Our co-founder Ron Eigen will be moderating a panel at this years Digital Hollywood Fall in Santa Monica -
The panel is on Thursday the 30th at 12:50, so if you are attending the conference, stop by. Track IV:
Strategizing the Campaign: Selling Movies, TV and Video on the Web, Social Media, Mobile and TV David Straus, Chief Executive Officer, WITHOUTABOX Mike Fitzsimmons, CEO and Founder, Delivery Agent Terry Dry, President, Fanscape, Inc. Liz Jones, Vice President of Media & Entertainment, The Hyperfactory Albin Reif, Founder and CCO, 65 Media Craig Hill, CEO, Digital Outlook Jenny Wall, President, Crew Creative Ron Eigen, Partner, Diligent, Moderator
Currently, Jambo Media delivers more than 2 million daily video plays and supports video on more than 120 web sites and growing on a weekly basis. Diligent, has partnered with Jambo to produce event content for the distributor.
In the world of online video, is every view equal? How do we measure success as marketers continue to tap online video as a new marketing and PR medium? As PR and marketing agencies begin to integrate social media into their campaign roadmaps, how does online video fit in? Which leads the campaign—format or content? This session will discuss campaigns that have worked as well as ones that have tanked, and seeks to discern what the consumer is really watching.
Recently, Ron Eigen – one of Diligent’s partners spoke on a panel as part of Digital Hollywood’s Building Block’s conference in San Jose. Here’s Ron’s thoughts on the event:
-Good times and Good People. The panel on which I spoke – All Video-All the Time: Next Generation in Media Technologies – Broadband and Mobile – Content & Advertising was fun. Michael Goodman, Director of Digital Entertainment for the Yankee Group was the Moderator and did a really good job of keeping the conversation flowing. Also on the panel were: Chris Hock, Senior Vice President, Product Management, BlackArrow, Brendon Mills, CEO, RipCode, Rajeev Raman, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, mywaves, and Jackie Danicki, Director of Marketing, Qik
We discussed where some of the opportunities in the online video world lay, and also, where some of the red-herrings might be. A common point was the elusive nature of monetizing User Generated Content, while branded content and syndication of professional content were seen as opportunities.
An interesting question was posed towards the end of the discussion which asked which tact is better from a content owner’s perspective, syndicating one’s content out to as many platforms as possible or keeping it at one destination?
Both models are in use at the moment to varying degrees of success. The “hyper-syndication” model is currently in use by studios like Crackle, Next New Networks, My Damn Channel, and 60 Frames. The goal is to get the content out to as many places as possible, and then aggregate the views in order to sell advertising across all of that viewership.
The competing approach, is being experimented with by Josh Wheeden with his new Dr. Horrible series. The goal here is to control the traffic by limiting accessibility, and only giving one channel through which users can buy the content. In this case, that one channel has received so much traffic that it has actually been overloaded (Flood of Fans Crashes Dr. Horrible Website).
“So far, the first installment, or act, has been wildly popular, outpacing shows like Lost, The Wire and The Daily Show to rank No. 1 on the iTunes list of most popular television series.”
I guess that means the approach is working. Unfortunately, not all brands share the draw that Mr. Wheeden does, and often brands attempting microsites or viral videos get lost in the shuffle without proper seeding or media buys.
It will be interesting to follow both these models as they are experimented with. Also, a new model championed by Google that is entering the game will be exciting to watch. The model takes advantage of their AdSense network by targeting viewers who might be the audience for a web show. The web show in the case of Google’s first attempt in the game of original content is being created by Family Guy Creator – Seth MacFarlane (NY Times Article on the deal) and should be a hit. Although what justifies a hit may now be changing as new metrics must be designed for new mediums.
All in all, the discussion during the panel was fun and raised probably as many questions as were answered. I look forward to continuing the conversation, learning more, and seeing where things go. As new models and trends emerge through experimentation in the world of online and mobile video it will be exciting to see how things shape out. I can’t wait for Digital Hollywood 2050 when we’re all complaining about how to monetize brain waves.
In other news, CBS’s hit show “The Amazing Race” was nominated for a 60th Annual Primetime Emmy Award in the Outstanding Reality-Competition program category. Diligent partner, Gabriel Landau, produced on this year’s nominated season!
Ground Zero has launched a quirky and multifaceted California-only campaign for Parrot, a France-based provider of wireless communications technology. The work is timed to coincide with the state’s new hands-free cellphone driving mandate. Along with billboards and radio spots, the effort includes elements such as viral videos, wild postings, fake “parrot droppings” on cars and a letter-writing push on parrotsnotquails.com that jokingly attempts to persuade Gov. Schwarzenegger to impeach the California state bird (the quail) in favor of the parrot. The campaign points out in tongue-in-cheek fashion that the quail, after all, has held office for 77 years and garnered no measurable results. –Gregory Solman
For all you Diligent blog enthusiasts out there, here’s an update from our Summer 2008 calendar of events and happenings.
Diligent Partner Ron Eigen will be appearing at the Building Blocks 2008 Seminar, a Digital Hollywood Event, in San Jose, CA on August 5, 2008. Ron will be speaking on the “All Video, All the Time: Next Generation in Media Technologies” panel.
Click HERE for more information on the Building Blocks panel.
Digital Hollywood debuted in 1990 and has been among the leading trade conferences in its field with over 15,000 top executives in the film, television, music, home video, cable, telecommunications and computer industries attending the various events each year. Digital Hollywood, Inc., in conjunction with CEA Consumer Electronics Association,is sponsoring and producing the event.
In other news, Diligent continues its development on a new interactive installation with the Natural History Museum.
The installation is set to open Dec. 19th and will use multimedia delivery to bridge the gap between the overwhelming amount of artifacts and the individual stories and meanings behind each of them.
And last, but certainly not least, we’re now listed at LosAngeles.com under the business media section. Click HERE for our listing.
Keep checking back for updates this Summer, as we’ve got lots of interesting and exciting projects in the works!
For those of you keeping score at home, here’s a quick numbers update on one of the Parrot viral videos we launched on You Tube earlier this week. The video follows our favorite student driver Johnny as he learns how to drive with five different instructors. Here’s the video.
It’s titled “Kid fails driving test 5 times in a day” featuring Johnny.Here are the stats the video has racked up this week: #6 Top Favorited Entertainment Video, #15 Most Viewed Entertainment Video, #19 Top Rated Entertainment Video. Keep sending the video to your all friends and help us move all the way to number one! ClickHERE for the official Parrot web site.
Our co-founder Ron Eigen will be moderating a panel at this years Digital Hollywood Fall in Santa Monica -
Great news….We were just notified that the video we produced for the Captain Morgan for President 2008 campaign was showcased on FoxNews!
Recently, Ron Eigen – one of Diligent’s partners spoke on a panel as part of Digital Hollywood’s Building Block’s conference in San Jose. Here’s Ron’s thoughts on the event:
The competing approach, is being experimented with by Josh Wheeden with his new
It will be interesting to follow both these models as they are experimented with. Also, a new model championed by Google that is entering the game will be exciting to watch. The model takes advantage of their AdSense network by targeting viewers who might be the audience for a web show. The web show in the case of Google’s first attempt in the game of original content is being created by Family Guy Creator – Seth MacFarlane 
