Digital executives at
TV networks say they are diving into different platforms -- from Web video to social media to mobile -- to connect with audiences wherever they are. They have embraced the "Splinternet," the term
recently coined by Forrester analyst Josh Bernoff to describe the fragmentation of media across a multitude of gadgets.
But the willingness to chase consumers across TVs, DVRs, smartphones
and tablets raises a host of questions about building new business models to fit the fractured media landscape, according to a panel Wednesday at the Media Summit in New York titled "Hollywood and the
Digital Consumer."
For the most part, digital bosses from MTV, the forthcoming Oprah Winfrey Network and NBC suggested they have gone well beyond Web pages in tackling the ever-shifting online
frontier. Even Oprah fans -- who are not to be confused with the early-adopter crowd -- gravitate toward interactive efforts like periodic live Web broadcasts of the daytime show, according to Robert
Tercek, president of digital media for OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. "We've discovered our audience has a tremendous appetite for this-- almost an unquenchable thirst," he said.
And when the
Oprah Winfrey Network launches in 2011, it will carry over a built-in digital audience. "We have this incredible opportunity of launching this TV network from the ground up, so we'll start with a
digital presence that's pretty big," said Tercek, rather than adding an online unit as an afterthought.
Greg Clayman, head of digital distribution and business development at MTV Networks,
pointed to the network's participation in the Hope for Haiti telethon, which in addition to airing on dozens of TV networks tapped into popular social media properties like Facebook and Twitter to
raise more than $65 million for Haiti.
The panelists also agreed that while search is still a key traffic driver, more and more users are coming to their sites via social media outlets. "Search
is like a Yellow Pages listing -- you still have to have it," said Tercek, adding that social networking sites are now among Oprah.com's top ten referring sites.
And even traditionally
conservative marketers like insurance companies are turning to social media to reach younger potential customers. To that end, State Farm sponsored the latest music video from YouTube sensation OK Go,
featuring a giant Rube Goldberg contraption that took engineers four months to build.
"It went crazy viral," said Lewis Henderson, CEO of marketing firm Davie Brown Entertainment, which worked
with State Farm to arrange the sponsorship and word-of-mouth marketing specialist Fanscape to drive engagement for the video. "It shows just how content and brands can work together to create win/win
strategies." What tangible benefits the effort will bring to State Farm, whose logo is seen before and after the video, aren't yet clear.
When the discussion turned to devices, the digital
specialists assembled were also upbeat on the prospects for the iPad. "Apple starts in this new tablet battlefield with a tremendous advantage with all the apps it already has," noted Tercek. And the
fact that developers can create new iPhone apps that also run on the iPad gives Apple an additional edge over competing tablet devices looking to attract developers to their own platforms, he added.
Asked by moderator Ira Rubenstein of Marvel Entertainment what he expects people to be talking about at next year's Media Summit, obvious Apple enthusiast Clayman responded with: "How magical
iPad apps are." He indicated that the fact that the device will not support Flash is something MTV can work around in creating apps or other content for the iPad.
Pushing onto new platforms,
however, has also raised new questions for big media companies about how to monetize emerging digital outlets while maintaining traditional revenue streams. Ron Lamprecht, who leads sales and business
development for NBCU Digital Distribution, suggested that as more people watch shows on a DVR, the discounted ad rates for that viewing will make ad-supported streaming video an increasingly
attractive business. "There is a path there -- from the DVR perspective, where they're moving closer to parity," he said. Unlike commercials on the DVR, viewers typically can't skip those shown in
online videos.