And now more digital platforms and services for professional TV content: Sounds like boom days for creative types -- in theory.
Ex-CBSer Nancy Tellem is joining Microsoft Studios to do just that for the growing omnipresent Xbox platform/device, leading the
charge to start up a new production company in Los Angeles.
New video content on different platforms comes from long and short duration video for YouTube, Yaho!, Google, Hulu, as
well as branded websites everywhere, and other online independent sites. And then we have all of mobile to consider. And subscription video-on-demand like Netflix and Hulu Plus. Did I forget to
mention out-of-home, digital radio, in-theater, and/or my new holographic machine... (Wait... that's not real!)
All this would seemingly be great news for creators/TV producers
and of course, marketers.
We all know there is a lot to consider in this world of media fractionalization. It’s better to have more kinds of video, right? Yes, when
it can be targeted to the right people. So then we talk about return on investment -- for content owners, for marketers -- and we can get into trouble.
Right now one of the
biggest issues has to do with the issue of media "fractionalization," which works opposite "scale." With good scale you get more attempts to get to those people you really want.
Want to get some viral video going? Sure. That'll get to a couple of million views. But will that mean paying customers somewhere in connection with that video? Someone is buying Old
Spice somewhere -- smelling like a man should. Maybe a bar of soap will do.
That's why all this addressable advertising talk in the traditional TV world is still important--
especially for marketers and their media agencies.
TV/video creators should be modestly overjoyed that the likes of Xbox looks to expand its production efforts. But how much of
this stuff will actually mean something down the road? Better still, how much of this stuff will create any valuable library of material.
The development phase of new digital
video platforms seems to be still in development.