Online Video Executives Outline Moves, Views on Industry Tumult

Meanwhile, MTV is exploring e-commerce videos that could enable one-click buying, for instance, of an outfit seen on its Laguna Beach series, said Benjamin White, MTV digital media vp. And MSN is looking at how best to offer parental controls over video, including whether to simply incorporate the well-known MPAA movie ratings, Bennett said.

The TV industry -- like music a few years ago -- is breaking decades-old habits to experiment with radically new ways, Bennett said. “We really have no clue where people want to watch what,” Feiken admitted. John Papanek, senior vp & editorial dir. of ESPN New Media, said it’s clear the only appointment TV left is awards shows and big sports events, and the only other programming viewers feel a need to watch as broadcast is breaking news.

Web video’s on-demand nature “will radically change the way television is produced and broadcast,” Papanek predicted. Viewers are becoming accustomed to turning to the Web to catch up on anything missed on TV, he said. Already ESPN.com draws about 2.5 million people daily to watch highlights and other video clips, Papanek said. The ESPN TV network’s ratings have only grown, he said, comparing the dynamic to the success of Sports Illustrated, where he long worked, in capitalizing on the explosion of TV sports instead of getting wiped out by it.

Large-screen home TV viewing will persist as a passive recreational and social experience, such as sitting back to take in an NBA game or a Sopranos episode, Papanek said. But to watch all other situations that are developing, viewers will go to the Internet, including when they want respond to programming or communicate with friends mid-show, he said.

Broadcasters won’t have to put online all TV programs, said Papanek and Sling Media CEO Blake Krikorian. “There’s such a thing as too much,” Papanek said. And Internet TV won’t mean the death of current networks, Bennett said. “It’s as much about the brand as it is the content,” he said; with channels like ESPN and MTV, “there’s still a lot of value there.” But for the big broadcast networks, which are “just a hodgepodge of content, I think there will some evolution,” Bennett said. Papanek said: “It’s going to be harder and harder for the big media companies to maintain the same market share they've experienced.” But, Feiken said: “There’s always going to be a place for the creators of [video] content,” which means a place for networks as rights owners.

MTV Digital Media Vp Benjamin White predicted TV viewing will occur as a spectrum of types, with “many hybrids” of traditional and new consumption, and home viewing coming to resemble what people are used to on the Web. An MTV test points to future possibilities -- although requiring use of a computer with a TV -- by putting online a 12-min. version of a Total Request Now interview with Mariah Carey while the TV network ran a short version followed by a video starring the singer. “You get a deeper dive with an artist you really love,” White said. The whole package needs to be on one screen, controlled with one remote, Bennett said; then “the TV experience is just going to be that much more engaging than what you do today.”

It’s wrong to think simply of an evolution of video from broadcast TV to new media, Feiken said: “It’s so much bigger than that.” The nature of the Internet and how users weave it into their lives mean Internet video will alter how people online communicate, as e-mail did, she said. “It’s sort of a 3-dimensional explosion that’s going to happen,” Feiken said, with sharing, communication and participation changing TV’s nature. Kids routinely instant message and browse the Web while watching TV, giving broadcasters a golden opportunity to reel them in as loyal viewers by combining those communication forms, Krikorian said.

“I'm interested in seeing advertisers use online video effectively, instead of just repurposing their TV commercials,” Papanek said. Bennett said MSN, which in 2004 began the Web’s first-ad supported video portal, has insisted on low-key commercials on the principle that they must be high-quality and “naturally part of the show” for online viewers to tolerate “preroll and interstitial ads.” But ad sponsors’ payoff is that theirs is the only commercial between sets of 3 or 4 videos -- instead of one in a group of ads in frequent “pods” during TV shows -- meaning much more viewer attention, Bennett said. Advertisers often act as if they can simply order up something “viral” that works online, without appreciating the difficulties, Feiken said.

The line between programming and ads already is blurring from the user-creator side. Google has been surprised by the popularity of user-produced product testimonials, some slick enough to “pass as an advertisement” made professionally on behalf of a company, Feiken said. The messages are credible “because no money is changing hands,” she said: “Right now, there’s a purity about it.” It will be interesting to see how that changes as the medium becomes commercial, Feiken said.

Another “sweet spot for Google” has been educational video, such as footage of the first moon landing or from World War II newsreels, Feigen said. Many popular works come from collections such at the National Archives and the Academy of TV Arts & Sciences Foundation, which includes celebrity interviews, she said.

User-generated content is a big industry buzzword, but it won’t work for everyone, said MTV’s White. It’s a natural for MTV, so “we're going to jump into it full speed,” he said. The firm is priming the pump for user-generated applications. Its college operation, MTVu, teamed with Cisco to hand out grants to contest winners, including $25,000 to the originator of a proposal for college students to pose their problems to a social network, to be answered in a format -- such as animation -- suggested by those providing the questions.

Many in the TV industry saw Slingbox as the “Antichrist,” but some are starting to come around, Sling Media CEO Blake Krikorian said. He said executives at CNN told him his device -- which lets people watch remotely over a broadband device whatever is on a TV or PVR -- would wreck the Pipeline premium streaming service because they “were trying to target the [at-]work professional” who could now get CNN itself, free, using his box. But Krikorian said TV viewing over Slingbox provides a perfect opportunity for broadcasters to sell viewers on-demand or richer programming, such as director’s cuts and behind-the-scenes material on popular shows, online. “It’s really additive” to broadcasters’ and producers’ businesses, Krikorian said.