Broadband Jungle Blog

Documentary.org officially relaunches

The International Documentary Association is very excited to announce the launch of the new IDA website, located at: www.documentary.org

The new site features some exciting changes and additions.

Documentary trailers, clips of works in progress, shorts and IDA events will be featured in our new video player.

• We encourage all members to use this service and submit video from their own productions.

• Members will be able to launch and update their own profile page. We hope you will use this to spread the word about your work, organization or business.

• More frequently updated news, blogs, commenting and forums will keep you informed about the world of documentary filmmaking.

• Easy-to-see calendar listings will spotlight upcoming events and opportunities.

• Plus, all of the resources and information you've come to expect form the IDA will be more accessible than ever.

• As with any launch, there are bound to be bugs. While we are doing our best to smooth all of those out, we would appreciate your help and input. Please email all comments, bugs and input to feedback@documentary.org.

Sincerely,
The IDA Staff and Board of Directors

The Broadband Generation: The revolution will not be televised.

From an article I wrote for the current issue of Documentary Magazine:

The Broadband Generation
The Revolution Will Be Digitized, Webcast, Streamed, Vlogged, Podcast...

The broadband video age actually already started back in the 1970s with the invention of the VCR. Rewind, Pause, Record for the first time in the history of the moving image, viewers could adapt their viewing pleasure according to their lifestyle and not resign themselves to the limitations of "live" exhibition and broadcast.

The audience quickly rid itself of linear viewing habits and hungrily requested technological innovation from entertainment giants like Sony, Philips and Apple. The resulting digital development boom still ripples through to this day.

 

The only difference today is this: The consumer is in charge and dictates what, when, where, on which platform and in which type and file size the industry is allowed to serve up video and entertainment. Within 24 months, thousands of video portals have launched to quench the audience's insatiable thirst for short-form video clips, movie downloads and television programming delivered through the Internet pipeline.

On-demand, speed and portability are the new standard for the broadband generation, and the parallels to the early days of television are remarkable: Back in the 1950s, a new technology was introduced to the mainstream with the tube, spawning innovative ways of storytelling, distribution, advertising, financing and monetization--just like today.

The audience consumed moving images at home instead of visiting the neighborhood movie theater. Today, computers, iPods, game portals and mobile phones lure viewers through their ability to display moving images on the go.

Even if broadband video might not quite equal the lasting impact of the dawn of the television age, it's certainly comparable to the advent of cable television in the late 1970s and early 1980s. From one day to the next, a handful of trusted broadcast entities exploded into dozens of analogue networks, eventually leading to hundreds of digital stations.

Click here for the entire article.

Magazine publishers finally going digital?

Inventive business development or are magazines finally realizing that it's them who could own the crumbling TV media pie? With plenty of experience in quality content and localized advertising departments in place for decades, no one is better positioned to resurface as the media networks of tomorrow. Everyone dealing with traditional print publishing companies (and some of their employees) knows that the industry has approached the online digital age wearing iron shackles and cement breaks.

Erik Sass writes in Media Daily News: Mag Bag: MPA Counts 62 Digital Initiatives In 2Q

The Magazine Publishers of America has tallied up a record 62 new digital initiatives from magazine publishers in the second quarter of 2007--a 139% increase over the second quarter of 2006. Coming amid a raft of announcements for specific new projects, the overall count underscores the migration of magazine brands to more digital distribution.

Here are the official stats from the MPA. 

HBO dismantles 'This Just In'

What’s the matter with television networks in the broadband space?
Even the storytelling masters at HBO can’t seem to get a popular portal off the ground?

Steven Zeitchik in Variety.com about the site's departure: HBO comedy site shut down.

This Just In, the comedy site HBO envisioned as both a brand extension and a potential development pipeline, is being shut down just six months after launching.
HBO announced the site in late 2006 to much fanfare, saying it would allow advertisers to work with the company and also serve as a breeding ground for new talent. Former Icebox CEO Steve Sanford was brought in to run the site, which offered a mix of celebrity riffs and goofy videos from assorted standup comics.

Here’s how the cabler plans to play it safe instead: Back to the proven distribution models.

HBO has been developing a broadband site together with cable operators that will allow users to access on-demand programming via the Web.

Discovery Networks warms up to rebrand

Early word about Discovery Networks’ re-branding and relaunch effort expected for October. SoCal based 72 and Sunny just won the account.

 

Gregory Solman in AdWeek: Discovery Picks 72andSunny

The Discovery brand "is still caught up in the intellectual space," Dan Bragg, (client vp and creative director at Discovery,) said. "The brand itself is not as heartfelt as our programming. So the marketing will try to move the brand to being more culturally relevant and more emotionally engaging."

Glenn Cole, partner and creative director at the El Segundo, Calif.-based agency, said the rebranding push would "speak from a place of enthusiasm as opposed to the point of scholarship."

Added Greg Perlot, agency partner and strategic director: "We have a feeling that the culture is in a really curious place right now. It's interested in adventure, experience, the planet itself and stewardship of it, so we'll position Discovery at the center for those who are curious."

Yahoo's Steve Mitgang new Veoh CEO

Has Dmitry Shapiro's pioneering VeohTV broadband network finally found who it needs to  turn into a portal that really matters? Niche talk is on.

Abbey Klaassen writes in AdAge: Yahoo Veteran Looks for Veoh's 'Great Business'

Steve Mitgang arrived at Yahoo via its Overture acquisition in July 2003. aBut now as Veoh CEO, he believes there's a big business in online video advertising. That is, if marketers can figure out how to target the intentions of viewers.

Ad Age: Why has it been so hard to create a viable business around online video? It seems to be wildly popular among consumers.

Mr. Mitgang: According to the reports, YouTube only sold $30 million in ads last year because they didn't build a system to support ... that healthy tension between editorial and advertising. They just didn't build it.

The flip side of understanding those user behaviors and recommendations is for targeting purchases. We can say, look at the car enthusiasts ... [these ones] are primarily interested in German cars or muscle cars. Being able to tell that to the brand manager of Mustang or Mini, we'll be able to help them better than anyone else. Whether watching user-generated or premium content we'll help target against the right users.

DISTRIBUTION 2.1 Panel at Cine Gear Expo

I'm a panelist at Cine Gear Expo Master Class Seminars this weekend on a panel moderated by Mark Vega from Omelet:

DISTRIBUTION 2.1
Delivery Channel Fragmentation Leads to Niche Audience Infiltration

Don't miss this amazing master class seminar!
Sunday June 24, 2007, 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm
Location:
Kodak Screening Room (click for map)
Eastman Kodak Company
6700 Santa Monica Blvd.
Hollywood, CA 90038

(class fee $85.00)

Moderated by Mark Vega, Principal OMELET, a new marketing studio that is ½ work-for-hire ad agency and ½ intellectual property incubator

Entertainment content today is being delivered for a profit across distribution platforms believed technically and economically untenable only a few years ago: DVD creation on demand, user-generated content on social networking websites, camera phone film festivals, mobisodic comedies.

This doesn’t mean that feature film or other long-form content is dead. It does highlight, however, the need to pay even closer attention to the audience you’re trying to reach as a storyteller. Where do they reside and where do they consume their entertainment? Only 15% of the United States uses Tivo and digital devices so we’ve got a long way to go before the user-generated content, on-demand content universe becomes the norm. This Master Class Seminar will introduce key voices to a conversation around understanding how to make delivery channel fragmentation lead you to the audience you’re trying to capture.

Panelists:
David Tenzer, Entertainment Project consultant, 23 year packaging agent veteran CAA
Eric Spiegelman, VP Biz Dev, This Just In, an original content comedy venture between HBO and AOL and VP Biz Dev HBO Labs
Thomas Rigler, New Media content strategist, co-founder of Internet TV guide community GoGooroo.com, and host of the Broadband Jungle Blog
Mike Sarner, Filmmaker of In The Crease and former film acquisitions executive at MGM
Mark Netter, VP Biz Dev, zannel.com (mobile content on zillions of channels)
Graham Streeter, Filmmaker of Cages and former news reporter/producer

To purchase a seat to this event please click this link.

JibJab—What We Call The News

Can’t stop watching the latest JibJab video: A recap of primetime news from television’s early days to today’s pleasant infotainment showers.

JibJab’s history lesson comes across like Network redone by Monty Python’s and therefore without Howard Beale's  "mad as hell" outburst.  We get it anyhow. Extremely clever, stunningly executed and with a lot of subtle edge towards…hard to say, us, the news media, everyone?

My favorite part: The JibJab logo elegantly blended into a black and white ‘Please stand by’-sign from the 1950’s. Very cute and very subversive at the same time. These guys definitely know how to position themselves and have the confidence to do so.

I’m hoping they turn this into a regular series of fake news clips, but then again they’re already supplying an entire portal with new and old comedy masterpieces…

What We Call the News | Send To Friends | Funny Animations at JibJab

It’s Your Show: Vagina Etiquette for Starlets

It’s Your Show, launched by Carson Daly on NBC’s tidy portal last August, actually did deliver on its promise to bring creative chaos to the peacock’s net operations. It has also had terrific impact on the budding community of web filmmakers and web performers. 

Someone had to step up to the plate and teach the YouTube-crowd how to build a story, frame a shot and sustain creative momentum past the Mentos / Geyser climax, and Daly might just be that guy.

The site’s concept is straight and simple and could easily breed an entire generation of story-savvy web shooters: Carson’s IYS-team issues very specific story challenges with the help of low budget 60 second clips. Viewers download a toolkit that includes cleared music, sound effects and some visuals and off they race to create the next Soap Opera, Mockumentary, Doctor Drama or Fashion Show.

Sounds dangerously close to running a free story development department in the public space? So be it. The site fills a tremendous need to showcase new talent and does it in a very organized and entertaining manner. Challenges expire bi-weekly but submissions are archived and accessible while creators retain all rights to their work.

No wonder every aspiring improv troupe between Orange County and Hoboken seems to be submitting clips in the hope of gaining an audience and winning anywhere between 1000 and 100,000 Dollars. Not to mention a slot on Carson’s Faves and the occasional TV special the Last Call host presents to Middle America.

So, Hustle—don’t just sit there: A new challenge is always waiting and you, too can create the next Vagina Etiquette for Starlets, a delicious spin on the art of late-night infomercials from challenge # 19: “Sell Sell Sell.” Unfortunately, It’s Your Show doesn’t believe in embedding their clips just yet. We therefore resort to watching this link on YouTube …

NATPE video highlights

AdAge posted terrific videos filed from the National Association of Television Programming Executives’ annual conference in Las Vegas.

Wired’s ubiquitous Chris Anderson kicked things off with a well worn key note about blockbuster vs. niche marketing, derived from his very own Long Tail-ing bestseller.

As a mix of top execs and media professionals took the stage, everyone continued their efforts to make sense out of all that good new media fortune we’ve seen on the horizon throughout 2006 but never could quite lay our hands on.

USA Network’s Bonnie Hammer presented a great plea for the need from both advertisers and programmers to take the necessary risks to figure out new forms of co-existence; both TV and new media could very well regress to the very same early television model of ‘here’s a word from our (one) sponsor’ accompanying an entire program. Scripps Networks is already leading the way with their broadband initiatives.

But it took Gary Carter, CCO of FremantleMedia’s FMX division, to bring out the anthropologist in all of us. His spectacular speech managed to clarify the current dilemma of whether we’re actually mourning the demise of television—completely missing the point, according to Carter:

“Technological development is a story which runs through human history and which shapes and is shaped by it. And part of that story is the rise (…) of what we call ‘media.’ This is about us, in a very deep and a very profound way, and it’s about the way in which we as a species are driven by creativity.”