• by P.J. Bednarski , Staff Writer @pjbtweet, May 2, 2017

NEWFRONTS DIARY: One of the weirder buzz phrases in the streaming biz is the “shiny new thing” marketing. Everything new gets its day but as online video matures a bit, there’s a bit of settling going on, too.

Witness Conde Nast Entertainment. For an old line magazine publisher, it was a pretty radical idea a few years ago when television exec Dawn Ostroff arrived (from top programming jobs at  Lifetime, CBS and the CW).  In 2013 she created the CNE digital video network to hold those marvelous, monied magazine titles. She bunched them on one site, The Scene.  

The digital video world has exploded since then.

Conde Nast Entertainment has been propelled, not obliterated by the blast. The Scene seemed at first to be almost a warehouse for Conde Nast magazine fare. Now, Ostroff says, “It’’s come into its own. It’s where people go.” It produces its own videos while otherwise Conde Nast has redirected some magazine titles in part through the CNE sites.

Teen Vogue has turned itself around, in print and via CNE and become political. Keith Olbermann’s daily tweeted broadsides toward Donald Trump have given big exposure to GQ, and Olbermann itself, just as Teen Vogue’s Lauren Duca “Thigh High Politics” has done.

A lot of CNE’s success has come via mobile and social, which were hardly anything near what they are now when Ostroff joined.

“I was talking to my son over breakfast, marveling how fast things change,” Ostroff said a few days ago. “He said, ‘I know mom. I’m 17. I’m going through it too.” But, as Ostroff relates, he really doesn’t know how fast the pace is. It’s the only pace he knows.

Oddly (and happily for Conde Nast, I’d suppose) the video unit is now drawing viewers may have never seen the magazines they’re based on. That’s fine. And as fears about brand safety float around, expect CNE to tout the integrity of its titles at its NewFront presentation this afternoon. Conde Nast Entertainment under Ostroff is not a bright new shiny object. But it’s still pretty bright.

FROM THE TWITTERVERSE: Likewise, at Twitter’s first ever NewFronts presentation Monday night, after it announced the 16 or 17 new video projects and partnerships, Matt Derella, vice president for global revenue,  subtly referenced the ad safety issue, too. He reminded advertisers that in its new live video sports and news projects, advertisers “will know what your content will run next to,” a slap at YouTube and other online sites where advertisers have found themselves aligned with skinheads or worse.

Ben Silverman, the well-known TV producer and former NBC programming exec, bounded on stage to hype his new Twitter “show,” ‘What’s Happening” (which is sort of Twitter’s motto, but not posed as a question but as its unique position.)
The simple, and somehow never-exploited idea is to gather together the best or weirdest or zaniest tweets of the day into a best-of digest. Silverman said on stage that he’s been pitching this idea to Twitter for the last six years. I asked him about that later and he said he wasn’t kidding, but said Twitter didn’t do it because it still wasn’t into video back then. It’s exactly what Twitter needs--a fast daily ‘best-of” spot that could help sell the idea of Twitter to people too daunted to try it. Breakout comedian Phoebe Robinson will host.

Twitter’s founder Jack Dorsey ended the evening with his own quixotic comments that nonetheless seemed to touch the audience because of its odd sincerity. Probably with the exception of Yahoo, no well well known digital space has been more scrutinized and criticized in the last four or five years than Twitter. Dorsey seemed to acknowledge that, and in the “140 seconds” he said he was allotted for his remarks, he thanked the audience for attending Twitter’s event rather than Met Gala, and then, earnestly, promised them that Twitter was on its way to once again do things “to make you proud.” You don’t contrite pledges like that every day at NewFronts.

IT'S M-I-C, NOT M-A-K: I missed the Disney/Maker Studios NewFront this morning. Actually, I almost missed the Maker Studios altogether, even in press material. The advance press release only mentions Maker Studios once. The talk instead was about the Disney Digital Network.  

I don’t care. I’m just sayin.’ This ain’t the digital network that PewDiePie built. This is where Mickey Mouse and "Star Wars" lives.

“The network, which reaches over one billion followers, is made up of distinct editorial voices, more than 300 social media channels that bring The Walt Disney Company’s characters and stories to social feeds, and a curated set of Maker creators and influencers.,” the press release says  (with the aforementioned Maker reference.) “The network also includes Disney’s in-house branded content service, Disney Co/Op. “

The Disney Digital network includes (straight from the release):

• Oh My Disney, the ultimate digital destination for a daily dose of Disney, capturing the zeitgeist of what is happening in the moment through a Disney lens.

• Disney Style, which explores the intersection of beloved Disney stories and characters with what’s trending in fashion, nail art, hairstyles, cosmetics, and more.

• Disney Family brings parents and children together through the wonderful world of Disney crafts, DIYs, recipes, and activities featuring their favorite characters and stories.

• Babble, which has assembled some of the most vital and vibrant voices in the parenting community to share their experiences and give readers a forum to bond and learn.

• Polaris, which features original content from a community of gaming personalities, including a mix of talk shows, animation, and games-to-life content, in a tone that reflects gaming culture’s broad influence over popular culture.

• Star Wars.com and Star Wars app, the digital destinations for all things Star Wars. The network programs content for Star Wars fans of all ages through Star Wars social and digital platforms.

Variety today wrote, Maker Studios was once a sprawling agglomeration of some 60,000 YouTube channels. Now Disney, which has owned Maker since 2014, has dramatically pared back the unit’s focus — aiming to better align a roster of under 1,000 Maker creators with Disney’s family-safe brand and corporate objectives.”

With apologies to fans of Ken Kesey, either you’re a cast member or you’re cast off.

As you’ll recall, Disney paid around $675 million (that figure varies) to acquire Maker Studios in 2014. The thrill was gone, fast. PewDiePie’s less than hilarious anti-Semitic jokes didn’t help but lots of people wondered from the get go how a multi-channel network business s can cut it when YouTube takes a chunk of the revenue right off the top.

pj@mediapost.com