Stephen King

It's Not TV, It's Web TV A scene from the 25-episode Web series "Stephen King's N."

Correction Appended

When I think about Web series, I tend to think: Well, I can go to Hulu.com and watch "Lou Grant" free. Why would I watch "Ask a Ninja" or "Hardly Working"?

That's grossly unfair and reflects, unflatteringly, my age and generally mainstream taste. It's also true. If someone were making "Seinfeld" right now and putting it online a week at a time, I'd be there. (If I somehow stumbled onto its existence.)

But as my colleague Virginia Heffernan pointed out in The New York Times Magazine on Aug. 24, serialized Web shows are popping up faster than ever, partly as a result of the recent writers' strike. (She has posted a handy list of current series at her blog, themedium.blogs.nytimes.com.) And the television industry, hedging its bets, is heavily involved in the format, even if the most notable results so far - remember "quarterlife"? - won't remind anyone of "Seinfeld" or "Lou Grant."

Many "original" series on network Web sites are simply marketing tools for television shows. And a look at a few current, more truly original Web series with television connections demonstrates that if you're not packaging "Big Brother" outtakes, it helps to have an independent revenue stream. Nielsen isn't covering these things yet.

Hence "Gemini Division," the first four episodes of which can be found at nbc.com or more easily at geminidivision.com. It's a generic science-fiction thriller, in three-to-five-minute chunks, starring Rosario Dawson as a New York cop on vacation with her boyfriend, a vacation that goes bad in so far not very interesting ways. It's also a series of ads for Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system, a futuristic version of which opens each episode, locating Ms. Dawson's character on a 3-D map of Paris.

"Gemini Division" is the work of Brent Friedman and Stan Rogow, the executive producers of a more established sci-fi Web serial, the creepy "Afterworld" (afterworld.tv). They have some interesting visual ideas (which you can see them talk about in the many "Gemini Division" behind-the-scenes extras) having to do with recreating the feel of comic books on screen.

But perhaps because of the cost of hiring a known actress like Ms. Dawson, the execution is lacking. The actors are pasted on top of static photo images of hotel rooms and Paris landmarks, and very little animation has been done beyond the annoying use of graphics to indicate that we're actually watching video transmissions from Ms. Dawson to a friend back home. It's like watching "Sin City" or "300" without the digital effects, which - need I say? - were just about the only reasons to watch those movies.

Over at cbs.com the product placement is the product in "Stephen King's N.," a 25-episode series that serves as a teaser for a new short-story collection from Mr. King. (A combined effort of CBS, Simon & Schuster and Marvel Entertainment, it's available on a bunch of Web sites, including nishere.com.)

"N." is entirely animated, and it's great to look at, as you'd expect from the comic-book artists Alex Maleev ("Daredevil," "The Crow") and José Villarrubia ("Promethea," "X-Factor"). For aesthetic or financial reasons, or both, their naturalistic, autumnal drawings don't move; instead the camera slowly pans over or zooms in on them. This isn't a problem, given the episodes' roughly two-minute running time, but it gets tiring if you watch 20-some episodes in a sitting, as I did.

(Oddly enough, waiting through the commercials at the beginning of each snippet didn't bother me. I could have avoided them by going to YouTube, but the lower video quality and ugly viewing environment there - still insulting after all these years - made the ads at the CBS site seem palatable.)

What "N." really demonstrates is that the Internet could use more Stephen King. The story, involving therapy, obsessive-compulsive disorder and an evil presence trapped in a New England field, is C-grade King. (It was adapted for the serial by Marc Guggenheim, a creator of "Eli Stone.") But it still has enough narrative pull to drag you from snippet to snippet, even when there's less than a minute of new material.

The Web series are less promotional and more plentiful at the Independent Film Channel (ifc.com), where "Web series" is the first button at the top of the home page. The sensibility here is a lot closer to that of sites like funnyordie.com and collegehumor.com than it is to prime time's. One of the current serials, "Get Hit" (ifc.com/gethit), has a cleverly nonsensical premise: it's a six-part, step-by-step primer on how to make a successful viral video, presented by the creators of a (fictional) crotch-kicking video that drew 1.6 trillion hits.

The comedy duo of Peter Blomquist and Jeff Wiens bring a surprising level of commitment to their video-geek roles, and it's endearing somehow to watch this sort of sophomorically funny material done without the winking condescension it usually receives. In one of the better jokes they fawn over the YouTube star Liam Sullivan, who then dismisses them as losers. When the auteur of "Shoes" (19.6 million views and counting) calls you a loser, should you consider it an insult or a compliment? The question is wisely left unanswered.

There's a lot more where these serials come from, and even more on the way, as television networks join other media companies in throwing things at the Web wall to see what sticks. Mr. Blomquist and Mr. Wiens have already done a follow-up to "Get Hit" called "Watching Web TV," which will be shown on ifc.com.

Even defunct networks are getting into the act. The WB may be dead but thewb.com was reborn last week and will carry a serial called "Sorority Forever," beginning on Sept. 8. Produced by the big-deal filmmaker McG it stars a familiar face from the short history of Web serials: Jessica Rose. In the compact timeline of the Internet, "lonelygirl15" has already become Ms. Rose's Schwab's drugstore.

The idea of old media's loss of control, promted me to realize that most of us seeking to invent the media future, not only deal with the normal challenges inherent with content creation, but also must define and create the environment and tools needed for institutional media and user generated content/media.

Institutional media combined with ongoing conversations creates informed TV viewing. It once was that our TV viewing was always in sync with others so the next day we were able to discuss last night's programming. However with TIVO, DVRs, and time shifting, we no longer watch 'in sync.' However, Social TV can be reintroduced with interactive components and became a kind of informed viewing experience that we share with others, either in real time or via comments that can be read later...

You Search, We Win.

Mark has high hopes for his latest project: Have You Got The Nerve TV.

Have You Got The Nerve aims to be a new type of TV production company: one that's created, lead and inspired by a group of 3,000 executive producers. Fusing the collaborative power of the internet and the enduring mass appeal of television, Nerve will take on three genres: documentary, drama and entertainment. Content will be made both for TV and online viewing.

To sign up as an executive producer, anyone can pledge to pay a one-off fee of GBP 60 as soon as 2,999 others have agreed to do the same. Once the 3,000 execs have joined, Nerve will be open to more people, who will pay a small monthly fee have access to the the platform. These members will also have input into programming, but only the executive producers will share in Nerve's profits. Revenue sources will be the traditional 10% cut of production value that TV production companies get, plus earnings from book deals, online social networks, games, mobile content, etc.

Will the crowds be able to create content that's more engaging than traditional producers? And will Nerve be able to reach a wider audience than user-generated Current TV? We'll be watching ;-)

Website: www.haveyougotthenerve.tv

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Reality TV producer Michael Davies, the man behind "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," is developing a quiz show that would allow hundreds of thousands of viewers to play simultaneously via cell phone, land line or the Internet.

"The Empire" will "project" players into the studio -- either through their Internet profile or through live video via proprietary technology developed by Davies' partner on the venture, U.K.-based Fluorescent Media.

"I've been waiting for someone to crack the multiplatform game show for a decade, and this is far beyond what I could have imagined," Davies said. "It is young, visual, dynamic and frankly, revolutionary."

Davies plans to pitch "The Empire" to the networks in early December. While the networks are looking for more unscripted fare to fill the gap left by the writers strike, Davies called the timing unfortunate.

"One of things I find sad is that so much of the alternative business is focused around strike contingency, and this show has nothing to do with the strike," Davies said. "This is a ground-breaking show that is good to enough to get on the air at any time."

In addition to the weekly TV show, "Empire" will feature a 24/7 Internet component building up to the live broadcast.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Online Show Quarterlife Gets Picked Up By NBC For Network Debut; Strike Workaround With WGA Possible>

By Rafat Ali - Fri 16 Nov 2007 07:32 PM PST

It is a bit of a co-incidence, but I was talking to a Portfolio reporter this morning about a story he was doing on how TV networks are trying develop original online shows, and in the middle of a strike, how would those be affected, and if they could ever have a chance of making it onto TV, or could they scale as online-only. Lo behold, something happens this evening: "Quarterlife," the online-only show which debuted on MySpaceTV earlier this month, has been picked up by NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) for the network early next year, making the program among the first to originate online and then move to a major U.S. broadcaster. The show was created by Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, creators of "thirtysomething" and "My So-Called Life", and started on MySpaceTV on Nov 11, as a series of eight-minute episodes..in total 36 shows are planned. The show is expected to begin on NBC in February or March after completing its run on the Web.

No financial details were disclosed, but NBC is now a partner in "Quarterlife." It paid for the right to air the show on U.S. TV, internationally, on DVD and the Web. The two creators still retain ownership and creative control of the show. As long as the series runs, the episodes will first appear on the Quarterlife website.

But in light of the writers strike, this move gets casted in various lights, depending on which end of the spectrum you fall under. One, from Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment, about writers compensation: "If there were more people with the (courage) of Marshall who are willing to bet on their own creative vision and finance themselves, then the (business) model becomes something they define," he said, in this Reuters story.

Meanwhile, Herskovitz said, he is a guild member, and so are the writers who work for him, reports WSJ. The Quarterlife scripts are finished, and his writers have been honoring the strike. If the strike continues, he believes he will be able to negotiate a separate agreement with the Writers Guild of America that will allow his writing team to work, because the show is primarily an Internet venture. WGA has been open to Web-only ventures for writers.

THR reports on a slightly different nuance: It says NBC will also pitch in on production and Web development costs for quarterlife, which had been covered by advertisers and private investors, but Herskovitz and Zwick will continue to independently deficit-financing the series through quarterlife, inc. That makes the series strike-proof, because as an independent Internet production company, quarterlife, inc. is free to negotiate its own deal with WGA and not part of the current labor dispute.

Variety: Starting March, Silverman's first move was striking a quiet deal making NBCU an investor in the social networking website linked to the show. That deal gave NBC a right of first refusal among networks should the show ever move to TV.

Meanwhile, in a brilliantly scathing review of the show, Andrew Wallenstein posits that the show was never meant for online anyway. In fact, three years ago ABC passed on it as an hour-long scripted drama. "Truth be told, 'Quarterlife' is the farthest thing from a conceptual fit for the Internet. It's not that it's too smart for the room; there's nothing genuinely interactive about the material...it is slicing itself into multi-minute bits and covering itself in social networking in order to fit in with the cool kids online. But beneath its new-media exterior lurks the same insecure geek just trying to fit in somewhere after being rejected by the girl who once loved it: the broadcast business."

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Google 'Talks TV Production' With Idol's Fuller, But Partnership Unlikely

By Robert Andrews - Mon 12 Nov 2007 09:57 AM PST http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-google-talks-tv-production-with-ido...

More highly unsubstantiated fun from the Sunday UK papers - 19 CEO Simon Fuller (he behind the Pop Idol franchise and the Spice Girls) has been talking with Google (NSDQ: GOOG) for the last year about "a big idea on a global scale" that "will change television in much the way iTunes changed the way music is disseminated", a puffed-up anonymous source tells The Observer. The story speculates on Google creating "original content and competing with major broadcasters", pointing to its Google Video launch last year - even though that pretty much failed.

I can't begin to fathom how unlikely this is. Bebo and MySpace TV may be commissioning their own series, but Google's mission is "to organise the world's information" and most of its future plans are likely to see it remain an aggregator, rather than a producer.

• James Robinson
• The Observer
• Sunday November 11 2007

Internet giant Google is in secret talks with Simon Fuller, the British entrepreneur behind the Spice Girls, about a joint venture that could change the way TV is watched over the internet.

News of the collaboration will prompt speculation that Google's plans for the TV market include generating original content and competing with major broadcasters.

Executives from the £229bn internet giant have been in discussions with Fuller, who invented Pop Idol, the world's most successful TV franchise, for about a year. Although details of the deal are a closely guarded secret, sources close to Fuller say it could revolutionise the way entertainment and music are distributed.

'It's a big idea on a global scale,' he said. 'It will change television in much the way iTunes changed the way music is disseminated.'

Last year saw the launch of Google Video, which offers full-length TV programmes and films on a pay-per-view basis over the internet. The company signed up partners including ITN, US network CBS and music company Sony BMG to provide content. Hit shows, including CSI, Survivor and the US version of Big Brother were available online. Users paid around £1 to watch shows; live sports events cost more. The venture was not a success, and Google changed its strategy, ploughing money into YouTube, which it acquired last year.

Although he is best known for his association with the Spice Girls and managing David Beckham, Fuller created the Pop Idol format and its hugely successful US spin-off American Idol. Versions of the programme are now screened in more than 30 countries. He also shares the rights to hit show The X Factor with Simon Cowell, Fuller's collaborator and occasional rival.

The winner of last year's show, Leona Lewis, had a number-one hit with 'Bleeding Love' and her new album, Spirit, is expected to top the charts when it is released tomorrow.

Cowell, an American Idol judge and the programme's star, created The X Factor but reached an agreement with Fuller after he threatened to sue Cowell for copyright infringement. Another Fuller show, The Next Great American Band, debuted in the US last month.

More people are watching TV on-line than ever before as new technology, including powerful broadband connections, allows users to download video footage. PCs are eventually expected to merge with TV sets, and some of the world's biggest companies, including Microsoft, Apple and Google want to muscle in on this massive market.

Earlier this month, it emerged that Google's advertising revenues had overtaken those of ITV1, Britain's biggest commercial TV channel.

Running the Show
Screen Shots

Once considered prohibitively expensive, advertising on television is fast becoming a viable option for small businesses, thanks to new online services that provide everything from customizable templates for commercials to commercial-placement services.

Spot Runner Inc., Los Angeles, Pick'n'Click of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Spotzer Media Group BV of the Netherlands are among a new breed of online TV-ad production companies that offer an inexpensive and practical option for small firms.

THE JOURNAL REPORT

See a chart of online services making TV advertising more viable for small businesses.

Plus, why small businesses are finding blogging can be useful -- but awfully time consuming.

• See the complete Small Business report.

Spot Runner gave timely help to BizFilings.com, a 30-person firm in Madison, Wis., that allows customers to form legal entities without hiring a lawyer. Although BizFilings has been in business for 10 years, it hadn't developed national brand recognition. Meanwhile, new rivals have continuously popped up, making it increasingly important for the company to stand out in the markets where it competes.

BizFilings turned to Spot Runner, which has an online library of templates -- already-produced commercials cataloged by industry and that require only customized voice-overs and titles. "I spent an hour browsing the library and a half-hour writing the voice-over," says BizFilings Marketing Director Troy Janisch. Within two days, the company had a finished TV commercial. The company previewed it and approved it online. "We were on the air within three weeks," adds Mr. Janisch.

The cost: Mr. Janisch says that after paying Spot Runner's standard one-time set-up fee of $499, BizFilings has paid an average of $45 each time its 30-second commercial has aired regionally on cable television networks such as CNN, ESPN and Fox news, and an average of $1,650 when the commercial ran nationally on those networks. And in every market where the commercial has run, he says, BizFilings has seen a "modest to major" boost to its business. BizFilings is a unit of Dutch publisher Wolters Kluwer NV.

Cookie Cutter

Choosing a template for a commercial won't express the uniqueness of a business or produce something as slick as a custom-designed commercial created by a leading national agency. Indeed, it's not always possible for a small firm to find the right TV spot. "The [Spot Runner] library has a great selection of TV spots for realtors and other common types of businesses," says Mr. Janisch. "The more unique your business is, though, the more challenging it is to find a spot."

Still, for a small business on a budget, it can be cost-effective. Tony Martinelli, office manager at a 10-person dental office in San Diego, estimates that a three-week TV campaign produced by Spot Runner that the office ran earlier this year in San Diego County produced enough new business to pay for the cost of the ad more than six times over.

After running TV ads for the past 15 years or so, Clarke Auto Inc., a Hudson, Ohio, auto dealership, last year hired Pick-n-Click, a service run by the Zimmerman Agency of Omnicom Group Inc. The general manager of the dealership, Darrell Fall, says it's easier, quicker and more effective to point to what he wants rather than explain it. Pick-n-Click offers a library of video to which customers can add titles or voice-overs, though for now it caters only to auto dealers.

"We've used this to help eliminate time and to produce better ads," Mr. Fall says. Before airing any commercial he has created, he adds, he always consults his advertising agency. "I'll have them check it because they're the professionals," he says. "I know my business, but they know the commercials."

Exclusive Rights

Most small businesses that use a template-driven commercial-creation service compete in different markets, so there is little risk of rivals choosing the same ad. Pick-n-Click, Spot Runner and Spotzer, for example, all offer exclusive rights to a commercial in the markets in which the customer operates for at least as long as the commercial runs. But if a company competes on a national basis, it may want to go a step further and pay to have the ad template permanently removed from the library, as BizFilings did.

"It's a very creative ad," says Mr. Janisch. "People are convinced that the guy in the ad works for BizFilings."

Of course, just because such services make it more affordable for small companies to create and air TV commercials doesn't necessarily mean that small firms should do so.

For one thing, TV commercials aren't as all-powerful as they once were, says Peter Kim, senior analyst at Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge, Mass. The rise of digital video recorders makes it easier for consumers to skip commercials, for example, says Mr. Kim, adding that the effectiveness of TV commercials depends a lot on a company's target customers.

Companies targeting 18- to 26-year olds, for example, may not want to advertise on TV because people in that demographic spend more time online (12.3 hours weekly, according to Forrester data) than they do watching TV (10.7 hours weekly). Boomers between the ages of 51 and 61, meanwhile, spend only 6.6 hours online weekly but 13.7 hours watching TV. A small ad budget "might be better spent on alternative media," says Mr. Kim.

Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence in Oakland, Calif., says, "These spots ideally would complement other ads in other media and/or online." He concedes, though, that many small businesses can't afford a "multifaceted strategy."

Placement Services

Some of the new breed of online services specialize only in the placement of TV ads.

Softwave Media Exchange Inc., based in Irvington, N.Y., offers an online system for placing already-created commercials. Its Web site, SWMXTV.com, works as an online marketplace for buying, selling and managing advertising time. In return for transaction fees on executed orders, the site lets businesses tailor TV campaigns to meet their budget, audience demographics, desired time of day and region.

Rather than having to negotiate the process with multiple stations or networks to find out about rates and available times, firms can see a host of networks and stations in one place and do all the negotiations quickly and simply in one spot. After a firm posts its campaign and price parameters on the site, broadcasters can accept, refuse or counter those parameters online.

As an indicator of just how big this market niche might become, some large companies are exploring it. Google Inc. is running a trial of a similar service for placing commercials with satellite-TV provider EchoStar Communications Corp.

Visit the Web sites:
spotrunner.com
www.swmxtv.com
pick-n-click.com
spotzer.com
services.google.com/ads_inquiry/tvadsbeta

Tim Ferriss insight is amazing. Get off your computer, and get outside or do some cagefighting.

There are three main paths to getting on TV:

1. Make so much noise elsewhere that TV has to pay attention (online is the best place to kick up a firestorm, IMHO)

2. Be a billionaire heiress or pop singer, then either shave your head or go to jail

3. Create and pitch a trend + segment instead of you and your product

Number three is the most neglected. I once thought that pitching the person and story were the keys to the TV kingdom, but I've since learned that's Minor League. Why? A single person, unless already a celebrity, doesn't fill 30 minutes on the most popular shows. The solution is to develop an entire segment based on a new trend or phenomenon. This is how it looks: find statistics that indicate a new trend, tie yourself into the trend, add experts, case studies, PhDs, and other guests to help fill 30 entertaining and credible minutes about this topic. Give it a good headline and pitch it to producers at the top shows. It's a simple concept and it works.

The Margin Manifesto by Tim Ferriss - Now and then we invite really smart and well known authors to contribute their insights to our various sites, hoping that their unconventional wisdom adds value to our readers. This week we have Tim Ferriss, author of the best selling productivity bible, The 4 Hour Work Week contributing to Found+READ.It is not the first time.

The Margin Manifesto, Part I

How to Reach Profitability (or Double It!) in 3 Months

By Timothy Ferriss, June 12, 2007 - 0 Comments

The financial goal of a start-up should be simple: profit in the least time with the least effort. Not more customers, not more revenue, not more offices or more employees: more profit.

Based on my interviews with high-performing CEOs in more than 20 countries, and my guest lectures at Princeton University in high-tech entrepreneurship here are the basic tenets of the "Margin Manifesto" - a return-to-basics call that gives permission to do the uncommon in order to achieve the uncommon: consistent profitability in 3 months or less. (The best news is, these same principles can then be applied to double your profits in the same amount of time!)

Here, I present 5 of the 11 commandments in my Margin Manifesto:

I: Niche is the New Big - The Lavish Dwarf Entertainment Rule
Several years ago, an investment banker was jailed for trade violations. He was caught partly due to his lavish parties on yachts, often featuring hired dwarves. The owner of the dwarf rental company, Danny Black, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying: "Some people are just into lavish dwarf entertainment." Niche in the new big. But here's the secret: it's possible to niche market and mass sell. iPod commercials don't feature dancing 50-year olds, they feature hip and fit 20-30-somethings, but everyone and his grandmother wants to feel youthful and hip, so they strap on Nanos and call themselves Apple converts. Who you portray in your marketing isn't necessarily the only demographic who buys your product - it's often the demographic that most people want to identify with or belong to. The target isn't the market.

II: Revisit Drucker - What Gets Measured Gets Managed
Measure compulsively, for as Peter Drucker stated: what gets measured gets managed. (For more from Drucker click here.) Useful metrics to track, besides the usual operational stats, include CPO ("Cost-Per-Order," which includes advertising, fulfillment and expected returns, chargebacks, and bad debt), ad allowable (the maximum you can spend on an advertisement and expect breakeven), MER (media efficiency ratio), and projected lifetime value given return rates and reorder %. Consider applying direct response advertising metrics to your business.

III: Pricing before Product - Plan Distribution First
Is your pricing scalable? Many companies will sell direct-to-consumer by necessity in early stages, only to realize that their margins can't accommodate resellers and distributors when they come knocking. If you have a 40% profit margin and a distributor needs a 70% discount to sell into wholesale accounts, you're forever limited to direct-to-consumer… unless you increase your pricing and margins. It's best to do this beforehand if possible - otherwise, you'll need to launch new or "premium" products - so plan distribution before setting pricing. Test assumptions and find hidden costs by interviewing those who have done it: will you need to pay for co-op advertising, offer rebates for bulk purchases, or pay for shelf space or featured placement? I know one former CEO of a national brand who had to sell his company to one of the world's largest soft drink manufacturers before he could access front-of-store shelving in top retailers. Test your assumptions and do your homework before setting pricing.

IV: Less is More - Limiting Distribution to Increase Profit
Is more distribution automatically better? No. Uncontrolled distribution leads to all manner of head-ache and profit-bleeding, most often related to rogue discounters. Reseller A lowers pricing to compete with online discounter B, and the price cutting continues until neither is making sufficient profit on the product and both stop reordering. This requires you to launch a new product, as price erosion is almost always irreversible. Avoid this scenario and consider partnering with one or two key distributors instead, using that exclusivity to negotiate better terms: less discounting, prepayment, preferred placement and marketing support, etc. From iPods to Rolex and Estée Lauder, sustainable high-profit brands usually begin with controlled distribution. Remember, more customers isn't the goal; more profit is.

V: Net-0 - Create Demand vs. Offering Terms
Focus on creating end-user demand so you can dictate terms. Often one trade publication advertisement, bought at discount remnant rates, will be enough to provide this leverage. Outside of science and law, most "rules" are just common practice. Just because everyone in your industry offers terms doesn't mean you have to, and offering terms is the most consistent ingredient in start-up failure. Cite start-up economics and the ever-so-useful "company policy" as reasons for prepayment and apologize, but don't make exceptions. Net-30 becomes net-60, which become net-120. Time is the most expensive asset a start-up has, and chasing delinquent accounts will prevent you from generating more sales. If customers are asking for your product, resellers and distributors will need to buy. It's that simple. Put funds and time into strategic marketing and PR to tip the scales in your favor.

The next six commandments will appear tomorrow in The Margin Manifesto, Part II. Stay tuned for my explanations of how to "fire" customers, negotiate late, make advertising work in the real world (no more repetition), and much, much more…

Check out Tim's best-selling book, The 4-Hour Workweek, which hit #1 on The Wall Street Journal's list of best-selling business books last week. And see his original WebWorkerDaily essay published on Found|READ here.

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Call TV Shores Up Networks' Revenue In Europe, But Viewers Could Hang Up

By Robert Andrews - Mon 11 Jun 2007

The idea is simple enough - air rudimentary on-screen word or number games, invite viewers to call a premium-rate line with the answer, then sit back and rake in the cash. As NTV suggests, the craze is sweeping European TV-Germany's not alone, just surf the hotel TV channels next time you're on this continent's shores-as networks look to replace falling broadcast ad revenue. ProSiebenSat.1's call-in subsidiary 9Live processes 240 million such calls annually, generating Q1 revenue of EUR 28 ($37) million, while the parent expects the format to account for 14 percent of its revenue by next year, the article says.

But, if the UK response is anything to go by, the quiz call format is a shaky revenue source. Scandal after scandal has dented confidence in the genre - from quiz questions so simple they can be considered a lottery, to callers having almost no chance of getting picked to appear on air, to shows outright rigging the results of games, the outcry has prompted regulatory reform, as Giles Crown of UK law firm Lewis Salkin explains, and led broadcaster ITV to take its dedicated ITV Play quiz channel off air. Suspicion about this brand of interactive TV is growing - NTV links to a 1,000-member forum at which German viewers coordinate online detective work by posting inside info and complaints exposing perceived transgressions. If the UK's recent episode prompts regulatory aftershocks, European networks might want to check they are operating on the right side of the law before betting the bottom line.

Rafat adds: U.S. is still behind in this one, with American Idol being held as the biggest example of TV interactivity. And of course regulatory rules are very different here, and so are the cultural habits of TV watching.

The Future of Interactive Advertising http://blog.fastcompany.com/archives/2007/06/08/the_future_of_interactiv... The face of the advertising industry has changed dramatically over the last few years, as the Internet has become increasingly dominant and has shouldered its way into the mainstream. Although advertising professionals are still inevitably grappling with the notion of how best to harness the power and peculiarities of the Web in order to tell their stories in the most effective manner possible, much of what is generating interest is where this dynamic, volatile platform is headed next. At a panel yesterday at the Future of Online Advertising Conference in New York, several industry experts tossed around their thoughts on what the future of interactive advertising will be. While there was a spectrum of views on the issue, there seemed to be a tendency for the discussion to keep converging back to focusing on a few particular trends. A sizeable chunk of ad spending has shifted to the online arena in recent times. Is there really something to be said about the effectiveness of the Internet, or are advertisers just going with the latest fad because they are dissatisfied with the returns they are getting from television advertising? Definitely the most vocal of the four panelists, Chan Suh -- president and CEO of Agency.com -- answered the question with a firmly pro-online stance: he explained that the Internet provides advertisers with clarity, measurement and increased accountability. Advertisers see the Internet as an opportunity to create a more "gauging relationship;" it provides them with multiple options to develop a deep relationship with, and a richer understanding of, their consumers. But the consumer's experience online often involves coming up a bunch of random ads that are not targeted at all and in fact having no personal relevance whatsoever. The general response to this seemed to be that while more customized and targeted ads are the direction in which the industry has heading -- this was almost unanimously acknowledged to be the next big growth market for online ads-- there are also big problems. According to Alex Blum, CEO of KickApps, through data mining processes nowadays, agencies are aiming to easily and anonymously create and collect consumer profiles that can then be used to fashion advertisements that are targeted in a manner that increases their relevance and effectiveness. Blum went on to add that the click method of tracking involves the inherent danger of engendering a sense of resentment in consumers, who often feel their privacy is being invaded. His suggestion: advertisers should harness the opportunities presented by social media -- 'scrape' sites like MySpace and Facebook in order to make use of information that people make publicly available about themselves. Suh was quick to knock the feasibility of this idea, arguing that the cost and time it takes to determine trends and figure out what people want through this method of scraping is not proportionate with the results. In an industry in which clients often demand answers immediately, scraping social media is simply too tedious. He went on to emphasize how useful it would be if ad prices could be determined using cost per influence rather than cost per thousand as their benchmark. Jim Larrison, GM of Corporate Development at Adify, gave his take on the problem: he explained that the industry has to get smarter about getting hold of a rich inventory of consumer preferences that can then be sold to advertisers. What will interactive advertising look like in 20 years? Hilmi Ozguc, CEO of Maven Networks, thinks that it will be "interactively richer… consumers will have more choices regarding how they can interact and what they want to see." Advertisers will be more adept at taking "short impressions and turning them into lasting relationships." Chan Suh's prophecies were the most eloquent, although perhaps the most hopeful: he explained that the face of interactive advertising will change to become "an incredible dance partner, who knows when you are going to take a sudden step, knows when you're going to dip, and who knows what state of mind you're in based just on your behavior." His take on the future is that advertisers will be able to provide stories and ads based on what consumers want, and not just on what the clients want. Can display advertising ever achieve the same levels of success as search advertising? Alex Blum took this one, reiterating his stance on targeted ads -- he explained that the only way to counter this very direct experience of conducting a search is to address the targeting problem, and this can be done through data mining. With the advance of Internet advertising will the TV become less important? According to Hilmi Ozguc it will not: he argued that television will continue to remain an extremely important medium, however the face of television will inevitably change, with internet TV coming to the forefront in a manner that blurs any and all boundaries that currently distinguish the internet as a separate platform. What do you think the future of interactive advertising is? Are there particular trends that are clearly emerging or that you foresee will inevitably emerge over the next few years?

Blowing Kisses, Bob Barker Ends TV Run Game Show Icon Tapes Final 'Price Is Right' By SANDY COHEN, AP LOS ANGELES (June 7) - With his final show in the can, Bob Barker is officially retired. The 83-year-old daytime icon filmed his last episode of "The Price Is Right" on Wednesday, ending his 35-year tenure on the CBS show and 50 years on television. Come On Down! Chronicle Bob Barker's Time on the Classic Game Show Watch Highlights of 'The Price Is Right' The First Show A lucky studio audience witnesses the birth of a TV legend. Watch A 'TPIR' First A contestant is literally caught with her pants down. Watch Marriage Proposal One contestant proposes and wins $1K at the same time. Watch What's He Smoking? One contestant likes the number 420 a little too much. Watch Bob's Shocked Just how did this woman go home a big winner? Watch Cheater Prospers Bob Barker lets one constant cheat and get away with it. Watch "I thank you, thank you, thank you for inviting me into your home for more than 50 years. I'm truly grateful, and I hope that all of you have enjoyed your visit to 'The Price Is Right,"' Barker told the studio audience after the cameras stopped rolling. The episode is scheduled to air twice June 15: once at its usual time and again that evening. Reruns of Barker-hosted shows will play until the new season premieres in the fall. Among the reported candidates to replace Barker are Todd Newton of the E! network, Mark Steines of "Entertainment Tonight," George Hamilton and John O'Hurley. "You're never going to be able to find somebody who's just like Bob Barker," said Cecile Frot-Coutaz, chief executive of FremantleMedia North America, which produces "The Price Is Right." "They're very large shoes to fill." Barker ended his record tenure by blowing kisses and working in the same low-key, genial fashion that made him one of daytime TV's biggest stars. He closed the show with his usual, "Help control the pet population, have your pets spayed or neutered. Goodbye everybody." Later, Barker was humble when asked what qualities have made him an American favorite for half a century. "Hosts of shows are like pie," he said during a post-show press conference. "Some people like lemon, some like cherry, some like apple, and fortunately a lot of them like the Barker kind." He said the key to his success is listening. Who Should Fill Barker's Shoes? "When I talk with someone, I listen. And I think if you do, you're going to find little nuggets of gold to go with." Barker answered questions from the audience during commercial breaks in the taping. "Someone asked, will I spend my mornings watching `The Price Is Right'? In as few words as possible, no," he quipped. He quickly conceded, however, that curiosity might get the better of him. He said the only souvenir he planned to take with him from the "Price" studio was the sign from his dressing room door. "The guys put up a sign that (says) WGMC, world's greatest master of ceremonies." Barker began his national television career in 1956 as the host of "Truth or Consequences." He first appeared on "The Price Is Right" on Sept. 4, 1972, and has been the face of the show ever since. For 35 years, he has played the same games with contestants and filmed from the same spot - Studio 33, aka the Bob Barker Studio - at CBS Television City. "The only thing that's changed on `The Price Is Right' is the color of my hair," Barker said during a CBS prime-time tribute show that aired last month. Barker has influenced the show's prizes over the years, said longtime producer Roger Dobkowitz. "Because he's a vegetarian, we respect his wishes and we don't advertise meat products on the show," he said. At Barker's request, they also stopped giving away fur coats. The silver-haired host's long reign has also inspired fan traditions. Most female contestants - and even some men - kiss him on the cheek. Members of the military wear their uniforms. College students wear their university sweat shirts and groups of fans come in matching custom-made T-shirts. As the legendary host counted down his last days on the air, fans from around the country made pilgrimages to Los Angeles to see him. Dozens camped out overnight near CBS studios for a chance to say goodbye during Barker's final week of shows. "This is over-the-top amazing. It's like a piece of Americana," said Terry Baldwin, 55, of Pebble Beach, Calif., who had camped out overnight to ensure she got a seat in the audience for Barker's last show. "You could feel the electricity all day long." Barker's long tenure was checkered by lawsuits brought by past "Barker's Beauties," the gown-wearing hostesses who present prizes such as microwaves, pinball machines and brand-new cars. Some sued him for sexual harassment and wrongful termination over the years. Most received out-of-court financial settlements. Barker said he has no regrets - yet - about retiring: "Isn't that strange? I expected to have second thoughts." He plans to fill his free time with travel, exercise and working with his animal charity, the DJ&T Foundation, named for his late wife, Dorothy Jo, and mother, Matilda ("Everybody called her Tilly," he said). But he will miss the show. "How many 83-year-old men get up every morning knowing that they're going to have a standing ovation sometime during the day?"

Google Jeopardy

"Jeopardy" teams-up with Google
By Carly Mayberry

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Jeopardy!" has answered the question of how to integrate the online world with America's classic game show with the Jeopardy! Google Daily Challenge.

Beginning Friday, viewers who log on to Jeopardy.com (http://www.jeopardy.com) will find an additional clue/answer drawn from one of the featured categories from that day's broadcast to which they can use the Google search application to find the correct answer. Online participants will then be entered into a sweepstakes for a chance to win the daily $100 prize or the $25,000 grand prize.

The contest will continue through July 13 with a new clue posted each day.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter