1. Etma – confidential – presentation 23.2.2010 - Prague
Managing Connected TV and Converging Media
SLIDE 1 – TITLE + VISUAL
Ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you for spending some of your precious time with me this afternoon.
Knowing how busy you are I’m going to keep this presentation short but I
will be happy to answer any questions you might have afterwards.
Managing connected TV and Converging Media; what a topic to address
with you today given the incredible shifts going on in the television and
media sector these days and the significant business and management
challenges in both the content production and the distribution sectors!
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2. Etma – confidential – presentation 23.2.2010 - Prague
Allow me to take you back into time and to become a bit personal. When I
started my career as a unit manager and production manager in feature
films, back in the seventies when I was still young and beautiful, the media
world was so wonderfully simple and straightforward.
We had the television screen and the cinema screen … and dealing with
those rights was a cup of tea. A child could do the washing. Broadcasting
was mainly a national matter and nobody cared about the little overspill into
other nation’s territories.
The programmes would be purchased during some huge TV markets that
we all liked to attend, because we not only did business there but we also
met friends with whom we liked to do business. Back home the products
that had been acquired would be broadcasted and shown to a grateful
audience that consumed whatever we decided to put on the menu.
SLIDE 2 – PUSH MEDIA
Push media was the word.
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3. Etma – confidential – presentation 23.2.2010 - Prague
SLIDE 3 – BACK TO TITLE AND VISUAL
In several European territories things started to change in the early eighties
when commercial broadcasting started to develop and became a
competitor to the public- and state broadcasters. I’m sure many of you will
remember how by then the atmosphere already started to change and the
art of producing, co-producing, selling and buying became a lot tougher
and more complicated.
More and more, those who where working within the media had to deal and
be familiar with aspects of business administration and management.
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Video recording became accessible to all and the rights situation became
more complicated. Television and audiovisual products became a
commodity and international media groups started to emerge. They
covered several territories at the time and once again life became a lot
more complicated.
In the middle of the eighties, a huge array of possibilities emerged for those
who had a good nose for business and liked to work in the media. This was
the time when moving up on the career ladder changed from being a rather
simple and straightforward process to a kind of a rat-race where
competences needed to be shown and put into practice.
SLIDE 4
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5. Etma – confidential – presentation 23.2.2010 - Prague
And from that moment onwards the situation hasn’t stopped changing and
developing: video became extremely popular and piracy became an issue;
negotiations that before were simple became increasingly complex; the iron
curtain was lifted and suddenly a new market presented itself in which state
television had to compete with all kinds of commercial channels; cable
operators found their ways into the homes and gave access to a wide
variety of channels from abroad while satellite channels filled the sky and
found audiences for their theme channels; DVD became big and more or
less killed the once-so-popular video distribution chains; PC’s conquered
the market and suddenly copying and distributing programmes became the
easiest thing to do. Internet – in the beginning a plaything for nerds – grew
into a major communication tool; digital TV opened new borders and we
are not for away from the day when the saying that the audience will
SLIDE 5
watch what they want, when they want it and where they
want it will become reality,
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thanks to the growing penetration of broadband, the increasing
transmission speed and the availability of multiple devices that will allow
the audience to consume media at their convenience .
Out goes the push media and in comes the pull media system.
SLIDE
6
The era of pull media has arrived.
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In less than two generations the media world has evolved from the stone
age to the atomic era, and trust me… there’s a lot more to come. I dare to
bet that should we agree to meet again here in five years time - which I
hope we will in good health- we will look at today’s media situation as if it
was already a century ago. Huge changes are waiting for all of us, and
we’d better be prepared for them if in a few years time we still want to be
decisive players in the media world.
No longer we are the ones in charge, but the audience is!
SLIDE 7
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8. Etma – confidential – presentation 23.2.2010 - Prague
At his point I have to introduce etma, the “european television and media
management academy”, based in Strasbourg in France and of which I’ve
the honour of being the creator and director. Etma is an international
training institute dedicated to building the skills of middle managers and
senior executives in the media sectors, helping them to meet the current
and future challenges and you can imagine that we are really thinking hard
about what we should be teaching and which skills we should be
developing with our participants.
Slide 8
In today’s presentation, I’d like to address 3 aspects:
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9. Etma – confidential – presentation 23.2.2010 - Prague
1. I’d like to talk about some key management issues/challenges this
industry faces in next few years
2. Secondly I will explain how etma is responding to the shifting sands
with its program offerings to the industry
3. And finally I will show why you, your organization and its managers
will benefit from a continued investment and commitment to
leadership & management development and training.
Slide 9
Key Management Issues/Challenges
To say our industry is facing a major shake-out in the next few years would
be an understatement. But what do we know about such challenging
times?
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10. Etma – confidential – presentation 23.2.2010 - Prague
• First, the content producers and broadcasters and distributors who
can offer compelling media experiences will ‘win’ higher audience
numbers and will manage to reach the highest number of “niche
audiences”. Integrating the different platforms and using social media
– including user generated content - will be a key element to success
but managing those and to integrate them in a way that works for the
audience demands new and specialised competences that go a lot
further that those usually linked to traditional media. How to marry the
TV screen with the internet generation, that’s the question of
converging media and it’s number one item on the agenda.
• This said, we also know that different demographic groups within
our communities actually consume media in very different ways,
at different times and by using different devices.
Until now we dealt with this in our programming schedules: we were
the ones who decided when the kids, when the young adults and
when the elderly people would get the programmes we thought they
would be interested in.
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If one of those groups would not represent enough market-share we
would forget about them and concentrate on the more interesting
ones.
The traditional distribution system was not fit to serve niche
audiences but the technological developments have changed that
situation completely and new marketing tools turned the situation
around: small becomes beautiful. Niche is nice.
Today small audiences can be just as important as the big ones and
we can reach them with limited costs. But these small audience
groups have become clever. If as a broadcaster or a content provider
you’re not there for them when and where they want to find you and
get the content they like, they give you the middle finger and say
goodbye and you’ve lost them forever. How to deal with these niche
audiences, how to find them, how to convince them to watch or to buy
your content and how to keep them satisfied… it’s a new situation
that once again asks for new skills and competencies.
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12. Etma – confidential – presentation 23.2.2010 - Prague
More and more we have to care about our 'relationship' to these
audiences, wherever they are, and we thoroughly need to 'build' our
'entertainment experience' upon these communities.
• There is no denying that excellence in writing and imagination needs
to be creatively combined with the use of engaging multi-platform
elements woven together in a manner that keeps the audience
coming back for more again and again. While this is easy to say, it is
harder to deliver. Until very recently we all agreed that content was
king.
SLIDE 10
Today I say that CONTEXT is king.
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13. Etma – confidential – presentation 23.2.2010 - Prague
The viewer experience, the easy-to-use full access to all media
platforms and the availability of unlimited quality content is going to
be the maker or breaker of businesses.
BBC’s hugely successful I-player was just the beginning of a new way
of media consumption. Online platforms such as HULU, SEESAW,
blinkbox and many others are just the first players on the market. And
wait until you’ve seen BBC’s Canvas project in action. This will
change the world of media consumption in a way you’ve never
imagined before.
But… just read the articles in the trade press and you’ll immediately
understand how complicated all this is becoming. Finding the right
financing model to keep these wonderful developments afloat is just
one of the problems. The competition that before existed mainly
between the public broadcasters and the commercial channels has
now expanded into new areas.
Who needs broadcasters if cable operators can offer the content
themselves, exclusively and faster on their VOD platforms? Who
needs buyers and sellers if the majors can easily create their own
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dedicated channels and Pay per View services? What’s going to
happen with rights protection when the Slingbox application soon will
bring your home programming to you wherever you are in the world,
as if you would be sitting in your sofa at home? How are you going to
make sure that the viewer finds you in the electronic programming
guide when there’s 400 other channels to chose from? And don’t let
me start about the problems that content producers will soon face
when they are looking for the cash to finance that blue-chip content
they’ll need to produce if they want to stay part of the game.
I could go on for half an hour, just enumerating the new situations
that soon we’ll all be confronted with. Ladies and gentlemen, this is
becoming a very complicated environment where no prisoners will be
taken. Only the strong will survive.
Forgive my military language, but if on the battlefield of tomorrow’s
digital media you want to be more than a simple soldier who executes
the orders given by others with the risk of having your head shot off,
you’d better start preparing to become member of the general staff
and acquire the necessary skills to take the decisions yourself.
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15. Etma – confidential – presentation 23.2.2010 - Prague
• Taking into account the growing competition and the ever more
complicated legal and financial situation, both content generators and
content distributors need to improve their business fundamentals
in order to make money and capture profits within reasonable
timeframes.
Slide 11
Every single person who wants to play a leading role in whatever
media company will need a to be able to coordinate within the work
environment all necessary media related tasks regarding resources
and strategic goals within a set of determining parameters. This
means you’ll have to be able to manage a business model which
considers all lines of business that affect the media product’s value
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chain and relate principal theories of business administration and
economics to it, strongly involving managerial skills as a key factor of
organisational performance. Increasingly leading media people on
management level will have to take into account the potential impact
of media on the political, social and cultural development of the
society. If they don’t they’ll soon find politicians and pressure groups
on their way who will make their life sour and difficult.
All this together challenges us to develop and exhibit a whole new set
of managerial and senior leadership competencies! As I said in the
beginning of this presentation… the days of wine and roses are over:
there’s a tough world waiting for us out there. These issues are NOT
unique to the private sector companies. Our Public broadcasters and
their production departments/partners must also exhibit the same
qualities.
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17. Etma – confidential – presentation 23.2.2010 - Prague
Slide 12
Well, I could keep going and address such issues as the need to
more effectively lead change, to re-position and re-invent a
compelling strategic direction for the existing organizations, and for
the very important need to pump-up COLLABORATION amongst
both traditional and non-traditional partners in our industry.
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SLIDE 13
Essentially we are going to have to ‘break’ with tradition, “break the
rules” we have come to play by in the past 30 years, and “break the
constraints” of our very conservative management approaches of the
past. We also need to “break out of the own territory” – to better take
our programming into other parts of the world – and yes, and this is
the good news, this is possible: one just needs the right tools to do it.
And once you possess those… the sky is the limit.
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19. Etma – confidential – presentation 23.2.2010 - Prague
1. And now time for a commercial break… How is etma responding to
these Industry Shifts?
SLIDE 14
The first thing I would hope you remember about etma is that we are
REALLY focused on providing development with practical application to
organizations that will clearly contribute to improved results.
Taking into account the time pressure on people who’re working in the
international media industry and the workload that is put upon them, we’ve
developed several forms of training that will allow talented and motivated
people to participate and still carry on with their daily duties, while
maintaining a balanced family life.
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20. Etma – confidential – presentation 23.2.2010 - Prague
SLIDE 15
•
•
•
•
Our one-year Post-Graduate Media Management Distance Learning
Programme shows a multi-module approach that combines 4 one-week
collective sessions in Strasbourg with at-home projects and web-based
instruction that ensures the content has very relevant application to the
participant’s job and organization.
It also ensures that the time away from the office is minimized while the
learning is maximized! The detailed information can be found in these two
documents which can also be downloaded from our website, and of course
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21. Etma – confidential – presentation 23.2.2010 - Prague
I invite you to take advantage of our being together here to talk to me: it will
be my pleasure to offer you all the details about the programme.
But just allow me to mention that our faculty are some of the best in Europe
due to our Partnerships with Bournemouth University & Professional
Associations such as the EBU, the Association of Commercial Televisions
in Europe, Cable Europe and CTAM, as well as some leading guest
resources from the industry and governments from Europe and the world.
SLIDE 16
•
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22. Etma – confidential – presentation 23.2.2010 - Prague
For more senior leaders in this industry we have developed an exclusive
Partnership with the Canada-based International Institute for TV-Media
Leadership, a group well known around the world over the past 10 years
delivering high impact, career-enhancing experiences for executives.
Together we have build content & learning approaches that are hands-on,
engaging, practical and demanding.
Several joint media management related workshops will be organised in
2010 and after, but the first one, called EMELP or European Media
Executive Leadership Programme, is already taking place in June. I have
some flyers about this programme with me and will be happy to offer you
more details after this presentation or during the rest of the World Content
Market.
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SLIDE 17
2. And finally, how could you, your organization and its Mid-level
Managers and Senior Executives benefit from etma training
programmes?
Let me start by telling not in my words, but in the words of a few of our
particpants:
• from a participant in our Media Management Distance Learning
Program, working for a German public broadcaster:
Sometimes people ask me: "What's your benefit from the etma
course?" It's not about career steps or about money, I use to say. It's
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about diving into topics that I otherwise would not have discovered;
and any of these topics is enriching for my workplace.
• From Dan Korn, Sr. VP of Programming at Discovery UK
“The EMELP seminar is a terrific experience - it's a highly relevant
and intense training course, which combines a really enjoyable series
of exercises and lectures with an important opportunity both to reflect
on different approaches to your own management challenges and
also to discuss different leadership styles and techniques with senior
managers from a whole range of different backgrounds. I found it
hugely rewarding”
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25. Etma – confidential – presentation 23.2.2010 - Prague
We totally understand that during these difficult times with budget cuts
threatening us all and alas lots of jobs on the line , it is very tempting to cut-
back on training to save costs. However, this is short term policy and quite
frankly stupid behaviour. The challenges we are all facing in our industry
today are unprecedented, and demand some completely new thinking.
Companies and individuals alike will need to invest. Now is the time to act
with courage and foresight. Acting like an ostrich and thinking that by
putting one’s head in the sand the problems will disappear is utterly foolish.
Those who choose to act like this will soon feel a serious slap in their face
that will force them to pull their heads out of the comfortable black hole they
created for themselves, only to discover that they now are surrounded by
mean and lean competitors who are better equipped and far ahead in the
battle for the audience and success.
In my opinion, to be successful in tomorrow’s world of connected-TV and
converging media you need:
1. to really move beyond your current competencies and thinking styles.
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2. You need to engage actively in applying new thinking and leading
insights to breakthrough ideas and initiatives in your own working
environment and distinguish yourself, make yourself noticed.
3. You need to build your personal networks with other leading media
practitioners across Europe and use their input and shared good
practices to improve your performance…
Ladies & Gentlemen, the challenges put to us by our industry today are
enormous, the level of responsibility and expectations for our middle
managers and senior executives are higher than ever before.
SLIDE
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27. Etma – confidential – presentation 23.2.2010 - Prague
I encourage you to invest in revitalizing your key resources for future
success and to invest in yourself. A partnership with the European
television & media management academy is the first and most important
step towards that goal.
Thank you very much for your attention and wishing you a successful
market I open the floor for any questions you might have.
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