CT Digital Media Business Network blogs

Wrap - the breakfast roundtable on print-to-digital

ctmedia — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:37:49 +0000

We had a terrific breakfast roundtable discussion last Friday with 24 executives focusing on how traditionally print companies are transitioning to digital media business models.

Ben Edwards, EVP and Publisher of The Economist Online (http://www.economist.com/) kicked off the disucssion along with some insights into how The Economist is capturing more digital media potential. Owen Nieberg of Overbrook Consulting (http://www.overbrookconsultinginc.com/) then presented a case study of a traditional print company moving into the digital space and Peg North provided some insights into how different demographics have diferent usage patterns with print and digital media..

We will be writing up and publishing the notes from the discussion shortly.

Speaker Update

ctmedia — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 11:59:30 +0000

Connecticut is home to some of the world's top media companies. Their senior digital media executives will be joining us for the 2009 conference. Joining us will be Brian Kalinowski, EVP of Digital Media at the WWE, Steve Ronson, EVP of Enterprise at A&E Television Networks, and John Zehr, SVP of Digital Production at ESPN.

The conference panels are a Q&A conversation format designed for maximum audience participation. So this is your chance to interact directly with some of the top digital media executives nationally (who happen to work in Connecticut).

The 2009 CT Digital Media Business Conference

Pictures from the Summer 2009 Networking Event at Alive @ 5

ctmedia — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:36:02 +0000

We had a terrific networking event last night with over 50 people eating, drinking, networking and listening to Sugar Ray (thank you to Robinson & Cole for hosting us). Everyone had a great time and the concert was a big success. Here are the pictures to prove it...

Digital MediaMeasurement and Monetization Roundtable Notes

ctmedia — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:11:05 +0000

We have our final notes from the recent roundtable on digital media measurement and monetization (the full document is at the bottom). The debate, led by Bruce Haymes, SVP of product for Nielsen, focused on a number of questions and potential solutions raised by roundtable participants. Key discussion points were as follows:

One of the biggest challenges in the ability to measure and monetize digital media is not an issue of technology, but rather the way in which the industry has been discussing the challenge itself. An accurate, smart discussion is needed in order to move toward effective solutions.

• The tendency to focus on engagement and behavioral targeting can prove to be a double-edged sword, as these are not always the most effective approaches

o The predominate industry conversation often confuses several areas, thus more care needs to be taken in the discussion of when it is more appropriate to spend money on branding versus direct marketing/response as well as instances when those initiatives and expenditures should be combined.

o The continuation of mass media is necessary to realize the full monetary potential of online media, thus the preservation of mass media is imperative

• The concept of branded networks such as those available on television may prove a successful model for online media as well

• TV can be perceived as a walled garden that delivers controlled, predictable targets, while the web has a significantly more fragmented and demographically diverse audience. This is not likely to change.

• In order to fully monetize digital media, measurement firms must find a way to determine audience behavior across all digital media

Digital Media Measurement and Monetization Roundtable Notes

Producers Guild of America learns about Connecticut

ctmedia — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:39:55 +0000

The Producers Guild of America, with support by CT Digital Media, helped produce last week's panel on film production in Connecticut. The PGA event, held at The Samsung Experience (a great gadget fest - go and enjoy) at The Time Warner Center, had dozens of producers in attendance hearing about the opportunities for film and TV production in Connecticut.

A terrific turnout for The Future of Video Production

ctmedia — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:10:20 +0000

I'd like to thank Palace Digital Studios for hosting the networking evening and panel on the future of video production. They not only provided a great space, but delicious food and a very lively speaker (Chris Campbell of Palace). I'd also like to thank panelist Nick Dager of Digital Cinema Report and Kevin Segalla of CT Film Center.

We had a terrific turnout of over 70 people and some great questions for the panel. Palace Digital recorded the discussion and we will post that video shortly.

Our next event is a breakfast roundtable discussion on how measurement will help better monetize digital media across all three screens. You can registere in the events section.

Are You a Genius or Do You Have a Genius?

ThomasClifford — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:55:10 +0000

Being a genius vs. having a genius.

We can think of ourselves as being a genius or can we re-frame the creative process by thinking we have a genius.

What an incredible insight.

And that's the premise of "Eat, Pray, Love" author, Elizabeth Gilbert, in her TED presentation.

Elizabeth addresses two fascinating questions in this powerful, thought-provoking speech at TED:

1. As artists and creative people, "how do we create a safe distance between who we are and our anxiety about what the reaction will be to our next work"?

2. Are there models from other cultures on "how to help creative people manage the inherent emotional risks of creativity"?

Where did her search take her? To ancient Greece and ancient Rome where having a genius (and not being called a genius) was integrated into the artist's work.

My favorite part of her talk is about half-way through where she focuses on re-framing the creative process:

"And then the Renaissance came and everything changed and we had this Big Idea and the Big Idea was let's put the human being at the center of the universe, above God and all mysteries. There's no more room for like mystical creatures who take dictation from the divine. And it's the beginning of rational humanism, and people started believing creativity came completely from the self of the individual."

"And for the first time in history you start to hear people referring to this or that artist as being a genius rather than having a genius. And I gotta tell ya, I think that was a huge error. I think allowing somebody, like one mere person, to believe that he or she is like the vessel, the font, and the essence and the source of all divine, creative, unknowable, eternal mystery is just like a smidge too much responsibility to put on one, fragile human psyche. It's like asking somebody to swallow the sun. It just completely warps and distorts egos and it creates all these unmanageable expectations about performance. And I think the pressure of that has been killing off our artists for the last 500 years."

Elizabeth then leaves us with this important question:

Isn't there another way for us humans to relate to the creative mystery?

No matter what field you are in, stop everything. Take 20 minutes. Grab some tea. This is really inspiring and a "must watch" presentation.

What do you think?

---Tom

Presentation on Demystifying the Media

ctmedia — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 13:27:43 +0000

I gave a talk at for the Entrepreneurial Woman's Network Connecticut Chapter yesterday. I thought some of you might appreciate the presentation. There's a lot of good data on what people are and are not doing online as well as some ideas of how you should be thinking about the media for your business.

Peer Group - Marketing and PR Professionals

Digital media public policy roundtable notes now available

ctmedia — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:35:04 +0000

You can now download the notes from the February 11 digital media public policy roundtable in Hartford, CT. The roundtable attracted a wide variety of more than 40 public and private sector leaders seeking to understand how to build a permanent digital media industry in Connecticut and generate high-quality jobs during an unprecedented economic crisis.

The notes, which can be downloaded as a PDF file below, outlines how public policy will impact businesses, jobs and careers, small business owners and entrepreneurs looking for business opportunities that result from industry public policies, educators seeking to develop a qualified workforce, and legislators and other public policy decision-makers seeking to create jobs and diversify Connecticut’s economy,

Participants focused both on the significant near term jobs and revenue growth potential of the digital media sector and identified the necessary components needed to realize growth in Connecticut with two key components standing out: the importance of the tax credit and the need to create a sustainable and qualified workforce. Here's a summary from the download:

DISCUSSION SUMMARY

Digital media, which includes film, television, digital animation, visual effects and video game development, is a source of high paying jobs even when other parts of the economy weaken
The three pillars to building the digital media industry are maintaining an attractive tax credit, providing education and training and building a sustainable workforce

Public policy must maintain and build upon Connecticut’s current momentum in the sector
Connecticut has developed its infrastructure and now needs to develop the workforce critical to attracting companies and building a sustainable industry

KEY FINDINGS AND TOPICS

A Growing Industry with Huge Potential:

Digital media, which includes film, television, digital animation, visual effects and video game development, is a source of high paying, high-tech jobs in an industry with increasing importance growth in the global economy
The digital media industry is recession proof and is one of the few still expanding at a double-digit rate today – the video game sector alone grew 23% nationally last year, generating $22 billion in revenue
Digital media industry growth will explode as the previously disparate components of media conduits and content continue to converge at a rapid pace – film; television; video games; desk top and laptop computers; mobile devices; magazines; newspapers, the web and social media
The industry’s model for cost recovery is much less than traditional media production and distribution, which will bode well for the acceleration of growth, profitability and job creation

Download the full report below for more.

Digital Media Public Policy

Notes from the Connected TV Roundtable

ctmedia — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:17:38 +0000

I've attached the notes from our January 30th roundtable on the connected TV. We had a very lively discussion with about two dozen exectives. You can download the PDF of the notes below. Here is a summary of the discussion:

The discussion began with a focus on the Connected TV. With comments by several participants including Steve Ronson of A&E, David Jack of Yahoo!, Liam Wright of Beeing and Scott Berry of Digitalics, the forum expanded to encompass discussion of the future of media consumption and monetization as well as how the TV connects with PC-based Web and mobile media.

The follow key statistics highlighted the points about the potential for the connected TV.

Heavy Internet users watch 30 more hours of TV per year than do non Web users (Nielsen 2008)
31% of in-home online activity occurs at the same time the user is watching TV (Nielsen 2008)
10.2 million people watched the Obama inauguration online through two content delivery networks (37.8 million watched it on TV) (Nielsen, Akamai and Limelight)
8-12 year olds were involved with media for 60 hours a week, as a result of their use of more than one device at a time (source was a roundtable participant’s research).

KEY TOPICS OF DISCUSSION

The connected TV and an on-demand viewing experience will serve as compliment to, not a replacement for, the more traditional, programmed approach. According to the general consensus, the programmed TV schedule not only remain, but may even be strengthened by Web 2.0 behavior such as social networking
Social networking will impact marketing and advertising but it may take the television, not the web by itself, to make that happen
Content will remain king, but the challenge will be to figure out how to monetize it in different viewing environments (three screens, social network integration)
The synergies and opportunities around three screens – TV, computer and mobile – won’t be fully realized until they start to work together, however the mobile device, not the living room box, may become the hub
The time frame for mainstream adoption of the connected TV and the realization of synergies between the three screens will be 5-7 years

The Connected TV