Today's keynote

Again some great stuff today. Jason Kilar gave a presentation on his new USA based company called Hulu. This is currently only available in the States but is really looking out for when it eventualy arrives here.

This is on line video veiwing…. for free. Top shows, top movies. The general message is that the whole concept of interactive TV has really grown considerably in the last 18 months. Figures indicated that on line viewing figures, as well as advertising revenue have more than tripled within this period. This is basically free, advertising driven content. With a simple on line interface you can download a movie or TV show from their vast library and watch it on line. You can edit sections to embed or email. Additional facts of each film / TV show can also be obtained at the same time regarding cast, storylines etc.

Hulu is also capable of HD output.

Jason’s previous positions at Disney and Amazon have clearly given him a feel for content and layout. Hulu is a joint venture between NBC Universal-News Corp. One interesting fact is that their top viewed show is Curb your enthusiasm, which hasn’t been on air for some time but is getting higher on line ratings than some of the standard tv shows.

 Their are some interesting developments with the BBC and ITV regarding on line viewing and it certainly looks as if viewing figures and advertising revenue mean that on line TV is another weapon in the producers arsenal. Collaboration between program makers and on line technology offer a more enhanced package with more information available to the viewer.

Content 360 - Inventing the future

Todays most interesting conference entitled ‘Lessons from Creative Labs’ threw up some common sense approaches as well as some really good new ideas.

 With a number of key players on the panel there was obviously a cross section of ideas and approaches. 

Matthew Locke from Channel 4 outlined the N-A-B-C approach to consider during the pitch process and service development.

Consider the customer and market NEEDS

Ensure that you have a compelling APPROACH

Make sure that you can support and claim the BENEFITS

Consider world wide COMPETITION

His key approach for any pitch and creative brain storming process was to invest in the luxury of time. Ensure that you give yourself clear thinking time. Easier said than done but get away from the office and it’s many distractions to ensure that you immerse yourself in the project during the development stage. Time and therefore money spent during this period could save you later.

A valid point was that with linear TV there is a shared vocabulary with less opportunity for misunderstanding between the contributors. Therefore the development period can be relatively quick. With interactive projects there are more disciplines and aspects to consider. Therefore changes, with many facets to consider are harder to change once you get past the development stage.

Unlike linear TV you should ensure that as much of the development phase as possible is carried out by a range of people representing the various disciplines as possible. Everyone can bring a little of their own knowledge to this development process.

We were shown a group of development projects that demonstrated the use of convergent technology. One was the collaboration of the Sci-Fi channel and Microsoft for the Battlestar Gallactica game.This allowed the blending of video content and the game play. 

Windows and Bravo also collaborated on ‘queer eye for the straight guy’. If the content was watched on line then the viewer could, through the use of sub menu’s access additional information such as details recipes featured in the show etc.

HD DVD’s where also shown which provided the viewer with marker points through the movie indicating a point at which the viewer could view additional character profiles or extra stills.

The most amazing example was emerging technology shown by Dale Herigstad from USA based company Schematic. This was something called ‘Gestural Interface’. Without the use of a Wii device or any hand held technology the viewer could interact with the screen just by hand movements. The demo involved scrolling through various camera angles or scrolling through menu’s etc. 

The overall themes from today included: Take time to do it properly. The TV audience already has access to other multi media platforms before and after they’ve watched a show, use this to your advantage. The tech teams are concerned about technology development not necessarily the audience and this needs to be considered. Do the audience need it or will they use it? If the answer is ‘No’ they why do it.

 More tomorrow

Day One Madness

Well, we finally arrived and after a quiet Sunday evening, it was straight into it first thing Monday morning.

I’ve seen a lot of people at various festivals/exhibitions/conferences in my time, but this is unbelievable - people everywhere: pitching, distributing, dealing and all across multi platform!

Part of the Content 360 element of the festival involves a ‘Live’ pitching competition where teams pitch their ideas to a jury who then spend the next couple of days advising the producers on how they can improve their pitch. They then re-pitch their ideas at the end of the week in a ‘Live Pitch-off’ with the winners walking away with development money.

I attended a session today which focussed on cultural heritage projects. All of the presentations focussed on interactive, user generated content and information elements which they believed would make them successful.

Get those ideas going guys! 

Preparing for the festival

Not only is MILIA the convergence conference of the year but it is also the one festival where all of the main broadcast and technology ‘players’ come to plan and buy for the next twelve months. From here we should be able to judge, within reason, what might be on our screens for the next year. 

For such an event, hotels and flights should be booked well in advance. Commissioning editors, broadcasters and distributors have their diaries booked well in advance. However, this is also a network event and so there is always the opportunity for that ‘chance meeting’. There are some exciting conferences this year and as always the festival is extremely well attended.

The plan: Arrive in Cannes on Sunday evening, register and then spend the evening trawling through the final delegates list to arrange those last minute meetings.

The reality: A four hour delay at Bristol airport. Arrive as Cannes goes to sleep!

We’re here armed to attend and report back on as many conferences as is possible.  We are also armed with boxes of flyers highlighting Bristol as a media City, a calendar of events as well as some key contacts.

About MIP TV featuring MILIA

MIPTV featuring MILIA is the global content market for creating, co-producing, buying, selling, financing and distributing entertainment across all platforms, where over 13,000 world’s leading professionals from over 100 countries converge to:

• Capture new growth in content for TV, mobile, broadband, advertising and the
• Promote upfront to broadcasters, producers and distributors
• Make new contacts via MIPWORLD, our online all year long matchmaking community