Power Agent Says Monetizing Content Trumps Ratings

Ari Emanuel

For a top talent agent whose clients would seem to benefit from how widely known they are, Ari Emanuel offered a somewhat contrary view Thursday at a cable conference. Commenting on the decline of TV ratings, Emanuel suggested that as long as advertisers continue to pay networks more, dollars will trickle down to the stars he represents.

"Who gives a sh*t about the ratings?" he said.

For years, pricing moved in inverse proportion to ratings. As viewership went down, CPMs still went up. "Except for this recession period," Emanuel said.

But the CEO of William Morris Endeavor Entertainment indicated the less-supply-more-demand dynamic will return for the networks. This summer's upfront will be a benchmark.

Emanuel made his comments during a wide-ranging "future of media" panel discussion. Early on, he said that "television shouldn't be a definition any longer." He allowed that "premium content" matters and his job is to find ways to monetize it wherever it appears.

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An intriguing topic was how stars with massive followings on Twitter -- notably Ashton Kutcher -- might be able to financially capitalize. Emanuel said finding a Pepsi or McDonald's to attach their brands could be one model.

"Sometimes, it's the best economics for my client to go directly to the consumer, whether it's Twitter or Facebook," he said.

Showtime CEO Matthew Blank, who joined Emanuel on the panel, offered that Twitter is a potent marketing tool, but didn't specify any direct economic advantages. Still, programming tailored to some social-media properties could be a moneymaker.

"Social media has all kinds of ways to extend Ari's world of celebrity in terms of access to the consumer," he said.

Evan Williams, Twitter's founder, said his platform "drives interest, drives discovery." Rankings of the most popular topics being discussed inevitably turn to TV each night during prime time.

During TV viewing, Williams suggested, real-time Twitter commentary could help resuscitate TV's role as a connector. "It really thrives with live events," he said. "It can bring back these shared events that everyone enjoys together."

Blank didn't disagree, saying Twitter, Facebook and other platforms are outlets for people hungry for connections. Several years ago, Showtime created a separate social-media unit within its digital marketing team.

"I don't think in a couple of years we'll be talking about social media discretely anymore," noted Blank.

Williams said: "Our goal is to make people's lives better, and we think we'll make a lot of money doing that."

1 comment about "Power Agent Says Monetizing Content Trumps Ratings".
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  1. Andrew Crowley from ggiyt, May 14, 2010 at 9:24 a.m.

    “Who gives a sh*t about ratings?” as a sponsor, I would. Ratings with demographics will always be important. Why would a beer manufacturer want to advertise on Glee when the demographics are under 25 years of age? Sure Nielsen has a flawed system in place and that is what everyone is using right now. There are other rivals that will give much more accurate results. Mr. Emanuel’s statement couldn’t be more inaccurate.

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