Christopher Slaughter
CEO
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Great line-up on CNBC’s flagship Squawk Box programme this week: CBS’ Les Moonves, IAC/InterActive’s Barry Diller, and Discovery’s David Zaslav talking about TV in a time of disruption. Moonves: “Technology is only the friend of content.” Diller: “TV ratings are a 75-year old con game.” Zaslaz: “We need to focus on how our content is shown.” Definitely some divergent opinions on display, and well worth the watch. Meanwhile, some singing to the choir: “Netflix is wrong. Linear TV will survive, thrive online." |
John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
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CASBAA and partners have organized a conference on the links between online advertising and online piracy, and what can be done to “follow the money.” One of our speakers (John Montgomery from Group M) will underline FBI findings that “the same people are perpetrating ad fraud, piracy and also spreading malware.” In that connection, I noticed the report that R3 and research firm RTBAsia studied the China market and found that ad fraud is “particularly pernicious” there. I can add that the piracy problem is also particularly pernicious there… |
Mark Lay
Vice President, Singapore
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NNN —Netflix News Network? On a Netflix earnings video-conference to discuss slowing US subscriber numbers, it certainly seemed like Netflix was considering getting into news. However, it didn’t take long to pretty decisively quash those rumours. On the other hand, Silicon Valley’s Yahoo! actually does seem to be going down that path, hosting what it is describing as its first live news event. And to further blur several different lines, Twitter is apparently becoming a broadcaster of sorts. Oh, and in case you wondered, at YouTube’s Brandcast event in London, Google told brands to spend 24% of TV ad budgets on YouTube. |
Anjan Mitra
Executive Director, India
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One of India’s best home grown media entrepreneurs says it straight from the heart. At a time when unconfirmed and unsourced news about government proposing to liberalise FDI for news media does the rounds, Subhash Chandra, founder and chairman of Zee group, has set loose the cat amongst the pigeons. He asserts: I’m all for FDI liberalisation in India as long as the US government, in a reciprocal move, does the same for Indian media companies. Zee’s giving wings to Chandra’s dream of a global English-language news channel set to launch early 2016. |
John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
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Chandra made headlines on another issue: There’s been a lot of whining that self-regulation of content by the Indian broadcasting industry has failed, and a lot of that whining concerns malpractices by news channels. Chandra told a conference that the problem is with the dodgy people who own the news channels! Quoth Chandra: “I can bet that 70 per cent of owners of the 300-something news channels … are not eligible to do so.” And there are other problems, too….including stringers selling coverage to people who want it. (Shocking! In Asia????) |
Kevin Jennings
Programme Director
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While Twitter-owned Periscope has raised more than a few eyebrows in the broadcast arena over the last few months, this week its parent company Twitter has announced that it will be sacking hundreds of staff, as the company attempts to stem its slowing growth. CEO Jack Dorsey finally revealed the much-speculated news in an email sent to employees, titled "A more focused Twitter". It means that around 8 per cent of Twitter’s global workforce will be laid off. |
Jane Buckthought
Advertising Consultant
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In the coming years, a growing percentage of advertising dollars will be directed towards advanced TV and other digital video advertising, as marketers and agencies are able to embrace this new medium’s blending of traditional television with digital. |
Christopher Slaughter
CEO
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In a slightly ironic twist on its disposable content business model, Snapchat is shutting down its original content division after just ten months of operation. Not so easy, eh guys? Meanwhile, Facebook is upping its competition with YouTube by (somewhat confusingly) creating its own version of YouTube, but inside Facebook. Oh, and Buzzfeed is planning to monetise the 2016 US Presidential race by creating native ads for political campaigns… nothing tricky about that, surely. But if you think that new media is the only place where flexible business models are the order of the day, how’s this for a pivot: Playboy is going to stop publishing nude photos. |
Anjan Mitra
Executive Director, India
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Will Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio do what Bill Gates’ Windows did? A bit OTT, given the present industry status in India, but not totally unimaginable. Remember what an undivided and cash-rich Reliance group did with the telecoms sector over a decade back when it unleashed dirt cheap mobile handsets plus then-unthinkable low call pricing structure — and thus a telecoms revolution. |
Mark Lay
Vice President, Singapore
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The question of how to monetize OTT video seems to always come up. An excellent example is Sony’s Crackle where "sometimes what worked in the old days of TV can work online.” With an estimated $63 million in revenues through this past March, Crackle is on track to become profitable. This subscription-free service "clocks 22 million monthly uniques and promises brand partners a 93% ad completion rate and an engaged audience.” I have been engaged ever since the first episode of Comedian’s in Cars Getting Coffee. That’s the one where Jerry Seinfeld picks up Larry David in a ‘52 VW Beetle. Perfect car for Larry. And, Crackle’s latest show, The Art of More, apparently drew strong sales recently in Cannes. |
Anjan Mitra
Executive Director, India
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A readable commentary on Net Neutrality issue in India, detailing access at the cost of neutrality — a debate still snowed under shrill campaign and aggressive lobbying by global tech giants like FB. |
