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Upfront

NATPE Daily 2015 . Day 1 . January 20

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Tweet your news #NATPE2015 and follow us @NATPE

TODAY AT NATPE FONTAINE BALLROOM

IN THIS EDITION GLIMMER 3 & 4

Game Changers Sponsored by: Simulmedia

Platforms Accelerated Sponsored by: YuMe

9-9:10 a.m. Opening Remarks: Jordan Levin and Rod Perth

10-10:45 a.m. Hey Television, Where Did All the Kids Go?

9:10-9:45 a.m. Opening Keynote: Norman Lear. Norman Lear Book

11-11:30 a.m. The New Hollywood Studio: How E-Retail is Driving Content

Signing, 10:30-11:15 a.m. in Luster Gallerie

10:15-10:45 a.m. A Conversation with YouTube: Investing in Passion 11:15 a.m.-Noon New Players, New Models: Exploring the New SVOD and OTT Platforms and Strategies 12:15-1 p.m. Can Quality Scripted Content Survive and Thrive in Digital Media? 2:15-3 p.m. The Consumer as Programmer: What’s a Network Programmer To Do? 3:30-4:30 p.m. From Digital to Beyond: How Unexpected Partnerships Are Creating New Advantages 4:45-5:30 p.m. Will Local TV’s Do-It-Yourself Programmers Upend the Status Quo? Sponsored by: Rentrak. Produced by: TVNewsCheck

5:30-6 p.m. Rentrak/TVNewsCheck Broadcast & Cocktail Reception Sponsored by: Rentrak. Produced by:

11:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m. NATPE/CES Research Session: The Content Distribution and Discovery Revolution

NATPE Reality Sponsored by: CAA 10-10:45 a.m. The State of Reality: 2015 & Beyond 11-11:30 a.m. Reality Shows in Syndication: The Next Big Arena...Or Not?

Reporting from the NATPE floor.

8 Welcome: Rod Perth President and CEO of NATPE.

10 Profile: Norman Lear 12 Q&A: Steve Koenig, CEA 14 Feature: Reality trends Spotlight on new NATPE Reality track.

18 Six of the Best: Int’l format trends

2-2:45 p.m. YouTube and Vine Stars: The Rise of the Digital Influencer

20 Profile: Stephen Brown, Fox

3:30-4 p.m. Disrupting the Studio Model: Programming Execs of Today and Tomorrow Produced by Red Touch Media

25 Profile: Eric Berger, Crackle

4:15-4:45 p.m. X1, Xfinity and the Future of TV: A Conversation with Comcast’s Matthew Straus 5-5:30 p.m. The Rise of Mobile Video

Sponsored by: Beachfront Media

GLIMMER 5 & 6

4-5:30 p.m. NATPE Reality Pro Pitch Event GLITTER

TVNewsCheck

GLIMMER 1 & 2

5-7 News

23 Q&A: Tom Forman, Relativity TV

26 Six of the Best: Brands 29 Q&A: Ricardo Scalamandré, Globo 31 Profile: Bob Sullivan, Scripps Media 32 Profile: Matthew Strauss, Comcast 34 Q&A: Lynda Clarizio, Nielsen 36 Profile: Vin Di Bona, Vin Di Bona Productions 39 Profile: Tom Morgan, Net2TV 41 Q&A: Michael Kassan, MediaLink

Access to Insight

42 10 Golden Rules: Sima Sistani, Tumblr

9:45-10:15 a.m. See It Here! The Best of CES 2015

45 Six of the Best: New at NATPE

10:30-11 a.m. Greycroft Partners: Breakthrough Online Video Programming Strategies

47 Profile: Alberto Ciurana, Univision 48 Profile: Les Tomlin, Peace Point Entertainment 51 Six of the Best: New at NATPE

11:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Global Reality: Revenge of the Formats

11:15-11:45 a.m. MEC: The new Distributors – Why Advertisers Want to Build Channels, Collaborate on Programming and License Your Content

12:30-2 p.m. (Fleur de Lis) NATPE Reality Breakthrough Awards Luncheon, hosted by Howie Mandel

Noon-12:30 p.m. Facebook: Television Marketing in a Changing Landscape of Discovery

56 Q&A: Cathy Hetzel, Rentrak

2:00-2:30 p.m. The Development Step

2:15-2:45 p.m. Sony Crackle: The Future of TV

60 Profile: Jim Packer, Lionsgate

2:45-3:30 p.m. Case Study: Shark Tank

3:30-4 p.m. Revolt TV: Reaching Millenials at the Speed of Social Media

62 Profile: Joe Uva, NBCUniversal

4:15-4:45 p.m. LiquidThread: Content Creation & The New Creativity

67 10 Golden Rules: Mark Terbeek, Greycroft

5-5:30 p.m. Populus Brands: A Changing Tide Between Networks & Producers

70 Backstop: Dave Morgan, Simulmedia

MARKET FLOOR

5-6 p.m. Happy Hour Sponsor: ProColombia FOUNTAINEBLEAU POOLSIDE

6-8 p.m. Opening Night Party Title sponsor: Peace

Point Rights. Premier sponsors: Cisneros Media Distribution, Oscar De La Hoya: Beyond Boxing

52 Q&A: Pedro Lascurain, TV Azteca 54 Profile: Chet Fenster, MEC Entertainment

59 Six of the Best: Trends for 2015

65 3 Shows to Watch: Valerie Creighton, CMF

69 Q&A: Michael Klein, Condé Nast Entertainment What TV execs can learn from the digital world.

TANDEM COMMUNICATIONS presents

A MAHON PICTURES PRODUCTION

Written and Produced by

DONALD SUTHERLAND and

BRAD PEYTON A N E W A N I M AT E D FA M I LY A DV E N T U R E M OV I E

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TANDEM COMMUNICATIONS PRESENTS A MAHON PICTURES PRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION AND WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF CANADA MEDIA FUND, COGECO PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT FUND, AND WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF CANADIAN FILM OR VIDEO PRODUCTION TAX CREDIT, AND ONTARIO PRODUCTION SERVICES TAX CREDIT “PIRATE’S PASSAGE”

WRITTEN BY DONALD SUTHERLAND & BRAD PEYTON BASED ON THE NOVEL “ PIRATE ’ S PASSAGE ” BY WILLIAM GILKERSON

STARRING DONALD SUTHERLAND, GAGE MUNROE, CARRIE-ANNE MOSS, MEGAN FOLLOWS, KIM COATES, COLM FEORE, GORDON PINSENT, PAUL GROSS, ROSSIF SUTHERLAND, TERRY HAIG MUSIC BY ANDREW LOCKINGTON ANIMATION BY PIP ANIMATION SERVICES INC. DIRECTED BY MIKE BARTH, JAMIE GALLANT ART DIRECTOR BRADLEY CAYFORD CASTING BY SHERRY DAYTON, MICHAEL WALTERS PRODUCED BY DONALD SUTHERLAND AND BRAD PEYTON EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS ERIC BIRNBERG, THOMAS MARK WALDEN CONSULTING PRODUCER ROSSIF SUTHERLAND

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NEWS


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Worlds Converge at NATPE

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he ongoing impact of digital on traditional television will be the main talking point at NATPE 2015, according to industry executives, but this time it won’t be all bad news. Many interviewees pointed to new synergies emerging between the old and new mediums, as digital becomes a source of talent, ideas for programs and a way of bringing younger viewers to stations. Just as SVOD has boosted cable ratings by allowing viewers to binge on older episodes before new seasons launch, new platforms are boosting awareness of off-net programs ahead of their arrival in syndication. “My son never watched How I Met Your Mother on CBS but found it on Netflix and now watches the re-runs in syndication,” said Paul Franklin, EVP and general manager for broadcast sales at 20th TV. And with stations now owning more of their content, they see digital not as a threat as in previous

Judge Faith NATPEs but a new revenue stream. “We no longer see ourselves as broadcasters but multimedia players,” said Bob Sullivan, VP of programming, Scripps Media. Meanwhile, in the first-run market, syndicators say there aren’t many vacant time periods to fill after last fall’s crop of five freshman first-run strips debuted so well. Gavelers Hot Bench from CBS TV Distribution and Judge

Faith from Trifecta Entertainment; talk shows Meredith Vieira from NBCUniversal and The Real from Warner Bros.; and DebmarMercury’s quizzer Celebrity Name Game were all okayed for second seasons in recent weeks. Consequently, NATPE looks set to be a renewals game for some exhibitors. “As we don’t have a new program to roll out, we’re focusing on those shows that make stations money,” said Joe DiSalvo, CBS TV Distribution’s president of sales. With new first-run studio product thin on the ground, only The F.A.B. from Disney-ABC and CrimeWatch Daily from Warner Bros., it could be a bumper year for indie and international shows, especially with station groups now exploring new business models. “We have 28 new exhibitors at NATPE this time, with a noticeable increase in European attendance,” said Rod Perth, NATPE’s CEO. Ed Waller

Mandel to host Awards

Boom! Breaks in Chile

Howie Mandel, the frontman of Deal or No Deal and former America’s Got Talent judge, is in Miami to host NATPE’s inaugural Reality Breakthrough Awards. The event is designed to honor those reality programs that “broke through the clutter” in the preceding year, became part of the cultural conversation and generally altered our expectations of what constitutes a reality program. Awards will be given out in the following categories: reality competition, reality, game show, docusoap and factual. The nominees and winners will be selected by a Blue Ribbon Panel of program buyers, executives, agents and distributors. The event takes place today at 12:30 p.m. in the Fleur de Lis room in the Fontainebleau Hotel and is one of the highlights of the new NATPE Reality track. Please note: a separate à la carte ticket is required to attend this event.

Chilean public broadcaster TVN has ordered a local production of Israeli game show Boom!, one of a number of Latin American deals for Keshet International. A high-volume strip will be produced in-house at TVN for the first half of this year, Keren Shahar, general manager of distribution, told NATPE Daily. “We are positive we’ll see more Latin American partners coming on board with this format in 2015.” Nicolás Acuña, director of programming at TVN, added: “Acquiring a high-quality format like Boom! allows us to further extend our entertainment slate. Its combination of general knowledge and physical gameplay is a great addition to our free-to-air schedule, and we hope it will strike a chord with our viewers.” The news follows the launch of the format in Israel (Channel 2), Hungary (TV2), Kazakhstan (Channel 7) and Spain (Antena 3),

Keren Shahar with the latter version also being licensed to Canal 10 in Uruguay. Boom! has also been picked up by VTM in Belgium, TF1 in France and Fox in the U.S. The deals make for a good start to NATPE for Keshet, which last year saw its Rising Star talent format licensed to Telefe in Argentina and renewed by Globo in Brazil, but not by ABC in the U.S. Mexico’s Televisa has also licensed the firm’s scripted format Prisoners of War (a.k.a. Homeland). Boom! was created by Keshet, Ido Rozenblum and Red Arrow-owned Israeli company July August Productions.

NEWS IN BRIEF

Attenborough in Miami Entertainment One Television (eOne) has brought the latest wildlife series from globally renowned naturalist Sir David Attenborough to NATPE. David Attenborough’s Great Barrier Reef (3x60’) is being made by U.K.-based Atlantic Productions for BBC1. eOne has all rights outside the U.K., Australia and New Zealand. The company has also secured rights to VH1’s new dramedy Hindsight (10x60’) and AMC’s documentary series The Making of the Mob: New York (8x60’). The latter show debuts on AMC in Q2 this year, produced by Stephen David Entertainment, which Banijay Group acquired earlier this month.

PPI gets Social Canadian daytime talk show The Social is heading into U.S. syndication, courtesy of Venice Beach syndicator PPI Releasing. The half-hour series is produced by Bell Media In-House Productions and premiered on CTV in Fall 2013. It stars news anchor Melissa Grelo, life coach Cynthia Loyst, blogger Lainey Lui and entertainment reporter Traci Melchor. PPI is looking at a fall launch with a possible summer test run, and it is being offered as a daily strip on a cash-plus barter basis. “The popularity of panel talk shows has sky-rocketed,” said PPI principal Ritch Colbert.

Netflix learns Español Cameras are rolling on Club de Cuervos, a Spanish-language original comedy series for SVOD service Netflix. The 13-part series is from Alazraki Entertainment and the team behind hit movie We Are the Nobles. Produced by Gaz Alazraki, Leo Zimbron and Mike Lam, the show was created by Lam and will be directed by Alazraki. Filming entirely in Mexico, the series stars Luis Gerardo Mendez, Stephanie Cayo, Daniel Gimenez Cacho and Antonio de la Vega. It centers on a family feud among heirs of a soccer club after the owner’s death and will debut globally on Netflix this year.

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NEWS


7


Donnie Brasco Heads to TV

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ony Pictures Television (SPT) and Mexico’s biggest broadcast group, Televisa, are to co-produce El Dandy, a crime drama based on the 1997 Al Pacino movie Donnie Brasco. The 70-episode series is currently in production in and around Mexico City and will air on multiple Televisa platforms in Mexico as well as Univision’s sister network UniMás in the U.S. Sales elsewhere in the Latin American and U.S. Hispanic markets will be handled by SPT, while Televisa International will distribute across the east and south of Europe; SPT and Televisa will jointly distribute the series in the rest of the world. “This is an auspicious time for our production business in Latin America as we look to produce an unprecedented number of scripted primetime series in 2015,” said Angelica Guerra, SVP and MD of production, Latin America and U.S.

Angelica Guerra Hispanic, for SPT. “El Dandy is one of our most ambitious projects.” Fernando Perez Gavilan, VP at Televisa International, added: “In a competitive environment, the production values, edgy stories, and continuity offered by our series distinguish us in the market and earn the audience’s preference.” The series stars Alfonso ‘Poncho’ Herrera (Amar te Duele) in the title role alongside Damián Alcázar (The Chronicles of Narnia). It is

written by Larissa Andrade (Las Trampas del Deseo) and Rodrigo Ordoñez (Fortuna). Daniel Ucros and Gabriela Valentan are the executive producers, through SPT-owned Mexican production company Teleset. It is the second co-production to fall under a five-year pact between the two companies, coming after 70-parter Señorita Pólvora, which is due to air on Televisa and UniMás this year. Last May, SPT and Televisa agreed to co-produce 12 such series, a deal that followed a joint adaptation of Breaking Bad called Metástasis. “As we have seen with Señorita Pólvora, there is a strong appetite across the region for high-caliber, locally produced teleseries,” said Alexander Marin, SVP of distribution, Latin America and U.S. Hispanic, for SPT. In other news, SPT is currently shooting 70-part crime drama Anónima with RCN in Colombia. Verónica Orozco stars. Ed Waller

Half-century for SFE

Feud Hits the Beach

Sandy Frank, chairman of New York-based syndicator Sandy Frank Entertainment, is marking his 51st trip to NATPE with a slate of new programs. Brian Cavanagh, Florida’s Assistant State Attorney and head of the Homicide Trial Unit, stars in half-hour reality series Burden of Proof, while New York City’s real estate market is explored by real estate agent Jane Pontarelli in unscripted half-hour Strike a Close. If Not Now …When?, another unscripted half-hour series, studies the real-world threat of terrorism, while the Duke Racing catalog of auto-related content is also on offer, as is a refresh of 1980s talent format Face the Music. Commenting on Frank’s halfcentury as a NATPE exhibitor, NATPE CEO and president Rod Perth said: “Every station general manager in the country knows Sandy, and for good reason. Congratulations Sandy!”

Family Feud, the game show format that is a hit in first-run syndication, is to be produced locally in the Caribbean for the first time. A deal between FremantleMedia International (FMI), several regional broadcasters and local firm Pavilion Entertainment sees production for Caribbean Family Feud begin in Trinidad this spring. The show is expected to air in 22 countries across the region, including Trinidad and Tobago (CBC3), Jamaica (CVM Television), the Bahamas (ZNS), Dominica (Marpin), Bermuda (ZBM-TV) and the Cayman Islands (Island 24). Family Feud has previously been produced locally in more than 60 territories, including Mexico (Televisa), Argentina (Canal 13), Brazil (SBT), Venezuela (Venevision) and Peru (RBC). In addition, FMI will this year continue with the Got Talent format in Latin America. Chilevision has ordered its sixth season, while

NEWS IN BRIEF

GRB pair join MBC GRB Entertainment has licensed Mexican unscripted series Tuneame La Nave (40x30’) and La Competencia (32x60’) to MBC for the Middle East and Africa. The two TV Azteca series are based on Fox Sports series West Coast Customs. GRB has also sealed a deal for 18 hours of Discovery series Monsters & Mysteries with Asian broadcaster Celestial Tiger, while Lifetime documentary Remembering Whitney was picked up by France 2. GRB CEO Gary R. Benz and Liz Levenson, director of international sales and acquisitions, are at NATPE with 2,000 hours of content.

Bellini starts new role International distribution veteran Barbara Bellini is attending NATPE in her new role as VP of commercial affairs and operations, program distribution, international, at Scripps Networks Interactive. Based in London, she will oversee Scripps’ new program distribution arm, reporting to CFO Simone Nardi, alongside VP of international program licensing and distribution Hud Woodle. Bellini has previously worked at National Geographic TV International, among others.

Imira animation pact

Sheila Aguirre Ecuador’s Ecuavisa network will enter into its fourth season. Genre-defining talent format Idols, meanwhile, will also have an expanded presence in Latin America. Set to premiere on Canal 13 in Q2 this year, Idols Paraguay will bring the landmark format to 53 versions around the world. The deals were confirmed to NATPE Daily by Sheila Aguirre, EVP of content distribution and format sales, Latin America, Caribbean and Hispanic U.S., at FMI. “Our content transcends cultural boundaries and these hit formats will offer a fantastic opportunity for local versions.”

Spain’s Imira Entertainment has reached an agreement with French animation house Xilam for Latin American and U.S. Hispanic freeto-air and VOD rights for a number of children’s series. Imira’s NATPE 2015 slate now includes such shows as Bali (52x13’) and The Daltons (195x7’). The move follows recent sales of Chilean toon Horatio & the Plasticines (52x7’) to HITN, Mexico’s Canal Once, Señal TV in Colombia and Ecuador TV.

Free ride to NATPE NATPE has partnered with Uber to get you to or from the Fontainebleau Hotel hassle free and in style. Sign up at www.uber. com/go/NATPE15 and get up to $20 off your first ride (not valid on uberTAXI). Download the app to sign up, tap and ride.

PROFILE

Rod Perth 8


Follow Rod on Twitter: @PerthRod

By Jonathan Webdale NATPE president and CEO Rod Perth believes the worldwide television business has reached a transformative moment and explains why the event remains at its epicenter.


Crossing borders

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f you were seeking to personify the way entertainment has changed over the past few decades you couldn’t come up with a better juxtaposition than Norman Lear and Connor Franta. Seventy years separate the pair. Lear made his name in the 1970s with sitcoms such as All in the Family and Sanford & Son and celebrates his 93rd birthday in July. Franta, meanwhile, launched his YouTube channel in 2010 and has more than 3.6 million subscribers and north of 156 million video views. He is 22. Both are among the speakers at NATPE 2015. “We always have been and always will be a conference about one thing, and that’s content,” says NATPE president and CEO Rod Perth. “We pride ourselves on our ability to serve as a connective linchpin in an industry that’s always evolving, irrespective of the distribution outlet or platform.” Television, in Lear’s glory days, was dominated by the broadcast networks and syndication was booming. Today, the landscape looks rather different and is becoming ever more complex. NATPE has evolved to reflect this. “We’re not a niche market because we provide diversity and unique opportunities that the industry demands today,” says Perth. “Our mantra is we’re always going to serve every sector of the business, because each is increasingly dependent on the other. We provide the market for that overlap and that interdependence.” Among the 230 exhibitors and 150 speakers are key influencers from the worlds of production, distribution, licensing, publishing, advertising, digital and every associated discipline. Lear, who will be interviewed by Everybody Loves Raymond creator and executive producer Phil Rosenthal, will reflect on his own career plus the differences between the days of appointment television and the present popularity of bingeviewing (see more on page 10). Franta, meanwhile, is among a number of YouTube stars who will be represented as part of NATPE’s regular focus on the latest developments in digital.

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We are committed to bringing together everybody whose business is about content in a vital marketplace that delivers access to leadership and ideas. Rod Perth NATPE

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“The greatest opportunities in this industry are beyond our comfort zones and achieving them requires a fresh mindset. We are

committed to bringing together everybody whose business is about content in a vital marketplace that delivers access to leadership and new ideas,” says Perth To this end the conference, which this year begins Tuesday due to Martin Luther King Day, for the first time starts with an emphasis on reality TV, including an awards luncheon celebrating breakthrough shows in a number of categories and an opportunity for creatives to pitch their ideas to a blue ribbon roster of buyers. NATPE is also continuing its relationship with the Consumer Electronics Association, which got underway last year. This time they have jointly commissioned a study into how people discover programs, given all the alternatives there are to television viewing (see page 12). “It’s a relevant research project because there are literally thousands of shows available and the mystery is how to find them, market them and get shows discovered,” says Perth. He is also excited about a rare session with Russell Simmons, co-founder of the Def Jam hip-hop label. “This is an artist and businessman who is a hypenate of the greatest order and is a wonderful example of how we’re thinking about the world these days. He, along with many of our guest speakers, traverses all platforms and all media,” Perth concludes.

MAKE A DATE: You can hear Rod at the Game Changers: Opening Remarks presentation today at 9:00 a.m. in Fontaine Ballroom and also the Platforms Accelerated session NATPE/CES Research Session: The Content Distribution & Discovery Revolution at 11:45 a.m. in Glimmer 3 & 4.

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PROFILE

Norman Lear 10

Follow Norman on Twitter: @TheNormanLear

By John Hazelton

I


n his recently published memoir Even This I Get to Experience, Norman Lear talks about living “a multitude of lives.” He’s best known, of course, for two of them in particular. As a TV writer and producer, Lear hit it big in the early 1970s with multiple Emmy-winning CBS sitcom All in the Family and he followed that with a run of hit shows that included Sanford & Son (NBC), The Jeffersons (CBS) and syndicated hit Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. As a political and social activist, Lear also founded liberal advocacy group People for the American Way in 1980 and went on to launch non-profit organizations such as the Business Enterprise Trust, The Norman Lear Center at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and The Environmental Media Association. But what perhaps distinguishes Lear even more than his credits is his ability to yoke television and social activism together. “On the most simple level,” Lear says, “television introduces to a wide audience characters they might never otherwise become familiar with.” In the current U.S. debate over undocumented immigrants, for example, he argues: “The more familiar we become with those people, the more we’re going to understand one another and the easier those problems will be solved. And the only way we can become more familiar is to have them in our homes and on our cellphones, iPads or iPods, through the media.” A sitcom like All in the Family, which regularly dealt with issues such as racism, sexual orientation and feminism, used comedy to get its messages across, Lear says. “As people were laughing they were hearing things they might never have heard, or wouldn’t have elected to hear, if they hadn’t been laughing. You can laugh about things that are enormously important and informative that you would never have accepted another way.” The power of television has been seen most recently in the advance of LGBT causes, says Lear, who himself tackled the subject in his 1977 role-reversal sitcom All That Glitters. “The giant leap forward of the LGBT groups is all about what the medium is able to do and how it was able to help,” he says. Among current shows, Lear is a big admirer of The Simpsons, South Park, Modern Family and new online dramedy Transparent. He also suggests that, compared with the 1970s and 80s, in today’s industry, “there may be a greater


Actively engaged Sitcom legend Norman Lear talks about mixing entertainment and politics as he prepares to give the opening keynote at NATPE 2015. degree of political correctness, which prevents a lot of writers from tackling certain issues. That’s what I’m hearing from friends running shows.” He may soon find out firsthand how the modern TV climate compares with the one he helped create. Because, at 92-years-old and with his memoirs and book tour behind him, Lear will soon be trying to set up some new TV projects. He offers few details, apart from stating a preference for multi-camera sitcoms shot in front of live audiences. However, he does confirm that the new shows, like those from his past, will be “projects that have a lot on their minds, one of them dealing with the largest, fastest-growing demographic All in the Family in America, which is the ageing demo. There is no show about ageing on television.” For this TV pioneer and veteran activist, combining entertainment with social issues is a natural and necessary part of the creative process. “Citizenship, caring for one’s family and caring for the future of one’s country – all of these matters come out in your work if you’re a painter or an artist of any kind, let alone a writer and a producer,” Lear claims. “In any serious individual, that person’s work will reflect who they are. It goes with the territory.”

MAKE A DATE: Be sure to catch Norman’s keynote today at 9:10 a.m. in Fontaine Ballroom.

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Citizenship, caring for one’s family and caring for the future of one’s country – all of these matters come out in your work. Norman Lear

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An elite team of eco-warriors embark on dangerous missions to bring environmental criminals to justice

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07/01/2015 16:29

Q&A WITH…

Steve Koenig 12


Follow Steve on Twitter: @KoenigSteve


Voyage of discovery Tell us about the research and its purpose. We wanted to examine the different types of video content and services consumers are engaging with, but also how they discover that content, what shifts are occurring in their discovery patterns and what is creating stickiness with that content.

Joint research from NATPE and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has examined how consumers are finding, receiving and viewing content. Steve Koenig, director of industry analysis at the CEA, answers our questions. What are the challenges for traditional TV? Millennials are much more likely to view TV programs on smaller screens like smartphones and tablets. We are seeing a sea change in the way society consumes because we live increasingly itinerant lives and the on-demand culture means people want access whenever and wherever they are. TV broadcasters need to be sensitive to formatting and audio quality.

What are the headline findings? Subscription video-on-demand [SVOD] and over-the-top services are reshaping content consumption. That’s not in and of itself Earth-shattering, but how different age cohorts are approaching video consumption is the surprising ‘wow’ factor. Broadcast TV is taking a back seat to streamed content with some age cohorts. Give us some specific figures. About 70% of TV viewers in broadband households have streamed a full-length TV program in the past six months. So this is no niche activity, it’s mainstream. Millennials are much more likely to consume full-length shows from a streaming source – that figure is 84%. Over half of broadband households have subscriptions to one or more streaming service. That increases to 68% among millennials. How is this changing consumption? Because of the availability of streamed content, consumers are losing the sense of urgency they have had around being present for live TV. Consumers know they can simply catch up or just wait to consume the entire season in one go. That is a very big behavioral shift that has been in the works for some time. The younger generation is fully embracing on-demand culture and streaming culture because of the variety and the ability to consume as much or as little as they want. What’s happening to the way we discover content? Despite technology, discussions around the water cooler remain the most relied upon source of information about how consumers discover new programs. Recommendation engines are everywhere. Consumers like

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Broadcast television is taking a back seat to streamed content with some age cohorts. Steve Koenig CEA

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that because not a lot of people have time to channel surf. TV advertising is also very important but it declines by generational group. With Boomers, 68% discover new content via TV ads, it’s 59% for Generation X and less than half (47%) for Millennials. This correlates directly with the manner in which these age cohorts engage with content.

Are traditional TV networks reacting fast enough? Networks like CBS are trying new things but in a lot of ways these are like trains hurtling down the track and have been doing so for decades. How do you slow down this train enough to switch to a different heading? They have got to be innovative and offer consumers more options simply because the nature of the game is changing. It won’t suddenly change in a couple years; it will take dozens of years because billions of dollars are tied up in the advertising industry. But content discovery is shifting very rapidly. How is this affecting the nature of content itself? With digital and video streaming, everything is being packaged in full-season mode. It’s engendering more of a 24/7 consumption pattern and more programs are now being produced in this way. How will the industry react to these findings? People are consuming more content because they have more screens, because the possibilities of when and where to consume content are ostensibly limitless. That’s good news when you think about advertising and opportunities to capture eyeballs with sponsors and ads. These services are in some cases engendering more engagement, so there is more opportunity for revenue.

MAKE A DATE: Steve will discuss these findings during a Platforms Accelerated session titled NATPE/CES Research: The Content Distribution & Discovery Revolution today at 11:45 a.m. in Glimmer 3 & 4.

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FEATURE

Reality trends


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Facing reality By Kevin Downey

As NATPE launches its first dedicated reality track, with panel sessions and case studies throughout the day, NATPE Daily examines the latest trends in the genre.

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eality television is in a slump on U.S. English-language broadcast networks, with a number of heavily hyped shows like Keshet International’s Rising Star, John de Mol’s Utopia and FremantleMedia’s The X Factor suffering weak ratings or being cancelled. This comes on top of declining audiences for long-running hits like FremantleMedia’s American Idol and Mark Burnett and de Mol’s The Voice as viewers seek fresher content on cable TV and streaming services. Yet reality TV producers and media analysts say the genre isn’t dead. In fact, on a smaller scale, it’s doing just fine on cable. And on the broadcast networks, the big-budget, highly rated reality shows that have fueled growth for more than a decade may simply be in a cyclical downturn that will right itself with the next hit. Execs expect this to happen within a year or two. “I’m not worried whatsoever,” says Toby Gorman, executive VP of unscripted programming at FremantleMedia North America. “We are in a cycle where there may not be any big launches soon. But within a year or so you will see the next big thing. Reality TV will come back stronger.” Acknowledging that 2014 was a “year of transition,” Keshet International’s CEO Alon Shtruzman says it was “not an example of where things are heading” and he dismisses the idea that reality TV is in any kind of terminal decline. “A lot is going on in the industry right now – M&As, new platforms emerging – so how can we be sure the non-scripted genre is stalling? It’s too simplistic to say that – something interesting will emerge very soon.” This year, he adds, is one in which “international collaborations make sense” and not the time to ignore the power of formats. “We know that foreign imports to the U.S. succeed, just take Big Brother and The Voice,” he says. Brian Hughes, senior VP and audience analysis practice lead at media buying agency Magna Global, agrees. However, he also notes it’s getting harder for reality TV producers to find the genre’s next hit when viewers are turning

Jon Taffer in Bar Rescue

Clay Newbill

Brant Pinvidic

away from the broadcast networks. “I don’t think the genre is dead; these things are cyclical,” he says. “But it is symptomatic of the larger shift in the way TV content is being viewed. Last year was the first time we saw concrete evidence that subscription video-on-demand is eating into traditional TV ratings.” Just what the next reality hit on broadcast TV will be is, of course, anyone’s guess. Some execs say it is likely that a singing or dancing competition – like American Idol or BBC

Worldwide’s Dancing with the Stars – could once again capture the attention of viewers. But in the U.S., perhaps more than anywhere else in the world, TV audiences are attracted to fresh content that they are not getting elsewhere. One format that execs hope could be ripe for a rebound is the game show. A few programs already on air are giving them reason for hope. One is FremantleMedia’s syndicated gamer Family Feud, which airs largely in afternoons and is hosted by comedian and talkshow host Steve Harvey. The show has accomplished the once unimaginable feat of dethroning Sony Pictures TV’s Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! in key demographics. Those two shows have dominated the genre for 30 years. Moreover, FremantleMedia’s Craig Fergusonhosted game show Celebrity Name Game has generated respectable, if not spectacular, ratings in its debut season. And Universal Television’s Hollywood Game Night, hosted by Jane Lynch, is now in its third season in NBC primetime. “In reality TV, we are starting to see a much more cyclical structure,” says Brant Pinvidic,

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FEATURE

Reality trends 16

president of Eyeworks USA. “Like scripted, where hospital and cop dramas come in and out of fashion, we are finding that as the reality business matures it is developing a much more structured buying cycle. I expect game shows will make a comeback in the next couple of years. We will see a lot of innovation in that genre.” In fact, at least one high-profile gamer is in the works at Warner Bros., where Mark Burnett is developing 500 Questions. ABC has picked up the show, which will debut later this year. “More than anything, it’s all about game shows right now,” says Gorman. “They’re safe and are not too risky. I hear that from buyers, and, of course, FremantleMedia has a library of very successful game shows.” On cable TV, many networks have lineups consisting almost entirely of reality shows, including some with unique twists on unscripted programming that are generating good ratings. For instance, the unscripted comedy Chrisley Knows Best, about self-made millionaire Todd Chrisley and his family, is going into production on its third season this month. In December, the show drummed up some of its biggest audiences for NBC-owned USA Network, which is better known for its scripted programming. On December 2, for instance, some 2.4 million people tuned in. “The networks are giving docu-series and comedy a shot,” says Chris Newman at talent agency UTA. “And NBC’s Esquire Network is doing things differently. Most of the cable networks are doing blue-collar, but Esquire is doing something for guys in urban areas with higher incomes. You will see other networks expand out from what’s working for them now.” Other reality shows doing well on cable TV have storylines that are relatable to viewers. For example, Eyeworks USA’s Bar Rescue with Jon Taffer on Spike TV is a straightforward business makeover show but one that often focuses on a family torn apart by their failing business.

Shark Tank

NATPE Daily 2015 . Day 1 . January 20 Tweet your news #NATPE2015 and follow us @NATPE

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primetime ABC hit Shark Tank, which is based on the Dragons’ Den format. Last year was the “They didn’t work at that first time we saw time. Now, 14 years later, maybe the timing is right.” concrete evidence Another subgenre that’s that subscription capturing the attention of viewers is docu-series – video-on-demand documentary-style reality is eating into shows, on both cable and broadcast networks. traditional TV On broadcast, docuratings. series NY Med on ABC increased its audience 25% from its first season, which Brian Hughes aired two years earlier, Magna Global to an average six million viewers. The show won its time slot for each of its episodes last summer. This is part of a trend with U.S. reality TV, “Cable has a much easier time with reality because they have time to build characters,” says where formats like Universal Television’s Last Pinvidic. “Broadcasters have to be big and loud, Comic Standing are being revived, and doing and grab everyone’s attention right away. We’re well. That show returned last year with a new having a lot of success with formatted reality like lineup of judges, including comedian Roseanne Bar Rescue and Catch a Contractor with Adam Barr, and generated ratings in line with its Carolla. People understand the shows and they previous season in 2010. Last Comic returns to NBC this summer. have characters that people like.” Still, while no one is thinking U.S. reality TV is Meanwhile, social experiments like Utopia and, long before that, Forever Eden, where cast kaput, just about everyone in the reality business members fended for themselves on an isolated is anxiously awaiting primetime’s next megahit. patch of land, haven’t hit yet. But they may soon. “We are always looking for the next big thing,” “In 2000, after Survivor and Big Brother, says Newbill. “That’s never going to change. But there were some pitches out there that were the next big thing will happen when it happens.” That long-awaited next big unscripted format social experiments,” says Clay Newbill, executive producer of Sony Pictures Television’s might well be doing the rounds here in Miami.

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MAKE A DATE: The State of Reality: 2015 & Beyond starts at 10:00 a.m. today in Glimmer 1 & 2. Brant Pinvidic will be in The Development Step session at 2:00 p.m. and a Shark Tank case study with Clay Newbill is at 2:45 p.m. in the same venue.

Celebrity Name Game

SIX OF THE BEST

International format trends 18


The global market for unscripted formats is not as vibrant as it once was, but opportunities still exist for creative ideas. Executives from six leading content companies offer their takes on meeting the challenges ahead.

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Mike Beale Director of international formats, ITV Studios In 1998, we had four big formats launch in the UK: Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, Survivor, Big Brother and Popstars. Those shows defined the next 20 years and we’re heading for the next change. But to get the next hit you need to get into a slot that some pretty big shows are in. So you try to create a hit in off-peak. That’s how John de Mol had success with The Voice; prove it works on-air and then take it global. Keshet does a similar thing in Israel – creating a big show that might be derivative but at least they’re trying new formats in primetime. @itvstudios

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Jennifer Dettman Executive Director, unscripted content, CBC The success of premium cable drama excites me because it’s the sort of TV I want as a pubcaster in Canada. I want challenging, risky and fresh content, where viewers have to lean in a bit. We’ve come from a place of great success; just look at all the juggernauts that exist. But they’re taking up a lot of schedule space and some are coming to the end of their lives. We’re looking for the next big idea, and it will be different. In the past, we’ve made mistakes by looking in the same places for the next big show, but now we’re all looking for new ways forward. @JDettmanCBC

3

Richard Ehrsam Head of entertainment formats, Televisa Internacional

4

Philip Gurin President, The Gurin Company

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Mark Linsey Controller of entertainment commissioning, BBC Digital is still very new to us all. We’re on a journey and no one is sure where it’ll end up but we are certainly going to play in that space. The important thing is that it allows new talent to have a platform where they can be creative. That can mean experimenting with formats or talent. That’s what we’re going to focus on, giving talent in front of and behind the camera an opportunity to get their content online. And we’re learning a lot from people who work on those platforms about using them. Coming up with a hit has never been a science, it’s instinctive. @BBCOne

6

Grant Ross Exec VP of global creative development and format acquisition, Zodiak Media

Negotiations are getting tougher. Broadcasters know the supply is there, so prices go down. They aren’t falling too much but they are going down, and if you want to keep your price you must have a format broadcasters really want. They want something that’s new to the audience, who are tired of derivative shows. However, you see on the grids how local scripted production is being converted into non-scripted for money reasons. There’s still the potential to produce non-scripted formats and it makes sense to do so from a cost-benefit analysis. @TelevisaIntl

There’s a lot of creative and intellectual bankruptcy being fuelled by fear. When big channels spend big money on big ideas and they fail it has an impact. I can’t name one recent unscripted show that people are talking about. Fear comes when you have large companies seeing viewers fleeing traditional TV in droves. If they can’t make their margins they’ll spend less or chase ideas that seem familiar. It’s a mature business and channels have gone to the same few suppliers over and over out of fear. There’s nothing really new in the creative ecosystem. @TheGurinCompany

In 2013, 185 unique formats, both old and new, were exported by the U.K. The U.S. followed with 85, and those two countries are still big suppliers of creativity. There will be trends, like Israel, but we need to look at where the next wave is coming from. I believe it’ll be Scandinavia. It was a strong force 10 or 15 years ago and dropped the ball a bit to the Netherlands and Israel, but it’s picking up the ball again. It has the creativity and the execs and broadcasters willing to take chances, and I’m sure we’ll be hearing from them more over the next year or two. @ZodiakMedia

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PROFILE

Stephen Brown 20


Follow Stephen on Twitter: @DishNationSB


Talking the talk By Kevin Downey

Unscripted programming in first-run syndication is a big theme in the NATPE Reality track this year. Fox Television Stations’ Stephen Brown shares his thoughts about the future of the genre.

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tephen Brown knows what the future of years. Notably, that includes testing daytime U.S. broadcast syndication looks like. It’s shows on a few stations before rolling them less about expensive, single-host daytime out nationally, like Brown did with Hollywood talk shows and a whole lot more about a mix of Today Live, which finished its test run on Foxhigh-energy talkers and talk-style programs owned stations in 2014. That entertainment news magazine may come back. like court, many with multiple hosts and Meanwhile, Laughs is a most getting a test run before a national weekend stand-up show roll-out. airing on some Fox “Everyone is taking a stations that’s in the step back from big-budget midst of one of TV’s shows in 2015,” says longest tests. It Brown, executive started a six-week VP of programming tryout last August and development at but is still on the air. Fox Television Stations. “We’ve extended “That model doesn’t the test through work for producers or the May 2,” says Brown. stations. And the audience “If you look at what is rejecting it.” it was when it started The model Brown is compared with referring to is the one now, it’s the perfect in which TV stations example of why we around the country test shows. We are commit to a daytime adding new comics, new talk show with a bigwraparounds and new name host for at least a year, Dish Nation Atlanta team treatments. We used to but more often two years. Then do tests for four or six weeks. But now we just cross their fingers and hope that it works. “We can produce in the traditional model, but keep going because we see an upside to doing 26 for some stations that model is slow, and when it episodes, rather than six.” Fox TV Stations will soon announce the new doesn’t work, you’re stuck with it,” says Brown. “That’s a broken element of the model that we shows it will test this summer, with an eye on a nationwide roll-out in fall 2016. “We should need to fix.” Newer business models that Brown is also be making a decision soon about Hollywood experimenting with include developing more shows strictly for Fox-owned stations. For programs that work in just a few markets, it’s a bonus when other station groups and digital platforms pick up the shows. We can produce in the traditional Twentieth Television, which distributes Fox model, but for some stations TV Stations’ first-run programs, is at NATPE securing renewals for shows like Divorce Court that model is slow, and when it and Dish Nation, a gossip show with a rotating doesn’t work, you’re stuck with it. line-up of morning radio hosts. Both programs, for instance, each generate more than 100,000 views per month on Hulu. Stephen Brown Brown and Fox have been at the forefront of big changes in syndication over the past few Fox Television Stations

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Today Live and the continuation of Laughs, as well as the renewals of Divorce Court and Dish Nation for fall 2015,” he says. Meantime, Brown says stations are looking for certain shows at NATPE. High on their wish list are live or day-and-date shows that are funny, have a young vibe and are hosted by people with an ethnic mix that reflects the population. “It doesn’t have to be a panel of hosts – it could be two or three people,” he says. “And it does not have to be a talk show. Humor and energy are the most important things. We have to create very compelling content to bring viewers back to us. We have to make shows that insist viewers watch them, which is why live and dayand-date are so important.”

MAKE A DATE: Catch Stephen in a NATPE Reality panel session titled Reality Shows in Syndication: The Next Big Arena today at 11:00 a.m. in Glimmer 1 & 2.

Q&A WITH…

Tom Forman


Follow Tom on Twitter: @TomFormanProd

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Theory of Relativity Tom Forman, CEO at L.A.-based Relativity Television, talks about the opportunities presented by a shift in the rights ownership situation and how factual producers can make a killing in scripted. What are Relativity TV’s priorities in 2015? We’re looking to establish relationships – acquisitions, commercial relationships or deep, trusting, friendly partnerships – with like-minded production companies. We’ve had success reaching out to producers around the globe and trusting each other with our most important passion projects. We brought Sex Box back to the U.S. with WE tv, not through a distributor but dealing directly with the creator, ClearStory, in the UK. It will air in 2015. It’s a terrific series for Relativity and a big moment for ClearStory. We’re aggressively looking for smart, small ideas. How do your international ambitions tally with the U.S. networks’ attitudes towards rights? The rights ownership conversation is shifting in the U.S. and we see the first real opportunities in a long time to retain IP. We’re prepared to do that by co-financing or going to Europe first. Networks here in the U.S. saw real value in international rights, digital rights and

often do things a certain way because that’s how they’ve always been done. We see a real opportunity, as guys who are comfortable producing at six-figure price points, to do high-quality scripted television on budgets a lot more like those for unscripted. Cable networks in the U.S. that traditionally program unscripted content are now interested in scripted but they are frightened by producers who can’t make programs for less than $4m or $5m per episode.

Catfish format rights, and grabbed them because they could. Those same networks are now looking at how they, in many cases, failed to monetize those rights. It probably took them acquiring those rights and failing to monetize them to realize producers are still an important part of the process. Factual channels are airing drama and Relativity has launched a drama offshoot. Is everything going to keep moving that way? I love reality. I love the people, the stories, the shows, the business model. It will always be our core business at Relativity TV, with shows like Catfish. That said, there are stories that require actors and projects that need a script. We’re working on period dramas Snakehead and God’s End, an adaptation of Steven Soderbergh’s 2011 film Haywire. We also have Limitless, an adaptation of Bradley Cooper’s film, set up as a pilot with CBS. The skills we learned as non-scripted producers – how to work on a budget, how to bring in a show on time, how to get people to do more with less – are all applicable to scripted TV, where companies

Where is the next unscripted programming trend or hit coming from? I’m willing to bet the next big unscripted hit comes from the U.S. A couple of years ago our broadcast networks were essentially closed to original IP and paper pitches – if it hadn’t worked in the U.K., Scandinavia, Holland or Israel, it was really hard to get a show launched on broadcast in the U.S. I really wish Utopia and Rising Star had worked; they were big swings and it would have been good for the genre to reinvigorate it with a big network hit. Having said that, the silver lining, at least for U.S. producers, is reminding networks that just because something works in Holland and Israel is no guarantee it’ll work in the U.S. The next thing will look like nothing else on TV. I’d be surprised if it’s a performance show, or a relationship show. Somebody will crack docusoap in primetime. They work too well on cable to not work on a broadcast network. What are your plans in the U.S. Hispanic space? You’d be crazy not to be thinking about the Latin market right now. We are now pitching series aimed at English-speaking or bilingual U.S. Latinos as well as Spanish-language and traditional English-language networks, and also co-productions to be shot in the U.S. or Lat Am and aired in both. It’s an evolving strategy but an important one.

MAKE A DATE: Tom is participating in the session titled The State of Reality: 2015 & Beyond today at 10:00 a.m. in Glimmer 1 & 2.

PROFILE

Eric Berger


Follow Eric on Twitter: @Berger710

25

Playing it smart I

n today’s television landscape “everything’s competing with everything,” argues Eric Berger, general manager of Sony’s multi-platform video entertainment network Crackle. “There’s a growing consumer base that’s completely indifferent to whether you’re Eric Berger explains how Crackle a broadcast, cable or digital channel – it’s just differs from other OTT services looking at brands and content experiences.” As a result, says Berger, over-the-top (OTT) and why it decided to pull out of streaming services such as Crackle, Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Prime are competing not just the U.K. last year. with each other but with cable and broadcast networks as well. “Our working hypothesis is service, where you use searches and algorithms these worlds are blending at every level, from to find content. It’s programmed like a cable consumers’ perspectives, to how they’re using network even though it’s all on-demand. It has a point of view, it has a demographic and it’s content, to the advertising itself.” Berger, who is also executive VP of digital editorialized.” Crackle’s research also showed that 57% networks at Sony Pictures TV, cites recent U.S. research (conducted by Crackle in association of consumers prefer free, ad-supported with Frank N. Magid Associates) showing that programming on connected TV to subscription 61% of consumers now stream video weekly services. And Berger suggests his service’s noand 62% of that group stream to connected TVs subscription, no-authentication OTT model has (OTT devices, smart TVs and games consoles) in as much validity as the subscription video-onthe living room rather than computers or mobile demand model employed by some competitors. In the streaming world, he says, ad-supported phones. That makes streaming to TV second only to linear TV as a means of accessing video programming is “being used by people who do have linear TV to supplement their offerings, but during primetime. The trend is helping to shape programming it’s also being used by a very large and growing strategy at Crackle, which offers a mix of demographic of people that don’t even have pay Hollywood movies and TV shows (from Sony TV. They might have a subscription service and and external suppliers) and original films and they’re complementing that with ad-supported series – among them Sports Jeopardy! and Jerry video as well.” Crackle has had a global presence for more Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee – to than half of its a core audience of seven-year lifespan 18- to 34-year-old (it is currently men. available in 21 “The living room countries) but in and smart TVs are April last year it a big part of our pulled out of the audience base,” U.K. market, which explains Berger, “so is firmly occupied we’re programming by Netflix, Amazon to a living room and other streaming experience and to a providers. demographic that’s “The U.K. wasn’t Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee enjoying movies as strong for us as and TV shows in the other opportunities living room. “One of the things that differentiates we wanted to invest in,” Berger reports. “There’s Crackle from some of the other players in the a lot going on in that market. There are two big marketplace is that it’s not a big aggregated players, and I would put [satcaster] Sky in there

By John Hazelton

as well. And there are government-supported broadcast networks putting content for free on all platforms.” Those “other opportunities” are often in markets where mobile and fixed broadband penetration and online advertising are still catching up to U.S. levels. Berger says: “We have some competitive advantages in Brazil and Latin America, where we’re early, so we’re really investing there. We’ve got a very strong position in Canada, which we feel good about. And Australia is an emerging play for us.” Beyond those territories, adds the Crackle chief, “we’re looking at a number of different markets. We look at the same characteristics: broadband penetration, access to good content and online advertising growth.”

MAKE A DATE: Eric Berger is speaking during a one-on-one Access to Insight session at 3:30 p.m. today in Glitter.

SIX OF THE BEST

Brand values 26


Leading executives from the world of branding reveal what they think the television industry can learn from their sector and vice versa.

1

Chad Bennett CEO, Populus Brands The tides around branded entertainment are changing, and brands are looking to capture the best commercial on-air: a program that brings an audience who wants to hear what the producers have to say. By empowering strategic business development in complement with producers, we’re rapidly moving away from consolidated rights that often never get utilized. With our clients, we’re driving branded entertainment faster with sponsorship, licensing and off-net marketing around season-one shows on all platforms, proving everyone is more powerful together. @populusbrands

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Jill Cress Group head, global consumer marketing, MasterCard TV can learn from the way brands leverage technology to engage with consumers. Historically, brands relied on broadcasting to reach consumers. Today, thanks to technology and social media, consumers are more informed, connected and discerning, with more choices over how they spend time and money. This has created chances for brands to engage with customers in new ways. Through mobile alone, marketers are now able to reach consumers at the right time and location. Understanding this transformation led us to the evolution of our Priceless campaign. @MasterCard

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Eric Day Co-founder and managing partner, Trium Entertainment Programmers place multiple bets. They try a few things out, see what works and then double down. But instead of putting all their eggs in one basket, smart marketers should do the same with their creative and media and, where native, combine the two. Great marketers understand their audience and give them exactly what they’re looking for. Too often, programmers get caught up with what’s on other TV channels or elsewhere in audiences’ lives. Mining these insights is what makes for the best commercials, and should make for the best TV shows. @followtrium

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Katrina Jefferson Chief marketing technologist, Chica Intelligente As retail executives have known for years, seeing people you like on TV wear, eat or drink a specific brand makes you curious about that brand. The Super Bowl shows how well advertising translates to spending and product, auto and now app advertisers are all sponsoring spots during the upcoming game. Most of the U.S. will be watching and usually the most relevant, funny ad wins – on social media and in retail. We now have Twitter handles we can drop into the lower thirds of the TV screen. Brands are no longer overlooking social media. @chicaintelli

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Richard Jefferson Esq Partner, M.E.T.A.L Law Group Subtle overexposure of a brand turns viewers off. Having a character banter about a product is like sticking a billboard on a golf course – it isn’t effective and can be harmful. If a show is an hour-long commercial, be blunt about it like brands are. The TV industry has always integrated brands into content, but branded entertainment strategy is now a standard because viewers are skipping ads. Over the past year, social media has also become standard, with minimum numbers of tweets, Vines and Facebook posts, for example. It’s definitely a new day. @metallawgroup

6

Daniel Rosenberg Founding partner, Piro

Brands are no longer just sponsors, they’re creators. They must learn storytelling and the rules of creative development. Consumers are sophisticated, and brands now need to look to Hollywood, not Madison Avenue. Unlike advertising, TV and film are collaborative media – that’s something the branding world needs to embrace. Typically, TV networks prevent brands from engaging with program creators, many of whom would welcome working with brands that share similar values. The TV industry needs to forge more meaningful partnerships with brands. @pirovision

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Q&A WITH…

Ricardo Scalamandré


Follow Ricardo on Twitter: @RScalamandre

29

Next for novelas What types of shows are buyers looking for? The market values relevant content and well-told stories that are able to captivate the audience across multiple platforms. The telenovela genre remains very strong and continues to be our main asset. Globo is a leader in introducing new forms of narrative and aesthetics, and the possibility of using new technologies in our content makes our stories even more charming. One example is the telenovela Precious Pearl, which has stunning scenes shot in the Himalayas and won an International Emmy in 2014. We also introduced new ideas for drama series, like Merciless, which was shot in 4K. Internet take-up in Brazil is growing rapidly, but what has been the impact of SVOD services on linear broadcasters? The traditional way of watching TV is still the most popular, but people are seeking new forms of entertainment. With the country’s economic growth, Brazilians gained access to the internet and numerous other platforms, and this has ultimately generated a new way to consume entertainment. We keep up with such technological changes by creating exclusive content for our websites and mobile apps. Also, we offer viewers the chance to follow our content aired on TV on different screens at different times. We believe this enhances the TV experience. We have to embrace change while holding on to our essence, which is telling good stories to our audiences, in Brazil and around the world.

Ricardo Scalamandré, Globo’s head of international business, explains how the Brazilian market is changing and describes the effect this is having on global sales.

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We have to embrace change while holding on to our essence, which is telling good stories, in Brazil and around the world. Ricardo Scalamandré Globo

Do international buyers want more digital and ondemand add-ons? Yes, and we are prepared for this demand. For some time we have provided our content on multiple platforms and we recently reached agreements with providers Cloudio TV and GLWiZ to offer our international channel over-the-top in Europe. Since 2011, we have used this technology with Dish in the U.S. In 2014, we also started a partnership with telco TalkTalk to distribute Globo and PFC, the Brazilian soccer channel, via IPTV in the U.K. How is Brazilian scripted content changing, and are you finding controversial and hard-hitting subject matter is becoming more popular? Our telenovelas are fiction pieces that reflect hot topics in Brazil. Helena’s Shadow, from

Precious Pearl

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the 2015 catalog, is a good example and addresses the subject of people facing heart transplants. This has created significant repercussions in Brazil and ultimately helped to support organ transplants in the country. At times, the subjects we tackle also affect the rest of the world and this happened with the human trafficking issue addressed in Brave Woman, which is essentially a global problem. Brazil is famed for its telenovelas, but what other types of shows or formats are doing well internationally? We distribute sports content across platforms in more than 190 countries. National and regional soccer leagues are our flagship and in the past year we expanded our portfolio and started offering futsal [five-a-side soccer], volleyball and beach volleyball. We’ve also brought Brazilian feature films to the market, produced by Globo Filmes, part of Grupo Globo, which were well received, particularly in the Latin market. Which countries or regions are showing particular interest in Brazilian content? We closed a three-year volume agreement with Telefe in Argentina and also with Azteca in Mexico. With the latter, our telenovelas gained an exclusive 11 p.m. timeslot. We also extended our partnership with RCN in Colombia and in the U.S. we licensed three ‘superproductions’ for primetime on MundoFox: The Life We Lead, Side by Side and Trail of Lies. In 2014, for the first time we licensed titles in Pakistan, Indonesia and the Philippines. Australia has also invested in our products and we have increased our presence in Mongolia. In Africa, in addition to being strong in Portuguese-speaking countries such as Angola, Mozambique and Cabo Verde, we are building a growing audience in Englishspeaking countries like Nigeria.

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PROFILE


Bob Sullivan Follow Bob on Twitter: @BobCincysully

31

Do-it-yourself TV Bob Sullivan of Cincinnati-based Scripps Media has pioneered a new business model – or business models – for station groups looking to take more control of their programming destiny.

S

“

On my gravestone, it’ll say, ‘Here lies Bob Sullivan – it’s the story, stupid,’ because one thing that’s consistent across everything is that people still want good stories to hear and share. Bob Sullivan Scripps Media

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MAKE A DATE: Catch up with Bob in the Game Changers session Will Local TV’s Do-It-Yourself Programmers Upend the Status Quo? today at 4:45 p.m. in Fontaine Ballroom.

cripps Media’s decision to move into original programming was never a surefire winner, but if Bob Sullivan’s schedule is anything to go by, the risk seems to have paid off. Sullivan, who became VP of programming at Scripps in 2013, has been part of a notable transition for the company as it moves from simply picking up studio content to creating its own shows. The results have marked it out from its competitors and sparked a copycat effect, he says. But it wasn’t always so. “There are more broadcasters saying they want to get involved in this space than ever; we started a fire, so to speak,” he explains. “Four years ago, though, when I walked into the major studios, they all laughed and wished me luck. “Now the studios are calling me, saying they want to pitch to us and want us to partner with them. They’ve seen the sea change that has occurred and they’re thinking they had better get onboard with how broadcasters are now thinking.” Sullivan has helped develop a quartet of original shows for Scripps’ station group that have crossed not just genres but business models as well. And it’s partly that aspect of their creation that Sullivan believes has helped their success. “We’re pretty unique, in a local TV broadcast sense, as we have four shows that we’ve developed either alone or through investment partnerships with others,” he says. The nugget of a good idea is always the starting point but the business arrangements vary considerably. “With one of our game shows, Let’s Ask America, I own 75% and Warner Bros. owns 25%, but with Right This Minute, I own a third, Cox Media Group a third and Raycom Media a third.” Then there’s news magazine The List and The Now, which are both fully owned by Scripps. This open-minded approach to content creation has been a central tenet for Sullivan and one day this month he took pitches from a digital online content producer, a major studio

By Richard Middleton and a European production company. “I’ll talk to anybody so long as they have an idea that can bode well for both of us. The business model flows from there but we have to be nimble with the models.” But if original production sounds like a land of milk and honey, Sullivan dispels the thought immediately. “My fellow broadcasters are starting to get into it, but if people ask me what I know now that I didn’t know five years ago, I tell them that this is a hard business. It’s really not easy lifting.” “It’s always about the best ideas. Then it’s what level of investment do you have, who are your partners and how committed and patient are you going to be. And all of that is going on under the banner of ratings, revenue and driving margins on a daily basis.” The impact of VOD and digital is another disruptor of the landscape and one that Sullivan is exploring. “Clearly, it’s a different business model from what we do but there is an audience out there The List that has an insatiable appetite for programming that is real, transparent and that they can relate to,” he says. “Here’s what I know: on my gravestone, it’ll say, ‘Here lies Bob Sullivan – it’s the story, stupid,’ because one thing that’s consistent across everything is that people still want good stories to hear and share. They want to be entertained and informed. “They’re learning that technology is providing new opportunities and platforms for them to experience that content, so we have to be true to that main mantra. We no longer see ourselves as just broadcasters but multimedia players, and we have to play on all of those platforms and in all those spaces.” With a growing number of players entering the do-it-yourself market keen to get involved with Sullivan, it seems his NATPE schedule could get even busier still.

PROFILE

Matthew Strauss 32

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @Matt_CIM

By Marc Berman

A

s the shift to digital consumption accelerates, the art – and the business – of how the audience views content continues to redefine itself. Online video viewers, according to Nielsen, are watching 60% more than one year ago. And the growing trend – set to be a hot topic at NATPE 2015 – is the rapid rise of subscription video-ondemand (SVOD) services like Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime, and new web-enabled game consoles. SVOD revenue in the third quarter grew by a notable 26% between 2013 and 2014, according to Digital Entertainment Group, crossing the billion-dollar threshold for the first time. Pay TV, of course, must also evolve and the goal, in simple terms, is to unify the viewing experiences across different platforms. One key executive focusing on this subject is Matthew Strauss, senior VP and general manager of video services for Comcast Cable, whose primary goal is to deliver the most integrated entertainment experience across all devices. “The common thread is finding ways to add value for the customer, giving them the ability to watch what they want, when they want and where they want in the TV Everywhere initiative,” says Strauss. “Unification is a concept that has been in our DNA for quite some time, and its roots can be traced back to what we first called Project Xfinity. It is our vision of taking every piece of content ever made and making it available ondemand. From the very beginning we saw consumer behavior with nonlinear viewing and realized that ondemand would become integrated into how customers consume video.” Known in more technical circles as authenticated VOD, TV Everywhere was developed to compete with the cordcutters who drop traditional pay TV subscriptions in favor of accessing content exclusively through over-theair television and/or over-thetop services. TV Everywhere competes by offering consumers added incentives to keep their subscriptions.


To Xfinity and beyond Comcast’s Matthew Strauss reveals the thinking behind the Philadelphia-based cable giant’s TV Everywhere initiatives. “We try to lead the way by recreating what these TV experiences are and will become,” says Strauss. “Our focus and our mission is to give customers unprecedented access to the most robust programming, whether it’s usergenerated or professional video that’s available on the web.” One recent initiative is the cloud-based X1 DVR, which acts like a traditional DVR but allows you to record TV shows and movies in the cloud, and then stream them to your mobile devices and computers. Alternatively, you can download them to mobile devices while connected to a Wi-Fi or

MAKE A DATE: To hear more about Matthew’s plans for 2015 don’t miss the oneon-one Platforms Accelerated session titled X1, Xfinity & the Future of Television today at 4:15 p.m. in Glimmer 3 and 4.

“

We spend a lot of time on apps to create out-of-home viewing experiences, so we are also focused on making the in-home experience as good as it can be. Matthew Strauss Comcast

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mobile network. You can also stream live TV and Xfinity On-Demand content while connected to your in-home Xfinity network. Another initiative is to give Comcast subscribers the capability to use their phones to send personal videos, both live and recorded, to the TV set. “We spend a lot of time on these apps to create out-of-home viewing experiences, so we are also very focused on making the in-home experience as good as it can be. We know that is where a lot of consumption continues to take place. We will continue to create things to further personalize the experience, both out-of-home and in-home. There is tremendous value in how we bundle our video products for high-speed data.” With change comes the question, of course, of how to monetize these new viewing advances. “Our dynamic ad insertion capability allows advertisers to insert ads not only on pre- and post-roll but also mid-roll. It allows programmers to get C-3 or C-7 ratings credit, and it gives them the ability to create different ad loads, which can be more abbreviated and more targeted,” explains Strauss. “With time comes change, and we will continue to enhance our value with more incentives across all platforms.”

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Q&A WITH…

Lynda Clarizio 34

Follow Lynda on Twitter: @lyndaclarizio


Playing to the audience Nielsen’s president of U.S. media Lynda Clarizio outlines how the audience measurement specialist can remain the industry’s currency amid fragmented viewing and increased competition. Are overnights, the traditional currency of the TV industry, being eroded by audience fragmentation? We’ve produced the overnights for years and that’s been in response to the needs of the industry. I wouldn’t say the currency is the overnights right now, it’s more time-shifted viewing. Consumers are watching media less and less on a live basis. Our goal here is to measure that consumption whenever and wherever it happens. We don’t define

the currency, we respond to the needs of the industry, which decides what the currency needs to be. Will the C3 and C7 delayed viewing measurements expand to cover even longer periods of time? We’re already providing ratings for live as well as time-shifted out to three and seven days. We’ve been expanding and we’ve made viewership of TV on devices like smartphones and tablets eligible for inclusion in Nielsen ratings. We’re in the process of testing that with a number of TV clients. Is the sampling method of measurement going to change or be expanded? Our panel of close to 25,000 consists of a representative sample of Americans that covers the full diversity and breadth of the U.S. That said, there are a lot of additional data sources out there and we see our future as leveraging our panels in combination with alternative data. We already use set-top box data in some of our products and data from Facebook and Experian, and we’ll do more of that. We’re expanding our national and local TV panels. Our strategy going forward is the panels in combination with big data sets. How do you measure social media buzz around a show and how important is it? We’ve recently published a study looking at the effects of running promotions for new series on social media and we concluded it definitely has an impact on success. Our mission is to continue to measure that effect. There is a correlation between social buzz and success. We’ve developed

a model that looks into predicting success based upon on-air promotion and then predicting the value of adding in social media. Tell us about the much-publicized errors in Nielsen’s ratings that occurred last year. Some national ratings were re-issued because of a small amount of hard-to-attribute viewing that was improperly credited. The amount of data represented less than 1% of all the viewing minutes we credit nationally. The error was introduced in March and corrected a few months later. Since then, we’ve worked with our clients to correct the situation. We’ve re-issued all the affected data; we’ve internally assessed how to improve quality standards to ensure it doesn’t happen again; and we’ve involved the Media Rating Council in those discussions. We’re committed to providing the highest standards of TV audience measurement.

“

Our goal is to measure consumption whenever and wherever it happens. We don’t define the currency, we respond to the needs of the industry, which decides what the currency needs to be. Lynda Clarizio Nielsen

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What big changes are going to happen in audience metrics and how is Nielsen placed to capitalize? It’s all about total audience. You will see us, through 2015, completing all that we’ve started over the past few years to provide the total audience for a program or content regardless of platform. That includes smartphones and tablets, which we’ve already introduced, over-the-top SVOD services such as Netflix, and digital content ratings. We have a partnership with Adobe to measure digital content and viewing across digital platforms. We’re also looking at digitalonly programming that starts in the digital world. What it all adds up to is a complete picture of the consumer. We’ll reach a point when we’re not only talking about television, but about all video viewing.

PROFILE

Vin Di Bona 36


Follow Vin on Twitter: @AFVofficial


Home video truths “

By Andrew Dickens

In 1989, the variety show was dead and buried, but I looked at it and figured out the future was about home videos.

Vin Di Bona, creator and exec producer of ABC hit America’s Funniest Home Videos, gives his take on the future of the comedy-reality genre.

Vin Di Bona Vin Di Bona Productions

F

or 25 years America’s Funniest Home Videos (AFHV) has delighted viewers on Sunday nights with clips of crying babies, people falling off trampolines and disasters related to wedding cakes. Trivial as these comedy nuggets may seem, the ABC program has become a national institution and is now the longest-running primetime show in the U.S. network’s history. Indeed, AFHV has come a long way since its debut in 1989, when it launched as an hour-long special based on the Tokyo Broadcasting System program Fun TV with Kato-chan and Ken-chan. The Japanese format featured a segment in which viewers were invited to send in video clips from their home movies. Today, the show – produced by Vin Di Bona Productions (VDBP) – has spawned remakes in nine territories and the U.S. version has sold into no fewer than 193. For its creator and exec producer Vin Di Bona, the future of the comedy-reality genre he helped pioneer is a bright one, despite undergoing significant changes in recent years. “In 1989, the variety show was dead and buried, but I looked at it and figured out the future was about home videos,” says the Emmywinning producer. “Today, there are lots of variables in cable and broadcast that bode well for everything we are doing. Cable is tending to go more towards practical jokes, like Punk’d, while broadcast networks are looking for a larger picture that can span two, three or four years. That’s always the big question with the networks: how do you launch a series that has the legs to stay on for that length of time?” Keeping a show fresh for a quarter of a century is no easy task, but Di Bona maintains the secrets are “knowing who the audience is,” and heavily integrating social media into your program.

America’s Funniest Home Videos “Ninety-three percent of people who watch our show on a Sunday night watch it live,” he says. “It’s a family event where kids, parents and grandparents share an experience together. It’s also great for advertisers because there’s nobody DVR-ing. But it’s also about mixing familiar segments with social media – asking for people’s Vines, for instance. Viewers know they can come

”

to us on television for the tried and true experience but they can also get a bit more on Facebook and other platforms.” Di Bona says this explains the recent surge in viewing figures. “We were up 13% on re-runs last summer and in the fall we were up 5-7% – for a 25-year-old show. I’ll take that.” Aside from helming VDBP, Di Bona is chairman of his second business, Fishbowl Worldwide Media, which he set up with former Disney business development exec Bruce Gersh in 2010. Currently in production at Fishbowl are documentary series The Bangle Angle, about the life of car designer Chris Bangle, and a reboot of long-running Univision variety show Sábado Gigante, as Giant Saturday. “These shows will be the two I’ll be concentrating on and we also have 10 or 12 other programs we’ve piloted,” Di Bona adds. “We’ve also been in talks with a network about a live two-hour Saturday night version of Sábado Gigante.” An equally important task for Di Bona this year is choosing the next host of AFHV, after Tom Bergeron steps down at the end of the current 25th season. “Tom is leaving in all good faith and the networks and I have a few people in mind to replace him,” Di Bona says. “The discussions about this will take place after NATPE.”

MAKE A DATE: Vin and the America’s Funniest Home Videos team will take part in the session Storytellers & the Shaping of Pop Culture: America’s Funniest Home Videos Celebrating 25 Years, tomorrow at 12:15 p.m. in Fontaine Ballroom.

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PROFILE

Tom Morgan


By Jonathan Webdale

F

Follow Tom on Twitter: @Net2Television

39

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Th station groups that The historically have been the foundation of NATPE in terms of licensing will go through another transformation.

ew observers would dispute that one of the biggest stories in TV last year was HBO and CBS unveiling plans for standalone subscription video-on-demand services within days of one another. With the latter, the Eye network came straight out the gate in October with a $5.99 per month service featuring library programming and the ability to live-stream its local stations in 14 Tom Morgan major markets. Net2TV Keeping network affiliates onside while also staying ahead of the digital game is a particularly delicate dance, says Tom Morgan, CEO and founder of Net2TV, a three-year-old California startup that’s working with partners including Time Inc. to create internet TV channels for magazine brands. Morgan and his company also spy opportunity amid the present market upheaval. “The station groups that historically have been the foundation of NATPE in terms of licensing will go through another transformation over the next two to five years,” he predicts. CBS’s new streaming service marks a watershed for the television “It will be confusing for a while as things unbundle, but then you’ll see a ‘rebundling’ of industry – one that means station groups need to evolve fast, argues U.S. television based on demographic, what’s Net2TV’s founder and CEO Tom Morgan. relevant to you, where you live and what you’re interested in.” Morgan believes local stations are increasingly play as the role of the local media organization to a smart TV to whatever your outlet is and include that inventory in your sales process as seeking new ways to serve their audiences as the evolves,” he says. Net2TV produces some 35 shows per week for one unified buy.” broadcast networks move ever closer to overThis is, he believes, where Disney/ABC was the-top and the economics of retransmission channels that play out via a variety of connected and smart TVs, as well as dedicated IP-based set- so progressive two years ago with the launch of fees and affiliate advertising shift. “The local stations are wondering what top boxes, such as Roku, on which its consumer- Watch ABC, a revamped version of a previous media player featuring on-demand and live role they play in this emerging world. Besides facing service Portico TV also has a presence. streaming in local markets their newscasts, what via authentication of does a local media outlet viewers’ existing DTH look like and how will it subscriptions. This means participate?” he says. dynamic advertising across Net2TV has built its the entire ABC ecosystem, business model around including primetime, Hulu, repackaging existing web abc.com and the rest, all video assets for longform rolled up as one package for internet-based television the Upfronts. distribution. For Time, it “They’re working with has devised channels for its flagship news magazine Net2TV’s consumer service Portico TV Repackaged web video show The Week in Time their network affiliates but not really,” says Morgan, as well as People, Southern Behind the offering is proprietary technology returning to the idea that local stations will Living and other magazine brands. Morgan believes local stations will come to that allows dynamic ad insertion, offering inevitably have to become more self-sufficient rely on similar low-cost programming, sourced consumers not only more relevant content but progammers but ones that can also benefit from from a new breed of media companies. He cites commercials too, across the gamut of platforms. the latest innovations. “If Nielsen tells us the “Previously, the ads were built into shows. average consumer watches 15 channels, in this GoPro, the miniature HD camera maker, as one example. “How do you build a GoPro Phoenix That was easy,” says Morgan. “Now you have to new world the 15 channels on my TV can be segment or program? That’s a really interesting be able to see into everything from a Roku box markedly different to those on my neighbor’s.”

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Q&A WITH…

Michael Kassan


Follow Michael on Twitter: @MKassan

41

Buyer beware Michael Kassan, founder, chairman and CEO of New York and Los Angeles marketing strategy advisor MediaLink, outlines what he sees as the big issues for 2015. What is the biggest disruptor to the advertising market at present? If I had to give you one word to describe what’s on the horizon, it would be ‘programmatic.’ The onslaught of programmatic media buying is coming in swathes to linear television and cable. It means there’s a marked change in how some buyer and seller negotiations will play out. If it’s my machine speaking to your machine, where’s the human element in that? I’m not saying the human element goes away, but there’s a change in the roles of the media agency, the client and the publisher. That triumvirate changes positions if there is an opportunity for direct interaction. What does programmatic buying offer advertisers and content owners? Programmatic buying will uncover the long tail of television and cable; that’s certainly one of the changes that will occur. The joke in the old days used to be that on Thursdays everybody watched Friends and Seinfeld, which was true if you lived on the east or the west coast. But if you lived in the flyover territory, maybe you were watching reruns of The Dukes of Hazzard at 8 p.m. on a Thursday night. And if you were, why would an advertiser need to pay a premium in order to be on must-see television? Hit programs like The Blacklist, Scandal and Revenge will still be getting the biggest audiences, but that long tail will have the greatest potential impact. You will uncover the value of the long tail of television and cable in a different way, and that will affect pricing. It doesn’t mean it will take premium programming down, it will just make less premium programming potentially more valuable because you will find out that is where the eyeballs are.

How are online creators affecting the marketplace? The promise of the internet was democratization, and that promise went to the heart of the context and concept of a gatekeeper, which has changed dramatically. Since there’s less of a gatekeeper now,

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If I had to give you one word to describe what’s on the horizon, it would be ‘programmatic.’ Michael Kassan MediaLink

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you can create content and get it up in a different way. You broaden the base with all the multichannel networks (MCNs) and with the proliferation of content on every device and platform, so there’s a very different base of content creation to invest in. That’s why you see Disney investing in Maker Studios and Hearst investing in AwesomenessTV, for example. These MCN creators are changing the game dramatically.

What impact is the growing Hispanic demographic having on advertisers? The industry has been slow to recognize the importance of the multicultural marketplace. It’s probably the most underserved but most important sector of the market that needs

attention. You’ll notice a better and stronger recognition of the significance of a different generation of multicultural viewers. Remember, one generation will lean into the Hispanic base with the Telemundos and Univisions, but others will look at the general markets for more love to that demo. How is branded content affecting the traditional dynamics of the market? Brands are taking on the role of publisher and content creator more than ever as they start to realize its importance. It goes back to the relationship. The content creator may become Unilever or Coca-Cola as they become ever more focused on creating content that is not just commercial messaging, but actual content. Maybe that is the future of commercial messaging – you don’t make it interrupting, you make it part of the program. It’s an extremely significant part of the landscape, second only to the importance of programmatic buying.

MAKE A DATE: Michael will be discussing some of these issues with Joe Uva, NBCUniversal’s chairman of Hispanic Enterprises & Content, in the Global Navigators session Embracing the New Mainstream on Thursday at 11:45 a.m. in Fontaine Ballroom.

10 GOLDEN RULES FOR…

Sima Sistani 42

Follow Sima on Twitter: @SistaniSays


Sima Sistani, head of media for Yahoo-owned social blogging platform Tumblr, is in charge of developing partnerships with media and entertainment companies. She gives 10 do’s and don’ts for TV channels looking to capitalize on social media.

1

Do focus on engagement as a key performance indicator rather than follower count. We should be thinking about engagement. It’s all about the content and if it resonates with followers, they are more likely to engage with it.

2

Do continue to engage through social media when a show is off-air. Be active not just when a season is on-air but 365 days a year. HBO does a great job of engaging with fans outside the on-air window with Girls.

3

Do act like a user. TV shows don’t need a flashy presence on their social channels to be successful. Some of the most dynamic Tumblrs are simple and pull from the Tumblr theme garden for inspiration.

4

Don’t exclude fans who aren’t watching the live window. ABC is inspiring live viewing by ‘eventizing’ its three Shonda Rhimes shows on Thursday nights. By making the event as meaningful as the shows, viewers want to participate in the conversation. But it doesn’t apply to the majority of viewers who are not watching live.

5

Do embrace derivative content from the fandom community. You have fans creating recaps and posting photos. Instead of taking them down, embrace it because it’s sending their message out and empowering their fans. That’s how I found House of Cards.

6

Do share fans’ content. TV networks should be engaged members of the social media community, creating both original content and sharing related content. If a channel reblogs some fan art, it creates real excitement for the fan base.

7

Don’t repurpose content. Put original content on your social channels. The biggest fans are following on all channels so don’t be redundant. Gotham is a good example. The show has a lot of unique content on Tumblr, like live Q&As with talent.

8

Be native. Speak to your fans in the language of that particular social channel. Tumblr users speak via gifs, episode recaps or fan fiction. If I’m watching something live, maybe I could go to Twitter and express something as I’m watching.

9

Do engage the fans. This is what Jimmy Fallon does amazingly with The Tonight Show. On Tumblr he hosts live Q&As, takes submissions and does exclusive posts with guests. He is programming his social channels in the same way he programs the show.

10

Do make sure your audience can find you. Let people know where your social channels are. TV Guide Network is rebranding as POP and trying to reach as many people as possible. It is building its TV website on Tumblr. Anybody can go to it, whether they are a user or not.

The Tonight Show

Girls

MAKE A DATE: Sima will be talking about social media in an Access to Insight session titled Beyond Live: Why the L+3 Social TV Convo Matters tomorrow at 4:45 p.m. in Glitter.

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45

Half-a-dozen international television executives and first-time NATPE exhibitors outline the strategic thinking behind their trip to Miami.

1

Mem Bakar Sales manager, Asia, Africa, Latin America & Middle East, TCB Media Rights Now that our catalog is established, it’s the right time to bring out the TCB brand and introduce it to Latin America. It’s a similar market to Asia – face-to-face contact and rapport are very important, and that’s hard to do via email or phone. My primary focus is to establish relationships with Discovery, Nat Geo and Fox, and start talks with them in Latin America and U.S. Hispanic. We’re trying to build relationships with regional networks because we’re doing great business with them in Europe and Asia. We’ve brought close to 500 hours of content to Miami. @TCBmediarights

2

Kerstin Gruenwald Senior sales manager, Global Screen

3

Arabelle Pouliot-Di Crescenzo MD, Kabo International

4

Jonathan Skogmo CEO, Jukin Media

5

Sarah Tong Director of sales, Hat Trick International Our decision to come to NATPE was driven by our doing more business in Latin America. It’s a good way to meet buyers who don’t go to the other TV markets around the world. Digital is a key area but we can’t ignore any side of the business. The main focus is factual, certainly in Chile, Colombia and Brazil, with our formats Dinner Date or River Cottage. Comedy is notoriously difficult to sell internationally. However, visual comedy will continue to work abroad, especially if it has universal themes and appeals to a younger audience. @Hattrickint

6

Aneta Zaręba Sales manager, TVN The enthusiastic response to TVN’s productions amongst Brazilian, Chilean and Argentinian buyers has encouraged us to present our catalog to buyers at NATPE. Taking into consideration language differences and the fact TVN’s productions would require dubbing, the free-to-air and cable sectors are our main targets. We also know the digital sector plays an important role in the market, so we welcome the opportunity to begin partnerships in this area. We believe this year will see increased demand for fresh TV formats, as well as new projects adapted locally. @tvn24

The market has become more fragmented as a result of digitization. Distributors now have more opportunities but it’s trickier because there are many more clients. There are also legal issues, such as holdbacks, so contracts have become more complex. TV buyers often request more rights than they need. Our scripted action programming is popular in Latin America, but in the U.S. foreign-language fiction is subtitled, not dubbed, so the market is much more narrow. However, there are now more opportunities with VOD for this kind of content.

We started up the distribution arm of Kabo Family in November last year so NATPE is the first big event on our calendar. We’ll be looking for third-party formats as we build our catalog. One trend that’s going to grow is hybrid formats. A lot of things have been done before but we can combine existing genres in new ways. The U.S. is a unique market because of the agents and we’re going to be working with them on scripted formats. Everybody says cable is doing the most interesting stuff, and it’s true. That’s where the innovative ideas are coming from.

NATPE hits on so many parts of our business, as it helps us to reach out in digital, licensing and original content. Like NATPE, we believe in the convergence of traditional and digital platforms. There’s going to be huge emphasis on mobile this year. The ad dollars are shifting fast – that’s what we saw in 2014 and they’ll move even faster in 2015. We’re all about user-generated shortform content – perfect for mobile. That will pave the way for us over the next 12 months. Around 80% of the views we get on YouTube come from outside the U.S. @JonSkogmo

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PROFILE

Alberto Ciurana


Follow Alberto on Twitter: @AlbertoCiurana

47

The fifth element Alberto Ciurana of Univision reveals his plans for the year ahead and how the network will manage without FIFA soccer.

U

nivision has been the number one Spanish-language network and the fifth most-watched broadcast network in the U.S. for so long it is easy to forget that it’s continually under attack from competitors. This has never been truer as the other broadcast networks actively court Englishspeaking Hispanics, with shows like ABC’s Cristela and The CW’s Jane the Virgin, and as rival Telemundo gears up to air the hugely popular FIFA soccer games, which it snatched away from Univision last year. Univision isn’t sitting back while its competitors attack, though. It’s doing what it has always done, which is to expand its appeal to the U.S. Hispanic population, now numbering some 54 million people. “It’s our strategy to reach all Hispanics,” says Alberto Ciurana, president of programming and content for Univision Communications, which includes broadcast networks Univision and UniMas, cable network Galavision and online platform UVideos. In 2012, Ciurana joined the company from Mexico’s Televisa, where he was VP of programming. “We also have Fusion and El Rey Network, which are both English-language networks with a Latin flavor that are produced by millennial Hispanics. And we are getting more comfortable with our digital platforms because our audience is there.” Digital is a key focus at Univision, notably its soon-to-be-announced subscription VOD service. Univision this month is expected to confirm that UVideos will expand into a standalone over-the-top service with original programming for a fee. “This is one of our big priorities this year,” Ciurana says. Univision is also considering more coproduction opportunities and is planning to

By Kevin Downey distribute more of its content around the world. “We produce a lot of content in the U.S. and we will distribute that too,” says Ciurana. The original programming this year includes one of Univision’s biggest ever productions: Simon Cowell’s singing competition La Banda (The Band). The program, from Univision, Cowell’s Syco Entertainment, Saban Brands and co-producer FremantleMedia Latin America, is in production and will debut on Univision in September. It is hosted by Alejandra Espinoza and sees judges select the members of a new boyband. Univision’s focus on original content is an ongoing strategy shift at the company. For decades, El Gordo y much of its primetime La Flaca programming was imported from Televisa, which owns a stake in Univision and has a programming license agreement with the U.S. broadcaster that extends back to 1992. That deal will continue through at least 2025. Univision also produces content like long-running afternoon talk show El Gordo y La Flaca and its Nuestra Belleza Latina Saturday night Sabado Gigante

staple, variety show Sabado Gigante. “We also have franchises on Sunday nights like Nuestra Belleza Latina, and then this year we’ll also have La Banda,” adds Cuirana. Univision also produces primetime awards shows such as The Latin Grammy Awards, music awards Premio lo Nuestro and Premios Juventud. The company also makes about 10,000 hours of sports programming each year, and in December added to its award shows with Premios Univision Deportes on UniMas. “We are very proud of the Sports Awards,” says Ciurana. “We will do more of that.” Nevertheless, Univision faces a major challenge with the loss of FIFA soccer tournaments to Telemundo. Last summer, some 81 million people watched Univision’s monthlong coverage of the FIFA World Cup. But even that loss won’t keep Univision down for long, promises Ciurana. He says the company will announce a major sports programming initiative in a few weeks. “We will make some announcements but it’s too early to do that now,” he says. “We will make it up to the audience. We have a very good tournament coming up.”

PROFILE

Les Tomlin 48


Follow Les on Twitter: @peacepoint


Making some noise By Nico Franks Peace Point Entertainment’s Les Tomlin reveals how an increase in headline-grabbing lifestyle shows means more low-key formats are still in demand.

C

o-productions have become the norm in international drama and are becoming similarly important for producers in the reality and factual sectors looking to create ambitious shows that stand out from the crowd. It’s a model that proved successful for Peace Point Entertainment last year, says Les Tomlin, president of the Toronto producer. “Even in the reality space, co-production seems to be the way to go, with Americans teaming up with Canadians and Canadians teaming up with U.K. channels to do multi-country shows,” he says. As a result, there’s never been a greater need to create “noisy” shows that can work across multiple territories “right out of the gate,” adds Tomlin, who launched Peace Point back in 2001. For example, the company’s competitive cooking series Food Truck Face-Off, in which successful contestants are given their own food truck at the end of each episode, required three financial partners in the mix before it could be greenlit for production. Food Network in the U.S. and Canada got the series off the ground, with the help of Canadian tax credits, and Peace Point went on to sell the finished program to pan-regional broadcasters (LiTV and Discovery) in Asia and Latin America. These broadcasters, Tomlin adds, are expanding their footprints rapidly around the world as consolidation in the market continues at a heady pace. “These days, we sell to one channel group and it covers 15 territories, whereas before it would be a single channel in a single territory. That seems to have accelerated in the past year and I

“

Even in the reality space, co-production seems to be the way to go, with Americans teaming up with Canadians and Canadians teaming up with U.K. channels to do multi-country shows. Les Tomlin Peace Point Entertainment

”

Escape artist Dean Gunnarson will perform at the NATPE 2015 Opening Night Party expect it to continue for the foreseeable future,” he says. Meanwhile, alongside the big, noisy reality shows, Tomlin identifies a trend for more travel programs, which were out of fashion for a long time. “Stand and stir” cooking shows are also returning, having been ignored by broadcasters for the past five years, he adds. To that end, Peace Point is preparing a “more traditional” cookery show in order to capitalize on the demand for food formats at a time when

MAKE A DATE: Watch Escape or Die star Dean Gunnarson perform the Death Tank stunt at the NATPE 2015 Opening Night Party, which takes place tonight from 6:00 p.m. poolside at the Fontainebleau Hotel.

channel budgets are tight. The show will have three networks from three countries onboard as commissioning partners from the get-go, says Tomlin. Regarding the cyclical nature of television, he says: “It’s very much like the fashion business. Things come in and out of fashion every three to five years.” Also, commissioning more modest formats at high volumes allows broadcasters to fill their early primetime slots and frees up commissioning dollars for the “noisy” formats required in prime. As Tomlin notes: “There are only so many shows that you can do with a big giveaway every episode.” Describing the current lifestyle TV commissioning landscape, Tomlin believes it’s “a combination of people balancing budgets on those big, fat, juicy, loud shows with more utility programming that they can do a lot of and quickly.” And speaking of shows making a lot of noise, at tonight’s NATPE 2015 Opening Night Party, you will likely hear a great deal about Peace Point’s latest series, Escape or Die (12x30’), which airs on OLN in Canada this year. The program’s star, escape artist Dean Gunnarson, is due to perform a death-defying stunt made famous by Harry Houdini. “It’s going to be quite a spectacle,” believes Tomlin.

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SIX OF THE BEST


New at NATPE


51

NATPE Daily shines the spotlight on six new programs launching into U.S. syndication this year that have already created buzz and could be well worth watching when they debut in Miami this week.

1

CrimeWatch Daily

2

The F.A.B.

3

Just For Laughs: Gags!

4

Monopoly Millionaires’ Club

5

Small Town Big Deal

6

What’s Hot on Broadway

Producer: Telepictures. Distributor: Warner Bros. Domestic TV Distribution. Genre: News magazine. Already sold to the Tribune station group for a Fall 2015 launch, CrimeWatch Daily is a one-hour program looking into the world of crime, mystery and intrigue. The Tribune deal gives it 42% of the country on launch and it will fill the 4:00 p.m. slot in many of its markets. Devised as an early fringe lead-in to local news or daytime slots, the show will draw on stories from local stations’ newsrooms. It was created by Extra executive producer Lisa Gregorisch-Dempsey.

Producer: Summerdale Productions. Distributor: Disney-ABC Domestic TV. Genre: Talk show/lifestyle. Marking her return to syndicated talk after five years, this show is hosted and exec produced by supermodel Tyra Banks, with hosting duties shared by food critic Chrissy Teigen, fashion guru Joe Zee, interior designer Lauren Makk and DIY YouTuber Leah Ashley. It has been picked up by ABC Owned Television Stations Group to replace cancelled talkie Katie. New York (WABC-TV), L.A. (KABC-TV), Chicago (WLS-TV) and San Francisco (KGO-TV) are among its eight launch markets.

Producer: Just For Laughs Group. Distributor: PPI Releasing. Genre: Hidden-camera comedy. Just for Laughs content already airs in more than 135 countries, including on ABC and Disney XD in the U.S. Independent syndicator PPI Releasing has mashed up some of the existing sketches to create this new first-run 150x30’ series that it is pitching to buyers on a cash plus 1.5 barter basis from this September. PPI says the show will work adjacent to “sitcoms, soft game shows and other reality formats.” In Canada, the show has aired 15 seasons and more than 300 episodes.

Producer: Scientific Games Productions in association with Hasbro Studios. Distributor: Scientific Games Distribution. Genre: Game show. This is a weekly one-hour game show based on the board game and hosted by Billy Gardell (Mike & Molly). The show has been cleared on stations owned by Tribune, Sinclair, Hearst, CBS, Gannett, LIN, Graham Holdings and others groups, giving it 95% of U.S. lottery TV homes on launch on February 7. Executive producers are Scott St. John and Kevin Belinkoff.

Producer: RFD-TV. Distributor: Television Syndication Company (TVS). Genre: Lifestyle/travel. Hosted by former Entertainment Tonight anchor Jann Carl and the new show’s creator Rodney Miller, Small Town Big Deal offers uplifting stories from smalltown America. Originally airing since 2012 on Rural Media-owned RFD-TV in Nashville and licensed to outdoors-themed online network Carbon TV, the 26x30’ series has been picked up by Disney-ABC Television Group’s WABC-TV in New York. Both Carl and Miller are at NATPE promoting the show this week.

Producers/distributors: Broadway Multimedia and Kismet Media Group. Genre: Entertainment news. Drawing on the success – and content – of the Broadway Channel in cable and online, What’s Hot on Broadway is a weekly half-hour that Kismet is shopping in Miami for a fall launch. The series offers news and previews from Broadway and Las Vegas, and will be hosted by John O’Hurley (Seinfeld, Family Feud). It is being offered to stations on a 3.5/3.5 barter basis. A holiday pilot aired last month on stations owned by Fox, ABC, Cox, Gannett, Hearst, Scripps, Raycom and others.

Q&A WITH…

Pedro Lascurain 52


Follow Pedro on Twitter: @tvaztecaoficial


Ready for new rivals Pedro Lascurain, head of acquisitions at Mexico’s TV Azteca, explains how regulatory changes could affect the country’s television landscape. Two new free-to-air (FTA) channels are to be introduced in Mexico to increase competition. How will this affect the country’s TV landscape? Mexico’s president decided immediately after taking office in 2012 that there would be two new free channels and by the end of January we should know who the winners of the licenses will be. I’m not sure who will win and what exactly they will get, but they’ll have a very tough time. Most of the U.S. studios have had their programming acquired by either our main competitor or us. There are very few opportunities to buy good content so they will have to work hard to produce their own shows. My experience over the past 35 years – 20 with Televisa and 15 with Azteca – tells me that production is something you need to know how to do, and with the right people. It’s not easy but I wish them well. How will the new channels affect the standard of programming in Mexico? They will definitely increase the quality of television in Mexico and we will all have to do better to ensure we are watched. Ratings will certainly be more difficult to get, so we must have better producers, writers and talent working on the shows we produce. Are you looking to invest in your in-house productions and secure relationships with the studios you work with ahead of the changes?

“

Ratings will be more difficult to get, so we must have better producers, writers and talent. Pedro Lascurain TV Azteca

”

Yes, and we feel we are protected because we are doing business with the major studios. We have had deals for years with Disney, Fox, Sony and Telefilms as well as other Mexican companies. Content is key and producing it is the biggest challenge. That means good talent, formats and scripts, and in many cases it means acquiring and searching for better and better products that Mexican viewers want to watch.

Food Fighters

There have been rumors that Carlos Slim could be interested in entering the FTA space. Do you think that’s likely? He’s settled with what he

has now, which is pay TV and internet TV, but if he does enter FTA television then good for him. However, there are others who seem to be more willing to enter the market than him. Maybe he could be behind someone else. What channels do you buy for and what are you currently looking for at NATPE? I’m acquiring programming for Azteca Trece and Azteca 7, and have bought for Channel 40 for the past four years. Trece is a family channel that broadcasts all our telenovelas, talk shows and magazine shows as well as sports and news. We buy scripts from South America or produce them ourselves and I’ve acquired game shows from FremantleMedia, including The Weakest Link, and we have Food Fighters from Electus as well. For Azteca 7, I buy a lot of major feature films from all the U.S. studios, and TV series too. We air some cartoons over the weekend and our biggest deal at the moment is with Disney. On free TV, we acquire 100% of what it produces and it’s our most important distributor. Then we buy half of 20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures Entertainment’s output. We have enough films and TV series, and we need to produce some formats. That’s the only way the new channels can succeed, but they will have to do it with others because we are already quite tight with the big studios.

PROFILE

Chet Fenster 54


Follow Chet on Twitter: @MECideas


By Jonathan Webdale

Seizing the high ground

“D

igital real estate just keeps expanding. It’s like converting swampland in Florida. They keep building where there wasn’t land before and so there’s space nobody previously thought existed,” says Chet Fenster. It’s a fitting analogy given the proximity to NATPE, both geographically and in terms of where the Miami market sits within the fastchanging media landscape. Fenster is managing partner and head of content at MEC Entertainment, the branded content arm of WPP-owned media agency GroupM. He has attended the event for some time and naturally keeps a close eye on the latest trends in order to best serve his clients. “Look at Vine, for instance,” he says. “If you had told programming executives a few years ago someone could make a living producing sixsecond films distributed on cellphones and they could amass millions of followers on a weekly basis, they would have laughed.” MEC has been working with a number of such specialists, as well as building up relationships in the YouTube talent space (WPP invested in the Fullscreen multichannel content network in 2013) and other social media outlets like Pinterest. For the latter, it’s creating original content with number-one pinner Joy Cho (13.4 million followers at the last count). “The biggest evolution of recent years is how much content is being created at the individual level. It no longer takes a giant television studio to make something that’s high-definition, high-quality and actually attracts an audience,” Fenster says. “We’ve gone from a world where brands might create something with a post-and-pray attitude or would spend lots of money to buy media to drive views, to a situation where they’re co-creating content with people who have already aggregated an audience.” The type of work MEC Entertainment has engaged in during this period has inevitably reflected the shift. Ten years ago the firm was doing a lot more original bespoke television programming, but over the past three years digital extensions have been on the rise.

Chet Fenster, managing partner and head of content at GroupM’s MEC Entertainment, argues that individual digital influencers are shaping the next era in media.

“

It no longer takes a giant TV studio to make something that’s high-definition, high-quality and actually attracts an audience. Chet Fenster MEC Entertainment

”

“If you go back to the early days when a brand created a program, one of the things advertisers weren’t prepared for was that shows can fail and sometimes people don’t show up. Being the digital engagement arm of a successful tent-pole program is now perhaps more valuable than trying to create your own,” Fenster says. MEC is still involved in such projects, he notes, but less frequently. An online show it developed for AT&T as part of its sponsorship of The Vampire Diaries on The CW is a case in point. Dubbed Rehash, it offers a weekly recap of the social media activity around each episode, presented by one of the cast.

The Vampire Diaries

“It’s no longer about inserting a brand or product integration into the actual telecast, although we do still do that. It is about the way in which consumers can engage with the world of the program and its characters,” Fenster explains. And in this world, or rather the social media universe that surrounds shows, individuals play an increasingly significant role. It’s this phenomenon that Fenster believes will come to define media and entertainment over the next 12 months. “Brands are incredibly curious about this space but it’s become an imperative because it’s so hard to attract the attention of consumers, and especially Millennials, who may be watching the same amount of video but less of it on linear television. You’ll see an invasion of YouTube influencers in TV and films,” he predicts. The conversion of the digital swampland continues.

MAKE A DATE: Chet is participating in an Access to Insight session today, entitled The New Distributors: Why Advertisers Want to Build Channels, Collaborate on Content and License Your Content, at 11:15 a.m. in Glitter.

Q&A WITH…

Cathy Hetzel 56


Follow Cathy on Twitter: @CathyHetzel


On the right trak Cathy Hetzel, corporate president at audience measurement specialist Rentrak, talks about the company’s growth strategy and the takeover of Kantar’s U.S. TV measurement assets. What are Rentrak’s priorities for 2015? The number one priority is to keep growing. We now have 26 million homes and 60 million TV sets under contract, from which we gather massive and passive data. We aggregate that, taking the data we do have and project for the data that we don’t. With this massive data set, it allows you to get very granular and present measurements on hundreds of networks.

hoped to see yet. We had expected the hottest shows on TV would have the most buzz on social media, but social tends to be younger in usage so those shows may not necessarily be the most talked about. Sports always ranks high, both in viewership and social, but the correlations that we see don’t necessarily jive the way we expected them to. We’ll continue our work in that area until we have something that’s of value to our customers.

How deep does the data set go? It actually goes to second-by-second information: every time somebody clicks the remote control. We look at DVR viewing out to 15 days. We measure at a complete census level for every operator in the U.S. We have a Multiscreen Essentials product that puts TV next to VOD and DVR so you can see live and time-shifted information side by side. On the digital side, we are working with partners who have given us access to their TV Everywhere application. We don’t have enough of that yet to be able to project it for the universe so we do it on a case-by-case basis. Is the data more useful for advertisers or broadcasters? We target all areas. We have a version of our service for local television stations – 450 clients in the local markets. We also have advertisers that come to us directly, and that’s an area of expansion for us. When targeted advertising is used some clients are getting 20% efficiency increases, some 50% and, in some political cases around elections, they’ve seen it increase by more than 100%. That’s what we’re focused on – we are the currency in the U.S. for addressable advertising. How does Rentrak measure online buzz? We do a ‘stickiness’ index – a patented process that identifies the programs the audience is most engaged with. We have not yet tied social media to the performance of shows. We’re doing a lot of work in that but we don’t see the correlations that we had

Having acquired the U.S. TV measurement assets of Kantar Media for $98m in 2014, who is now your main competition? We’re merging Kantar’s services into Rentrak. We did that deal largely in order to have one massive and passive number in the marketplace. We don’t necessarily believe we compete with Nielsen as we do something different to them. Nielsen is a sample currency and we are a census-based currency. We feel that while Nielsen does a great job of providing information based on a sample, we do a great job of providing information at mass and scale.

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We have not yet tied social media to the performance of shows. We don’t see the correlations that we had hoped to see yet. Cathy Hetzel Rentrak

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Has the technical problem Nielsen suffered last year boosted your business? We’re doing pretty well in the market and you would never wish anybody to have a problem because it could happen to anybody. Probably a much bigger event was when we bought Kantar. That has lifted interest in our product more than anything else. What are your international ambitions? We have a television system in China and a VOD system in Spain. We’ve done a lot of work in Canada this year. We’re hoping to expand that work as the next international property for us and we’re in dialogue with other countries where we feel a service like ours could be useful.

MAKE A DATE: Catch Cathy at the Masters of Marketing session Your Ad is Served: Platform Innovation Changes the Game tomorrow at 2:45 p.m. in Glimmer 1 & 2.

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SIX OF THE BEST NATPE Daily 2015 . Day 1 . January 20

TV trends


59

Executives from a selection of leading content providers assess the trends they believe will govern the international entertainment business over the next 12 months, from ad spend and changing series lengths to the millenial audience and connected TV.

1

Frank Barbieri Senior VP of corporate development, YuMe It’s still early days when you compare ad spends for digital video versus TV. Advertisers are now running significant money on digital video and asking if it’s effective. Digital video has grown in terms of budget share. Marketers can now focus on driving value to a particular audience and focus on the kind of audience that’s viewing a particular ad and how it relates to their brand. They will ask about the custom unique measurements they can put around audiences of scale that make their spend better than display, better than TV. @frankba

2

Rola Bauer President, Tandem Communications One new trend is the limited series format of eight to 10 episodes. It’s an opportunity for companies like us to work with the U.S. using the co-production model. The addition of original and on-demand programming on alternate platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime is keeping everybody on their toes. How content is viewed continues to evolve, with the larger digital platforms financing their own series. The adaptation of European formats for the U.S. is another trend. U.S. audiences are more open to shows with European content. @tandemcom

3

Kathleen Grace Chief creative officer, New Form Digital Studios

4

Rob Ortiz Executive VP entertainment and integrated media, Definition 6

5

Wayne Scholes CEO, Red Touch Media Connected TVs are a serious threat to cable and satellite TV. They will be used regularly by 35% of the U.S. population. This will have a massive effect on how content is produced. It’s so much easier to get an over-the-top box, so smart TVs will lose the battle against connected TVs. Cord-cutters are another worry. Cable as a content provider is in its sunset. There’s still demand for content from major studios and networks but the internet makes plenty of room for custom content, and there’s a huge audience for it. @waynescholes

6

Xioasu Wu CEO, Turn East Entertainment

One trend you’re going to see more of this year is the ‘talented audience’: social media talent moving into traditional projects like TV and film, either self-producing, like Camp Takota, or being cast, for example, Bethany Mota on Dancing with the Stars or Grace Helbig with her E! TV show. We’re going to see more traditional media projects coming out of that talent. Increasingly, we’re seeing millennials watching TV and video in fragmented ways across social and mobile platforms, such as watching media on Snapchat but also watching Netflix. @kmgrace

People are thinking about different ways of reaching millennials. They have to use different devices because once kids go to college they cut the cord for 10 years. All the cable companies are launching apps and HBO GO is going on subscription. Traditional agencies are going to have to rethink their strategies. TV still works but you have to use the web. TV is not going away, it’s just how you digest it. Some people are asking us for ideas and concepts like how to do a Vine or Instagram promotion. It’s no big deal, it’s just storytelling. @RobKOrtiz

Reality TV will continue to be a popular format in China because it’s fundamental and natural, so people feel connected to it. Previously, most reality shows were about the individual. The next step will be about relationships – a father and child, a grandmother and grandchild. They will still be based on one person, but not just one person. They will be about how that person is dealing with relationships. There will also be shows about going back to nature. In China, Turn East is developing a show about wild animals and how people learn from them.

PROFILE

Jim Packer 60

Follow Jim on Twitter: @LionsgateTV

Jim Packer, president of worldwide TV and digital distribution at Lionsgate, discusses the changing demand for U.S. programs in a world now awash with digital platforms.


Window on a new world

By Andrew Dickens

W

e might be in a so-called ‘golden age of television drama’ but what about the ‘golden age of windowing’? Doesn’t that particular artform deserve special recognition in its own right? Jim Packer, president of worldwide TV and digital distribution at U.S. studio Lionsgate, thinks so, and he maintains this new era has evolved from an ever-changing international TV landscape. “People don’t talk as much about the fact that we have probably created more windows or have changed our distribution patterns more in the last three years than we did in the previous six,” he says. “I’ll use our drama Manhattan as an example. Right after the show broadcast on WGN, it went over to Hulu in a two-day subscription video-ondemand [SVOD] window, something that just didn’t exist two years ago. “CBS did this with Under the Dome on a sevenday delay, but we pushed it even further. So there’s a lot going on with linear, on-demand, pay and free TV at the moment, and there are lots of ways to take advantage of content.” But Packer – who oversees Lionsgate’s roster of more than 30 TV shows, including multipleaward-winning Mad Men (originally on AMC) and Orange is the New Black on Netflix –

believes the demand for U.S. programming has been predominately affected by the rise of SVOD players, which are now competing with international broadcasters. “Many SVOD platforms are starting to buy content in first cycle, so the competitive field has gotten more aggressive,” he says. “It bodes well for shows that stand out and can break through the clutter; breakout programs that aren’t cookie-cutters are increasingly in demand.” Meanwhile, the globalization of the industry has also affected broadcasters’ requirements for U.S. content, Packer says. “If you look at the recent Gotham deal and others that have gone down, the competition is not coming from one country but from a global footprint,” he explains. Manhattan “As the SVOD platforms

expand, we have to look at the marketplace differently. We used to take it out in the U.S. and go country by country – now we have to think about multiple countries at the same time as we do a Netflix or Amazon sale in the U.S. It’s changed the windowing completely.” Packer doesn’t feel that the rise of local productions is usurping U.S. content from primetime, maintaining that there hasn’t been a “change in demand” internationally. Yet he does believe the rise of local programs has “changed the game over the last 10 years.” “For a while it was maybe a little bit more non-fiction and reality programming, but that has subsided and more resources are going into scripted material for local programs,” he says. “In some ways, local production has become even more important because if you get a big-hit U.S. show, it can serve as a very good lead-in for local productions. Also, you want to have a portfolio of successful shows so they all feed off one another, so I don’t think one is being disadvantaged over another.” Packer dismisses the idea that cable series are becoming too niche to sell to general broadcasters. “The stuff I would call Bs and Cs – the programs that used to be fillers for broadcasters – aren’t needed now,” he explains. “Broadcasters need as many successful qualitydriven shows as they can get. They also have an on-demand component of their offering, and that side has really shown resilience.” He also believes demand for local versions of Lionsgate shows is “not huge yet,” but adds: “We’ve just finished with a local version of Nurse Jackie that we’ve sold into a few territories and we are in discussion with others. We’re a young company, we haven’t been around for 50 or 60 years, so it takes a bit more time before you see those remakes being done.” For 2015, Packer’s big challenge will be to tap into territories that he claims are “not doing so well” in terms of program exports. “Russia’s a huge challenge now as it’s going through some changes,” he says. “We will also have to watch the changing regulations in China. You always have to be conscious of the changes taking place around the world.”

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PROFILE

Joe Uva 62

Follow Joe on Twitter: @Telemundo


Eye on the ball By Kevin Downey

O

n U.S. television, there’s no bigger underdog than the perpetually second place Spanish-language television network Telemundo, which on most days drums up less than half the viewers watching Univision. But now Telemundo is poised to dethrone its rival with Fifa international soccer games that start this year and, more importantly, include the quadrennial, month-long World Cup tournament, which was seen by 81 million viewers on Univision last summer. “This is truly transformative for Telemundo,” says Joe Uva, chairman of Hispanic enterprises and content at the channel’s parent NBCUniversal since April 2013. He was previously CEO at Univision. “For 30 days, we will have the biggest audiences you can possibly get. The key to making it transformative is what you do with that audience, including using the World Cup as a promotional platform for programming that will be in demand for tens of millions of viewers after the competition ends.” All the World Cup games will be streamed online and on mobile devices, as well as airing on Telemundo and its bilingual cable network Mun2, which will become NBC Universo next month. But Uva isn’t relying on just the World Cup to boost Telemundo’s fortunes. He is overseeing its complete transformation into what he hopes will be a top-rated network, with improved news programming as well as modern, fastpaced original primetime dramas that are geared to the 54 million Hispanics in the U.S. That overhaul is most

The soccer World Cup will play a key role in helping Telemundo to overtake its Spanish-language rival Univision, says Joe Uva, chairman of Hispanic enterprises and content at the channel’s parent, NBCUniversal. noticeable at 10 p.m., when it had been airing telenovelas five nights a week, each with up to 160 episodes. Telemundo has transformed that time slot with shorter-run series like Señora Acero (Steel Lady) with Blanca Soto, and its new Dueños del Paraíso (Owners of Paradise) with Kate del Castillo, who starred in Telemundo’s hit La Reina del Sur (The Queen of the South). “We call them ‘super series,’” says Uva. “They are faster-paced than classic novelas and they don’t necessarily follow the traditional love-triangle themes. These are themed around action and adventure with contemporary, edgier storylines.” The shows also don’t come to a complete stop at the end of the season, as traditional telenovelas do. El Señor de los Cielos (The Lord of the Skies), for instance, is now in production for its third season. Overall, Telemundo has averaged 1.2 million viewers in primetime this season through the end of November, down 6% year-to-year, based on Nielsen ratings. Its adult 18-49 rating was flat at 0.5. But in a three-month period in 2014 the broadcaster beat rival Univision among adults 18-

49 between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m., says Uva. “That started with El Señor de los Cielos and continued with Señora Acero. That is the first time that has ever happened.” Telemundo’s ‘super series’ are also airing in about 70 countries through its distribution arm, Telemundo Internacional. Meanwhile, Telemundo is also ramping up its newscasts, which in some markets generate Spanish-language TV’s best ratings. In November, the company announced it is adding a half-hour newscast at 5:30 p.m. on most of its stations, along with online editors, new sets and consumer investigation units. “That’s part of our overall strategy, to give viewers programming that resonates with them at a time when other networks are scaling back their local news,” says Uva. “In addition to adding a half-hour news, we are creating Telemundo Responde consumer units and investing in state-of-the-art weather coverage and sets, and upgrading our talent, in front of the camera and behind it.” Moreover, on Super Bowl Sunday on February 1, Telemundo will rebrand Mun2 as NBC Universo, which will air the Super Bowl XLIX that day in Spanish. All of these changes at Telemundo, Uva says, are designed to ensure that people watching the World Cup on Telemundo’s multiple platforms have plenty of reasons to come back. “Everything we are doing today is to get the company ready for the World Cup,” he says. This year, the perpetual underdog might have its day finally.

MAKE A DATE: Joe will be interviewed during the Global Navigators session Embracing the New Mainstream at 11:45 a.m. on Thursday in Glitter.

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3 SHOWS FROM CANADA TO WATCH NATPE Daily 2015 . Day 1 . January 20 Tweet your news #NATPE2015 and follow us @NATPE

Valerie Creighton

Follow Valerie on Twitter: @CMF_FMC

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Valerie Creighton, president and CEO of the Canada Media Fund, highlights the shows from north of the border she thinks reflect the changing international market.

O

ne of the best examples of a story from Canada set to do well internationally is Book of Negroes (6x60’, Entertainment One), which premiered to 1.8 million viewers on CBC earlier this month and will air on BET in the U.S. next month. As well as being a great historical drama full of hope and promise, it is a good example of our co-production strategy in that it involves multiple territories by virtue of its storyline, rather than simply bringing producers together for financial reasons. Co-production is certainly not new for the CMF, but we’re putting more emphasis on it nowadays. After all, Canada has official co-production treaties with 55-plus countries around the world. It’s key that producers from Canada and those countries come together in the development stage, rather than just when they’re looking for production finance, as it provides a more fertile ground for new ideas. There are many Canadian shows working well internationally, from Flashpoint and Murdoch Mysteries all the way to Vikings, Rookie Blue and Saving Hope, but one worth mentioning would be My Big Big Friend (104x11’, Breakthrough Entertainment, 2D Labs), an animated co-production between Canada and Brazil that’s just gone into its second season for Discovery Kids and Treehouse. Another interesting example is comedy series Corner Gas (107x30’, 335 Productions), which has aired on CTV and Comedy Network for six seasons, averaging between 1.2 and 1.5 million viewers, and last month a Corner Gas movie was released in Canada. The release was unique in that it combined theatrical, online, on-demand, DVD, merchandise and TV all at once. In 2015, we’ll continue with our co-productions, but try to be more flexible with our funding models and more content-centric, regardless of platform.

The Book of Negroes

Corner Gas

My Big Big Friend

10 GOLDEN RULES FOR…


Online and mobile video


Follow Mark on Twitter: @markterbeek

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Mark Terbeek, a partner at tech venture capital firm Greycroft Partners, based out of New York and Los Angeles, gives his 10 top tips for success in the online and mobile video sector.

1

Create interactivity between the storyteller and the audience. These days fans interact, they’re engaged, they comment. They even participate in the actual story by providing feedback and the smart publishers actually listen to that feedback in terms of future parts of the episodic narrative.

2

Remember, the online audience can play a huge role in the promotion of content. The smartest producers now are looking at digital not just as a platform that has different reach and different characteristics, but also as an opportunity to integrate into the story itself.

3

Short is beautiful. Typically, the content that catches on is in a shorter form to engage folk. The audience now expects not only fewer shows but also shorter episodes.

4

Act fast. Online content is now much faster; the action reaches the pay-off quicker. A lot of that is to do with the Attention Deficit Disorder nature of the younger audience, who are the ones who are watching the digital stuff.

5

Put your content on different platforms. Primarily, it’s YouTube and occasionally pay TV where there are television deals, but now you see guys producing on Instagram, Vine and even on Snapchat. The younger audience really responds to seeing stuff on the platforms they use day-to-day.

6

Don’t forget the studios. They’re fundamentally still great storytellers. One way they are entering online and mobile video is by putting up content, effectively advertising, on those online and mobile networks for tune-in campaigns for their broader shows, and that’s smart.

7

Buy or get bought. Acquisitions are really the way forward for the big studios. DreamWorks is the best example in its acquisition of AwesomenessTV. DreamWorks Animation targets a younger demo, and they were completely missing out on all these new platforms.

8

Hang on to your talent. The big studios are getting more aggressive. They are looking for talent that’s emerging on these new digital platforms and they’re going to try to incorporate that talent and pull them into their orbit.

9 10

AwesomenessTV high school comedy movie Expelled

Rocket Jump Studios’ web series Video Game High School

Learn from Machinima. The longer strategy for multi-channel networks [MCNs] is to become deeper, all-encompassing brands like Machinima. Machinima makes games so it can expand as a brand, not just as a YouTube MCN but also via smartphone apps on other platforms like Snapchat, Vine and Instagram.They’ll be everywhere and will mean something as a brand in many different places. Watch out for content creators who previously worked in the TV industry. That’s where the real cutting-edge stuff is coming from. Or from kids who started putting content on their YouTube channels. They natively understand this demographic. Video Game High School is an awesome example of that.

MAKE A DATE: Mark will be speaking in an Access to Insight session today at 10:30 a.m. in Glitter.

! 20 15 Sp ri ng fo r ew N

Visit us at NATPE Booth 312 www.peacepointrights.tv

Q&A WITH…


Michael Klein Follow Michael on Twitter: @CNE

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Turning a new page Michael Klein, Condé Nast Entertainment’s executive VP of programming and content strategy, digital channels, discusses the company’s strategy for converting its magazine brands for TV, film and the web. Tell us about your activities in expanding Condé Nast Entertainment (CNE)’s magazine brands to TV, film and web video. We’ve launched 14 digital channels based on our iconic brands [including Glamour, GQ, Wired, Vogue, TeenVogue, Vanity Fair, Style, Self, Allure, Golf Digest and Details]. Each channel offers a variety of programming – everything from documentary to comedy, animation, how-to, reality and scripted. We’ve also launched TheScene.com, a home for the best premium digital-first content from our channels, as well as partner channels. To date, we have produced well over 140 series. What are the issues and challenges involved in that work? None – it’s all about opportunity. Our audience comprises influential millennials at different life stages. For instance, the TeenVogue audience has different needs to the Glamour audience. Creating digital content allows you to have a conversation with the audience in a much more intimate way than television. They have a voice and they will let you know what they love and what they hate. What CNE series are in development and production for third-party TV channels? We have several projects, both scripted and non-scripted, in various stages with networks and studios, with a pipeline of well over 100 series in 2015. Examples include the Vogue/ CFDA fashion competition series The Fashion Fund, the second season of which has just wrapped up on Ovation TV. Our nonscripted series Vanity Fair Confidential also premieres in the first quarter of this year on Investigation Discovery. Geeks Who Drink is

a new trivia series for SyFy, that is premiering this year; and with The New Yorker Presents we partnered with executive producer Alex Gibney and Amazon Studios. The pilot premieres in early 2015. Real Deal, meanwhile, is a drama about an unlikely partnership between a female FBI agent and a con woman. Eva Longoria is producing this with us for CBS with CBS Studios. What is CNE’s monetization strategy overall? We are an adGeeks Who Drink supported network. We have our own proprietary video player and our content is syndicated through all of the major portals as well as our owned-and-operated sites and TheScene.com. Our syndication network includes AOL.com, Yahoo!, Twitter, Xbox, Roku, AppleTV and many more. Our audience for digital video content is the influential millennial.

What are the challenges in taking traditional print titles into TV, video and web content? All of our brands are so iconic that each raises expectations in the consumer’s mind, which informs our programming strategy for each channel. Also the brands are incredibly trusted and offer incredible access – from celebrities to worlds that few are ever allowed into. What are your international plans for CNE series? Our digital content is available internationally through our own websites, YouTube channels and other distribution partners. We plan to produce content for all of our magazine brands in the future.

How does that strategy differ for each title? Everything goes back to audience need, and consistency is key. For instance, we know the Wired audience has a hunger for content that speaks to the smart and tech-savvy person who wants to know what’s next. And we develop with those filters. The future is present on Wired. On GQ, we know our audience is primarily men looking for culture, lifestyle and storytelling that is sharp, smart and irreverent. And the strategy is working. Last year, we were nominated for an Emmy for our GQ documentary series Casualties of the Gridiron. And we have a hit with our animated series, Gentlemen Lobsters – because lobsters want to have style.

MAKE A DATE: Michael will be participating in the Game Changers session titled New Players, New Models: Exploring the New SVOD & OTT Platforms & Strategies today at 11:00 a.m. in the Fontaine Ballroom. He will also be interviewed in the Access to Insight session Digital Storytelling from an Iconic Brand tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. in Glitter.

BACKSTOP

Dave Morgan 70

T


Follow Dave on Twitter: @davemorgannyc

he TV ad industry is in for tumultuous times. Its audiences continue to fragment across shows, networks, day parts, days and devices, and this is accelerating. Nielsen data reveals that two-thirds of all TV viewing in the U.S. today occurs on shows rated below 0.5 – double what it was seven or eight years ago. Not only does this reduce sellable volume, but it also undermines TV’s predictability, accuracy, pricing leverage and efficacy. While TV’s total reach is at an all-time high, its failure to counteract fragmentation and evolve the way it buys, sells and measures spots has resulted in the typical TV campaign delivering nine times as much frequency per GRP as it did 20 years ago. This cannot last. Just as TV grapples with its audience issues, competition for video ad dollars is in the offing, as companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, AOL and Yahoo! invest billions in video ad content and technology. They may lack TV scale at the moment, but they do have advantages in targeting, measurement, interactivity, younger demographics and a certain sexiness in their offerings. Plus digital media companies have been building alliances with media agencies, so that buying digital can now be much more profitable for them than buying TV. If TV companies are to beat back the digital competition, it will be by learning from them and adopting digital approaches in their own ad businesses. TV companies need to become digital before digital companies become TV. What does taking a digital approach to TV advertising mean? At the least it means investing in data, embracing programmatic approaches and learning to market yourself all over again. Data is critical. TV companies today have little consumer data at scale and few skills to manage it if they had. Like legacy brands, they have relied on their distributors to deliver their content and ads and built their economics around limited pools of data that were largely out of their control. That is not the future. Today, companies like Google and Amazon are enterprises worth hundreds of billions of dollars largely built on data. For TV companies to win in that world, they will need to capture, store,


A digital direction Dave Morgan, CEO of ad tech firm Simulmedia, argues that when it comes to advertising, TV execs can learn from their digital cousins. analyze and act on massive data about their viewers, how and what they buy, and how advertising has influenced their behaviors. They will need to learn to sell brand campaigns not based on just media outputs like GRPs, but on real business outcomes derived by first- and third-party transaction data sets. As you would expect, creating a datadriven media enterprise will be as much about embracing datadriven people and processes as it will be about the data itself. Get ready for ‘programmatic’ buying. The word is certainly overused these days, and the idea that machine-to-machine trading, realtime bidding and dynamic ad delivery will rule TV anytime soon is far-fetched. However, it’s clear that key elements from the digital ad world – like automation, audiencebased, algorithmic interfaces and marketplaces – will find their way into the TV world soon. Who wouldn’t want to automate trafficking and make it cost-effective to access audiences on the thousands of smaller spots where most of TV’s audience now live? To complement content buys with guaranteed reach against specific audiences based on purchase behaviors? To coordinate buys across both digital and linear TV channels? What TV sellers wouldn’t rather ‘cherry-

package’ their spots than have them cherrypicked? It’s hard to argue that programmatic won’t come to TV soon. Digital ad companies are winning. Reading the trades, you’d believe no one watches scheduled TV anymore, that TV viewership is where newspaper circulation was 10 years ago, and that the few people who do watch dramas and comedies do so on tablets and mobile devices. Numbers tell a different story though. According to Nielsen, up to 95% of all video viewing still occurs on multi-channel TV packages, and the scale of TV shows and networks is unmatched by anything in digital video. The Big Bang Theory on CBS, for example, delivers more U.S. audience ad minutes in one episode than all of YouTube in an entire week. And while almost every U.S. home has TV, one-third of the country doesn’t have broadband – that’s 100 million people. So whether you’re Walmart or McDonalds, you can’t fill your stores unless you can reach those 100 million. Since the TV ad industry has not had real competition for years, it’s spent most of its time selling against itself. It has forgotten how important it is to give advertisers reasons to buy TV in the face of alternatives. Digital has no capacity to deliver the reach of TV. But like the tree that falls in the forest, if no one hears it, it didn’t make a noise. TV companies need to change that. TV companies are in for a lot of change, but their future is still in their hands. They either bring a digital approach to their advertising, or have it brought to them. It’s that simple.

The award-winning official NATPE Daily is published under contract by C21Media Ltd (www.c21media.net). Editor: Ed Waller. Reporters: Jonathan Webdale, Clive Whittingham, Andrew Dickens, Richard Middleton, Julian Blake, Nico Franks, Kevin Downey, Marc Berman, John Hazelton, Toni Sekinah. Chief sub editor: Gary Smitherman. Photographers: Simon Wilkinson, Vaughn Ridley. Head of production: Lucy Scott. NATPE Daily client contacts: Suzanne Gutierrez, Maria Moscowitz, Evie Silvers, Sheri Wish. NATPE executive liaison: Beth Braen, Natgeda Remy. Materials coordinator: Ayan Bhattacharyya. NATPE Daily client contacts (C21Media): Odiri Iwuji, Peter Treacher. Editor-in-chief & managing director, C21Media: David Jenkinson. Meet the NATPE Daily team in Plunge or email [email protected].