Content Decoded

I’ve been MIA for a while but am slowing shifting gears and getting back into action. I haven’t yet had time to chew over the significance of these news but I wanted to capture these thoughts before I forget them.

Print off-shoots of popular digital properties become the new low-cost revenue channel for publishers:

A few years ago the conversations in publishing buzzed around creating and optimizing web properties for print magazines. While this is still a primary focus, Meredith and Hearst have taken to using print offshoots to market their web properties. Case in point: magazines for Delish.com MixingBowl.com and Realbeauty.com

The content on mixingbowl.com and realbeauty.com is largely user-generated and there is some amount of  gratification and reward to a community than seeing their recipe in print.  Popular blogs (think the sartorialist, chocolateandzucchini.com etc) have resulted into books, so its only natural that popular web properties have their own print versions. But where do we go from here ?

Digital is so fragmented that new devices and platforms are constantly changing the dynamic between the content producers and the readers. I am curious to see how the content producers innovate to serve up this new audience.

Tying this post to my previous post about the iPad – instead of a print version of the mixingbowl or delish – would  an iPad application for recipes be more useful than a print magazine ? Just a thought.

There have been a few dismissals of the iPad. My Facebook feed was flooded for a few hours last night with friends calling the iPad an exaggerated version of the iPhone. While that judgement may not be far off the mark, I am personally quite excited for the iPad and the potential impact it can have on the content publishing worlds. So a few things off the top of my head:

New Markets – I think the main thing the iPad will do is unlock new markets and underserved audiences. I’m thinking my 50-yr old Mom or my 5 year old niece. The broad applicability and price points of this device will fill the niche for readers who want more than just books on their device and computer users who want a scaled down version of their PC. I’m curious to see how existing publishers will optimize for these markets and the platform.

Content: I’ve head some very smart people talk and discuss “the medium is not the message” argument. While I am not sure I even understand the more academic discourses on this topic, one thing is clear to me. The medium may not be the message, but the medium will certainly dictate and push for innovation in the deliverance and creation of the message. Much like what the iPhone did with the application community. I think it will be interesting to see as the iPad technology evolves, what kind of new markets and industries it decides to support. The strongest advantage the iPad has against the Kindle (sorry Nook – I’m not even sure, I should include you here in the competition!) is its iTunes network.

Over a pizza discussion with the team the other day, Justin bought up an interesting POV. He mentioned how the future should actually have been convergence of technologies into one device – but the iPad actually fragments this convergence. What are your thoughts about this?

Update: This news article re-affirms my initial thoughts about the iPad’s target audience: the middle-aged.

The picturesque, if somewhat storm-weathered, town of Dingle in the most south western peninsula of Ireland was the backdrop to Saturday night’s world-first showing of Intune Technologies’ laser-based next-generation network (NGN) technology.

In the front foyer and backrooms of Benners Hotels on Main Street, Dingle, locals and visitors could watch a live, high definition transmission of a rare performance of Snow Patrol and an extended entourage of Irish musicians (16 in total!) from St. James’ Church across the road.* Those with iPhones could also watch the show without any of the usual lags or video outages.

The broadcast was delivered over an optical burst packet switched fibre network, which came through on its promise of uninterrupted, premium quality content – something that has been unachievable before now. The implications are massive for future content delivery.

Just consider the traffic generated by the BBC iPlayer – the iPlayer generates 20-25% of UK (pop 60M) Telecom Traffic after two years from only 1.5m subscribers in 2008.

With Intune Networks Technologies underpinning the next-generation web, humans’ addiction to video will grow exponentially, with digital content multiplying by a factor of 10 over the next five years to take the volume into Zetabytes.

* I was lucky enough to have a seat in pew no.4. in a total audience count of 60 – an amazing Saturday show in The Other Voices Series, due to be shown on RTE from Wednesday Jan 14th 2010.

It finally happened. Valued at $13.74Bn, Comcast is buying a 51% stake in NBC Universal. (GE will continue to own 49% stake in NBCU) As part of the deal, Comcast owns rights to buy GE’s remaining stake over time.

In its Programming group, Comcast already owns E! Entertainment Television, Style Network, Golf Channel, VERSUS, G4, PBS Kids Sprout, TV One and Comcast Sports Group. To this, Comcast will now add cable channels such as USA, Bravo and MSNBC. Comcast will also have more clout in Hollywood with NBCU’s Universal Pictures and NBC TV network and production operations.

This deal is so intricate and complex that it’s going to substantially change the face of media industry. As the Washington Post puts it, Comcast could own more than one out of five television viewing hours.

One facet of the deal that I’m curious to learn more about is how it will effect online video distribution. NBCU is an investor in Hulu.com (alongwith Fox, and Disney) and Comcast owns Fancast.

Fancast, much like Hulu, allows fans instant access to videos of TV Shows, movies, and other content. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts has often referred to his commitment to “Anytime Anywhere TV.” But where Fancast has failed and Hulu succeeded is in creating a community and a sense of transparency, goodwill and excellent customer service. What also concerns me is if Hulu and Fancast have the same owner, is that in the best interest of online video distribution? The other closest competitor in this space is TV.com (owned entirely by CBS)

We’ll be watching this space closely.

I came across Fora.tv a few weeks ago and when I looked it up, I was pleasantly surprised to see a familiar name on the team. Blaise Zerega and I connected on Linked in a few years ago when we were both at Conde Nast. Blaise has a particularly interesting background and has created a niche for himself launching  magazines and content properties. Prior to joining Fora.tv as the CEO, Blaise led the technology coverage at Conde Nast’s Portfolio magazine. He was kind enough to chat with me for a few minutes on the phone yesterday and I want to share some of the interesting themes that popped up in our conversation.

If you haven’t checked out Fora.tv, do it now. Fora.tv is building the world’s largest content library of unmediated video from live events, lectures, debates, and conferences going on all the time at world’s top universities, think tanks and conferences. As Blaise said, “Everyday all around the world, great ideas are being discussed in a university classroom or at a conference. There is a strong opportunity for this long-form content that people are interested in, but don’t have access to. ” And Fora makes this aspirational content accessible to everyone.

Fora’s business model is fairly straightforward right now with three revenue steams: 1) Advertising and Sponsorships 2) Production (live streaming conferences etc0 3) Premium Partnerships. With Premium partnerships Fora helps its partners unlock the value of their content and upsell it to more audiences. Because Fora attracts a smart, affluent and passionate audience and it offers partner’s content in safe environment. Additionally, fora’s infrastructure allows the partner content to travel widely and freely on the web. They just started generating revenues this year so I’m curious to where they end up a few years from now.

I want to highlight the two themes that emerged from my conversation with Blaise. Tell me what you think.

1) The You Channel: “In the future, there won’t be millions of channels,” says Blaise, “there will be one channel and it’ll be yours.” Blaise referred to this notion of “serendipitous discovery” that will dominate our experience with content on the web. Fora unlocks its content for youtube, hulu, boxee, mobile and even facebook – allowing users to consume partner content when they want, and how they want it.

2) Need for high quality content: One of the wagers the Fora team is making on the future of content is that users will demand high-quality content. “People right now are accepting low production value,” Blaise mentioned. But as the premium space expands, the online video experience will need to be as good as broadcast. That’s why, all the content we produce at FORA is now in High Definition.

3) Print and Online are different medium, but still media: One of my questions to Blaise was whether his experience in print media was helping him with his new job as the CEO / Editor of an online content company and his answer didn’t surprise me at all. He summed it up, “Regardless of the media, you are still trying to compete for attention.” As an example, he shared how Fora.tv only started using headlines for the videos in Nov 08 (the company was founded in 05!). As a print journalist, crafting intriguing, provocative headlines is a must-have skill and Blaise knew it was teh same for video. Once Fora started using headlines for their content, the results were immediate and positive. (increase in consumption, engagement, shareing etc)

Hope you enjoyed this! Let us know your thoughts below.

A few days back I wrote my thoughts on how Hulu plans to start charging for content in 2010. This month’s Fast Company magazine in its story on Jason Kilar (CEO, Hulu) further broaches the subject of monetization on Hulu.com

As Kilar builds on Hulu’s vision to become the online authority on TV video, advertiers have responded well. In two years alone, Hulu’s revenues have shot from zero to about $120 Million (250 adveritsers). It is still a pittance of what broadcast networks make from adverising, but, atleast there are revenues.

Kilar is smart to point out however that any one model is not going to solve Hulu’s monatization issues.

ilar calmly explained that he wanted Hulu to be the online authority on TV video, just as Amazon is the expert site for books. If people are looking for a particular show — any show — Hulu should help them find it. As Kilar sees it, shows are the brands users care about, not the networks that air them. Fast Company provides some indiciation of what future models to expect from Hulu.

“We don’t think any one consumer model is the answer,” says Kilar. (Hulu is also exploring international expansion and, according to analysts, an iPhone app). The most likely option is adding a subscription service alongside free content. Think of it as Hulu Premium — an online version of what HBO did to distinguish itself from standard cable service. For a monthly fee, VideoNuze’s Richmond suggests, members would get ad-free content on Hulu, early access to programs, and more comprehensive archives. For a share of the fee, companies would make more shows available. Most important, Hulu could offer those subscribers Boxee-style access to TV, giving the networks a long-awaited convergence strategy with a steady revenue stream.

2010 should reveal these new undertakings at Hulu. I will be following closely.

Hello X’mas! The eBooks industry is abuzz with news of B&N’s own eReader called The Nook.

According to Codex Group, a consultant to the publishing industry, Amazon has sold about 945,000 Kindle units, compared to the 525,000 units of the Sony Reader. So Kindle still leads the race, but I won’t be surprised if The Nook isn’t already keeping Amazon exec’s up at night thinking about their own product and market. The obvious features that make the Nook better than Kindle are:

Peer lending: The ability to e-lend books to friends and other Nook Readers. And the first eReader to allow digital lending between iphone, ipod, Blackberry, PC & MACs. (as long as the free B&N eReader software is downloaded on it) This is particularly interesting because it works like it would if you were to lend a physical book to someone: a Nook owner can “lend” their books only one at a time for a total of 14 days and they cannot read it on their own Nook while it is lent.

Over 500,000 free books available. Plus, over a million books from B&N’s own library.

Color & Touch Screen Navigation: For a generation so used to the iPhone & the iPod, this is a welcome feature.

Free Wi-Fi in all Barnes & Noble location: Additionally, the Nook will offer exclusive content, promotions and discounts when in any B&N store and allow Nook owners to read any eBook for free when in a B&N store.

Content Decoded POV: For B&N to own the eBooks market, it needs to figure out how it is going to incorporate self-publishing on the The Nook. Kindle has already created a revenue-share model for bloggers and self published authors and The Nook’s strategy on this particular area is unclear. Digital Content is not platform-centric – so while in the physical world a book is a book and a blog is a blog – on an eReader, it is  merely content.

That said, with its 777 stores in USA, B&N has a strong advantage over the Kindle as it plans to aggresively market and promote The Nook via its stores.

In a perfectly timed article for Contagious Magazine Faris Yakob (Chief Technology Strategist at McCann Erickson) debunks the “Content is King” aphorism in favor of “Content is the Republic.”

At the heart of Yakob’s thesis are two ideas:

1) As more consumers produce content, traditional content monetization models (paid, advertising) are challenged. Because digital content is platform agnostic (no distinction between video, news, articles – it’s all content online) it creates room for different monetization models based on context and consumer desire.

2) Align servicing next to content: iTunes has been successful because it made buying music simple and cheap enough. Youtube is experimenting with a new monetization model by allowing users to offer high-quality downloads of videos for low prices.

I agree fully with the issues Faris raises here, however, I think that this dialog and the issue of content monetization is incomplete without further exploration of the idea of content curation. Incidentally, in the comments section of Faris’s post, Carl from the Communications Room makes a very interesting observation,

I’d like to see some kind of Stack Magazine/Ad Exchange model. I don’t want to pay $20 a month each across 20 different publishers. But I might pay $40 a month for access to all those publishers. They then share the money between them based on the content people use across the networks. It also makes publishers compete to create really good content.

Carl’s comment reminds me of HSBC’s 2-week pilot effort to market its Premier Card – personalized in-flight magazines. A kiosk located at Heathrow Terminal allows passengers to select magazine articles on topics they are interested in and have them bound into a hardback form they can take on their flight.

Time Inc’s Mine Magazine took it a step further by allowing subscribers to pick their favorite topics and four Time Inc magazines to receive a curated/ personalized magazien featuring articles that reflect the subscriber’s selection.

While the results from these early experiments are still unavailable, additional services that refine and evolve this idea have popped up. (offbeatguides.com, idiomag.com, fuelfortravel.com)

An indication of the future ?

Read The Content Republic here.

Marketers and content-providers should sit up and pay attention to the content publishing and interaction opporutnities Blu-Ray High-Definition Discs (BD) offers.

According to MIN, BD players are embedded with unique features that allow users to multi-task. For example, the Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince BD disc allows viewers to conncet to Facebook and update their statuses while watching the movie. The X-Men: Wolverine BD disc allows users to access the IMDB database and the upcoming Julia & Julia will allow users to send themselves recipes and connect with special Twitter feeds.

An early player in this industry is a fairly new company called Related Content Database with a mission to, “Increasing digital media revenue through related content, products and services.”

MIN concludes on a positive note.

Much like magazine partnerships with specific film properties, the BD Live feature on a Blu-ray disc opens up a world of possibilities for combining branded digital content resources with the entire BD platform or just with specific film properties.

Thought for marketers? While Blu-Ray hasn’t heavily proliferated the markets yet, it would be smart for entertainment and brand marketers to start thinking how BD-related strategic alliances with the right content can shape the future of marketing.