glee Superfan Site, which Coincident created for Fox to prime the Glee audience for the second part of the first series.

I spoke with Winter Mead, Marketing Manager of Coincident TV at the recent Arresting Audiences seminar in Melbourne.|

He described Coincident as a technology company with a production arm. They work like this - clients come to them with a property, they work out the creative approach, agree on features and then build the experience.
Coincident is a small company (20 staff), so to reach scale for their platform, they intend to establish a reseller network.
They are training production houses and interactive agencies to use their software.
The business model is based on a licence fee for distribution of the player
Once the network is established, content creators outside the US will be able to author Coincident experiences locally.
Ideally, in 2-3 years, Winter sees the software eventually reaching the prosumer level and working with a UGC audience.
He sees Facebook as one of the major ways for content creators to empower fans to create their own experiences and share them with other fans.

Fred : YouTube series to TV Movie, then back to YouTube

Sat, 09 Oct 2010 21:10:09 GMT

The Fred Channel, featuring the work of teenage comic Lucas Cruikshank, was the most popular on YouTube, so Nickelodeon made a telemovie out of it.
The movie, called not surprisingly Fred : The Movie, got 7.6 million viewers in its first airing last month.
Now the wheel has come full circle - the movie has become one of the growing number of rental titles on YouTube. For $3.99 you get a 24 hour window.
But not if you live in Australia, of course.
Nickelodeon has also signed Cruikshank to star in his own half-hour TV comedy series Marvin, Marvin..
It was only a matter of time before a mainstream TV network grabbed a YouTube star.
Network execs can only dream of the sort of eyeballs that the top YouTube channels attract.

Tom Hanks takes to the Web for new series

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:47:21 GMT

Tom Hanks has been trying to get a Hollywood studio interested in Electric City, an animated, anti-apocalyptic sci-fi series.
The format is twenty, three-minute eps.
With no bites in the US, Hanks went to Indian studio Reliance for support. An added factor was the potential 700 million English speakers in India, who are very much used to looking at things that last about three minutes on their phones, said Hanks.
Funds in place, look for the series in 2011.
Closely following the Hanks announcement came the news that Michael Eisner's Vuguru web studio has received a big injection of funds and will produce up to 30 original web productions a year.

Could this be the start of a content wave that will give IPTV platforms the difference they have been looking for?

CONFERENCE-IN-A-BLOG : Commercialising Video

Sun, 03 Oct 2010 11:14:56 GMT

Commercialising Video Seminar

The third AIMIA/Venture One Commercialising Video seminar was on in Sydney last Tuesday.
Heres my highly selective highlights package.

ABC iView. Arul Baskaran

iView has been an Australian leader in catch-up TV. Its only recently that the other FTAs have matched it.
According to Arul Baskaran, iView reaches more viewers than any FTA broadcasters catchup platform. They had 2.5 m visits last month, putting them ahead of Ten, 9 and 7 in order of views.
Arul flagged iPad and mobile versions coming plus an IPTV option.
In addition to the 125 hours added each week, the ABC has first-run content in development exclusive for iView.
iView has some exclusive content now for example The Vice Guide to Film, a series from Canada that looks behind the scenes of the film industry in places like Pakistan, Palestine and Russia.
This has worked so well on iView that it may migrate on to one of the ABCs TV channels.
This series is well worth a look but I couldnt find it on iView, so you can see it here: Vice Guide to Film
The ABC is working with the NBN folks on HD streaming.

Fetch TV. Scott Lorson
Scott started with a refreshingly honest assessment of the challenges facing Pay-TV-over-IP providers.|

People dont pay for access devices

Too many options, not another relationship!

Not another Set Top Box!

Fetch TVs Content Strategies -complement the FTAs -partner with ISPs to deliver unmetered viewing -occupy middle ground -have the best PVR -aim for a user interface with 3 screen integration
Fetch TV is one of the only IPTV players to have at least a semblance of a content differentiation they are delivering Multicultural programming. They estimate an audience of 4m for this type of content.
They are looking at connection to contextual viewing apps (like IMDB) and Facebook (for collaborative viewing) using devices like iPhone/Pad.

Google/YouTube Australia. Richard North
As discussed earlier on Media Wave, YouTube's partner program is designed to form relationships with content partners, both short and long-form.
YouTube will move into more long-form content. Focussing on long-form now. Users are searching for more long-form and Google is passing this data on to content owners.
Richard observed that access to content, restrained by cross media rights management, is the major problem. YouTube is working with content owners to try and find models that work for online distribution.
Questions about Google TV were politely batted back.

Fairfax. Ricky Sutton
The IPTV market will never be smaller than it is today.
Fairfax has video and the number one priority and they intend to produce their own. They will announce 17 more content partners soon and they want to talk to content owners now.

RivusTV. Simon Bailey
RivusTV is a pay per view platform that is open to all content creators, developed by Melbourne-based Simon Bailey.
He has developed a distribution model where the user is charged to view a stream and the content owner and Rivus split the revenue. www.rivustv.com

Panel on The Future of Content

David Court AFTRS Centre for Screen Business.
Who will make content for the new platforms ? The Baby Boomers havent so 30 year olds will become the content creators.
Old media has a long development cycle and a short life.
New media has a shortened development cycle and a long life cycle.
The audience is the asset and the finance model will be different.
Funding Agencies have not engaged with this sector

Jennifer Wilson The Project Factory.
-Getting attention is the challenge for content creators. TV and film will become a social phenomenon example Twitter feeds on the ABCs Q&A.
-A multi-tasking audience is seen as a threat, not opportunity.
-Stories need to be participatory.
-Commercial models are based on linear models with other experiences being monetised.
-Answer to piracy give away the linear version and monetise the other experiences.

Chris Adams Orbit Media.
- Organics strategies have to be pitched. Feature cant be pitched without strategies.

Thom Kozik - Atari

Thom is a veteran American entrepreneur, with a history in the games industry. He gave a funny and dynamic presentation summing up all his experience in the entertainments sector. Here are a few of his gems:

Consumer behaviour is full of levelling up a games term for moving up a level in the game. Examples are loyalty programmes, where consumers try to beat the system to get bigger rewards.

The future for online games is free-to-play, with global reach. The largest audience for online games is 35+.

The income for serious online gamers is uncapped, because you can keep selling them additional experiences. The opposite is the one-off purchase of a console game.

The biggest market for online games is in Vietnam.

Thoms rules for online entrepreneurs -Move fast and break things. -Done is better than perfect. -Stop planning, you will get it wrong anyway! -The marketplace will decide if you have it right or not. -Keep barriers to entry low.

The most powerful metric in the online games space is the K-Factor, or rate of infection (virality).

Andrew Urban on the NBN

Sun, 03 Oct 2010 11:13:36 GMT

Andrew Urban is editor and Publisher of Urban Cinefile. He invited me to comment on a piece he wrote on the viability of the NBN. Here's and edited version of his piece and my response. You can read the full piece at the link at the bottom of the page.

THE SOVIET MODEL WONT HELP US - OR OUR FILMMAKERS

Before the collapse of the Soviet Union and its command economy, there was a quip doing the rounds to illustrate the failure of command economies to meet consumer needs. How come there are frequent toilet paper shortages in Moscow when in New York there is always just the right amount available? The answer of course is that the market delivers toilet paper to meet demand pretty accurately.
Our concern at Urban Cinefile is not the delivery of toilet paper but of good quality broadband as demanded by a variety of consumers, ranging from high end industry, research and medical users to the suburban seniors looking for garden supplies in their area and all in between, including home entertainment customers. |
We have been calling for a significant improvement in Australias broadband service for years, usually citing Korea, where consumers enjoy fast and easy access. But in all our discussions about this issue, we never once attacked the Government for failing to provide the service. We always wanted Telstra and the industry in general - to get it done.
Why we care about broadband at Urban Cinefile is to do with its potential for Australian filmmakers as an alternative distribution model; to get their works in front of audiences in remote and regional Australia, for example, in places where screen culture has not and can not penetrate otherwise. (As well as all metro areas, of course.) We also care about broadband delivering our own services, trailers and such, and what we COULD do to assist filmmakers in their goal.
"we argue that the NBN is a colossal mistake"

Government does have a role in rolling out quality broadband services across Australia, but not as the provider; its role is to enable, not to replace the private sector to do it competition and consumer demand should be at the heart of the program.
There are various ways Government can ensure its policy objectives are met in all areas of telecommunications and other services, ranging from taxation tools to cost underwriting and rebates where high cost regional services can be effectively delivered.
By Treasurys latest warnings, ..implementation of the NBN also carries significant risks, including financial risks for the public balance sheet and risk around competition and efficiency telecommunications and related markets.
So it seems that the Coalitions policy (as badly, incomprehensively outlined during the election campaign) is right; a combo of copper, fibre optic and wireless delivery would serve the entire country better than an all fibre optic service and it should be a Government supported and encouraged business opportunity for the private sector, where ROI disciplines would produce better service at lower prices.
Another downside of a high cost service (as the NBN will surely be one way or the other) is that it reduces the consumers willingness to pay more - for things like Australian online content.

MediaWave comments. Simon Britton
I'm not qualified to comment on the technical issues, even though I read all the opinions avidly. On my reading, the jury is out on the absolute best way to deliver high-speed broadband to all Australians.
My broader reading of the whole NBN project is that we are very fortunate to even have the hope of a unified, coherent national network. Having the country's best and brightest minds focused on a national communications infrastructure project like this, at such a crucial point in the communications revolution, is a golden opportunity for content creators. I totally agree with Andrew on the NBN's potential to destroy the massive barriers to distribution that content creators face in this country.
We are one of the few countries in the world that has the national will and the resources to even attempt a project like this. Not surprisingly to me, one the best-wired countries, Singapore, got that way via a government-led fibre infrastructure project. And very sobering to reflect that they had it all done by December 1998!
Anyway, if I were a betting man, I would punt on the NBN eventually being delivered as a hybrid network, regardless of who does the wiring-up. It seems that the technology is moving too fast to believe otherwise.
Andrew's comments about infrastructure taking money away from content is to accept on face value. To make a crude analogy, if the government decided to complete a different infrastructure project like a high-speed rail link between Melbourne and Sydney, would they cut funding to Screen Australia?
Or does he mean that the cost of the NBN will cause the price of broadband to the consumer to rise, thus lowering their spend on screen content online?
If the latter, I would point to the drastic drops in the price of content that have happened in the US recently. Who knows how low they will be in five years time - if you believe Chris Anderson, it could be free.
Win, lose or draw, it's going to be a wild ride for content creators in the next few years.

Dungog Film Festival on iTunes

Sat, 02 Oct 2010 20:33:33 GMT

Dungog Film Festival has its own space on iTunes, offering three indie Australian feature films for download - The Jammed, Black Water and Lake Mungo .
All three are priced at $17.99 to own or $3.99 to rent.
It's great to see an aggregator getting into the iTunes game, even on a small scale.
You can see them here

IMDB rejects The Tunnel

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 20:38:45 GMT

Producers of Sydney-based crowd funded feature The Tunnel have been denied a listing by IMDB.
I spoke to the co-producers today and they confirmed that IMDB's basis for rejecting their listing was that The Tunnel doesn't have a theatrical distribution deal in place.
The Tunnel is going to be distributed free via BitTorrent.
You can see the teaser here: The Tunnel

What is it? And why should I care? Boxee Box

Sun, 26 Sep 2010 20:55:02 GMT

Boxee is yet another streaming box that is down for release in Australia later this year.
Is it different from any of the others? Can't see it, really.
The model is based on a one-off purchase, with no other fees "Forever" (sic).
The Content offering.
The usual promises of recycled US network and studio content, but at least the local distributor, D-Link are making noises about doing deals with Australian content providers. |
A movie service is mooted, but may not be available straight away.
An added feature is the ability to recommend programs to fellow Boxee users via Facebook, Twitter, and the Boxee network.

If you needed more evidence that the rush to get IPTV boxes into the Australian home is on, here it is. The things that will sway the consumer - deals on bandwidth and a distinctive content offering, seem to be missing from the Boxee package.

CONFERENCE-IN-A-BLOG - Arresting Audiences

Sun, 26 Sep 2010 16:55:08 GMT

Film Victoria's Arresting Audiences was a very successful two-day seminar about finding audiences for Australian screen content.
While not specifically about online, there was lots of applicable information.
This is my highly selective highlights package from two packed days, with one exception. MediaWave interviewed Winter Read from Coincident TV about the Glee Superfan site and more broadly about Coincident's interactive video platform.
Interesting stuff - the interview will appear next week.

Researcher Mark McKrindle bookended the seminar with some general observations about Australia's population.

We have an ageing population - median age is 37, people are living and working longer, the age spectrum of the audience is expanding.

New Life Stages. The Child-Adult stage has been replaced by more segmented life stages. Child>Tween>Teen>Extended Adolescence>Adult>Mature Adult.
Note: Baby Boomers have more iPhones than GenY.|

New Influences for Consumers and Brands.

Tradition is being replaced by Innovation. Google is the most valuable brand - and it's only 12 years old.

Reputation is being replaced by Recommendation. Social validation is more important than established reputation.

Sit and Listen is being replaced by Try and See. Consumers cannot be told to buy - they want to experience the product for themselves.
Editor's Note: None of this applies to Harvey Norman.

Long-Term Needs are being replaced by Short-Term wants

Content is being replaced by Process. Consumers want to be involved in the creation process.

Authority is being replaced by Authenticity

Experts are being replaced by social networks.

Summary - the 4Is for finding Audiences

Intercept the audience - especially Gen Z - the tech multi-taskers, message screeners.

Interest them

Involve them

Inspire them

Dan Gregory - SMART Advertising, The Gruen Transfer.

Audiences as tribes - people define themselves by the film tribe they belong to.

Identity beats quality. Example - early versions of iPhone didn't work but people still bought them.

Audience wants to take ownership of their films. They want to be able to represent themselves by the film.

Psychographics are killing demographics. Different demographics may have common interests - how do we find a common value set for an audience of different ages?

Connected audiences - the fastest growing audience on Facebook is 55-60.

Audiences are built, not found. Influencing the influencers is critical.

Audience Testing - John Berenyi (Bergent Research)

Pilot testing is being done online, followed up by questionnaire. Sometimes promos for films are tested. Online testing can use 300-400 people, as opposed to 80 done face to face.

The responses are more truthful when done online.

Producers must be involved in audience research. Early testing of concepts can help in raising funds.

Investigating Genre
Tait Brady showed data on Australian production of films from 1974-2010.

The highest percentage is in the "drama" category (35%) followed by docos, (18%), comedy (18%). Only 13% are "genre" films.

Development stats show 77% of projects are in the "drama" category.

But what did people actually watch? - 21 % action/thriller, 1% drama. DVD sales show 32% action/adventure to 5% drama.

The only "drama" in Australian top 10 dvds is Sampson and Delilah at no 10. "Australia" is number 1.
Combined data shows:

45% drama production, with 9% watching

Action Thriller 9% made and 18% watching.
Conclusion - something is out of whack, audience-wise.

Michael Favelle -Distributor, Odin's Eye
IPTV and the NBN will be a game changer for Australian distribution. Great to hear this from an Australian distributor.

Gary Hayes gave us a link to his presentation - packed full of useful stuff.
http://www.slideshare.net/hayesg31/arresting-audiences-cocreating-communities

TV-on-the-Web Platform ivi in strife.

Sat, 25 Sep 2010 23:51:16 GMT

ivi is yet another platform that piggy-backs on TV broadcasts.
The ivi offer is live steams from a number of US networks. In other words, it aggregates live content and streams it to you - for a fee.
$4.99 a month gets you unlimited content from CBS, ABC, NBC, CW and FOX.
Not surprisingly, the aforesaid networks aren't happy about this. |
"It is blatantly illegal to steal broadcasters' copyrighted works and signals," said National Association of Broadcasters president Dennis Wharton.
C&D letters have been flying.
ivi has issued a countersuit, stating that:
"The Copyright Act expressly authorizes secondary transmission of copyrighted works embodied in primary transmissions,"
Wonder if a local entrepreneur will be game enough do an Australian version?
This fracas reminds me of the Melbourne outfit , MyTVR who are using FTA content to create a unique application.

Australian Mainstream TV goes to web?

Sat, 25 Sep 2010 22:33:26 GMT

Rumour going round the Arresting Audiences seminar - characters from three or four mainstream Australian TV shows are being spun off to new series, at least one a web series.

Blockbuster bankruptcy - what took them so long?

Sat, 25 Sep 2010 10:47:58 GMT

The only surprising thing about their Chapter 11 statement is the lack of a clear strategy to compete against Netflix, iTunes, Redbox, (movie-rental kiosks) and a slew of other online outlets.
Blockbuster, whose business model has relied on bricks and mortar, has made no firm statement about moving to online distribution.
Can't give their investors too much comfort.

Workshop Memos

Sun, 19 Sep 2010 12:55:27 GMT

Two solid workshops coming up:
Film Victoria's Arresting Audiences workshop is on this week in Melbourne.
MediaWave will cover it, with special attention to Winter Mead from Coincident TV, architects of The Glee Superfan Experience and Diarmid Scrimshaw, from Warp Films in the UK.
Full details Arresting Audiences

Next week it's Sydney for Commercialising Video - Content Creation, distribution, discovery, monetisation
Full details: Commercialising Video

NBN - "Tell 'em they're dreamin"

Sun, 19 Sep 2010 12:47:49 GMT

Peter Herbert, from the MediaWave Expert Group comments on the resurrection of the NBN.

Well, according to Julia I want faster speeds. The faster the better. Blindingly fast. Gagging for it. Yes, the NBN is going to revolutionize my world. Really?
Look, I dont want to be a party pooper or anything but perhaps we should slow down a bit. All this need for speed is missing what for me is an essential point.
I see us rushing into an online world where there is not going to be much Australian content. No regulations or incentives for the stuff, you see.
Fast, blindingly fast, thats good. Absence of Aussie stories. Not good.|
Recent history tells us that hardware innovations dont necessarily lead to any more local content.
Just like the Digi channels the FTA airs have recently discovered overnight (after 10 years), we are again in danger of encouraging a service that will be a desert for Australian stories.
Crying Poor
The networks are saying Our new Digi offshoots are rating very well, thank you very much. In fact we are going to offer more, and more
Put on more Australian content, you say? Oh, sorry, maybe you dont understand but our businesses are very marginal and that will have to wait.
So now we have 43 billion for the NBN. It will get us world-class speed but will it get us Australian class content? I dont think so.
What to do?

Get some content producers into the NBN planning - if it's so good let's find out how Aussie content is going to be created.

Do a study on the existing regulations for FTA and their effectiveness or otherwise in the new NBN world.

Get some new players into the media mix - the last FTA licence was in 1965.

Google TV sets dates for World Domination

Sat, 18 Sep 2010 23:21:56 GMT

Google plans to launch its Web to TV project in the US in the next few months. Expect a global rollout next year.
Consumers will have full Internet browsing on their big screens and access to a raft of unbundled screen content.
CEO Eric Schmidt said: "We will work with content providers, but it is very unlikely that we will get into actual content production."
Does "work with" mean bankroll? We hope so. They just grabbed Robert Kyncl from Netflix to become VP of Content Partnerships.
Sony has already signed up to deliver Google TV on its new panels and Samsung is thinking it over.
No surprises that this announcement comes hard on the heels of the new Apple TV box as the two jockey for the $US180 billion global TV ad market.

BBC IPTV project has a name - YouView.

Sat, 18 Sep 2010 22:53:01 GMT

The BBC and a range of partners has officially launched its IPTV service, formerly known as Project Canvas, renamed YouView.
They are calling it a "free-to-air internet-connected TV service.." .
Translation: it's going to be a box, a lot like the Telstra T-Box.
MediaWave has a thing about boxes. We think they are at best an intermediate technology.
Given that, the Brits are pretty slow off the mark with this one - delivery isn't due until "next year".

Window for Australian content creators?
The content partners so far are BBC, ITV and Channel 4.
YouView is being touted as an open platform,"..open to any content provider, so you can create your own portal sites on YouView.."
Taken on face value, this suggests that Australian content creators will be able to deliver the content straight into UK homes via custom apps.
So, speak to your local developer soon.

Commercialising Video Seminar

Tue, 14 Sep 2010 14:51:18 GMT

This two-day seminar in Sydney from 28th-29th September with the tagline Content Creation, distribution, discovery, monetisation. Build an audience first, then monetise , has a deep lineup of industry folk

Speakers include:
Scott Lorson, CEO, Fetch TV
Dan Peters, Strategic Partner Development, Google
Matt Bruce, Managing Director, Australia, Nielsen Online Division
Jennifer Wilson, Director, The Project Factory
David Court, Director - Centre for Screen Business
Chris Adams, Chris Adams, CEO, Orbit Media Group.

Full seminar details are below.

Commercialising Video

Exclusive - Survey of Australian Content Online

Sun, 12 Sep 2010 13:43:07 GMT

Queensland University of Technology's Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI) is to conduct the first quantitative survey of Australian Content online.
Key questions are :

Who are the major online distributors of Australian long-form content?

What Australian titles are on these platforms?|

Do these distributors have a strategy for acquiring Australian content now or in the future?

How do these companies see the market for online long-form content developing in the next five years?

What revenues are online distributors predicting from VOD in five year's time? What will this be as a percentage of total Box Office?

How are independent producers getting their content online?

What this means to you
Now that the NBN is set to become a major enabler of online distribution, producers need to get hard information about which companies are acquiring Australian content.

Have Your Say
MediaWave is working closely with CCI on this survey - the results will be made public in a special session in November. CCI will survey the companies - MediaWave would like to hear from content creators about your experiences.
The link below will take you to a short, anonymous questionnaire about your existing or future online content strategies. Pooling this information and making it public will help all of us get a better understanding of the online landscape.
Click here to take survey

Apple under scrutiny

Sun, 12 Sep 2010 10:49:30 GMT

As we discussed in the Apple's 99c..article, some commentators are unhappy with Apple's dominance of the online content market.
This has surfaced in frustration with restrictive authoring and approval process for the iApps and questions about anti-competitive behavior.
In response, Apple publicised its app guidelines for the first time last week. They are restricted to developers only, but some leaked text includes this passage:
"We will reject Apps for any content or behavior that we believe is over the line. What line, you ask? Well, as a Supreme Court Justice once said, 'I'll know it when I see it'. And we think that you will also know it when you cross it.."
Pure Apple-talk and hardly clear.|
Analysts are seeing Apple's apparent glasnost as a response to predictions that smartphones running Android OS will outsell iPhones this year.
Because of the openness of the Android app platform, some developers are deploying an Android version while they wait for the iPhone version to be approved.

On another front, the Justice Department is reportedly scrutinising Apple's deals with music and book publishers to see if they are anti-competitive.
In the US, iTunes controls around 70% of online music sales

YouTube movie rentals by end of 2010

Sat, 11 Sep 2010 15:28:20 GMT

Reports are surfacing that Google/YouTube will offer streaming movies from major studios soon.
Further evidence that release windows are collapsing - the streams will be available at the same time as DVDs hit the shelves.
Price is said to around the $5 mark, for US audiences only.
The streaming model is an obvious one for the emerging Google TV platform. By setting up YouTube as their own movie portal, Google is giving new TV buyers yet another reason to ditch the set-top box offered by the likes of Roku. YouTube has been trialling streaming movies for some time now.
Lionsgate has it's own YouTube channel, offering a small selection of VOD titles. None is viewable in Australia.
And they wonder why Australians are big file sharers.

What is it? And why should I care? Plex

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:36:36 GMT

The recent announcement from LG that they are partnering with Plex, has catapulted one small company into the big time.
So is this another step towards the "boxless living room". |

What is it?
Plex is an app for the iPhone/iPad operating system, (now known as iOS) that allows the user to control video content on a range of Mac platforms in the home.
It uses one device (like an iMac) to store content downloaded from any source and then distribute it to other platforms in the home via your wireless network.
So you can do things like watch a movie on your iPad, pause it and then pick up later from the same point on your iPhone.
It also lets your iPhone act as a remote control.

What's missing?
Obviously a connection to the biggest screen in the house - which is where LG comes in - they have chosen Plex as the platform for their new IPTV Netcast screens.

Why should I care?
From a consumer POV, this means that there is no need to buy another box to use streaming content on your big TV. As long as you already have a Mac (yes, Mac only for the moment) and an LG TV with Plex installed, you can de-clutter your living space by one more box. Oh, and one more remote control.
Even if you really liked the sound of the new Apple TV, it is really just another box. Who needs that?
From the producer's POV, it makes it easier to access unbundled content, and it straightens the path from you to them.

Another Top Ten list

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 11:39:35 GMT

Last week we published a list of the top ten (estimated) YouTube revenue-earners.
This week it's The Top 10 Webisodes, compiled by a company called Visible Measures.
The difference between the two lies in the definition of a webisode - the content on this list is produced eps, rather than the more free-form material featured last week. In fact one of them comes from Starz Media - a major US producer.
Still some amazing numbers of views - over 64mil for that Annoying Orange and interesting to see a couple of stayers in Red vs Blue and Happy Tree Friends still pulling big audiences.

Apple's 99 cent deal - not that great ?

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 11:15:04 GMT

iTunes rocked the ossified music industry. Now Apple's announcement that it will sell a range of TV shows for 99c suggests that it could do the same for the torpid screen distribution industry.
But a range of commentators feel that Apple as the destination for screen content is not a good thing. They see the mega-aggregator's ability to dictate terms of trade as unhealthy.

So it's good to see Amazon matching Apple's "TV shows for 99c" offer, even if Amazon is making a loss at this price and can't sustain it. It's sending a signal to content creators - iTunes isn't the only game in town.

Amazon's gamble
Interesting to see how Amazon's pricing works out - at 99c per ep, you can download Glee cheaper than buying the whole season on DVD. Amazon will sell the DVDs for $35.49 from September 14, but you can download right now for around $21.78! How does that work?
Note - the Amazon download service is not available here. Do you ever feel left out in this country?|

Still Small Cheese?
When you put the range of content available through Apple TV and Amazon combined up against the file sharing "catalogue", even the 99c strategy may not be enough to hose down the black market.
The 99c offer backed by the US studios and delivered by Apple needs to hit the sweet spot of catalogue and price to really work.

Let's talk about Australian content for a minute.
Apple hasn't been proactive with Australian screen content creators. Getting indie content on to iTunes is a convoluted process.
Australians who have approached iTunes with an aggregated offer have been politely told to come back later.
Despite this, a smattering of Australian TV drama has made it to iTunes - East of Everything, Sea Patrol, McLeod's, Offspring, Underbelly. There's room for a lot more, especially from ABC and SBS.

What this means to You
If we needed any more evidence that content is becoming commoditised, the iTunes/Amazon stoush is it. Similar catalogue, same price, point of difference - minimal.
The platform that makes a screen content offering that's comprehensive, inclusive, accessible, legal and (wait for it) free, will prevail.
And that ain't iTunes or Amazon.

Internet Buzz Strategy for Brazilians

Sat, 04 Sep 2010 23:12:29 GMT

Nice to find an international story that isn't US or European focussed.
EH! Filmes is based in Rio. They are using a blog to create resources around their latest film Como Esquecer (So hard to Forget) while it is still being shot.
My Portuguese isn't that great, but there are interviews with cast and crew, footage from location, pieces of the soundtrack and more.
They transformed positive comments about the site from Facebook/Twitter into a teaser that became news in itself.
A bit like The Tunnel, they got coverage in the mainstream media and ended up with 100,000 followers. A good number, bearing in mind that there are 147m people in Brazil.
The missing peice seems to be crowd-funding - or maybe it isn't legal in Brazil?

Working Dog iPhone app

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 10:13:21 GMT

Just when you thought the Dogs had dozed off, out comes an iPhone app.
The Jetlag Travel Guides are originally a print series of Lonely Planet spoofs. They take you through the pleasures and pitfalls of roughing it in places like Gastronesia and Costa del Pom.
The iPhone app Jetlag Lite contains one free guide, unlocking the rest is $4.95.
You can browse content on Working Dog's website, which is typically quirky. It looks like it might have been designed by Russell Coight!
It contains online versions of some of the Jetlag titles, but no reference to the app.
The Jetlag.. app will be great in-tram entertainment for fans of Working Dog.

Fetch TV - consumers signing up?

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 12:09:06 GMT

According to iiNet (the only ISP to get into bed with FetchTV so far) their trial of 100 households has resulted in 95 of them taking up a paid subscription to Fetch.
According to iiNet, movies were a major selling point.
They say that foreign-language programming is finding a market - perhaps as a cheaper alternative to giant satellite dishes that many non-English speakers use to get content from their home countries?

What is it? And why should I care? Kylo

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 00:21:05 GMT

Kylo is eerily reminiscent of Joost.
Remember Joost? The early content aggregator backed by the people from Skype in 2007.
It didn't work out, but it was a glimpse of things to come.

So now we have Kylo causing a few ripples amongst the contentscenti. |
Yes, it's an application, but this time it turns your computer into something like a set-top box. Connected to your big screen TV, it scales up to fill the whole screen, acting like an EPG.
The content is an aggregation of around 150 sources, from Hulu and mainstream TV portals to indie sources like IndiePix and Babelgum.
The interface is very slick and it's exciting to see a mix of free and paid content streamed to your big screen.
Like Joost I peg it as an intermediate technology before the wave of content widgets for IPTV. But well worth a look.

The New Technicolor - interview with Vince Pizzica

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 23:29:44 GMT

Technicolor is re-inventing itself to meet the needs of the digital screen content industries.
Vince Pizzica is an Australian who works out of Paris, heading up Technicolor's Strategy, Technology and Research. He recently visited Melbourne.
He told me that after a period of uncertainty about the direction of the company, it's now focussed on the creation and delivery of premium content. Technicolor is a multi-faceted company, supplying hardware, software, doing research and providing services to the screen content industry.|

On the research side, they've been heavily investing in technology that creates better visual experiences - for example 3D technology and software for visual effects.

They are looking at the management of content in the "home ecosystem" and the "home cloud" - so that multiple screens can access content seamlessly.

Technicolor is developing processes to deal with the multiple formats that are needed to deliver on all platforms. They intend to partner with Australian companies to deliver this as a service to content creators.

They are working on software that replicates the operation of the human eye in focussing on the most interesting parts of the frame - a sort of intelligent pan-and-scan. This will make the automated reformatting of content for a variety of screen sizes more effective.

Vince expressed some concern that iTunes may become the dominant player in the online distribution space. Healthy competition between two or three big players would be better for content creators.
A couple of these are Netflix in the US and Love Film in Europe. He doesn't see a player like this in Australia yet.
He cited the Amazon Kindle/iPad model as a healthy situation for content creators, in that they allow the content creator to set the prices, as opposed to the Apple standardised pricings.

Technicolor views the findability of content as one of the biggest challenges to the indie creator. Starting with the user interface, they are exploring tablet-like products which will suggest options based on preferences, not necessarily similar to what you are watching at the time.

Vince is enthusiastic about a post-NBN Australia and observed that while the big media players are quiet about the changes that the NBN will bring to the industry, once it is in place, they will embrace it.

He predicts that indie content creators who develop a strong following now will flourish in the NBN environment.

Technicolor has plans to develop content acquisition, production and delivery in Australia.

He believes that an upswing in the Australian film industry is imminent and that offshore productions are looking to come back.

Star Wars Uncut : fan-sourced movie wins Emmy

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 10:06:07 GMT

Star Wars Uncut is a fan-sourced remake of Episode 4 - A New Hope.
Started last October by Casey Pugh, the film is a full-length recreation of the George Lucas classic.
Fifteen second segments were created by 430 directors, using everything from stop-motion with vegetables to quite sophisticated CGI.
| Quality ranges from awful to amazing, but overall it plays like an affectionately goofy Star Wars tribute.
The legality of distributing the whole film is still in doubt, but in the meantime you can watch it in segmented form.
If the legals are sorted, it will surely find a massive audience.
It won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media: Fiction, beating Dexter Interactive.

Australian makes the YouTube Rich List

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 22:10:28 GMT

Skeptical about independent content creators making money out of YouTube?
A study by TubeMogul, a video advertising and analytics company, made an estimate of income from banner ads only for the top 10 YouTube indie content stars.|
They concluded that they all made over $100k for the period July 09 to July 10. This revenue didn't include endorsements, pre-roll ads or other sources.
Coming in at number 10 is Sydney-based Natalie Chan - her communitychannel had 138,871,829 views and earned an estimated $101,000.
The biggest earner was Shane Dawson with 431,787,450 views for an estimated $315,000 in revenue.

Tourism NZ Branded Content

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 13:22:08 GMT

There must be a quick way of saying
"short-film-that-was-generated-by-an-open-competition-and-is-now-being-used-as-incognito-viral-branded-content-for-a-corporation.."
Whatever it is, here's a really good one. |

For the record:
"FROSTY MAN AND THE BMX KID is the extended and enhanced version of which was written and directed by Tim McLachlan - one of the five finalists in the international YOUR BIG BREAK film-making competition run by Tourism New Zealand in conjunction with Barrie Osborne (The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings) and Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings, King Kong)."

Movie Extra webisodes - $50k up for grabs

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 14:10:05 GMT

Movie Extra is running a webisode competition with a $50k production budget on offer. Winner will produce a seven-part series.
Called WebFest, the comp will be judged by members of their Facebook page and an industry panel.
WebFest could be seen as the Web version of Movie Extra's Project Greenlight, which was a feature competition with a $1m budget.
Chris Berry is managing this one as well.
The money is put up by the Movie Network, as part of its required Australian content spend.

StoryLabs - Trans Media workshops and more

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 22:41:36 GMT

The groundbreaking LAMP project at AFTRS wound up in June. Now some of the people who worked there have reappeared in a new entity called Story Labs.
Gary Hayes, former LAMP Director, is one of the initiators of Story Labs.
Looks like an ambitious and wide-ranging program of workshops, mentorships and so on.
Can't see a timetable of activities yet.

Time Warner iPad App demo

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:46:40 GMT

Have a look at the video below for an insight into how major players like Time Warner are using the iPad as a content platform (not to mention a remote control).

YouTube Developments Roundup

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:24:09 GMT

Speculation about where YouTube is going has been spurred on by three new developments.

Increasing the upload limit to 15 minutes.
This is puzzling the pundits. It seems like such an arbitrary amount - it's only 5 mins more than the old limit, it doesn't fit any format. Word is that it's a publicity stunt, but expect to see limits progressively increased.

Partner Grants
As reported last week, they are funding selected YouTube uploaders to develop original content. But fine print says:
" Funds from YouTube Partner Grants will serve as an advance against the partner's future YouTube revenue share."
A bit like the old record company "advance against royalties" idea.
Thanks to sharp-eyed MediaWave Expert Brad Giblin for the tipoff.

Australia's Secret Talents competition.
In partnership with Vodaphone, it's a free-for-all talent quest, winner judged by popular vote. Essentially, Idol in 90 secs.

Taken all together, YouTube is moving inexorably in the direction of a vertically integrated content channel with Google providing the advertising revenue smarts.
BTW, the YouTube Blog reports that Australians uploaded 1500 pieces for the Life in a Day project.

Branded Meta-Series - The Young and the Connected

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 11:11:44 GMT

Latest branded content outing for LG is a mega-spoof of daytime soaps, featuring a cast of characters who live their life in a world of mobile apps.
SPOILER ALERT
The twist here is that the we only get to see the making-of footage. The series is axed before shooting starts.

Australia's One Gig Referendum

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 13:56:10 GMT

This Saturday, Australians vote in an election that has become a referendum on the fate of the media and ICT sectors in this country. It's as simple as that.

The Coalition won't retreat from its promise to scrap the fledgling National Broadband Network (NBN) should it win power.

Tony Abbott has fudged his way around the issues, using his "I'm no tech-head..." copout. His alternative to the NBN's fibre-to-the-home - a combination copper, wireless and fibre-to-the-node, has been met with skepticism by industry commentators.

The stakes were raised yesterday's by the announcement from NBN Co's Mike Quigley that it will deliver speeds up to 1Gps will - ten times faster than originally announced

These type of performance will put Australia in the same league as South Korea, Japan and Singapore, which already offer speeds of up to 1Gbps.

This is exactly where we should be, given the country's history of punching above its weight in the online/media space.|

The Missing USP

The NBN's opponents have been depicting it as a network in search of an application. Does the average consumer need one gig speeds to update their Facebook page? Clearly not.

But would the average consumer use a massive pipe of media options as an alternative to the choices offered by the existing broadcasters? I think so.

The Labor Party has shied away from positioning the NBN as a game-changer for media consumption. Australians have a reputation as world-class downloaders - Julia Gillard and Stephen Conroy must be wary of alienating the existing media players with the promise of unbundled content for 90% of Australians.

But there's a week to go and the election is on a knife-edge.

Roll the dice, Julia.

Promise Australians a thriving online media industry, driven by a consumer demand for unbundled video content and live HD events.
Play the sports card - live, user-selected, multi-cam feeds from football, rugby and cricket. That should clinch it.

VioCorp delivers TonTon for Malaysian TV

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 13:25:53 GMT

Australian streaming provider VioCorp has delivered a catch-up TV portal for Malaysian broadcaster Media Prima.

According to VioCorp, the platform "..offers users individualised, customised content, targeted advertising and the interactivity of social networking."

Viocorp worked with Accenture to deliver a product which is significantly smarter than offerings from standard catch-up portals.

Neflix big VOD play

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 15:51:55 GMT

Netflix will spend around $1billion to add films from Paramount Pictures, Lions Gate and MGM to its offer.
Netflix aims to part fund this by saving the money (about $600m/yr) spent on posting DVDs to customers
It's a visionary gamble, brought on by the increasing realisation that streaming and downloads revenue will surpass DVD sales soon.
This is the second major move for Netflix this summer after the windowing deal with with Relativity Media.
The bigger picture is Hollywood's acceptance of streaming as a revenue stream alongside FTA and subscription services

YouTube Partner Grants worth $5m

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 15:11:25 GMT

One of the big questions in the online screen content space has been " when will Google/YouTube start developing original content?"
Well it's happening.
They have announced a "Partner Grants Program" with a $5m kitty.
Partners will be picked by YouTube on the basis of "factors such as video views, subscribers, growth rate, audience engagement and production expertise."
The selected producers will be invited to submit a grant proposal.
I can't see anything that excludes non-US content, so let's hope that some or our people get the call.

Southern Star/Mitchell Branded Content deal

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 11:32:31 GMT

More evidence that branded entertainment has reached a tipping point in Australia.
Media buyer doyen Harold Mitchell has done a deal with Southern Star to create content.
The new partnership has a track record in branded content, including the reality series for the TAC, Sudden Impact, produced through Mitchell's Picture This and the Southern Star series No Leave, No Life.
The two companies have been pitching ideas to the networks.

MasterChef serves up video feast

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 11:23:23 GMT

Results from the second season of MasterChef show that online views of the program rose 44% to 13.1 million viewers, according to ratings agency Omniture.
The MasterChef Facebook page had 233,000 fans and at its peak, tweets from followers saw the programme make the global list of trending topics.
Average time spent on the site was around 22 minutes, suggesting that audiences were watching videos as well as browsing menus.
It seems like only yesterday that networks couldnt see the value in putting video online!
Even factoring in the sometimes rubbery science of web ratings, these are pretty impressive figures. Interactive Advertising Bureau is currently looking to launch a tender for web ratings services in Australia. Hopefully this will provide a platform for some solid data and not replicate the woeful TV ratings system.

PWC Report tips Web advertising boom

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 11:13:28 GMT

The PricewaterhouseCoopers Entertainment & Media Outlook reports makes interesting reading.
Unfortunately most indie content creators can't stump up for the $990, generally relying on hand-me-downs from their better-resourced mates in ad agencies or networks.
However, there is some free stuff available on the website, including Australia at a Glance, which includes trend forecasts for Filmed Entertainment and Internet markets.
One figure that jumps out the forecast - Internet advertising revenues will surpass those from newspaper and free-to-air by 2014.
Various experts interviewed for the report stressed the importance of the NBN as a major enabler of growth.

Hollywood versus Australian ISP

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 10:47:52 GMT

A group of 34 entertainment companies has started a week-long appeal to the full bench of the Federal Court of Australia against last year's judgement in favour of iiNet
In November 2008, the Hollywood gang supported AFACT to pursue iiNet in the courts, but ultimately they lost.
Their appeal seems to based on technicalities, rather than some fundamental challenge to justice Cowdroy's decision that Bit Torrent, rather than iiNet provides the means for infringement.
If they win, this decision will have huge implications for file-sharing, which Gavin McGarry convinced us is almost legit now.

Innovative Distribution - Screen Australia style.

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 10:07:07 GMT

Deb Verhoeven, from the MediaWave Expert Group, has some strong views about a vital part of Screen Australia's latest funding guidelines.

Screen Australia's recent announcement of a new raft of policies designed to support the marketing and specifically the distribution of Australian films in the global marketplace is a groundbreaking initiative given the government's historical reluctance to fund this sector.

Of particular interest is the 'Innovative Distribution Partnership' program which will disburse grants to companies already experienced in online and ancillary distribution.

Three to four lucky companies will be funded for two years to release slates of projects across new and emerging delivery platforms.

Ruth Harley, in launching the partnership program at 37 South, described how it would help take advantage of the new models that are allowing access to expanding markets. The new funding initiatives she said, reflect Screen Australias role in encouraging new thinking and activity around how we can share Australian content with audiences. |

Harley gave the example of Arenamedia, which is currently receiving support to reformat its existing catalogue (starting with the 2001 feature The Bank now being reworked into 16 X 5 mobisodes) for online and mobile distribution via iTunes, Amazon.com and ABC Online and other websites.

It is premature to criticize the program on the basis of this one example and the proof of its ambition will surely be in the announcement of the first round of beneficiaries.

Only at this point, will questions be resolved about the innovativeness of a fund that rewards experienced entities only, or which seems oriented by design to exploring business models based on repurposed content..

I believe the key facet confronting government support for new and online distribution lies in the much broader role of government funding agencies as producers of national cultural delineation.

It remains to be seen whether the productions that met previous expectations about Australian content are suited to the expectations of online, globally located, niche audiences that currently appear to be highly unmotivated by national distinctiveness.

To paraphrase and extend Richard Harriss observations in his monograph Film in the Age of the Digital; Government and industry need to start asking questions not just about the future place of national content but to rethink underlying assumptions about the national audience.

Approaching the question of how to best ensure the accessibility of Australian content, needs to begin from understanding the preferences of new media consumers.

Adopting this approach would suggest additional ways in which government subsidy can better assist Australian content producers. From this perspective, the all important questions that are as yet unanswered by the Innovative Distribution Partnership concern how local or niche content (rather than Australian content) is best aggregated, and how to support mechanisms that will enhance the searchability and findability of content in the global digital deluge.

To make the program truly Innovative, it would have to do the following:

Thoroughly reconceptualize the way we think about creating and distributing visual media content

Support distribution effort that ensures Australian-funded content is findable, accessible and, wherever possible, commercially exploitable rather than focus on retrospectively repurposing traditionally produced titles for so called ancillary platforms

Support start-up initiatives (such as aggregators, fulfillment services and so on) that will overcome current obstacles for Australian producers intending to distribute content via non-traditional platforms

Reconsider the relationship between the distribution of online content and other forms of publishing endeavor (such as online journals)

XML Melbourne - Film X-tended Conference Day highlights

Sun, 01 Aug 2010 10:11:43 GMT

Gavin McGarry - Pirates for the cause of Good?
Nathan Mayfield - Thoughts from the Hoodlums
Josh Shore - Illuminated and Dreamcatcher think big
Suzanne Stefanac - Crowd sourcing production
Jeff Gomez - Transmedia Golden Age

Every conference has its sleeper session. At the XML Film X-tended conference day, everyone agreed that transmedia has reached the tipping point and (going forward), media properties will be evaluated in terms of their ability to generate revenue across a range of platforms.
Then out of the blue, Gavin McGarry, last speaker at the end of the day when most people were heading to drinks, got the crowds attention.|
The thing that made Gavin McGarry stand out was the completely matter-of-fact way in which he presented his pitch for Jumpwire Media, a company that accumulates data about illegal file sharing and sells it back to the copyright holders.
The team at Jumpwire have found a way to track TV and movies downloaded via the Bit Torrent platform. For a fee, they can tell you how many times your show has been downloaded, where, and what you can do about it.
Bypassing the dubious source of his data, Gavin invites content creators to use his data to find receptive audiences.
A sample case study on Jumpwires website shows that the programme Being Erica was heavily downloaded in Poland and Russia the day after it was released on US TV.
Gavin invites the producers to get the programme into the legal media market to capitalise on pent-up demand in those countries.
Gavin even advised us on the best platform for downloading torrented content. Its VUSE, if you really want to know. More data for Gavin.
Contrast this approach to the one coming out of the AFACT consortium as reported last week in Media Wave.
In an interesting parallel from the other side of the fence some trans-media content creators are publishing a Peer to Peer edition of their films.

Nathan Mayfield - Hoodlum
TV is not shrinking, but online is ubiquitous. The future of TV is online.
The crossover between games and linear entertainment is the sweet spot for Aust content creators.
Theres a misconception that this content is for GenY - content for older demographic is viable.

Consumers don't want to pay, but they don't want to miss out.

A couple of signposts to the future of online content:

Community Channel - Sydney based YouTube channel with huge audience.
Shane Dawson - YouTube comedy content with big audience.

Suzanne Stefanac
The Bannen Way - example of Sony/Crackle series which is pointing to a more serious direction in online video.
Crowd-sourced content example from Radical Media - Johnny Cash video

Josh Shore
Showed Illuminated - a multi-platform release for a brand.
This is a project of immense ambition which is worth a close look. Illuminated is a bit like The Secret as a trans-media project.
Advice to content creators - use a graphic novel to get studios interested in your feature project. Execs don't read scripts. If it gets to first base, produce Animanga - light animation with soundscapes.
Crowd-sourced expertise gives you a cost-effective production methodology plus intelligence about global sensitivities and proclivities.
USB-stick-in-a-crystal merchandise - The Secret missed out on this one!
Use Torrent sites to deliver lo-res version of your project and upsell downloaders to HD version. The community is the asset.
The OMG why didnt I think of that? moment for me was dreamcatcher.net a shared dreaming platform, running parallel to Illuminated. Launching this week.

Jeff Gomez Starlight Runner Entertainment
Transmedia has evolved - the early models had pieces that didn't fit together. The new versions result in a property where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
We are at a Golden moment in transmedia - but creators need to establish authorship.
Transmedia storytelling is conveying messages to a mass audience by artful and well planned use of multiple platforms.
Money is being left on the table with some major properties (eg Star Trek) because the various corporate partners are reluctant to jeopardise their existing revenue base.

Pitching methodology

perceived value is embedded in traditional publishing and something that has a pricetag (comic novel, book)

If the IP is on the web it would have to be hugely popular to attract attention for studios.

Start a fanbase, think of it as a religion.

Transmedia producers are being developed in major studios and networks - the paradigm shift is occurring.

New formats

console based experiences

collaborative and social based narrative (AR, location-based games)

Co-creation, crowd sourcing

Hybrid Distribution Jon Reiss

Sun, 01 Aug 2010 10:11:20 GMT

Jon Reiss is the director and producer of Bomb It a successful indie film about graffiti art.
Based on his experiences with this and other projects, he wrote a manual for DIY distribution, called Think Outside the Box Office. He now teaches his methods in workshops around the world.
In Melbourne last week, Jon worked with a group of Melbourne content creators at AFTRS. Some of these people were pretty familiar with the new distribution landscape, but everyone benefited from Jons matter-offact-treatment of the new realities and opportunities for low-budget content creators.|
Some of his big picture thoughts:

Australians need to get with the new crew position called Producer of Marketing and Distribution. This position has been recognized by the Producers Guild of America. Jon is working to create a network of people interested in taking on this role. The PMD is on the project from day one, ensuring that the film finds an audience.

The 50-50 rule - 50% of a projects budget should be spent on marketing and distribution, under the direction of the PMD.

The majority of distribution revenue for indie productions will come from VOD.

Every indie project needs to be trans media, with multiple revenue streams from a range of generatives.

Jons a goldmine of information about new platforms for funding, distributing and monetising screen content.

Aggregators: Gravitas Ventures, Brainstorm Media

VOD portals : MUBI, Babelgum

Sharing/donation sites Snag Films, VODO

Content Placement on iTunes and other aggregators: Distribber, Youreeka,

Direct monetisation/pay per view : Dynamo, EggUp, Stonehenge

Crowd Sourced Finance : Wreckamovie, Biracy

There are some nuggets here for filmmakers who believe that the future of distribution lies in unbundled content, driven by freeform consumer search.

Trans Media launch for new Fox series

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 18:35:56 GMT

Evidence of the trend discussed at the recent XML Film X-tended conference - Fox have announced that they will distribute the first episode of its new series Lone Star across a range of platforms prior to its FTA launch.
Readers of Vanity Fair, iPad owners, cruise line passengers and hotel guests will test the new wisdom that previewing before launch won't negatively impact the TV ratings.
Covering all platforms, subscribers to Vanity Fair will get a DVD in the October issue and it will be included in VF's iPad offering.
The first episode will also be screened on the Hotel Network, on the Princess Cruises network and on Virgin America, Delta and JetBlue flights.

New QUT Creative Industries Research project

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 11:35:19 GMT

Queensland University of Technology is a fertile research space for the screen content sector.
Their new project is called The games and the wider interactive entertainment industry in Australia: an inquiry into sources of innovation.
It will:
"...assist the local games and interactive entertainment sector to source international good practice models....and contribute a richly detailed case study providing evidence for why the creative industries should be an integral part of the national innovation system."
The partners are Australia Council for the Arts, AFTRS, Dr D Studios, Firemint, Halfbrick Studios, Hoodlum, Infinite Interactive, Krome Studios and Tantalus.
No links available yet.
MediaWave will keep you in touch with the news from Brisbane.

Study reveals extent of Australian video downloads

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 23:19:58 GMT

A study funded by Village Roadshow and conducted by the University of Ballarat's Internet Commerce Security Laboratory (ICSL), found that about 72% of 1000 BitTorrent files researched were movies and TV shows.
Over a million computers were used to seed the network with video files.
Village Roadshow is a member of the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft. (AFACT). They recently lost a legal battle with iiNet to make the ISP responsible for its customers downloading behavior. They are appealing
You can download the full report from the AFACT website - link below.
The most interesting part of the report is right at the end.
If you want to see the hundred most downloaded (and hence most popular) film and TV shows, go to Appendix B.
SPOILER ALERT : There are no Australian titles in the top 100.

New Screen Content Research

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 09:30:41 GMT

A Swinburne/ABC/Screen Australia research project announced this week, promises to deliver some timely data on changing patterns of consumption.
Spreading Fictions: Distributing Stories in the Online Age, is a project out of Swinburne's Institute for Social Research. The team includes Jock Given and Catherine Griff, both alumni of the AFC/SA.
According to the initial postings on their website,
" this project will focus on four entities: sectors, audiences, projects and commercial companies. A comprehensive picture of audiovisual distribution will be drawn from these four areas of analysis, together with policy implications to be considered by the partner organisations, industry and governments.
Research in this area will be of vital interest to content creators, hopefully another window into Australian homes, beyond the outdated OzTam/Neilsen ratings.

Fix Play streaming offer

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 11:33:09 GMT

Fix Play (part of 9MSN) started life as YourTV - the first online program guide for FTA and Cable TV.
This was a great service for its time and still is the only place where you can get a comprehensive guide.
So they've done an "extreme makeover", which includes an offering of "free" recycled TV shows. You may have seen the vintage 9-style ads - all that's missing is the Tony Bartuccio Dancers.
The only interesting thing about this is the selection of content.
A lot of it looks like a 9 Network offering, but at the edges is a package of BBC material including "The Mighty Boosh", "The Young Ones" and "League of Gentlemen".
I can't recall these ever being screened on 9. Is this an indication that entities like Fix Play are moving towards unbundled content?

Crowd Funding. Hope or Hype?

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 11:46:39 GMT

Crowd-sourced funding, crowd funding, fan funding - different names, same idea. You get friends, fans and followers to invest small amounts in your project until you have enough money to make all, or part of it.
MediaWave featured an item on Australia's first crowd-funded feature, The Tunnel last week.
Essentially, it's a bit like a charity drive. Remember the old "thermometer" outside the church hall? Once it got to the top, they rebuilt the knave or vestibule or whatever they rebuild in churches.
Except that churches are charities and content creators aren't. More of that later.
And then came that great big enabler of everything, the Interwebs, making the gathering money online a lot easier than rattling tins on street corners.

The first crowd-funded film is attributed to French producers Guillaume Colboc and Benjamin Pommeraud who raised $50,000 to make their film Waiting for Yesterday in 2004.

The phenomenon took off in the US in 2009, where Kickstarter provided a clean and easy shopfront for crowd-funding. Australians can use Kickstarter, but it involves getting someone with a US bank account to work with you.
Others have followed (IndieGoGo), but the model is essentially the same.|
In the absence of any government funding, you can see why US content creators have enthusiastically embraced crowd funding.
Australians are blessed with a plethora of funding options, but the Producer Offset has cut the sub-$1m project adrift in a drive to push budgets upwards. This could make crowd funding more attractive.
An Australian crowd funding shopfront Fundbreak has opened up recently.

Crowd Funding sized up.

The Good

Crowd funding is an exciting new frontier for entrepreneurial content creators and as such will drag a lot of people along for the ride.

It puts the fate of a project squarely in the hands of the consumer. No dealing with the gate-keepers and project-prevention officers. No bias against genre product, no politically correct filtering.

You will know early on if a project will work or not.

It's blue sky. Although it's not a crowd funded in a cash sense, Ridley Scott's feature project "Life in a Day" is a stunning application of crowd-sourced support.

It can be fast. Waiting for Yesterday raised its (admittedly modest) budget in three weeks.

It works well for "cause" projects like docos about social issues, where producers can tap into an established audience.

A committed crowd of supporters has a value beyond dollars. Generating buzz and word-of-mouth becomes an order of magnitude easier when you have a ready-made fan base.

The Bad

There is a bit of stigma attached to crowd-funded projects at the moment. There is a sense that a project isn't real if you have to pass around the hat to get it made.

There could be a limit on the budget levels. The Tunnel, for instance is looking for $135,000. This is definitely one of the higher budget crowd-funded projects.

The Ugly

There are questions about the legality of taking money from "investors" without offering any of the security demanded by legitimate investment schemes. At least Kickstarter has a failsafe. It holds funds in an escrow account.If the nominated target isn't reached, all funds are returned to investors. But you can imagine the risks implicit in free-range crowd funding.

Investors are given something for their money - so in a legal sense, they have paid for and received something.
The Tunnel is selling frames of film for one dollar each. Pioneer One gives you the theme music or a special edition download.

Does this kind of transaction legitimise crowd funding?

Do investors really care what happens to their money or are they in it for "psychic income".

Is Crowd Funding for You?
Crowd funding will work if you connect with an audience that really wants to see your film get made. The feeling is that hard edged, high concept, out there, geeky, genre-based or cause-based projects have the best chance.

Do you have a personality-based project? Joss Whedon, for example, has been very well supported by his fans through his later troubled projects. David Lynch is crowd-funding a documentary about himself. Called LynchThreesupporters put in $50 to bankroll the production and get a limited edition print in exchange.
Kevin Smith is thinking about crowdfunding a project and has some reservations about the legalities.

Can you mount a sustained campaign?
It will require a sustained online effort to keep your investors rolling in. This means constant social media campaigns, thinking up new ways to reach potential investors.

Do you have a project that can be staged? Pioneer One started by raising $6k for the first ep through Kickstarter. You can download it for free using BitTorrent. They are now aiming to raise $30k for the next ep. They raised $20k in one and a half weeks.

An Opera funding strategy -" buy a character"
Here's a report from the UK, where a struggling opera company decided to ask it's patrons to "sponsor a character" with great results. Could sponsoring characters in a film work?
Opera Crowd Funding

One final thought.
Crowd funding is working but the problem for long-form projects is the budget level.
Could existing production companies, distributors or (this is radical) screen agencies in Australia get into crowd-funding matching deals?

IPTV Content Goldrush - it's on.

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 00:38:27 GMT

The rush into the IPTV content space is exciting. Every week brings another channel to get unbundled content to the consumer - good news for content creators.
Panasonic, one of the early entrants with its VieraCast platform, has added AceTrax, to its content offering.
AceTrax is a Swiss based aggregator, with a mixed library of 2000 titles from majors and Indies.
It's only available in UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France and Italy so far. Other markets to be announced soon.
AceTrax rents titles for 1.49-3.49 and sells outright for 4.99-11.99 on up to four devices.
No set top box required. Way to go.

Foxtel and Telstra make up?

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 23:33:20 GMT

After the inexplicable situation of Foxtel and Telstra seemingly in competition with each other to provide content services over broadband, it seems as though a deal has been struck.
After all, Telsta is a 50% shareholder in Foxtel.
Foxtel announced last week that they are "working with Telstra to provide Foxtel content on Telstra's T-Box....up top 30 channels".
However, there is a sleeper at the end of the announcement, which suggests that Foxtel content would now potentially be available to all broadband providers, not just Bigpond.
This suggests to me that Foxtel is looking at the proliferation of IPTV platforms and seeing the writing on the wall.
So - that could leave Telstra T-Box as just another outlet for Foxtel content.

The Tunnel interview with Enzo Tedeschi and Julian Harvey

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 10:57:54 GMT

Branded content Feature from Ridley Scott and LG

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 10:12:09 GMT

This must be the most ambitious piece of branded content yet.
Ridley Scott, YouTube and LG are running a UGC project called Life in a Day.
This will generate a huge database of engaged consumers who will spread the LG message globally.
No surprises if the LG message is IPTV enabled sets.

Netflix streaming cracks Pay TV window

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 21:54:34 GMT

Typically, streaming access has been relegated to the back of the queue in studio's planning of release windows.
This chain has been broken by Netflix and Relativity Media.
Relativity produces and/or finances between 20 and 30 pictures a year.
Current releases include Robin Hood, Get Him to the Greek and Grown Ups.
Netflix streaming access will move up the queue for Relativity releases, ending up after DVD sales and before general broadcast or cable access.
Won't be long before others follow suit.

Just when you thought the NBN was fast..

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 20:52:35 GMT

A group based out of University of Sydney is working to commercialise a technology that could push the speed of the NBN to 1 terabit per second.
Correct me if I am wrong, the current best guess for the NBN is 100 mbps, one terabit is 1 million megabits, so that's 10,000 times faster?
Interesting that the researchers use screen content as a benchmark. They predict that this is "fast enough to transmit hundreds of DVDs in a second".
Broadband at speeds even approaching these renders the line between download/stream/real time meaningless.

CORRECTION to Fundbreak Post

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 17:21:22 GMT

In the latest Quick Hits email, I stated that Fundbreak was set up by David Blumenstein
The website says " The Fundbreak team is made up of four energetic, tech-savvy, eccentric team members, situated in Sydney".
However, David has a project on Fundbreak at the moment.
Apologies for the confusion.

ACMA: IPTV for beginners, Radio content shock

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 22:08:52 GMT

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has released a report called IPTV and internet video delivery models: Video content services over IP in Australia.
Bit of a misnomer really - the report is basically a survey of existing methods of screen content distribution with IPTV lumped in with FTA, Subscription and so on.
I can't find anything on the really vital issues - Australian content, impact of the NBN on distribution and so on.
Still, if you are looking for a straightforward survey of what's there, it's worth a look.
The other news from ACMA is a bombshell- digital radio will be exempt from Australian content regulations, temporarily, at least.
ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman said In these early days of digital radio, licensees should be afforded the opportunity to experiment with programming formats, including the programming of niche services such as event channels like Pink Radio and Radio GaGa.
Pink Radio, in case you're wondering, is a channel featuring the music of Pink and artists she likes.
Recording industry people I have spoken to are shocked and worried.
ACMA has said very little about content levels on IPTV - this could be a nasty precedent.

Fetch TV2 launched

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 21:50:50 GMT

Right on cue, Fetch has launched its TV2 service.
How does this differ from TV1? According to the blurbs on the site, the only difference is that TV2 comes with "unmetered television" for iiNet customers. On face value, this is a better offering for consumers worried that they will bust their caps.
TV2 has two types of movie offerings - MovieBox a bundle of 30 titles offered as part of the monthly subscription, plus pay-per-view movies, "coming soon".
No detail on the content offering except the usual clips from Bruce Willis and Will Smith movies.
Note to IPTV providers - everyone will be offering some sort of box soon. Your Unique Selling Point will be your content offering. At the moment, content offerings are uniformly boring.

NBN HQ for Melbourne while Tassie lights up.

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 16:40:15 GMT

The announcement that the NBN will be based in Melbourne gives us a chance to develop a focus Australian screen content (or the lack of it) on our broadband.
I asked an NBN rep whether they are planning any research into online video. Their response - they are an infrastructure company, just providing the pipes.
But having the NBN in Melbourne alongside IBES, a yet to be announced university research centre and Film Vic hopefully gives content creators scope to develop research projects based on the NBN.
The NBN HQ will be based in Digital Harbour , Docklands - home of the Melbourne film studio complex, Telstra, and the 7 Network.
Scope for partnership amongst all these players?
As NBN Co was making this announcement, the Tasmanian NBN trial was lit up, reportedly delivering speeds of around 50-60 Mbps, peaking up to 100. That's 5-10 times the speed of a typical Telstra cable offering.

The 135k Project aka The Tunnel

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:47:51 GMT
Talk about refreshingly lateral!
The producers of an Australian feature film in development are using two radical content strategies - crowd sourced finance and Peer to Peer distribution.
Aiming to raise $135k, they are selling off "frames" of the film to "investors" who want to see the project made.
Using the formula 135k frames = 90 mins @ $1/per frame, bingo, $135k
When the film is made, it will be distributed via Bit Torrent for free.
Investor will receive a digital frame, plus one lucky person will 1% of the profit from other sales.
If you decide to invest, you can opt to have your name included on the investor roll.
Andrew Denton is in for 200 frames.
The fine print states that if the money is not raised the producers agree to donate the money to a registered charity.
It's not clear from the site whether the $135k is the budget for the whole project. Also, I can't see a use-by date anywhere, which could be a problem for some people.
But, in a word, brilliant!

The Kids are All Right marketing tactic

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:04:26 GMT
Very Short List is a daily email that points subscribers to chunks of slightly off beat culture, including movie gems.
In a classic web startup - bought out by Barry Diller and then onsold to the New York Observer.
We like it a lot.
They are running a paid promotion to subscribers around the release of The Kids are All Right.
Focus Features and Modern Tonic (a gay-filtered version of VSL) are partners in it.
If you win, the movie will come to your nearest cinema for a private screening with 50 friends.
They encourage you to encourage your friends to enter, because if they win, you get an invite and so on.
Smart way to generate highly targeted word-of mouth, while gathering a nice mailing list for the release of the film.

It's like Freeview only smarter.

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 23:02:54 GMT
Reminiscent of Australia's Freeview FTA consortium, Britain's Project Canvas is a collaboration between the BBC, ITV, BT (telco), Five, Channel 4, Arqiva (infrastructure) and TalkTalk (ISP) to develop an IPTV platform.
Details are sketchy, but it looks like they will offer a set-top box similar to the Telstra T-Box.
While there are parallels in the FTA content bundling that Freeview and Canvas promote, the big difference is that the latter be on-demand and will probably include search capability and access to raw Internet content, making it a much more modern offering.

Google wins against Viacom

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 22:22:09 GMT
A US court has ruled in favour of Google, dismissing Viacom's assertion that postings of their content on YouTube were copyright infringements.
Google won by arguing that YouTube is a "Safe Harbour" - in other words it provides a place for content to live, without exercising any editorial functions.
This provision was initially intended to cover ISPs, but Google successfully argued that they offered a similar service.
A crucial part of this argument is that a "Safe Harbour" will respond to a demand for copyrighted content to be removed immediately.
Google got this right, taking 100,000 Viacom clips off YouTube in 24 hours.
If this judgement survives appeals by Viacom, it has some important ramifications for content creators and copyright holders.
What this means to you.
Copyright holders could be solely responsible for initiating action to protect their content. In practice, this means a lot of time spent trawling the web and sending takedown demands.
Unless some smart entrepreneur comes up with a service to act for copyright holders.

Google wins against Viacom

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 22:22:09 GMT
A US court has ruled in favour of Google, dismissing Viacom's assertion that postings of their content on YouTube were copyright infringements.
Google won by arguing that YouTube is a "Safe Harbour" - in other words it provides a place for content to live, without exercising any editorial functions.
This provision was initially intended to cover ISPs, but Google successfully argued that they offered a similar service.
A crucial part of this argument is that a "Safe Harbour" will respond to a demand for copyrighted content to be removed immediately.
Google got this right, taking 100,000 Viacom clips off YouTube in 24 hours.
If this judgement survives appeals by Viacom, it has some important ramifications for content creators and copyright holders.
What this means to you.
Copyright holders could be solely responsible for initiating action to protect their content. In practice, this means a lot of time spent trawling the web and sending takedown demands.
Unless some smart entrepreneur comes up with a service to act for copyright holders.

Film Futures markets scuppered?

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 21:30:20 GMT
US regulators seemed to have approved film futures exchanges, until last-ditch lobbying from the MPAA, agents and exhibitors persuaded Congress to ban them in the early hours of 25th June.
At least two companies, Cantor Exchange and Trend Exchange were set to go. Cantor has some interesting support for their idea.
The anti-film futures lobby argued that such a market could encourage speculators to bet against a movie's success and even promote file sharing as a tool to drive the box office of a film down.
Approval for film futures trading seems to have been caught in the general backlash against derivatives manifest in the "Restoring American Financial Stability Act".
The AFTRS Centre for Screen Business has conducted trials of a "Box Office Prophesy" system, which looked at prediction markets for box office performance.

ABC content deal with Fairfax

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 22:27:55 GMT
Fairfax's latest content deal is welcome news for Australian content creators.
Fairfax has done a deal with the ABC to stream programs such as Enough Rope, Bombora and Catalyst via theage.com.au and smh.com.au.
This adds to the news content from Network 10 has been there since last month.
Can't see anything on the sites just yet.
All credit to the ABC, who are aggressively engaging with online delivery.
Fairfax is rumoured to be launching a new video player next month with content from unnamed sources.
Let's hope Fairfax delivers original and engaging Australian content and doesn't do one of those bulk licensing deals for second string US stuff.

CONFERENCE IN A BLOG - XML Global Media Ideas

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 13:01:06 GMT
Trans-global power duo Megan Elliot and Brendan Harkin delivered another fascinating event in the XML franchise to a packed Opera House Studio. Here are my take-aways.
Dana al Salem creator of Fan Shake
Fan Shake is a platform which intermediates between bands and fans. Dana is clearly an expert on the attitudes and behaviors of Gen Y. She made a revealing comparison between the Hippy generation and Gen Y.
Her research shows they have a lot more in in common than you think.
Gen Y are neo-Hippies, empowered Hippies with technology. Unlike the Hippies, they have money to spend.
Reaching Gen Y means being endorsed by them.The trick is to empower and engage them.
Fan Shake
Gotham Chopra founder of Liquid Comics
Gotham is developing properties based on an Indian pantheon of superheroes.
He is working on the producers of 300 to deliver a feature film.
Liquid Comics
Parmesh Shahari Author
Surveyed the emerging Indian screen content scene. Hailed a film called LSD (Love Sex Aur Dhokha) - rumoured to be opening a festival in Australia later this year - as a sign that India is emerging into a post-Bollywood phase.
John Penney Starz Network
Announced a $400m budget allocation to produce quality TV drama. He sees this as a "revaluation" in the face of devaluation by cheap reality/format TV.
Trends in TV drama
Globalisation needs to be factored into content
Direct Connection (in other words IPTV) is the emerging distribution platform.
Amin Zioufonoun Director, Corporate Development, Google
Ah, those Google Guys. The Kings of the World - they know so much, they reveal so little!
Ralph Simon (made a fortune in ringtones)
New areas for content creators
Mobile health, especially for seniors and kids
Mobile money
Predictive search
New forms of social networking
Robert Tercek
Explored the duality of innovation and entrepreneurship, pointing to some exciting projects including:
Clipsync
Visual DNA

Breakthrough on NBN

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 21:15:21 GMT
News that the NBN Co and Telstra have reached an agreement to share infrastructure should be music to the ears of screen content creators.
It's only a Heads of Agreement, but it looks as though the basics of a deal are in place.
Telstra will let NBN Co use its existing conduits in return for $11 billion and migration of the old copper and cable-based services to the new fibre optic network.
The NBN Co's CEO Mike Quigley has been out spruiking the consumer benefits, including HD video streaming.
A by-product could be that dismantling the NBN and sinking Australia's video content game-changer will be harder for an incoming Coalition.
See our item on Singapore's new network for more on high-speed video.

Google Newspass offers promise

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 11:47:27 GMT
If anyone's going to provide a seamless, one-click solution to buying and selling digital content it's probably Google.
Google has announced a paid content system for news publishers called Newspass, said to be active by the end of 2010.
According to their PR, " ...publishers will be able to designate what type of payment they want to accept, including subscriptions and micropayments."
Users will be able to access and pay for content using Google's Checkout directly from search engine results, even if they are behind paywalls.
Although aimed at the news industry, something like Newspass for the screen content industry can't be too far away.

Torrent Download Site for Indie Filmmakers

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 00:11:40 GMT
VODO is a peer-to-peer distribution service for indie filmmakers that harnesses BitTorrent for the powers of good, for a change.
They promise to make one film available for free download every month.
Their current offering is a SciFi project, Pioneer One, claimed to the first series made exclusively for BitTorrent distribution.
The series was partly crowd-funded, using Kickstarter.
According to the producers, there were 84,000 downloads in the first day and a half and they've already recieved donations to fund the next ep.
VODO

Singapore network upgrade boosts video

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 11:49:37 GMT
Discussion about the consumer benefits of Australia's NBN routinely ignore its potential to be a game changer for video consumption.
Not so in Singapore, which is about to deliver download speeds that will "..enable the contents of a DVD to be downloaded in only a few seconds."
Commentators predict that "...the new network is expected to give a strong boost to the growth of services like online video..."
This will lead to consumption patterns like those in South Korea, which incidentally is not resting on its laurels in the speed stakes.
They have announced a plan to upgrade their network speed to 1 Gig/sec by 2013, enough to stream HD Video.
So why do they see the benefits in terms of video content and Australians don't?
One take on this - the Labour government has got enough on its plate without alienating existing broadcasters and distributors with promises of a radical new distribution medium.

Fetch TV - Movies on demand announced

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 10:37:57 GMT
Information about Fetch TV's content offering continues to leak out.
Although the launch date has not been announced, new subscribers will now have a movie on demand channel.
The offering comprises 30 movies, with seven new titles added every month, streamed through the Fetch TV set-top box.
The previews show the standard second-string Hollywood releases, with not an Australian title in sight.

Poh's Kitchen iPhone app launched

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 22:25:31 GMT
ABC has launched the much-anticipated Poh's Kitchen iPhone app - the first for a cooking show in Australia.
It's produced in association with The Project Factory.
Astounding that Masterchef doesn't have one yet.
Surprise - Poh's app is free. I thought ABC would be following Jamie Oliver's example and charging something for it.
Maybe because it's coming from TV (which can't sell) and not Enterprises (which can).
First impressions - it all works very well. I like the access to full episodes of the show and I'm looking forward to doing some field testing in the kitchen.

New video player for "Superfans"

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 17:54:26 GMT
Superfans are rabid consumers of a particular TV show.
A company called Coincident TV has launched a video player with extra social media tools and links to monetisation ( for example, buying songs from iTunes).
Fox US has used Coincident's player to create a richer experience for Superfans of Glee
Glee Superfans
Coincident TV

Apple iAds platform due in July

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 17:27:07 GMT
Hot on the heels of launching iPhone 4, Apple has set a date for the launch of its iAd network.
Essentially, Apple will take control of advertising embedded in applications developed for iPhones and iPads, cutting advertising agencies out of the loop.
Sixty percent of the revenue generated by the highly targeted and interactive iAds will be shared with developers.
Steve Jobs is spruiking iAds as a way of enabling developers to produce free or low-cost apps, but with the mobile advertising market tipped to reach $US593 million this year, Apple stands to make tidy additional income.
However you look at it, this is a disruptive technology.

Netflix "Watch Instantly" Australian Content

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 11:23:16 GMT
Netflix, who own the DVD delivery space in the US, have added a streaming service to their package.
Subscribers now have the option to stream a catalogue of movies direct to their PC, Wii, PS3, or Xbox or IPTV.
"Watch Instantly" is included in all Netflix plans, from S4.99 for two hours a month, up to unlimited access for $8.99 per month.
The catalogue of movies is quite extensive and it's encouraging to Australian films represented, including Sampson and Delilah, Balibo, Little Fish, plus the classics Muriel's Wedding, Malcolm, Mad Max, Crocodile Dundee, Lantana.
The service is restricted to US viewers only.

Telstra T Box offering revealed

Mon, 31 May 2010 18:43:59 GMT
It's getting crowded out there as the offers to tempt the 70% of Australians who don't have pay-TV to buy something like Pay TV roll out.
Perhaps stung by the recent announcements from Fetch TV and TransACT, Telstra announced their T-Box package today.
It looks like this:
A $299 PVR with twin HD tuners (probably a re-badged Homecast box)
Seven BigPond TV channels (five are sport, no surprises there) and movie downloads.
According to the PR, there are ".. over 1300 movies available to download..movies start at $3.99.." on a seven day hire.
No additional bandwidth charges for Telstra customers. This is very attractive, given the movie download option.
Among the movies available for download, Telstra mentions Mao's Last Dancer, the first time any local content has been directly referenced in any of the offers, to my knowledge.
Hallelujah!
I'll find out what else they have.

TransACT launches IPTV and on demand services

Sun, 30 May 2010 18:54:56 GMT
Canberra-based TransACT has launched a bundle of services which includes IPTV and video on demand.
TransACT has been in the VOD game for a long time, running some of the first Australian trials some 10 years ago.
Available only to NSW and ACT customers, the offer includes a PVR, enabling access to all the FTA channels plus a range of "cable TV" like content.
A subscription gets you "over 50" channels including the usual suspects - ESPN, BBC World News, MTV, TCM, National Geographic and Disney.
More interesting is the offer from the "Download Channels".
These look like a selection of channels from the Movie Network ( currently offered by Foxtel).
Then there are the "Entertainment on Demand" channels, which appear to be a streaming offering, including " Docos on Demand", (no information available), ABC on demand (a limited selection of archived ABC product) and the curiously named " Luxury on Demand" - bios of artists, chefs and designers, plus "over 100 classical and jazz concerts".
Apparently some Australian content is lurking in the Movie Network channels.
I will be following this up.

US Indie Producers take on Pirates

Wed, 26 May 2010 17:07:09 GMT
Unlike their commercial counterparts, who have concentrated on taking down the filesharing sites themselves, indie film producers in the US are taking on individual pirates through their ISP account records.
A group calling itself US Copyright Group offers a service to copyright holders who want to track illegal use of their content and sue the end users.
They promise to ..." protect your rights and recover a portion of your losses at little or no cost."
The US Copyright Group sends demands for mass identification of infringers, which they follow up with cease-and-desist letters or lawsuits.
They have run into a bit of a snag, though.
Some ISPs, notably Time Warner, have objected to providing lists of copyright-infringing subscribers.
Their argument is that it would take too much time and take resources away from more serious investigations.
This is hot on the heels of the LimeWire decision, in which a US federal judge ruled that LimeWire "..has not taken meaningful steps to mitigate infringement.., paving the way for settlements to the tune of $150,000 per infringement.
This will bankrupt the company.

XML Sydney - Global Media Ideas

Wed, 26 May 2010 16:15:20 GMT
If you're looking for expert mentoring ona media idea or business, have a look at the offerings from the latest XML Sydney, "Global Media Ideas".
You can see the full program here, but basically it is divided into an invitation only team mentoring day (the Lab), followed by a one-day open conference.
I attended the XML Lab in Melbourne a few years ago and I have to say the range of expertise that the teams had access to was inspiring. It's also a great networking opportunity.

Google TV revealed

Mon, 24 May 2010 10:58:04 GMT
The much anticipated Google TV has made an appearance.
Google has partnered with hardware providers (notably Sony) to deliver a panel that runs their Android operating system, as well as having a built-in set-top box for normal digital TV reception/timeshifting. You will also be able to buy a Google TV box to connect to your existing panel. Delivery is anticipated in the northern autumn.
To the consumer, this will look like a TV with the functionality of a web browser, with wireless keyboard input provided by Logitech.
First impression? It certainly is a step towards the convergence of TV and the Web that has been talked about for a decade. The pitch is built around the convenience of integrating the two screens into one, and the convenience of search-based viewing.
This is certainly a step towards unbundled content- the future of media consumption.
Whether consumers will accept having to buy a specific piece of hardware to get this convergence remains to be seen. My feeling is that Google will have to offer something additional, perhaps an extraordinary content library, to make this a really attractive offering.

Fetch TV - Content offering update

Mon, 24 May 2010 10:32:01 GMT
A FetchTV media release makes their content offering a little clearer.
It's light on detail and contains the usual suspects:
"Discovery Networks, National Geographic, MTV Networks, Fox International Channels, E! Entertainment Television, BBC World News, CNBC, ABC, Roadshow Entertainment, Disney Media Distribution, MGM, and Lionsgate."
it's not clear from a press release whether the "ABC" that they refer to is ours or theirs.
More interesting is this statement:
"Subscribers wishing to add to the great range of content in the basic service, will also have access to additional channels and VOD libraries on an a la carte or tiered basis, meaning that customers will only pay for what they want."

Blip TV raises additional $10m

Wed, 19 May 2010 14:21:22 GMT
Interview with Mike Hudack about new investment in Blip TV and very interesting discussion of business models for web TV content.
Blip TV video interview

Hulu subscription model

Wed, 19 May 2010 11:26:27 GMT
Reports that Hulu could start a subscription model for higher levels of access to the catalogue of programs from joint owners News Corp, Fox, Disney, and ABC as early as next month.
This is a premium offering, priced at around $10 per month, with the option of an iPad app as well.
Subscribers will be able to get access to a full season of shows, rather than just the most recent 4-5.

Sony Network Video Delivery Service

Tue, 18 May 2010 15:05:02 GMT
Sony announced yesterday that it will launch a movie download service on the 20th of May. Titles will be sourced "from all the major movie studios, with additional content being added weekly." No details on the catalogue, or whether it contains any Australian titles.
Users can rent ($3.99) or buy ($7.99).
Sony says that their PlayTV set top box outsold Tivo in the PVR market.

Telsta price cuts to high speed services?

Wed, 12 May 2010 11:50:49 GMT
While the negotiations drag on, Telstra is believed to be preparing for a life without the NBN.
In Melbourne, ultra fast broadband is already available , but high charges and punitive contracts have discouraged take-up.
Telstra is believed to be considering slashing these charges.
Faster cheaper broadband can only mean one of two things for content creators; more revenue for those who have an online business model, or lost revenue through unpaid downloads.

iPad remote app with search and joint viewing

Wed, 12 May 2010 11:37:59 GMT
The Xfinity remote control app on the iPad allows viewers to search for the content using the iPad keyboard.
This is another step towards a world of unbundled content, where users will search for the content that they want at the cheapest price.
The app also allows iPad/Xfinity enabled viewers to alert each other in real-time about shows that are currently on cable TV.
The alerted viewer receives a message with a button that switches their cable box over to the program.

Borders wakes up to the New Economy

Thu, 06 May 2010 09:12:58 GMT
Bookseller Borders announced yesterday that they will match the price of any book delivered to Australia by Amazon.
Seems they have finally responded to the absurd situation that goes something like this.
Customer: Hello, do you have (book x) in stock?
Bookseller: (sound of tapping and that annoying sound they make, like whistling through their teeth).
No, but I can order it for you.
Customer: How long will it take ?
Bookseller : Four weeks.
Customer: (Thinks) Amazon can deliver in 2 weeks or less.
How much is it?
Bookseller: That will be $89.95
Customer: (Checks Amazon quickly)
Oh, it's $69.95 delivered from Amazon. Why can't you match that?
Bookseller: (pause, whistling) It's company policy.
Customer: Of course. Bye!
The most extreme parallel in the screen content industry is consumers choosing to pirate content when they can't get what they want, when they want it, at a fair price.
As MediaWave Expert Group member Chris Adams is fond of saying, "When movies are $1, there will be no piracy"
The world is waiting for the penny to drop in the screen industry, just as it has for Borders

Hybrid TV trials in Tasmania

Mon, 03 May 2010 23:25:44 GMT
Hybrid TV is running trials on the proto-NBN in Tasmania which could give some insights into the behavior of consumers connected to the Big Pipe.
It's called the Hybrid SmartStreet Project with 85 homes participating.
In partnership with IBES (Institute for a Broadband Enabled Society) they are looking at questions like:
What is the correlation between broadcast TV consumption and broadband entertainment consumption in the home?
How might viewing behaviour change when entertainment can be delivered on-demand, at TV quality for picture and sound directly to the television?
Can the advertiser play a role in subsidising services (as well as content) what is the model and how well is it received by consumers?

Abbot and the NBN

Mon, 03 May 2010 17:56:59 GMT
So Tony Abbott has declared the NBN dead, or at least fatally injured, if the Coalition wins the next election.
Only Tasmania will survive the purge, leaving it wired up like Korea, while people on the mainland consider becoming info-refugees.
Would scrapping the NBN be bad news for the development of independent online entertainment?
Critics of the NBN often pose the question " What would people in outer suburbs or country towns do with 100 Mbit broadband? "
Yes, they are unlikely to send massive medical image files or huge databases to each other. For them, it's not a B2B proposition.
But give anyone a huge pipe to a river of entertainment with a Google-like interface to search for content on any number of parameters and they will jump in, bypassing the restricted offerings from current broadcasters and aggregators in the process.
Unbundled Content
In the world of unbundled screen content, consumers will choose on the basis of findability, ease of use, price and quality.|
The NBN and the raft of IPTV platforms it enables, could give the independent content creator something like a level playing field. That is, if creators give the end user a chance to find their content by getting it on to open platforms, not just walled gardens like iTunes and Netflix.
This is what the whole OK Go fiasco was about.
Bad Timing
The timing of the election is bad for the NBN. Rudd could have a hard time defending any major infrastructure projects with the smell of burning batts still in the air.
And given Australian contractors' world-class ability to rort any government program, it would come as no surprise if there's some NBN funny business waiting to be unearthed.
What this means to you
The NBN is the glimmer of a new dawn for Australian screen content creators which could be snuffed out by the Libs. What will it take to get Abbott to change his mind?

Telstra Branded Channels+Ads play

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 12:45:46 GMT
Telstra intends to launch advertiser-supported IPTV channels and deliver spot ads on its BigPond TV service.
Piggybacking on the launch of IPTV panels by the big hardware manufacturers, Samsung TVs will have BigPond TV as a menu option and BigPond movie downloads will be available on LG TVs.
BigPond customers will not incur bandwidth costs when accessing these channels
Content
Sport will be the attractor content, with Telstra leveraging their rights to stream delayed ARL and AFL matches. No surprises there.
On the drawing board are new branded channels around health, travel and cooking.

Panasonic IPTV content deal with Yahoo7.

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 14:06:13 GMT
Panasonic has launched a new range of TVs with a feature called Viera Cast.
This allows the viewer to access Skype, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook from the couch.
A partnership with Yahoo!7, will give Viera CAST panels access to Seven content. The sole Australian drama content on Plus 7 at the moment is Home and Away. The rest is your regular, recycled US fodder.
So yet another hardware manufacturer scrambles to offer a la carte viewing, with a skeletal content offering.
What I'm curious about is this - I have a BigPond Cable Elite connection. When I look at Yahoo Plus7 on my PC, it plays fine in a small window, but in full screen mode it's jerky and chunky.
If IPTVs like the Viera here were connected through my wireless network, would I experience the same image quality?
Does this apply equally to all the IPTV offerings that are out there now? Do these sets come with a minimum bandwidth spec for good quality viewing?
Probably too early to get consumer feedback yet, but these questions must be top of mind for IPTV players attempting to deliver a FTA-like experience.

Fetch TV - update

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 11:25:29 GMT
Not sure this constitutes a launch (as mooted), but there's a bit more detail on the site now.
So it looks as though the Fetch TV offering comprises a set top box/DVR combo, which is connected to some (as yet unspecified) content offering through iiNet.
This bit is intriguing:
"Watch quality entertainment, including your favourite pay-TV channels..."
So does this mean I can watch ShowTime on Fetch TV. Some sort of content deal with Foxtel? I think not, rather it means "we will offer you some "pay-tv like" channels of our own, which, over time, may become your "favourite".
It's all in the wording.
Fetch TV

NBN Tasmania - Ready to Roll pamphlets.

Sun, 18 Apr 2010 15:57:28 GMT
NBN Co has started to distribute pamphlets to Tasmanians who are about to be connected to the first-stage NBN.
Called Ready to Roll, the pamphlet promises that:
"... people will have the ability to make phone calls, use the internet (sic) and stream movies in high definition direct to their TV."
Instant streaming, unlimited capacity, now all we need is some content.

AIMIA V21 Conference 2010 - Part Two

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:57:41 GMT
Business at 1 gigabit per second
Kate Cornick - IBES
Kate rattled off a list of possible benefits of the NBN to consumers - no initial mention of entertainment enabling via superfast broadband. Perhaps too political?
The NBN will foster access service providers - people who deliver niche content directly to the consumer, including video content.
The NBN could reverse the local braindrain of screen content creators.
Local caching of offshore video content could overcome the blockages caused by trans-oceanic links.
The advertising industry will be shaken up and there could be support for Australian content.
Chris Adams
The NBN will be driven by consumer choice.More speed will enable more choice.
Studios are not embracing an eBay for video content: (ie a monolithic online distribution network) until transactions and the marketplace are sorted out. But they will and speed is a big part of this.
Piracy goes away when a film cost $1.
The NBN will signal the end of the tall poppy syndrome for content creators. (?)
Russell Yardley
The NBN means that we will get American crap faster, so we need to foster local storytellers. We need to protect and develop the institutions that produce talent and content.
Copyright laws are a mess. So if the NBN is going to work, the Govt needs to revise the copyright laws.
Areas that the government needs to review:
Trust
Payment systems
IP
Security
Taxation

AIMIA V21 Conference 2010 - Part One

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:13:06 GMT
Content - The Bottom Line
Rebekah Horne - MySpace
Rebekah showed an example of original MySpace content Freak - production costs covered by sponsors.
MySpace has content channels (including ABC, BBC) within MySpace with rev share on a pay per view model.

Ben Liebmann - Fremantle Media
Ben rattled through the licencing mega-octopus that is Fremantle. The extent of their brand extensions is breathtaking, notably the live events (American Idol live events, Grand Designs roadshow).
Just when you thought you'd caught your breath, he launched into a breakdown of MasterChef, their biggest brand in Australia.
They are launching a food and lifestyle magazine and expo soon. iPhone recipes app coming soon.
Huge lessons here in content extension on a global scale.
Fremantle are looking to become a platform-agnostic content creator. However, finding funds for creation of online content on the scale of MasterChef is proving elusive.
Fremantle is looking at re-inventing some of their brands for online.
Payoffs in the online space are not big, so gambles have to be modest. Fremantle will look at user-paid and ad-supported models.
Sam Walch - Head of Media, AFL
Sam hinted (not too subtly) that IPTV is in the sights of the AFL as a dedicated footy channel.They are looking at subscription revenue models.
Chris Adams- CEO of Orbit Media
Ex-Participant Productions and newly re-settled from the US, Chris was the most outspoken of the panel. Chris has great credentials to speak about online content form both content and technology perspectives.
His pitch was focussed on Vimation, a embeddable video player that makes monetisation more cohesive. He referenced the online series NeighBros.
Chris : content producers need to be less precious. The era of talent-spotting is over. Success has to be reverse engineered from the deal.
Producers with a built-in audiences for projects will get attention from aggregators and sponsors. Getting distribution and funding up front is much more difficult.

$200m fund for iPhone and iPad developers

Sun, 11 Apr 2010 17:47:12 GMT
Australian developers - this investment fund is available to non-US based companies.

FixPlay - First Look

Sun, 11 Apr 2010 16:04:34 GMT
FixPlay is the Nine Network's catch-up TV and on-demand viewing platform, launched today.
Coinciding nicely with the launch of Underbelly Series 3, the site features the catch-up season opener from last night. Other content comprises 19 shows for on-demand viewing, much like Hulu (there is speculation that a content deal with Hulu is in the pipeline). Nothing too interesting on offer (old series of Father Ted??).
The branding places FixPlay a little awkwardly into the other"Fix" sites that 9MSN operates (MovieFix, MusicFix and so on).
How does it play?
It's buggy. Switching from full screen to standard size caused freezes a few times. Requesting some content caused a "Page may no longer exist" message to pop up. Some shows plain refused to load.
Needs a bit of a fix to get close to the standard set by ABC's iView.

What is it? And why should I care? MyTVR

Sun, 11 Apr 2010 11:32:17 GMT
MyTVR is a service that lets subscribers virtually record TV programmes for viewing on a PC or mobile device at a later date. It was launched in late 2009 to surprisingly little fanfare.
When we spend so much time looking to the US for innovation, it's great to find this platform was developed by Melbourne-based team, headed by Michael Carew.|
Michael has a background of developing an launching startups in the online space, going back to the .com boom/bust days.
The USP
Michael sees MyTVR fitting in with other timeshifting devices like this:
"There is always a place for the Tivo, but if you are at work, on the tram or bus or sitting in the airport and missed your show or the news it's great".
"So MyTVR attracts a fast moving hard working demographic that still likes to catch the news or have a laugh, Uni students, business people, techies and people who can't afford or don't want to purchase the TV and high priced PVR"
"I think myTVR is the only PVR that allows you to record programs on more than 3 channels simultaneously."
The Business Model
At mytvr.com.au, you can sign up for a trial account, enabling you to record up to 30 mins of free to air TV, via an EPG-based interface.
You can upgrade to the Gold plan, giving you 12 hours of recording space for $7.85 / month, or a Silver - 3 hours of recording for $5.85 / month.
The service currently has 1000 users and is growing at a rate of 50 per day (Michael's own figures).
But is it Legal?
This is the question that everyone asks when they hear about MyTVR. Clearly it is - because they are doing it, but for the record, here's Michael's take on the legalities: "Under the copyright act, we come under the timeshifting rules...an individual is allowed to record and play for their personal use at a more convenient time...we've built the device as anyone would build a PVR..so we are not doing anything different from what a consumer would do..." "We are selling the storage space, so what we are saying is, we will give you storage space and you can fill it as you like, so it's not pay per view or pay per show..."
MyTVR has a clever take on consumer time-shifting behavior. It's software that aims to complement hardware that people use to time-shift media, either as a back up (ooops, I forgot to set the DVR to record Flight of the Conchords tonight) or for people with time on their hands and no TV around.

iPad Content - The Good and the Bad (there's no Ugly)

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 00:07:48 GMT
Everyone agrees that the iPad is a gorgeous device. People reportedly spend a lot of time just stroking it (just look at Steve Jobs above) - news that will make JG Ballard happy, wherever he is.
Putting aside the wow factor, what do we know about how content creators will develop i-product and what will they get paid for it?|
Installed Base projections
iPad sales are outstripping iPhone sales 3-1. Sales in 2010 are projected to be 5 million.
Impressive, but small in comparison to the iPhone and iPod Touch installed base, currently at around 75 millions.
And then of course there's the estimated at 1.74 billion people using the ol' Internet.
Content Revenue Streams
We know that the iPad user will have a voracious appetite for content. Cupertino will know a lot about what he or she likes, thanks to sophisticated user data that will flow out of iPads. They may even be prepared to sell it to you!
If iPad content sales tracks anything like the trajectory of iPhone apps, (which has generated 3 billion downloads from 150,000 tiles) analysts are projecting $US2.5 billion in 2010 revenues.
So there's new money to be made for content developers who have done well on the iPhone.
Australia's Firemint makers of Flight Control, for instance, must be salivating at the prospect of the bigger screen, better graphics and faster processors on the iPad. They recently announced that their iPhone game Flight Control has passed the 2m sales mark and iPad versions of Real Racing and Flight Control are imminent.
Meanwhile, outside the Apple Corral..
And this is the Bad part of the equation. On one side is an audience, hungry for exciting content with a proven storefront for browsing and paying.
On the other side, the content creators who have to author all iPad material with specialised tools and have it approved by what some wags have called the Cupertino Politburo.And pay 30% royalty to Steve if it sells through his store, and his store only.
The hurdles for getting content (let alone Australian content) on to the iPad seem pretty high. Unless you can get in through the side door (via YouTube or other video aggregators) and get paid with one of their emerging business models, getting long-form video content into the iPads of a global market will be challenging.
Getting short-form infotainment content would seem to be a easier route. Our first iPhone infotainment app (Poh's Kitchen) due to be released for the iPhone soon, is bound to end up on the iPad.
Something like a localised version of the TED Conference series, one of the best iPhone apps, could be a goer.
Bigger consequences
If the iPad is really going to be the content go-to device and development is going to be relatively expensive and exclusive, it could have some unforeseen consequences for existing business models.
Some publishers might migrate high value content from free websites to paid platforms like the iPad, leaving the Web as a destination for skeletal, lowest common denominator content.
Content developed in Flash won't play on the iPad. This will be a major headache for video content creators who have backed Flash as their codec of choice. Although YouTube sits happily on iPhones/Pads (iPhads?) and HTML 5 if offering an alternative.
What this means to you
The lure of the Apple content stores and whatever elegant device is attached to them is strong. Fulfillment and payment is seamless and there is a burgeoning market of willing consumers.
If Apple does for video what the iPod/iTunes revolution did to music, it could be a game-changer. And if it is, Australian content creators can't afford to be left out, no matter how opaque the entry point seems to be at the moment. Perhaps it's time to take up Debra Allanson'scomments about support for the emerging online content industry to the barricades.

LG joins the IPTV rush, Telstra movies on board

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 23:39:28 GMT
LG's new TVs will come bundled with access to Telstra's BigPond Movies service.
The model will be time-limited pay-per-view, like the regular Bigpond service.
This is just the first step in bringing video to households over the Internet directly to TVs. No subscription, no PC required, said William Cho, Managing Director of LG Electronics Australia. We look forward to expanding our relationship in the coming months to make the most of BigPond TVs emerging business through innovative LG devices.
Mr Cho foreshadowed the addition of more channels to the service.

Sue Maslin on the NBN

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 17:26:12 GMT
Sue Maslin, one of the most forward-thinking screen content producers, recently gave a speech at a Creative+ Research Forum at RMIT. Here's an excerpt:
"The NBN roll out is often compared to the building of the Snowy Mountain Scheme, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the national rail gauge.at times you could be forgiven for thinking it was a gigantic plumbing project, such is the hyperbole around the broadband pipe. Yet there is very little discussion about what will be filling these unlimited pipes of the future." |
MEDIA FUTURES - Changing Screens, Changing Content, Changing Relationships with Audiences.
Discussion paper prepared by Sue Maslin, March 2010
Our media futures are being shaped right now. Shaped by tectonic forces cultural, political and financial giving rise to the new media technologies and the platforms upon which they are delivered. As screen producers, we are engaging already with profound changes in screens, content and relationships with audiences or user groups.
In April 2009, Stephen Conroy (Minister of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) announced the single biggest national building infrastructure project in Australias history the $43 Billion National Broadband Network. Fibre to the home, schools and workplaces delivering broadband download speeds between 10 to a 100 times faster than those we currently experience. This will be rolled out over the next 8 years but will be fully operational by 2013, the year that analog television is finally switched off. The NBN will be the turning point and underpin our all our media futures and make no mistake, there are policy decisions and business decisions being made right now which will carve out the way in which we engage with that future.
This paper aims to look at how we creatives - the story-tellers and content producers - fit into this new world.
Amongst all the hype surrounding the NBN, it is important to listen closely to the language. It is usually about the technology, infrastructure, capacity building, operational platforms, aggregation, monetization of the internet and service delivery. The NBN roll out is often compared to the building of the Snowy Mountain Scheme, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the national rail gauge.at times you could be forgiven for thinking it was a gigantic plumbing project, such is the hyperbole around the broadband pipe. Yet there is very little discussion about what will be filling these unlimited pipes of the future. The word content comes up repeatedly, but what does it actually mean?
It would appear that content can mean ANY information or experience delivered via the new portals of the future. It certainly does not imply that it is material resulting from creative authoring or editing. The great irony is that content used to be defined as that which is contained within limits, the capacity of the thing, whether it be a book or a bucket. Of course, content is anything but contained in the new on-line universe.
Content is fiercely debated territory at the moment. Rupert Murdoch thinks he can aggregate old media into new delivery platforms and charge for content. He and many others are furious that the tax payer funded ABC have taken a leadership role in setting the media futures agenda. The ABC has a real market advantage because of its $800 million annual funding, its extensive capacity to capture content and because of the high level of authority this information has. Audiences, by and large, trust information supplied by the ABC. In an overcrowded on-line world, where information is undifferentiated in terms of quality, this authority is extremely valuable. It is in fact a very powerful brand. Not surprisingly, the ABC is taking a key role in setting the future agenda for delivery of content in Australia.
But lets look at how the ABC sees its role. The recently completed ABC Innovation promotional show reel spruiks their message to Federal MPs and played at a ABC Staff Leadership Conference. It underpins an aggressive strategy to carve out the ABC leadership role in the area of content innovation and audience/user development. In an energetic and dynamic delivery it speaks of change, innovation, synergy, new technology, interactive content, audiences, that the ABC is streets ahead of the commercial broadcasters, i-view, podcasts, website delivery, access, integrity, energy and ultimately, curiosity. It asks and answers the question, Whats possible?
We are promised that audiences can choose to watch what they want, when they want and how they want. But what will they be watching?
At the SPAA Conference 2009, Kim Dalton (ABC Director of Television) pointed out that what was missing form the current debate is a discussion about the nature and range of local content that will be available as opposed to the platform by which it is delivered.
The implications for Australian producers are significant. We need rules around local content. When broadcasters feel the pinch financially, the local content will the first to go. The new platforms will be flooded with cheap content and in Australia, that means getting access to mainly foreign content. This is of enormous consequence to the media futures of content producers and audiences alike.
The commercial aggregators will argue that it is simply too expensive to produce Australian content for on-line delivery. Their vision of re-packaging television formats, streaming and linked websites from television programmes falls apart rapidly as the advertisers abandon the old free to air model and reduce the budgets with which the broadcasters can commission new works.
Traditional television programming is currently in its death throws, turning to more and more extreme formats in a desperate bid to keep audiences. To a great extent, quality news and current affairs is a thing of the past and we are seeing news largely driven by press releases and a plethora of format driven factual programs. But this is increasingly irrelevant to audiences who have increasingly migrated to alternative platforms for their entertainment and information. The commercial television model is underpinned by advertising that funds programming and a quota system that ensures local content. This model appears to have no place in the new world order. Local content therefore is highly vulnerable.
Why is this important? Content is far more than a commercial product. It plays a significant role in shaping the cultural identity, our national identity and our values. This is why successive Australian governments, both Labor and Liberal have supported the cultural subsidy of the screen industries over the past three decades.
Yet the way that many of us here think about screen content - that is, authored, editorial content with moving pictures and sound is just a small part of the overall picture. It is in fact merely the tip of the iceberg in the new digital economy. The rest of the iceberg, the main game for business and government, is in delivery of services - financial, business, security, mapping, shopping, search engines, social networking, IPTV etc etc. If you like, content is the cream on top of the cake.
You can actually see this future right now.
I have had the privilege of travelling twice in recent years to South Korea as part of the Digital Media Delegation hosted by the Korea Australian Foundation and Austrade and see first hand the Promised Land of high speed interconnectivity. And it is impressive. Korea is the worlds most fibre connected country where 72% of households have high speed broadband. 48 million people belong to Cyworld, a sort of parallel universe where everyone is interconnected via their home pages and which delivers every imaginable web based service. It is driven by a vision for a ubiquitous society in which all citizens are connected in the long tail world of socialized media. In order to attract consumers to aggregated services (financial, security, social media, search engines etc etc), business dressed their commercial offerings with rich media content (games, IPTV, pop music, karaoke, movies). It is aggressively marketed as delivering freedom. Infinite choice is supposedly liberating. Does it necessarily follow that if some choice is good, then unlimited choice is nirvana?
So where do we fit into this headlong rush forward into ultra high speed broadband connectivity and the economy it will underpin? What does it mean to be content producers in the future?
The reason that Australians have been highly regarded by Korea, an advanced digital economy which is light years ahead of us in terms of the technology, is that we have a culture that values innovation and creative risk taking. We are at the forefront of innovation in on-line content development, animation and games design.
But we need to understand that right at the moment, Australia is one of the few Western countries where there is virtually no funding, direct or indirect, for the creation of local content for on-line and interactive platforms. There are still no licence fees for on-line material offered by the broadcasters commensurate with licence fees offered for television programs.
I have produced two interactive on-line projects over the past 6 years (William Bligh, Re-enchantment) for ABC On-Line and in development on a third. You have to be very dexterous in putting together budgets for work that is conceived as on-line from the outset. This is distinct from add on on-line extensions to television and radio programs. Fortunately cross-platform can present additional opportunities for financing. For example, Re-enchantment (dir. Sarah Gibson), an interactive journey into the hidden meaning of fairy tales was funded via the following sources:
ABC TV Licence Fee, ABC On-Line In-Kind Services (IT, server etc) Producer Offset 10 x 3 minute television series ensured its eligibility UTS Digital media research project in-kind services and facilities Screen Australia- Innovation Fund In the process of producing this work, I have discovered that traditional film and television production models are not relevant to producing digital on-line media. I am now managing iterative cycles of content creation, working with content management systems (JIRA), working in a virtual studio linking the team in Melbourne and Sydney, managing vast databases of assets (sound, still image, moving image), engaging content designers and developers to build wire frames, electronic proof of concepts, implement, user testing. It is like being in ever repeating cycles of pre-production.
It is not possible, nor useful, to think in terms of pre-production, production and post production stages following a script development period. It is more like managing a series of parallel story development and interface design stages with continuous feedback loops. It was only 18 months after commencement of the project that we could begin to see the 'rushes' but the project had to be completely designed to delivery level before that was possible. This meant that skills in budgeting, scheduling, team management all had to be adapted.
That said, I believe it is possible to translate filmmaking skills and knowledge into the digital arena. The fundamental producing skills of working with a creative team to ensure the best way to communicate ideas to an audience were translatable. Also skills in project management and ensuring excellence in production values also holds one in good stead.
Moving across screens is essential to survival as a producer and a production reality given our audiences move constantly across screen formats to engage with content. The most exciting aspect in addition to new forms of non-linear story-telling is the profoundly changed relationship with the audience. Cross-platform approaches open the way to more niche audiences and more integrated experiences for audiences. A two-way relationship becomes possible with community building potential of Web 2.0 and 3.0 platforms. The heart of the interactive enchanted forest in Re-enchantment is the platform for UGC (User Generated Content) that is, the Gallery in which users can upload their own content and the Forums in which they can engage with others as well as the director of the work (the moderator).
In closing, as a creative producer, I am fundamentally having to interrogate my relationship to content in this new environment. I know I am not interested in producing content per se. I want to tell stories, create experiences, take people on emotional journeys, enable better understanding of the world in which we live, the people and institutions that shape our lives. Most importantly, I am interested in doing this in new ways and testing the aesthetic boundaries of the new tools at our disposal. Innovation is a means to an end and we must not get lost in the hype enveloping the current landscape.
I believe that we should value our skills as storytellers, our flexibility in finding new ways to tell those stories and above all our curiosity. It is this capacity to ask What If that will underpin our media futures in the new digital economy.

iPad and Hulu deal ?

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 15:36:33 GMT
iPad users may be able to get Hulu on a subscription model, according to industry rumours.
This would be a significant departure from the ad-supported free access to Hulu that US viewers currently enjoy.
With iPad long-form video content thin on the ground at the moment, this could be a good for Apple, but will iPad users pay for something that they can still get for free?

What is it? And why should I care? Spotify

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 09:41:28 GMT
Spotify is the music industry's Hulu, with a few interesting wrinkles. On the surface, it's a music streaming service that allows instant access to around 8 million tracks, searchable by artist, album or record label. Before you get too excited, like Hulu, it's geo-blocked for Australia.
The big difference (apart from it's Swedish origins) is that it's a peer-to-peer service, meaning that it uses the network of subscribers to distribute content, while Hulu has a centralised repository. |
The Model
Spotify is an ad-funded and premium content model. In the free account, ads are played between tracks - like commercial radio (hopefully without the Harvey Norman ads). Users can upgrade from the free account to a premium account with no ads and a range of other features. Anyone can buy selected tracks for online retailers.
Artists are given a share of ad revenue on a pro-rata basis. The big four record companies are shareholders in Spotify
Hidden Costs
Because users essentialy provide the library from their own computers, they will incur download costs in streaming the audio from its source and upload costs for providing content to peers.
Why Should I care?
Spotify is reported to be losing money at the moment. Nonetheless it's an experiment in monetising creative content that is outside the iTunes corral. If a peer-to-peer network can work for music, it could work for screen content.

Now it's Comcast vs Hulu

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 09:41:20 GMT
The shenanigans of US media companies may seem tedious to Australian content creators, but they can be indicators about our developing media landscape.
The Hulu Experiment was working..
Hulu was set up by a consortium of networks in the US (NBC, News Corp/Fox, and Disney/ABC) as a safe haven for their content on the web. They want to get consumers into a YouTube-like destination for "official" video content. Viewing is free, but ad-supported. And it's working well as the second most popular video destination on the web. We still can't see it here because of geo-blocking.
But now..
There is a pending merger of Comcast (the US's biggest cable TV company) and NBC/Universal. This complicates things, because Comcast is promoting it's own safe-haven called TV Everywhere, with a different business model.|
TV Everywhere will be available only to cable subscribers.
It's a shell game..
So to avoid having NBC programming in two different places - one free and one subscription-based, Comcast will put pressure on Hulu to get behind its paywall.
Put that together with Viacom's recent removal of two of it's most popular shows from Hulu (The Colbert Report and The Daily Show) and both NBC and Comcast refusal to guarantee that current or future TV shows will be available for free online and the Hulu experiment is looking like it was too successful for its own good.
Which leaves content creators..where?
To me this smacks of the Ok Go schemozzzle, where a corporation worries that their content is becoming too available and tries to stuff the genie back in the bottle. In the short term, this leaves the consumer confused about where to get their favourite flavour of content for the lowest cost and the content creator worried about the best place to monetise their product.
The reality is that all forms of content will appear in multiple destinations with different business models wrapped around them.These latest ructions in the US seem like whistling past the graveyard.

It's Apple vs Google for cable TV replacement

Sun, 28 Mar 2010 15:06:56 GMT
The obituary has already been sounded for newspapers, magazines, Free to Air TV and all manifestations of physical media. Now industry pundits are gleefully predicting the death of cable TV.
Speculation is rife that Apple and Google will go head-to-head to bring out a branded TV panel that has all the functionality of a PVR, an iPad-like interface and a cable box combined.
A major driver of this race is the US Communications Commission's announcement of national broadband plan which aims to give 90% of Americans broadband access at dramatically increased speeds.
Sounds like the NBN, only with a much better website.

AIMIA V21 Conference

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 21:10:25 GMT
If you are Melbourne based, the AIMIA V21 Conference is a must-attend event.
Special guest this year is Rebekah Horne, Managing Director and Senior Vice President International, MySpace - Fox Interactive Media.
Full Program and Registration

What is it? And why should I care? Fetch TV

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 20:51:43 GMT
Fetch TV could be a gamechanger for Australian content creators, but at this stage hard information is hard to come by. Their website is enigmatic, to say the least.
What is it?
Fetch TV is an IPTV platform. In partnership with smaller Australian ISPs, (Internode and iiNet?) Fetch TV plans to deliver unmetered video content for an undisclosed fee on their version of a set-top box (something like Roku.)|
Who's behind it?
It's backed by Malaysian billionaire T. Ananda Krishman,.
He was educated at Melbourne University and bought a multimillion dollar residence/horse stud near Scone NSW in 2006.
T. Ananda Krishman has some interesting form in media and events, including helping organising Live Aid.
Content?
Fetch TV has been in discussion with the Networks. Only the ABC seems to be a starter so far. There has been no discussion about sourcing independent content - but given T. Ananda Krishman's background he may be interested.
Competition
There are a few IPTV players already - the ISPs themselves, Telstra's T-Box (coming soon?), Sony Playstation, X-Box, Hybrid TV and the hardware manufacturers Sony and Samsung.
Why should I care
A seriously funded IPTV play would position the owners nicely to use the NBN's vast potential to deliver video traffic. That could open windows for Australian indie content.

Joss Whedon inspires new web series

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:21:31 GMT
Doll House cast member Enver Gjokaj has been inspired to launch his own web series Previously on Point Dume. Joss Whedon (creator of Doll House ) wrote the pioneering web series Dr Horrible's Singalong Blog
Previews are avaliable at FunnyorDie.
Mainly shot in greenscreen, the show is put together by a group of motivated actors. According to Gjokaj, "We had to spend a little bit of money on it, but it's very close to zero dollars. We certainly spent under a thousand dollars on it. But, having said that, we used a lot of volunteer work so going forward we're going to have to find somebody who can finance, because there was a lot of work in this that people were nice enough to donate."
What makes this different? Each ep will be a recap of the series. Hence the title....

Apple chasing iPad video content

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:21:25 GMT
it's easy to think of the iPad as Apple's Kindle, offering predominantly text content. But Apple plans to offer download-to-own TV shows and films as part of its content bundles.
To make the iPad extra attractive, Apple is looking at cutting the cost of TV shows downloaded from iTunes from$US1.99/2.99 to 99c.
Negotiations with content providers are being held up by the latter's fear that this pricing will undercut cable TV subscription deals.

Micropayments - new hope

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:21:17 GMT
One of the Holy Grails of online content is micropayments - a technology that allows users to pay for content in whatever increment the content creators chooses.
iTunes is a sort of micropayment system - the trouble is, it's an old fashioned "walled garden" with content heavily regulated by Apple, and a fixed price structure.
For content owners who can't get onto iTunes, an independent micro payments system, where they can set the price and get a much bigger rev share is a exciting prospect.
Dynamo is fully embeddable player that allows users to make micropayments to the producers via PayPal. It's due to be launched in the US later this year.

NineMSN playing Catch-Up

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:21:10 GMT
NineMSN is rumoured to launch a catch-up TV service next month. Why the wait? With ad space on catch-up services at a premium, it couldn't be the business model. Apparently there were "rights issues."
It's fun to speculate on the type of discussions that are occurring between the "TV" people and their respective web partners. Witness the goings-on at Seven over the announcement that Yahoo7 will make up to 20 current TV shows available via the Sony Bravia IPTV platform.
Network 10 is trying, but it has to be said that their offering is a little confusing. Their "video" tab reveals a list of about 40 "channels" - some contain full episodes, some contain behind-the-scenes stuff and some contain, well, nothing.
Not quite there yet.
The ABC must be watching all this smugly - their iView player is working well and they have none of the commercial tensions of a 7 Network. And they have big plans.

The Perils of VOD in OZ - Paul Uniacke

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 09:56:39 GMT
Paul Uniacke is the founder of Franchise Entertainment Group, which owns Video Ezy, Blockbuster and online retailer EzyDVD. FEG controls 65 per cent of the home video rental market and 15 per cent of the retail business.
He's been in the news recently, following his outspoken comments about studios demanding unreasonable revenue shares on Video-on-Demand (VOD) services.
His Blockbuster/Video Ezy brand was until recently part of the Hybrid TV Services consortium, delivering movies via the Tivo platform to Australian consumers.
MediaWave asked him to expand on his comments and cast a speculative gaze over the future of VOD in Australia.
MW: What are the challenges to operating a profitable VOD business in Australia?
Paul Uniacke: Many challenges here! | Australia is such a small market that it's hard for the studios to make it worthwhile for an operator who just walks in off the street and says "we want to set up VOD and distribute your movies".
The application process varies per studio but it is very involved. Legals and DRM alone will amount to $50k for some and up to $100k for others, just to approve the many and varied VOD applications that are put forward. This process can take years to get through before content is made available.
Once you are approved (and this is a big ONCE), you are launching basically a new product very much untested and in most circumstances, a virtual startup. There are also minimum guarantees to studios that need to be paid up front. The rev share varies between 50 to 70% - more closely aligned to the 70% mark (to the studio).
The operator has to bear all the costs up front, including digitisation, business development, DRM development, billing development, etc, etc. Then you require an ISP to distribute the movies through to your customer's ISP. This is also very expensive. APRA rights also have to be managed by you, not the studio.
Noting all of the above, Australia, with such a small market place, is a very tough space to be in. VOD has been around for some 20 years now, but still today there are not too many profitable operators on a global basis.
Australian producers will be challenged for some time yet. The big players in the VOD market today are not that interested in our product, they only want content as a means to an end to sell their core products.
For example, Play Station, X Box and Apple are a bad thing for this market. They are happy to set very high % splits to keep genuine operators out. What happens when they dont need the studio content anymore, how far behind will that put the people who love the content and the industry?
MW: What sort of split do you consider equitable?
Paul Uniacke: As per above. Some 80/20 splits also exists for very new big movies released same day as DVD. Newer movies need larger % splits but older ones need to be more equitable. 50/50 or 40/60 for older catalogue would make more sense.
Could you tells us about your partnership with Hybrid TV services?
Paul Uniacke : Let this one slide l think for now, Tivo Aust (HTS ) wanted certain things and changed the model many times. We agreed to go our separate ways. They are now picking up all of the costs for the items noted above. Its still a tough model.
MW: What plans do you have for VOD services under the Blockbuster brand?
Paul Uniacke: Blockbuster belongs to the FEG group which comprises Video Ezy and Ezy Dvd as well. We have been working on a few scenarios for some years now. Tivo was just one of these models. Download-to-USB stick is one scenario that takes away a lot of the DSL costs for both end user and us. This makes a lot of commercial sense, but time will tell.
ME : What is the place for Australian content in VOD services?
Paul Uniacke: With the right model, VOD opens up a lot of opportunity for Australian content, but then again big players will not chase it in this market.
Apple, Playstation and Xbox will not in my opinion support the local content, thats where the USB model could also work very well with local conditions.
Holding many 1000s of movies on a server waiting for download is not a great model today. A large in-store kiosk for USB downloads makes sense and costs are minimal once digitised. The offer can also be tailored for the local demographic.
MW: What advice do you have for Australian content creators getting their content online?
Paul Uniacke: The international guys will not really want the local content unless it's big box office. Look for the local VOD guys, although this is hard as today they do not really exist. Right now it's a tough space for content people and VOD operators.
MW : Do you see any solution to Australian content competing for shelf space on DVD stores offered by VOD or other ways of providing content?
Paul Uniacke: With the right search functions, Australian content can be big in the digital future. Localised content has had a huge impact in Asian, Bollywood and similar markets, where they have taken market leadership from the Hollywood product as they have become more sophisticated.
Not saying Aust product can do this, but it has happened in many local global markets. It's harder to make it happen in English-speaking markets but not impossible. How much government and local industry is prepared to offer support to Australian content creators will ultimately affect this.
What is your perception of the impact of the NBN on VOD?
Paul Uniacke: I am skeptical about the way Rudd rolled out NBN, skeptical about his ability to deliver it. By the time NBN is ready, file size will mean its not big enough or fast enough. 3D files at 40 gigs anyone??

What is it? And why should I care? Clicker.

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:58:03 GMT
What is it?
Clicker is a search engine that looks for videos that are available online.
How does it work?
Clicker "contains more than 450,000 episodes, from over 6,000 shows, from over 1,200 networks, tens of thousands of movies, and 50,000 music videos from 20,000 artists."
Typing in a search term at Clicker.com, for instance "Australia", returns a mixture of files from sources like Netflix, Hulu and Scientific American.|
Costs
Free to end users. Clicker was recently funded to the tune of $US11m
Lifespan
Has a free run until Google launches its version later this year.
Why should I care?
Ultimately the interface for video search will be an agnostic search engine that looks something like Google. The aggregators (like Hulu) will drop away as the first port of call for consumers looking for titles or subject matter.
It's crucial that Australian content creators are represented in these searches. This means getting our content online and properly set up for easy searching by platforms like Clicker.
More About Clicker

IPTV and Australian Content Regulation - Now or Never?

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 06:09:59 GMT
Australians who produce for commercial TV offer up silent prayers to the gods of content quotas every night. Without quotas, some networks would cut back on local drama quicker than you could say, "cheap imports". (If you are a bit hazy about the regs, see end of this article for a refresher).
As an era of unregulated IPTV content dawns, a few players have sounded cautionary notes.|
At SPAA last year, Kim Dalton warned producers of new IPTV channels getting a free ride on the NBN, unfettered by content regulations that apply to FTA and cable providers.
Taking a different regulatory tack, Minister Stephen Conroy foreshadowed that the NBN would make bits of the cross-media rules irrelevant. The anti-siphoning legislation is also looking shaky.
In it's NBN discussion paper: National Broadband Network: Regulatory reform for 21st Century Broadband - the government appears to take no position on these issues, merely saying ; " However, given the significant change that the National Broadband Network will bring to the sector, it makes sense to wait until the new arrangements are further advanced before launching a full-scale review of convergence-related issues."
Screen Australia's response to the discussion paper concluded:
"It is unclear how regulation should apply to the new methods of distribution....and the distributors..... Nevertheless it is essential that the government monitor the development of the industry."

NBN test rollout has started. So we have to ask the question, are Australian content regulations on IPTV stillborn?
Look around:

Sony just launched its new Bravias with around 6 IPTV channels as part of the product offering. Samsung and others will follow.

ISPs like TPG (18 channels) and iiNet (10 channels) offer free IPTV channels.
Do Australian content regulations apply on these channels? No.
Should they apply? Maybe.
Will they apply? The way we are going, probably not.
Are there any arguments for exempting IPTV from content regs?
One goes along the lines of " It's not broadcast - because it's on-demand". Well, this becomes a nonsense when an IPTV server may be delivering more concurrent streams of the same program as a low-rating FTA or cable show.

It can't be done, because an IPTV service targeted at Australian audiences, with Australian advertising, could be served from (say) New Zealand. So it isn't an "Australian" broadcaster and is exempt from regulation.
Perhaps the only way content regulation could work is in tandem with licensing. At the moment, anyone can set up an IPTV channel - no license fees payable (something that must irk the current FTA and cable licensees).
If IPTV license fees were required for commercial players (for example the Sony Bravia channels), then content regulation could travel along with them. The re-location tactic canvassed earlier could also be stymied by applying a proviso of "intent to deliver content primarily to an Australian audience".
Hey - I'm winging it here, because there are no positions coming from the regulators or industry bodies. Does this mean that they have quietly dropped it into the circular filing cabinet, or worse, haven't even thought it through?
What this means to you
It's probable that we will move into a new distribution universe that is beyond such things as local content regulation. But imagine the dividend to local producers if even low-level content regulation was to apply to "commercial" IPTV licensees.

Australian content quotas refresher
FTA Commercial Television
Annual transmission quota of at least 55% Australian content. Sub quotas for drama, documentary and childrens programming. Translates to over 500 hours of first run Australian adult drama and $790 million spent on local content each year.
Pay Television
10% of program expenditure of nominated drama channels must be on Australian drama. Translates into around $26.4 million a year.
ABC-TV, SBS-TV
none
IPTV
None.

What is it? And why should I care? Roku

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:40:58 GMT
What is it?
Roku is a box that makes it easier to watch streaming video on your livingroom screen.
This one was developed by Netflix, a DVD rental and streaming service available only in the US. Extra content, including Amazon Movies on Demand, is available.
The closest thing we have is Telstra BigPond movie downloads (they dont have a box like Roku yet, although their T-Box is shaping up to do something similar).|
How does it work?
You hook up the Roku box to the livingroom TV and your WiFi network.
You create a playlists of movies from the Netflix online catalogue. The Roku box gets this info via your WiFi and displays it as an onscreen menu. The Roku remote launches video streams, which don't start instantly, but load quickly.
Costs
$99US, plus whatever subscription plan to Netflix you choose.
Lifespan
Roku suffers from the "not another box!" syndrome. With the launch of IP enabled TVs, all external boxes will have a limited lifespan. Currently, Roku is a closed system, which also limits its desirability.
Why should I care?
Roku is another sign that technology for the distribution of video content is moving inexorably to satisfy consumer demand for flexibility, convenience and choice. As independent content creators, this widens our path to the end user.
For background, see MediaWave article The Last Metre to the Content Cloud

Cautionary Tales from the Music Industry - continued

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:56:07 GMT
Is it just me, or do you think that record company execs seem relentlessly clueless when it comes to engaging with the online economy?
You would have thought that after the iTunes coup, they would have been a bit savvier about the workings of the online markets.
Their latest *puzzling* moves could have implications for screen content creators, because the music industry's shenanigans can be a bellwether for us.
EMI have started to block embedding of YouTube music videos. |
Why? Because YouTube is paying them for each stream served up. So, the records exec's reptilian brains think: force all views back to YouTube and make instant money!
The controversy has crystallized around the band OK Go, whose clever "treadmill" music video had 49,807,727 (!) views at the time of writing.
You can see why the record companies would be keen to get their hands on YouTube's reported payment of between .004 and .008 per stream. I'll do the maths for you - that's between $200k and $400k for the OK Go video alone, not counting possible advertising premiums for delivering 50million eyeballs to YouTube/Google.
But since EMI stopped embedding, views of the video have dropped 90% from 10,000 per day to 1,000 per day. According to OK Go's Damian Kulash the band's last royalty cheque, for six months of streams was a whopping $27.77 ...
A couple of big questions jump out of all this.
The first is simply technical- why can't YouTube track royalty streams from embedded videos? No answer at the time of writing, but we're looking into it....
The other more interesting one is why the record companies were willing to trade off the band's (and their fan's) efforts to promote themselves for the promise of a quick buck? Isn't the whole MySpace phenomenon built on self-promotion and viral marketing to friends, fans and followers?
Wouldn't a better solution be to allow embeds, but monetise by requiring the track to contain top and/or tail advertising, plus a token that could be redeemed for a discounted online track purchase?
What this means to you
This is the promise of micropayments finally being delivered on. Put this together with YouTube's forays into long-from content and it's a very exciting.
But, it comes at the expense of some larger entity taking (distributor/aggregator) away the content creator's right to promote and monetise their own content, it could be a poisoned chalice.

Big Day for IP

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 07:29:12 GMT
Two big decisions in the Australian courts - one a surprise and one not.
Decision one - the movie studios vs iiNet. Justice Cowdroy decides that an ISP cannot be held responsible for its customers illegally downloading copyrighted material. No surprises there.
Decision two - Justice Peter Jacobson rules that Men at Work infringed Larrikin Records' copyright in the work Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree. Big surprise.
Despite world wide moves to drag ISPs into the campaign against illegal filesharing (see MediaWave Expert Group Comments), these court actions are like prosecuting owners of a tollway for allowing motorists to speed.The iiNet decision is a realistic - the sort of thing you would hope for from the Australian courts.|
And then on the same day, in a different court, you get the baffling judgement against Men at Work.
Yes, a smart lawyer, backed up by a stream of expert witnesses (musicologists, audio engineers) could make a simple case that the two riffs in question are analogous. But to move from that to awarding Larrikkin between 40-60% of the revenue derived from Land Down Under flies in the face of reason.
There is an old tradition in jazz called "quoting" - a soloist plays little quotes from any number of jazz standards. This is how the Land Down Under riff should have been viewed - as an affectionate quote, not copyright infringement.
Are record companies now thinking about suing James Morrison for every quote in his trumpet solos?
A couple of quiet words in the ear of Larrikin - "consumer backlash".
Attacking a work of art which is so much part of the national psyche could backfire. I guess the people at Larrikin think they have more to gain out of taking the money and running. A smarter move by Larrikin would be to accept a small royalty on all future sales, that is, if they want to stay in business.
It seems likely that both cases will be appealed, so it's not over yet. But in the meantime...
What this means to you
The battle between IP owners and illegal downloaders has swung in favour of the pirates for the moment. As a content creator, you need to be wary of content deals that offer copyright protection as part of the package. They may lock you into a leaky ghost ship.

New York Times starts the Meter running.

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 11:59:06 GMT

Why should we be interested in the New York Times' decision to charge for its online content?
I reckon when a major content corporation changes its monetisation strategy from free to paid (known as a paywall) it's a harbinger for other sectors.
Heres what theyve decided to do. |
People with existing subscriptions to the print version will still get free access. Non-subscribers can get online content two ways a prescribed number of stories for free, full access for a flat fee. They're calling it the metered model, coming in January 2011.
Heres the kicker from their press release:
"We were also guided by the fact that our news and information are being featured in an increasingly broad range of end-user devices and services, and our pricing plans and policies must reflect this vision."
Code for: we are sick of bloggers ripping off our content and our audiences. And making money out of it.
Industry research suggest that readers may be prepared to pay between three and six dollars per month, according to how much they consume.|
As discussed previously on MediaWave, if I was in their shoes I would be targeting the heavy users (including bloggers) at the highest price point. Scaring the moderate user away with a paywall could result in loss of traffic and page rankings.
Guess they have a year to think about it. That's a long time in the online content universe.
What this means to you
Putting the NYT announcement together with the news that YouTube is introducing paid downloads, suggests that the early action in 2010 is a move from free to paid content. This could be good news. Well keep an eye on this as the year unfolds

Taxing Google?

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 08:08:06 GMT
The French have always had a fiercely protective stance towards their cultural industries. In the 70s they taxed blank tape sales in an attempt to combat the first waves of piracy (how innocent those days of taping the radio seem now..)
They also clipped cinema tickets, the proceeds ploughed back into the cultural industries. They were one of the few hold-outs against elimination of cultural tariffs in the WTO negotiations. Not surprising that they are now considering novel laws to counter the loss of revenue caused by illegal downloading.|
The Subsidised Music Card
French consumers are big music pirates, almost as big as Australians. For these download junkies, they are proposing a methadone strategy.Wean them off illegal downloads and turn them on to the legal stuff. When they are in a comfortable iTunes-like space, perhaps they will never go back to the dark side?.
So, offer a music download card with a face value of say $25, but an actual value of $50, the balance being made up by the French government.
A Tax on Google
The second more controversial proposal involves taxing Google (and the other online search/advertising entities) on the revenues generated by their online advertising. Google, like many other companies, minimises its tax. Instead of paying the 30-odd percent company tax in France, they pay something more like 5%. To claw back some of this lost revenue, tax Google I or 2% on ad revenue, the money being put back into the cultural industries to compensate them for the loss of revenue caused by piracy of cultural products.
Australians love a cultural subsidy - could the French schemes work here?

Selling your Content Online - Part Two. Hybrid TV

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:00:27 GMT
Hybrid TV has the license for Tivo in Australia and New Zealand. Their offering is a sophisticated PVR that can time-shift all the free-to-channels. What makes Hybrid interesting from a content creators perspective is the statement from their website:
"Unlike traditional free-to-air and/or pay TV models, the Hybrid TV model is open to a wide range of industry stakeholders where each party can achieve significant value through their participation and co-operation. "
To drill down a little further into their content strategy, MediaWave interviewed Rebecca Blasina (Head of Corporate Affairs) |
MW: How will Hybrid TV download offerings work from a consumer point of view. How will they be accessed and paid for?
HTV: Hybrid TV's broadband proposition is called CASPA On-Demand. It provides movie, TV and music content through one interface. The customer simply lodges their credit card details when they activate their TiVo online. They are not charged anything to their credit card until they purchase content on CASPA.
Once they start using CASPA they will be presented with both pay-per-view content as well as free content. From April 2010 we will be introducing advertiser-funded content in the mix however this will be primarily for TV and music content not movie offerings.
MW: Where will Hybrid TV source their downloadable content from?
HTV: Hybrid TVs content portfolio is sourced directly with the producer or studio the only exception is the music content which is through a strategic partnership with bandit.fm (owned by Sony Music but includes all record labels).
Are you actively looking to source original content from Australian independent producers?
HTV: Absolutely. It will be what will differentiate us from the rest of the market who provide only pay-per-view popular content. We wish to provide independently produced local and foreign content both pay-per-view and advertiser funded.
MW: Do you have a program acquisition person or department?
HTV: All of our energy has gone into getting CASPA up for the Australian and New Zealand market and in the main the focus has been initially on getting the major studios ingested into CASPA. We are in the midst of establishing an online registration and content submission website which will allow people to register their information and how they wish to work with us, provide us with links to or upload samples of their work and of course help us understand how they wish to monetise their work with the public. As soon as we have this up and running we will be back to you with the URL.
MW: Are you looking for a range of feature films, documentaries, episodic drama/comedy, lifestyle programming, animation, short form content?
HTV: If the content is appealing no matter how long, short, amateur or professional then we are interested. The main point is that all content producers who wish to be on our platform need to ensure that their content is
1. Owned by them and they have the right to distribute that content
2. The talent and music et al contained in the content is rights free and there are no 3rd party fees payable
3. Their content does not offend anyone and remains in good taste
MW:Do you have one or a number of models for generating revenue from downloaded content?
HTV: Right now it is PPV and FREE but of course we are looking forward to launching our ad-funded proposition which will certainly differentiate CASPA from other VOD platforms.
MW: How will you split revenue with the contrary creators?
HTV: The answer to this depends on the strength of the content and the power of the content brand.
MW : Are you looking at partnerships with ISPs to deliver unmetered content for consumers?
HTV: We are very fortunate to already have ISPs that provide unmetering to the TiVo device here in Australia. They include Internode, Primus, iiNet and Adam Internet. In New Zealand all Telecom broadband customers have unmetered access to CASPA content on TiVo.
What this means to you
Hybrid TV's content portal is due in Q1 2010. By this time they should be looking for content deals from independent producers and be clearer on the parameters. Looks like there are genuine opportunities. MediaWave will follow up on Hybrid TV next year.

The New 3Fs

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:00:22 GMT
Used to be that the three Fs for film investment were Friends, Fools and Family.
A new ebook by US based Scott Kirsner called Fans, Friends, and Followers (Building an Audience and a Creative Career in the Digital Age) looks at new business models for online content.|
The first section gallops through the new rules for selling content online, peppered with practical advice for how to build and maintain audiences.
The second part of the book comprises twenty-three interviews with content creators who has marketed and distributed their content online. There are eleven screen content case studies, ranging from feature film to documentary, to short form animation. Some of them will be familiar - Jib Jab,Red vs Blue and the work of documentary maker Robert Greenwald.
The thing that comes through loud and clear is that monetisation of online screen content requires a flexible approach. At one end of the spectrum, projects use conventional pay-per-view models. Others made money by giving away the screen component but selling merchandise.
Fans, Friends and Followers is a very useful introduction to the myriad opportunities offered by the online marketplace. When it comes to the business model for the book itself, Scott walks the talk.
The download version is US$12, which makes it perfectly priced to garner big initial sales. Having written, compiled and distributed the book himself, I imagine that Scott will pocket all of the ebook profit.
Hard copies are available from his site for $15 or from Amazon. There is also a Kindle version from Amazon.
The PDF version is not DRM protected and Scott urges you (or the recipient) to make a donation if you pass it on to someone else.
Fans, Friends, and Followers
What this means to you
There are models out there for monetising screen content in non-traditional ways. They may not be familiar and they will require adaptation for your project, but people like you are making money from them.

Is the Tide Turning against Piracy?

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:00:03 GMT
One of the biggest reservations I hear from screen content creators about putting their stuff online is the fear of piracy.
Even on sites protected by strong DRM, there is still the fear that somehow encryption can be cracked and their content will become free for all.
This is understandable, given the massive black economy in pirated films and TV shows.
There are a few approaches to this problem.
-only go with the most heavily copy protected sites, for example, Telstra Big Pond movie downloads, where losses to piracy is the province of heavy duty hackers. Trouble is, these are currently the hardest sites to get listed on.
- accept that piracy is a cost of doing business on the Internet, much like supermarkets factoring in shoplifting. I have heard that some of the big players in online distribution factor something like 30% piracy into their business models.
-give your content away, but monetise other commodities and services around it.
A couple of encouraging bits of news.|
Reports from Sweden suggest that there could be a shift away from piracy in the music business (which tends to be the canary in the coalmine for online distribution generally).
Swedish music sales rose 18 percent in the first nine months of the year, after seven years of consecutive decline, following the introduction the anti-piracy laws. Of that increase, nine percent comes from a rise in physical sales, while a whopping 80 percent is attributed to digital revenue. This in a country that elected a member of the Pirate Party to the EU Parliament!
In Holland, the final nail was put into the coffin of Mininova, one of the biggest movie file sharing sites. The courts ruled that links to all copyrighted material had to be taken down, despite arguments from the owners that they were only providing a service, not encouraging piracy.
Put this together with anecdotal reports that Gen Y, who were brought up on piracy, seem to be moving back to legitimate purchases.
What this means to you.
Proselytising from the antipiracy movement can sound a bit like King Canute. But if there is a change in consumer sentiment, founded on morality combined with a simple and cheap alternative to piracy, a new era in paid web content could be coming. If you can't wait, use a monetisation strategy that factors in free downloads.

CONFERENCE-IN-A-BLOG. SPAA09

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:25:56 GMT
This year's emphasis on social media marketing, online audience-building, monetisation and cross-platform production set up an exciting SPAA conference. |
The business of online marketing and distribution
Stephanie Bohn of Warners US was open-minded and realistic. Of all the majors, they seem to be the most engaged with day-and-date releasing and distribution on multiple platforms.
Her partner, Andrew Bohn (Fluent US) told us that VOD revenue for Gomorrah matched theatrical and in the case of Flawless, VOD sales were 7m against theatrical at 1.2m. Great to see actual figures. He also referenced a pre-theatrical online release for John Woo's Red Cliffs from Mark Cuban's Magnolia Films. This and the other variants of day-and-date strategies are intended to concentrate the marketing spend. Makes sense.

MediaWave has requested a detailed interview with Stephanie Bohn for the next edition.
By contrast, I was less impressed by what I heard from local distributors.
Tania Chambers (Screen NSW) did her best to probe the distributors in her session about alternatives to theatrical distribution, leading off with an excellent summary of the options for online distribution. The responses from the Australian distributors suggested that this is not high on their to-do list right now. Happy to be told otherwise!
Tania asked "what role can government play to assist distributors?" This produced a curiously defensive response from the panel.
Here's my take on what government can do.
- Create an inter-agency consortium to plan for online distribution (see my article The Australia Channel)
- Ensure that films with any agency money in them come with conditions attached for online distribution.
- Invest in findability strategies for Australian content. The interface for the content cloud is going to look something like Google.
If government doesn't get involved, we may see the Warners of the world dominate the online space in the way they dominate theatrical.
TV and its Hybrids
Brian Walsh (Head of Television, Foxtel) extolled the virtues of their IQ2 PVR, which features smarts such as a recommendation engine. When quizzed on whether this box could morph into the ubiquitous Media Centre, with Internet access, he was less clear.
I see this as a key play for any content/hardware combo. TiVo's local variant, Hybrid TV, being developed in association with Seven, appears better set up to be "the one box that does everything". Walsh confirmed that time-shifted content is not rated at present, stating that this would happen early next year. At last!
Content on Foxtel's download-to-own platform is determined by what rights they can acquire from existing suppliers. Doesn't seem to be much scope here for Aus producers to monetise existing content.
In contrast, Matt Campbell from SBS, painted a more encouraging picture for their download to own platform, due sometime soonish. He seemed quite open to the idea of a producer's back catalogue finding place to make money on SBS's site. He acknowledged that the NBN will fundamentally change the way we do business.
Robert Hutchinson of ABC online had a good news story about the short form series Beached Az, which boasts 100,000 viewers per month, plus strong revenues from merchandising. ABC online hopes to build on this kind of success with the new online animated series for older demographic in 2010, revenues to be supported by an iPhone game.
Branded Content, Social Media Marketing
Ben Liebmann of Fremantle, cautions that big dollars are not around for original online content, but suggested that small revenue streams are there and shouldn't be ignored.
The virtues of social media campaigns to build awareness before, during and after production were comprehensively surveyed in a session led by Martin Walsh, producer of the documentary The Battle of Long Tan. He revealed that his doco is intended to build awareness for a feature film on the same topic. He referenced a recent live stream from the set of The Reef as an interesting strategy.
In one of the many branded entertainment sessions, Kelly Chapman of KCDC, gave us a sneak preview of a Screen Australia supported Web project, based around the book Wrapping It Up , which tells you how to wrap up someone's affairs when they die.
Interesting for two reasons: it gives us an idea of what may be funded under the Innovation strand and suggests that such projects may have to come with strong monetisation strategies attached.
The pre-release version of Wrapping It Up contained links to suppliers of goods and services you could need when organising a funeral and wrapping up someone's estate. I couldn't see a coffin supplier tab.
Observations - what this means to you.
Most of the successful Social Media campaigns (Dark Knight, Sex in the City) are built on huge fan bases. Australia doesn't have this fan culture. Can this kind of campaign work for our audiences, and if not, what will?
In the morning plenary on day three, Tony Ginnane , who had earlier identified piracy and the digital economy as threats to the Australian industry, asked Ruth Harley for her five year vision for Screen Australia. She made no mention of the NBN and its implications. Later that same day, Stephen Conroy stated that the NBN would bring new business models for content creators, it would be a "game changer" and a "huge opportunity" for the Australian industry.
I didn't get to see everything, but if there was one thing missing, it was a single vision of how the online distribution landscape could look in five years. Yes, there were many powerpoints with a myriad representations of current and future platforms, but no-one was bold enough to unify them into a simple picture with the NBN at the core and pathways fanning out to paying audiences.
Any takers?

Selling Your Content Online - Part One

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:02:41 GMT

First up is the ABC Shop Online - looking at download-to-own sales only.
Usability
This is a very well thought-out website, typical of everything the ABC is doing online. A changing window displays the latest product - not surprisingly, eps one and two of John Saffran's current series Race Relations are available for $2.95 per.
Eps 2 and 3 are available on the ABC's iView platforms, so the strategy seems to be a couple of weeks on iView and then over to paid downloads. Smart. |
What's in the Catalogue?
There are around 80 ABC titles available for download - from whole series (East of Everything series 1 - $16.95 for 6 or $2.95 each) to one-offs (Crude - The Incredible Journey of Oil - $16.95)
Buying Road Test
Previewing requires installation of Microsoft Silverlight (sigh). I selected an episode of Aunty Jack to buy. I was asked to install the ABC download manager, which turns out to only be available for PC. No sale to me and all other Mac users - and a producer just lost some cash. I trust that the sales process works as well as other parts of the site.
NOTE : I have put in a query to ABC Online about Mac access.
The Deal
I spoke to a producer with a series on ABC Shop Online about the revenue split between him and the ABC. He told me it was 50% of net receipts, without specifying what the latter were. My guess is that it would be 50% of purchase price less ABC Online's margin, costs and expenses.
I then put a series of questions to David Hua, Manager of eCommerce Strategy & Operations, ABC Commercial. Before answering my questions, he stated:
"The ABC Shop Online is very committed to supporting Australian content and we'd be very interested in seeing how we can facilitate exposure of the work produced by your members and generating a return for it. I've also copied in Robert Hutchinson who manages Digital Business Development which may also provide digital distribution opportunities for your members."
MW : How do you decide what content will be made available for download through ABC online?
DH : At ABC Commercial we also encourage a wide range of distribution platforms for online content. For this growing market we now seek to pick up streaming and download rights for all programs that we acquire for distribution. Each program acquired, produced or co-produced is assessed financially and creatively on its own merits.
MW: Using a typical series as an example, I note that the download price for a series is $16.95. Can you tell me what returns producers can expect from the sale price?
DH : Returns to the producer are a commercially confident arrangement with each individual producer. Our terms are market competitive.
UPDATE : David later confirmed that there is a 50/50 split.
MW : How and when are returns paid to producers?
DH : Returns are generally paid quarterly for the first 2 years then bi-annually.
MW: If a producer has back catalogue that they would like to list on the ABC shop online, are you open to approaches? And does there have to be some sort of ABC involvement in the production?
DH: Yes, we are open to approaches. No there does not have to be ABC involvement in the production or broadcast. We have a buying charter and provided it adheres to our editorial and production standards.
MW: Do you require exclusivity if a producer lodges content with you?
DH: Not for material available on ABC Shop Downloads.
MW: Is the ABC considering deals with ISPs so that downloads are not charged for?
DH: Yes. Currently the download system used Peer To Peer technology which can reduce some of download charges. We are currently investigating unmetering opportunities with ISPs
The ABC Shop Online has been in operation since 1995 and currently we have 300-400k unique visitors per month. Our downloads business soft launched earlier this year and we're working on expanding the catalogue.
We have access to numerous mailing lists and promotional spots inc. iView where we can deliver samples of paid-for download content.
My intention is to encourage them to fully exploit their back catalogues by placing them on as many sites as possible.
What this means to you
The ABC says that they are expanding its catalogue, the deals are non-exclusive and content does not have to be ABC-produced. The ABC has clout, resources and a solid online strategy. This would be a good place for content aimed at an ABC demographic.

MySpace Music - Lessons from the Music Industry

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 11:16:28 GMT

Every screen content creator should be looking at online distribution for past and future projects. At the moment, the major player is iTunes, which started out as music only and has expanded into screen content.
Australian screen content creators have some limited local outlets (ABC shop online, Telstra Big Pond movies), but for global distribution, iTunes is essential. Getting access to iTunes distribution seems to be focussed on music at the moment - all the information on the iTunes website is points that way. I have heard that to get your feature film on to iTunes, you have to work through established distributors. Stay tuned for an update.
That's why the news that MySpace is morphing into an online market for music is significant.|
You will recall that MySpace started as a free for all online meeting place, which became the default location for independent bands to promote themselves. It was acquired by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation in 2005 for $580m. The deal had analysts scratching their heads, because MySpace had no business model.
Conventional wisdom was Murdoch was aggregating audiences without a clear plan to monetise. Murdoch's latest strategy is to build on MySpace's strengths as a music destination by offering online music sales. On the face of it, smart move and one and that seems to offer an alternative to iTunes.
This is instructive for screen content creators, because it may be useful to look around for alternatives to iTunes if you want global distribution. I hear rumours that such a project is in development in Australia.

What this means to you
If you get frustrated by some online distributors adopting the old structures, look around at what other aggregators are doing. Could be their alternative is just around the corner.

Film Marketing First for Australia?

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:54:10 GMT

The Reef is Andrew Taucki's new film - a thriller set on the Barrier Reef, starring Damian Walshe-Howling, Gyton Grantly, Zoe Naylor and a giant white pointer.
In what we think is a world first, the production company will provide all-day live stream from the shoot in Hervey Bay on November 4th.

Viewers will be able to see Andrew and the cast in action (and probably in the water) as a video crew follows him around on the day.
It's live coverage and a making-of rolled into one, featuring interviews with cast and crew as the action unfolds. Viewers will be able to ask questions in real-time.
This event is part of advanced marketing for the film, combined with a social media campaign which will roll out until the film's launch mid 2010.
| It's great to see a production company taking this sort of marketing seriously and going out on the edge of what could be an exciting and eventful experience. There's always the chance that there will be some uninvited guests .....
The Reef is supported by Screen Australia and Screen New South Wales.
The Reef Website
Disclosure: I am working as a consultant on this event.

Leaders in Content Conflict

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:01:35 GMT
Nicolas Sarkozy and Kevin Rudd both have their pet Internet projects.
Kevin has his NBN and Nic has his anti-piracy laws. Ironically each project lines up on opposite sides of the piracy fence.
In the Triclour corner we have Sarkozy, with his singer wife, Carla-Bruni Sarkozy cheering from the sidelines. He wants to put a brake on France's burgeoning taste for downloads.
Some stats identify France as leading the world in illegal music and film downloads while Aussie evidence would challenge that. Recent polls showed that 30% of French people surveyed had downloaded content illegally, while a survey done in Australia last year showed our figure closer to 50%.
French legislation would identify serial downloaders, warning them first and then fining them and cutting off web access if they don't desist.
| In France, the content creators have lined up on both sides of the argument. Some groups protesting the government's outdated approach, others applauding Sarkozy's efforts to protect their livlihoods.
What this means to you.
Which side are you on? If you think that piracy can be legislated out of existence, jump on the Sarkozy bandwagon. If you think that it's beyond legislation, start pushing for a realistic approach to monetisation in discussions with your distributors and legislators. Either way you can't afford not to take a stand.

CONFERENCE IN A BLOG - Digital Distribution Summit 09

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:36:25 GMT
Subtitled "Small Games, Big Market" Film Victoria's conference on the theme of digital distribution for the games industry featured a range of international and local speakers giving the audience their take on the future of games distribution. Although a lot of it was specific to the games industry there are a few interesting parallels to film distribution.
These are my take-aways.

Digital distribution will accont for the vast majority of sales in the future. The window for the crossover of boxed retail sales to fully on-line sales was put at 3-5 years.

The first user ratings in social media outlets are crucial to the success of the game. This is essentially good word-of-mouth on steroids, given that user ratings in the virtual space can happen almost instantaneously.

Variable pricing models are used extensively in the games space. This is something that filmmakers will have to adapt to when online distribution really takes off.

Pre-ordering of games is a model used to cash flow development.

Releasing a chunk of the game, followed by successive updates is method for getting over initial resistance to high purchase price.

The iTunes app store is the major driver of independent game sales. Could iTunes movie sales develop to occupy a similar space for independent screen content creators?

IPTV platforms will dominate the domestic media consumption arena. One box for all content. Telcos will be relegated to providers of pipes in the next 10 years.

Reward the first purchaser to combat the resale market.

One of the big success stories of the conference was local games developer Firemint, creators of Flight Control, a iPhone game that has sold more than 1.5 million copies via the Itunes app store. The short development time and low cost had the filmmakers in the audience wincing.
Full reports from the Confernce are here

ABC iView and ABC Shop kicking goals.

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:58:16 GMT
The ABC is leading the pack in delivering current and past TV by streaming and download. iView is by far the best of the networks' catch-up TV platforms.
Interesting to see that the ABC is talking about doing deals with selected ISPs so that downloads from the site could be unmetered.
| The bandwidth cost of downloads is hidden from consumers unless they are scrupulous about checking their usage. Users of iView or the ABC Shop downloads could be in for a surprise if they do some serious downloading (for example if they bought a TV series) and find that they go over their cap or worse still are charged for excess megabytes.
If the ABC can tie up a nice deal with one of the bigger ISPs (or better still, a few of them) consumers will have even more incentive to download TV shows rather than buy the DVDs once the Last Metre is crossed.
In a future post I will give you a look at what producers can expect in terms of a revenue split from downloads.
What this means to you.
If you have any ABC back cat that isn't represented on the ABC Shop online pages, might be worth getting getting your product up there. Beauty of this - once the ABC is doing the product fulfillment, you can promote it to your friends, fans and followers and sit back while the revenue rolls in as you sleep!

The Australia Channel?

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:34:36 GMT
An article in The Age - Screening at selected cinemas by Paul Kalina, is a welcome reminder that there are people angry enough about the state of distribution of Australian films to do something about it. Whether the documentary Into the Shadows gets released or not is a different matter!
I completely agree with the filmmakers - its a scandal worthy of a Parliamentary enquiry. Hundreds of films produced with Australian taxpayers money are languishing on distributors' and producers' shelves because of the distribution and exhibition roadblocks erected by Hollywood product.
And yet there is an answer and its staring us in the face. A coordinated online distribution strategy from the state and federal agencies could break the nexus.
Okay, this type of distribution is currently seen as the poor cousin of the cinema experience. Online distribution isnt sexy. All filmmakers want to sit in a cinema with a live audience and feel the reaction to their films. But if the alternative is no audience whatsoever, then surely a coordinated approach is important.
The time to act is now, because the NBN is coming down the pipeline.|
If you believe the hype, consumers will be able to download a movie in 17 secs. Even if you dont, the bandwidth available to domestic consumers will mean that downloading movies to watch on a whim will become normal consumer behaviour.
If we project five years into the future, what sort of choices will be available to consumers hooked into this movie pipe? Worst-case scenario will be a replication of what we have now alliances between the Hollywood powerhouses and their technology partners that will effectively shut out Australian product.
Best case scenario (remembering that the government is bankrolling the NBN to a large extent) is space reserved for the Australia Channel, dedicated to all-Australian content, fed by the state and federal agencies. Yes, new contracts will have to be devised and old agreements may have to be restructured, but a concerted effort starting right now could deliver new audiences and revenue streams for Australian content creators.
What this means to you
As a content creator, you need to start lobbying anyone who will listen (industry organisations, members of parliament, your colleagues, visionary entrepreneurs) to create a groundswell of demand for something like an Australia Channel on the NBN. Dont be put off by the standard response from the agencies (too hard to re-negotiate contracts) and for your own good, be flexible with your terms of trade.

Mininova - implode or explode?

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 23:11:00 GMT
A Dutch Court ruled last week that file sharing portal Mininova must remove all torrent files linked to copyrighted content within two months or face a fine of 7 million Euros.
Put simply, Mininova is a very popular one-stop shop for pirated movies.
This case shows that the anti-piracy forces, backed by Big Media, haven't given up their seeminlgy Sisyphusian task of pursuing illegal file downloaders - this time by shutting out large facilitators like Mininova and Pirate Bay.
| The Pirate Bay case could be an pointer to the way all this will wash up.
Despite the four founders being sentenced to one year's jail each and ordered to pay huge fines, software company Global Gaming Factory is making a $8.5m bid for the site, with a view to turning it into a legal, subscription-based service.
One of the fascinating pieces of evidence that came out of the Pirate Bay defense was that many copyright holders were making their own material available to illegal downloaders, presumably for their own promotional purposes.
What this means to you
Piracy is a cost of doing content business on the Internet. Instead of running hugely expensive legal campaigns and running silly ads at cinemas, organisations like the MPAA should judo piracy into something that works for the industry. You should be lobbying your distributor for a more sane approach.

The Last Metre to the Content Cloud

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:18:13 GMT
In any network architecture, it's always the last bit that is the trickiest to connect. Used to be it was the last kilometre (from the exchange to the home), then it was the last 10 metres (from the network cables of power poles), now it's the last metre.
The last metre has come to signify the gap between the device used to download media and the devices used to display that media.
If your big TV is sitting a few metres away and your computer stores your media, how to get them to talk?
Copy all your media onto DVDs? Run a cable across the floor? Get the whole house wired up? Use a wireless streaming device? (e.g. Apple TV).
Too much trouble for the average consumer.
| TiVo and other PVRs are almost there. As soon as they open them up to the Internet (I mean really open them up, not some walled garden) and put a simple browser-based interface over the top of them, the last metre will be crossed.
A more seamless device will be the IP enabled TV. All the major hardware manufacturers are bringing out their versions - obvious move, but think what this will mean for vertically-integrated media companies. Sony springs to mind.
A direct link between their content libraries and their hardware will spawn a raft of business models.
Buy a Sony TV and get 12 months free subscription to the Sony Channel!
What this means to you
When the last metre is crossed, consumers will pick their media from a Content Cloud. They will be able to search for content in a Google-like interface and not care who delivers it. Making your content distinct and findable will be as important as aligning it with an existing aggregator.

To Link and be Linked - the case for becoming an Aggregator

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:31:54 GMT
A simple version of The Link Economy is based on the ability of websites to monetise based on the number of clicks they achieve. The more clicks, the more eyeballs, the more dollars advertisers/sponsors may be prepared to pay. Aggregators of content (in the case of the screen content industry, think YouTube) gain audiences by using original content to attract page views. But what's in it for the content creator?
If a piece of original content on your website is linked to by an aggregator, the aggregator gets just as many clicks as you do from visitors who view your content on their site.
Think of the news aggregator sites - Google News for example- the users create their own"newspaper" which is populated with original content created by (paid) journalists. Every time you scan the headlines in the aggregator, they get a page view, and every time you click a headline to reference the original source, both parties get a page view.
What this means to you
As a content creator, you should be making an assessment of what value you are getting from a relationship with a screen content aggregator. Perhaps it may be worth becoming an aggregator yourself? Or perhaps making sure that your content is accompanied by advertising/sponsorship wherever it goes?

News Corp to charge for exhaust fumes

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:13:17 GMT
There is a whole secondary economy of bloggers who make their living from sucking on the exhaust fumes of major information sources like News Corp.
These people make an income from aggregating, recycling and commenting on the primary news sources generated by legions of expensive journalists and news staff. And some of them have done very nicely, thank you very much.
That may be about to change. Rupert has dropped the bomb - News Corp sites will start to charge for content.
Details of how this will work are scarce - but Rupert, here's some advice - for free!
| If News is going to charge for content, they had better makes sure that the charging mechanisms are painless and that the consumers of this (paid) content are able to factor the costs into their exiting business models.
As I described in a previous post - if a marriage between someone like Google and News could produce something like a Google Ads (in reverse) where the consumer has an account with News which is debited every time they click on a news item that would take care of the mechanism. Now for the price point.
Rupert has based some of the rationale for his new model on the decision of the NYT to charge for content. The NYT is premium content. You would hope that News would have a tiered pricing structure, from free to premium and that they do enough research to work out what a pro-blogger can afford to pay for various sources. And possibly ad some value to this new paid relationship by offering additional services to applying customers.
Otherwise pirate news networks will spring up, as they have with music and video content.
So if Rupert is smart enough to target the exhaust-suckers as a source of revenue, and add some value the relationship, his model may work to a limited extent. An across-the-board charging regime is doomed to failure.
What this means to you
If you have a business model based on free reuse of primary content sources, now is a good time to think about how to factor in additional costs. You may end up with a better business model anyway.

IPTV Content Deals

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 22:45:32 GMT
The intersection of the NBN and maturing IPTV technology will produce a new generation of content providers in Australia- sooner than we anticipated.
It looks as though the NBN will allow content players to bypass existing ISPs and go direct to consumers' set top boxes.
Until now, the costs associated with sitting on top of an ISP have been a powerful disincentive to consumers of online screen content. You have to be with someone like Telstra Bigpond to get unmetered content from their walled garden services.
IPTV via the NBN will essentially be a direct deal between you and the provider, cutting out the expensive ISP tariffs that we now labour under.
There are reports that Adelaide-based ISP iinet is researching a range of options for delivering content direct to set top boxes via the NBN.
This will mean a new slew of players looking for content deals.
What this means to you
If you have a back catalogue of quality content that is sitting there gathering dust for want of an outlet, now is a good time to start bundling up and repackaging.

Pirate Judo

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:41:15 GMT
Recent bidding for premiere file sharing site Pirate Bay is a fascinating step in the evolution of online content delivery.
In the same way that Napster morphed into sites like iTunes and YouTube spawned Hulu, Pirate Bay is set to mutate into a legitimate file sharing network. One of the prospective bidders Global Gaming Factory (their bid : $AUD15m ) plans to take the skeleton of Pirate Bay and it's user base to apply the following business models:

Selling users' unused disk space as networked storage ( the content cloud principle)

Reducing ISP costs by directing file sharing traffic to the nearest possible point, rather than half way around the world

Charging users who don't contribute disk space and bandwidth (known as "leachers")

Doing deals with content owners - going legit like iTunes.

As for the Pirate Bay founder's business model - if the deal goes through they will pocket around $AUD 4m plus stock in the new company!
What this means to you
The supply of content is moving inexorably into the hands of online distributors, some of whom have interesting histories. User base is the key - could the porn industry the Pirate Bay of the legitimate screen content industry?

The New Nine MSN - First Look

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:08:14 GMT
The new Nine MSN site was launched this week - touted as a local response to Hulu.
Does it work and was it worth the effort?

Look and Feel. It's not a clean experience - the video content is hidden away in the Nine MSN clutter. Unlike Hulu, the content isn't the destination, .

User experience. Navigation is via a pretty cool series of scrolling video panes, or a decidedly uncool series of menus - TV Shows, Channels and Genres.
Note to Nine MSN producers - "For Blokes" is not a genre.
The video loads quickly and plays smoothly at both screen sizes (on Telstra cable)

Content - a mish mash of just about everything from "Stupid Videos" ( the worst of YouTube ?) and National Geographic. On the same page.
Some local TV shows, including Underbelly, Home Made, McLeods.

Monetisation. Pre-roll ads in the viewer and constantly (annoyingly) changing ads in a panel next to the viewer. Even the dumbest cat-on-a-skateboard video is preceded by a Coke ad!
Full Screen mode loses the ad panel, but viewing is a very chunky experience.
Random static banners appear at various points on the page

Features. There is a recommendation engine called DNA which purports to serve up content based on your previous viewing. Would be better done in conjunction with a short survey of user preference.
It's all a bit half-baked. The content is less than compelling and the good stuff is available elsewhere. I kept wondering - who will use this thing? Perhaps the arrival of new Warners content in a couple of years time will boost it as a destination.
I can't see how this site will do anything to address the content leakage that TV networks are suffering.
What this means to you
Don't get too excited about NIne MSN as a screen content destination until Nine sorts out something unique - maybe offering high-quality downloads with embedded ads?

Australian Networks stirring, Ratings Slumbering?

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:02:32 GMT
The current TV ratings technology doesn't track time shifted views on PVRs. Please explain?
Most thinking people would agree that an audience is an audience, or an eyeball is an eyeball, whenever or wherever it is.
As long as the advertising remains attached, what's the difference?
So are the ratings agencies asleep at the wheel?
The penny has dropped at the broadcaster end, if the recent "ratings" of some of their product in " catch up " mode is any indication.
Master Chef (Ten) 5.2 million whole episodes and clips streamed.
Make me a Supermodel 2 (Seven) 1 million whole episode streamed.
Underbelly 2 (Nine) 280,000 whole episode downloads.
Seven has made whole episodes of Packed to the Rafters available recently, so their numbers will make interesting reading.
On the back of this epiphany, PBL has announced a new streaming platform on Nine MSN. Coupled with their renewed Warner Brothers deal, this could give them something like a Hulu in the local market (although the WB content apparently won't be available until 2011).
What this means to you
Depending on whether you are a glass half empty or glass half full person, this could mean new channels for local content or the usual stuff distributed differently. Perhaps we are approaching a tipping point where advertisers accept that a message embedded in online content can reach audiences just as big (or bigger) than network TV.

YouTube Monetisation Latest

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:52:48 GMT
A recent interview with David Eun, VP of strategic partnerships at YouTube flagged their aspirations as a content player.
They clearly want play in the same space as Hulu. To get there, they will have to:
- Lose their reputation as the site where you go to see cats riding skateboards (on treadmills)
- Put some clear and transparent monetisation strategies in place
- Develop some strategic content partnerships with the majors.
The most significant point to me in his whole discussion was the suggestion that YouTube could start to finance its own content.
What this means to you
If YouTube is going to start acting like a studio, the poential for funding a project based on branded content, with YouTube kicking in, are looking brighter.

Scott Kirsner's new ebook - walking the talk

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:38:54 GMT
Scott Kirsner is a relative veteran of the screen content blogosphere. He started his blog CinemaTech in 2005 and he's been a major contributor to the debate about monetising content.
So all eyes were on the business model for his new book Fans, Friends and Followers.
How would he price it? Would there be two versions? Would the e-version be copy protected?
I can report the answers are - perfectly, yes and no.
The guts of Fans, Friends and Followers is a series of interviews with a range of artists, musicians designers and filmmakers. The intention is to draw out their strategies for making money using online channels.
The book is available in two forms, a hard copy and a PDF download, neither of which is copy protected!
The download version is priced at US $12, which makes it perfectly priced to garner big initial sales. Having written, compiled and distributed the book himself, I imagine that Scott will pocket all of the ebook profit.
Hard copies are available from his site for $15 or from Amazon. There is also a Kindle version available from Amazon.
The PDF version is not DRM protected and Scott urges you ( or the recipient) to make a donation if you pass it on to someone else.
I will discuss the contents of the book in future posts, but suffice it to say that Scott has perfectly monetised his own content. Keeping DRM out of the picture is his boldest move, but again I think this is absolutely right.
What this means to you
Getting the elements of an online sale exactly right is crucial. Scott Kirsner could have tripped up on any one element but he got them right:
- price point (he could have made it too expensive and discouraged impulse buys)
- distribution ( doing a combination of self distribution and alignment with the majors)
- DRM (he could have discouraged widespread initial purchasers by implementing some complex DRM tool, encouraging piracy further down the track)

DVD Sales conundrum - consumer preference?

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:49:10 GMT
While DVD sales have always been notoriously difficult to quantify, the word is that sales are down by as much as 10-18% in the US. This is caused some major angst in Hollywood, where these sales have been the major profit centre for the industry.
What's going on? Has the DVD novelty worn off, as the DVD stopped being a convenient media package, are consumers tired of the rental -- return -- late fee cycle, or paying over the odds for the packaged product when, let's face it, a pirated version is so accessible?
On the flipside, revenues from hybrid services like Net Flix are up, again eating into the profits of the studios, who receive a smaller return from rentals.
What this means to you
Getting your product on to the platforms such as Net Flix, Telstra Big Pond movies and as many of the other reputable, clearly monetised download platforms is becoming more and more important.

Swedish Industry benefits from Piracy?

Sun, 31 May 2009 11:35:05 GMT
Head of acquisitions for Sweden's TV4 group, Clara Scherman, was recently quoted in an interview for C21 as saying that piracy of US television shows could boost local production.
Seems the Swedes behave like Australians, who in a recent survey admitted that 50% of them had watched at least part of a TV series online in the last week.
"We see that it's been more difficult to turn the US series into successes the way we've been able to do in previous years, so local content is really what's driving the schedule more and more," she told C21. "It's unique content, which the Hollywood material will never be."
What this means to you
This affect is really happening. Of course getting blinkered network executives to acknowledge the phenomenon could be a little tricky. But could be worth referencing this effect in your next pitch.

Are you a Giver?

Sun, 24 May 2009 10:04:44 GMT
One of the first questions content creators need to ask about their website strategy is "what am I going to give?"
Some people are happy to have their website as an online business card, but there are other ways to build your brand.
In the bad old days, we talked about "driving traffic" to websites - and while everything was new and intriguing, people would visit websites out of curiosity.
These days there are way too many offers, way too much spam to count on impulsive visits to a new website.
It's not about "driving traffic" it's about "enticing traffic" with valuable content offered for free. This is not to say that everything will be free, but "try before you buy" is a crucial strategy.
What this means to you
Become known as a giver, someone that your contacts trust and look forward to hearing from. Think about what media resources you have, what skills you can offer. Give them something valuable, no strings attached.

Micropayments - Newspapers' loss our gain?

Tue, 19 May 2009 10:17:37 GMT
A recent interview with Rupert Murdoch injected some new life into the paid-versus-free content debate.
Faced with frightening declines in revenue from his newspaper divisions, Rupert is turning his attention to micro-payments (a revenue model where users pay for content in fractions of a cent). Micro-payments have been long touted as a way to monetise content directly.
There are problems - will consumers accept paying for the content which was previously free and is there an unintrusive way to make payments?
Rupert has predicted that News Corp will start charging for news content within 12 months, citing the booming success of the Wall Street Journal's online subscription model. He added, cryptically, "The current days of the Internet will soon be over."
If News Corporation and Google brought their collective intelligences and muscle to bear on a micro-payment system we could see a robust model emerge. After all, Google's Adsense programme is a functioning micro-payments system.
What this means to you
It's working for music, looks like it's going to work the journalism - could micro-payments for video content be far away?

Apple and Twitter?

Mon, 18 May 2009 13:44:15 GMT
Unconfirmed reports that Apple are looking at buying Twitter. Locking Twitter into an iPhone/iTunes content acquisition perhaps?
This would put a full stop to the question of what Twitter's business model is - buyout by mega-corporation sounds like a good result.
Twitter is one of those amazing Internet phenomena in which seems to have moved in direction is that the creators could never have anticipated. Even very savvy users confess to not really understanding how it works.
What this means to you
Good simple ideas that start off looking like nothing at all can grow into a phenomenon. Worrying too much about the business model can stifle first mover advantage.

iTunes downloads for the restless

Sun, 10 May 2009 21:33:22 GMT
iTunes kiosks are coming to airports, hotels, trains - anywhere where people have dead time.
Patented wireless content kiosks that will provide music and video for idle consumers. Payment is handled by credit card swipe or iTunes login.
Centrelink or doctor's surgeries maybe?
What this means to you
Places where people gather and wait are prime opportunities for niche content. A great example is the new Qantas video on demand services that have interesting Australian material.

Blockbuster and TiVo get married

Sun, 10 May 2009 16:41:13 GMT
Blockbuster and TiVo have announced a partnership that will see them deliver movies to the the Tivo hardware. This is the latest move by DVD rental companies to stem shrinking market share. Others are making catalogues available on hard drives which customers rent and then pay for what they watch.
What this means to you
Another competitor to iTunes can't be a bad thing, particularly when iTunes doesn't make it easy for independent content to get access to its platform.

Logan punctures the Pirates

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:01:15 GMT
The word is that the pirated version of Wolverine that appeared the Web has a fake ending. The cinema version has a different (real?) ending.
What this means to you
Beat the pirates with brains, not brawn.

Window Breakthrough

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:58:23 GMT
Warner Brothers have announced that they will collapse the window between DVD and online release.
The first title will be ...Benjamin Button, released simultaneously on DVD, Foxtel on-demand, iTunes and Big Pond movie downloads.
God knows why it's taken them so long. It's an attempt to limit piracy, but the byproduct will be a step forward into a more rational release pattern.
What this means to you.
You now have a major precedent when can now talk to your distributor about their irrational release windows.

Movie Web Sites - My Take

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:14:57 GMT
What use movie websites?
I was looking at the website for Mary and Max today.
The Mary and Max trailer is brilliant, as is the film.
It started me thinking about that big question what should a movie website do?

Promote the film?
Sell merchandise?
Add to the viewer experience?
All of the above?
Start by asking yourself - "what is someone searching on the film title most likely to want?". I reckon it's session times. Most distributors do an abominable job of promoting individual films on their websites. A site like yourmovies.com.au does it much better.
So my ideal movie homepage would have a great trailer, up-to-date session times (ideally with a simple search tool to locate a session near you) and favourable reviews. Any other special deals (previews, two-for-one four, merchandise) could appear on the home page if there was real estate left.
The page would load quickly and have minimal fancy flash elements.
Where are the storytelling extensions? I hear you cry. Where are all those lovely extra features - the outtakes, games and all that other stuff that Web designers love to spend time and money on?
I would want people to get to see the film first. If they love it they will come back to the website to engage with the characters and get all the other additional content. So these elements would appear deeper in the site.
All pretty basic stuff - funny how rarely we get the balance just right.

Simon Britton

Twitter Business Model - at last

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:08:38 GMT
Announced last week, Twitter sources suggest that the social networking tool that is "the new Facebook" is about to announce its business model.
Twitter watchers have been breathlessly speculating on how it will make money out of its burgeoning user base.
Seems now that they will launch a freemium model. The basic Twitter service will be free but the pro service will charge power users a fee for a suite of smarts tools that will make it easier to track what's going on in the Twitverse
What this means to you
This is another vindication of the philosophy that goes something like "built it and the business model will come". If the guys from Twitter and sat around wondering what the business model would be before launching the service they would still be sitting around. Build an audience now and the model will follow.

First Web TV Awards

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:39:28 GMT
It was inevitable that there would be enough web-only content to warrant an awards ceremony. The inaugural Streamys were held in LA earlier this week.
As you would expect, the event was broadcast globally without territorial restrictions.
Prominent among the winners was Joss Whedon (Buffy) whose show Dr. Horribles Sing-Along Blog was developed in response to the writer's strike.
What this means to you
Events like this give credibilty to web-only series when trying to pitch to skeptical investors. In the longer term, the distinction between web-delivered and other channels will be moot.

CONFERENCE IN A BLOG - AIMIA V21

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:44:58 GMT
V21 was held on March 18 in Melbourne for AIMIA members and friends. A selection of highlights will follow over the next few days: today - Ben Barnett (Nous Group) talking about The New Broadcasters.
Ben Barnett called his session Permanently Beta a reference to the way that successful web businesses get their product to market quickly, while still not completed, and use the experience of being out their to refine and develop the product while it is live. He used Google's gmail as an example.
He urged businesses in the online content space to constantly examine the actual need of the consumer and ask whether the existing product was meeting it. Think beyond your existing customers think beyond limitations. What industry are you in? Old categories dont apply. What are other industries doing?
Authenticity. Active consumers demand authentic and compelling storytelling and conversation. Tell is like it is in advertising an example is the Hulu ad with Alec Baldwin.
Individualisation and personalisation constantly collect data on what consumers prefer. Involve individuals in the business model. Let them select the experience again Hulu consumers can choose if they see ads in exchange for premium content and can choose what sort of ads they see.
Get the project up and running and refine the product based on consumer preference before thinking about monetisation. Engage with consumers, test upfront, and get it live. Twitter example they are not sure of business model, but will get as big as possible as quickly as possible and look for a buyout?
Creative monetisation strategies. How has the environment changed and does the strategy fit? Are your advertisers synchronising with your product? Ted.com and BMW are a great fit between the ads and the content.
What are the big players doing? The context has changed and the mass media models arent profitable, but think what the big guys are doing. They adopt a portfolio approach big players buy a portfolio of small players that have risen from the bottom. The Guardian's acquisition of Paid Content is great example.
What this means to you
This is a space where only the very smart models will survive and prosper. Does your offering have a USP that takes in all the factors that Ben Barnett identifies?

Films in a Blink

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 14:35:10 GMT
News that Telstra is rolling out an ultra high-speed broadband network in Melbourne, in an attempt to head off competition from the successful tenderer for the government's national broadband network upgrade.
According to the hype, subscribers will be able to download a feature film in 78 seconds.
Closer inspection of the press release, reveals that the movies will come from "an online catalogue", probably Telstra's existing Big Pond Movies service.

What this means to you. Melbourne, at least, will be heading for a Korea-like experience, where most consumption of films is done online. Sell your shares in videos stores and make sure that your distributor is prepared for this new world

The best of times, the worst of times

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:07:39 GMT
So far so good. Early reports on US box office suggests that it is up has much is one third compared to last year.
Other sources of distraction are too expensive, so even that five dollar box of popcorn is looking like a cheap night out.
On the other hand, the diet of easy capital that Hollywood and to some extent the independents thrived on will dry up. This could mean far fewer releases from both sectors.
What this means to you
Australia's soft money could start to look more attractive, making those outward looking, co-financed projects more achievable.

The legal download scramble is on

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 08:50:07 GMT
Various combinations of Australian broadcasters, distributors and ISPs have started the rush to deliver movies to the home via the Internet.
Driven by the need for the broadcasters and distributors to stop the financial bleeding caused by a rampant piracy, they are confronting the inevitable truth that consumers want the widest choice at the most convenient time at the cheapest possible price.
A front runner seems to be Hybrid TV, part of the Seven Media Group and licensee of the TiVo platform, and Adelaide-based ISP Internode. If their model works out, they promise to deliver unmetered downloads, the holy Grail of video on demand. At the moment only a few walled gardens such as Telstra Big Pond Movies are able to do this.
But whats going to be available? Anything Australian? According to the PR the service will offer of 100 titles, from six studios as part of a library deal with Blockbuster and VideoEzy.
What this means to you. Is your distributor on to this, beating down the door of the various players with catalogues of Australian content ?

Latest production company to go Digital

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:54:28 GMT
Circe films (Beth Frey and Lizzette Atkins) have launched a digital division called CirceVision. According to the website, this division is focused on corporate presentations, interactive solutions(?), marketing, product demonstrations, and Internet solutions (as well as the more familiar documentaries and lifestyle programs)
CirceVision will be supplemented by two new partners, Anna Bateman and Anna Le Deux. Significantly, Le Deux has a background in retail marketing.
What this means for you
To get money out of screen Australia's Screen Business Venture Program, creating a very different division and pulling in people from outside the sector with specific skills is a must.

IP TV coming to your TV set

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 06:33:36 GMT
A number of manufacturers are working on a domestic screen with IP TV capabilities. At the same time they are acquiring content. Put the two together and you have new players in "television".
So Samsung, for example, will deliver their aggregated content to their screens through their boxes direct to the living room.
What this means for you. A range of new channels, looking like cable TV, with opportunities for content creators to license pieces of content or perhaps run their own channel.

CONFERENCE IN A BLOG - Media09 Sydney Feb 16.

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 03:42:10 GMT
Media09 was a one-day conference put together by the X|Media Lab team, sponsored by Fairfax. Mainly aimed at news folk, there was still some vital stuff for screen content creators.
Caroline Little The Guardian , North America.
I asked Caroline why The Guardian had acquired Paid Content for a reputed 12 million pounds. It's to build their brand in North America, where Paid Content may have a bigger awareness than The Guardian and plays into their future strategy of monetising niche content.
What this means for you : aggregating your niche audience could pay off in ways you hadnt anticipated.
Nick Newman - BBC
Open IPTV is the future of TV distribution.
What this means for you : keep an eye on Joost and the other IPTV players. While they might fall over, they are the test-bed for things to come.

Ben Self - Blue State Digital.
Blue State Digital conducted Obama's online campaign, raising $720 mill in donations. Their strategy for finding donors using online matching has interesting implications for filmmakers.
What this means for you : Filmanthropy - the practice of financing screen conteent from philanthropic sources, is becoming a useful funding model for cause-driven projects.
Will Price Widgetbox
The Third Place has been replaced by the Fourth Place - your social identity on the Web. While in your Fourth Place, you want stuff delivered to you and the way to do it is.......widgets!
What this means for you : Widgets are useful for regularly updated content (news, weather) Can long-form content be widgetised?
Angela Beesley-Starling WikiMedia.
Films will be available for download from Wikipedia soon.
What this means for you :This suggests an interesting new outlets for screen content that plays into search behaviour.

Diller's crew jumps ship

Sun, 31 Dec 1899 14:00:00 GMT
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X-Media Lab Melbourne

Sun, 31 Dec 1899 14:00:00 GMT

I'm part of a team from Picture Tank (makers of The Jammed) that is going through X-Media 2008 in Melbourne. We have a cross-platform project - Terry and Azzim - a TV series and online game about two accidental activists who are thrown into a Middle East war zone in a crazy mix up of identities. Today we were introduced to the specialist mentors in a day long talk-fest. Tomorrow we get to work with them on our projects. High point of the day for me were presentations by Robert Tercek, Ken Rutkowski and Chris Adams. As Chris talked about his work with Participant Productions, we all got very excited about tapping into the resources of Jeff Skoll, until he told us that he had left them to start his own company. Hope he still has Jeff's cell number.

It will be exciting to put our project under the microscope of these grizzled veterans of online media. Our project has a few big question marks over in - I'm thinking the call to action and payoff for the games components - I wonder who will be the first to pick these up?

The MediaWave Expert Group

Sun, 31 Dec 1899 14:00:00 GMT
I've invited a small group of industry specialists to join the MediaWave Expert Group.
It's a mix of producers, marketers, managers, distributors and researchers.
Starting in the New Year, we'll discuss developments in the world of online marketing and distribution, with the focus squarely on how to make the business models work for Australian content creators.
I'll pick a hot topic and ask the Expert Group to give us their particular take on it. There's real thought-leadership in this group.
Look for the announcement of the Expert Group and the first topic in February 010

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Sun, 31 Dec 1899 14:00:00 GMT
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New Quick Hit

Sun, 31 Dec 1899 14:00:00 GMT
hMailServer is easy and takes only a few minutes. The server comes with an easy-to-use MMC-like administration called hMailAdmin. hMailAdmin lets you add domains & accounts, specify settings, enable virus scanning and so on. The documentation describes the features in detail. If you have any questions, there's a great user forum full of helping users to turn to. The hMailServer developers answers question in this forum as well. When you seek support at the forum, the average reply time is less than two hours!

Sue Maslin on the NBN

Sun, 31 Dec 1899 14:00:00 GMT
Sue Maslin, one of the most forward-thinking screen content producers, recently gave a speech at a Creative+ Research Forum at RMIT. Here's an excerpt:
"The NBN roll out is often compared to the building of the Snowy Mountain Scheme, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the national rail gauge.at times you could be forgiven for thinking it was a gigantic plumbing project, such is the hyperbole around the broadband pipe. Yet there is very little discussion about what will be filling these unlimited pipes of the future."

GG TEST POST

Sun, 31 Dec 1899 14:00:00 GMT

Australian Crowd Funding site

Sun, 31 Dec 1899 14:00:00 GMT
Fundbreak "..is a funding platform for creative projects".
It operates like the US site Kickstarter, which Australians can only access by working through a US-based intermediary.
Kickstarter launched its own film festival for crowd-funded projects in NYC this week
Fund Break accepts screen content projects of any form.
The whole crowd funding movement is something that we will be examining closely in the next couple of weeks.

Hulu Plus subscription model

Sun, 31 Dec 1899 14:00:00 GMT
For $10 per month you get to watch every episode from every season of all the shows they have.
You choose the platform, including IP enabled TVs.
The offering still includes ads, which may generate pushback from paid subscribers.
Hulu's latest move will be a worry for other operations like Netflix, iTunes and Amazon who sell TV shows per episode.
Not to mention pay TV.
The new service is geo-blocked for Australia, just like regular Hulu.