down the avenue

Future of Online and Mobile Video Distribution & Monetization Strategies

The UCLA Anderson School of Management and the German American Business Association (GABA) are hosting a panel discussion with top digital media executives and venture capitalists followed by a reception at the UCLA Faculty Center, on the future of online and mobile video distribution and monetization strategies in North America and Europe.

The event will be held at the UCLA Faculty Center on 480 Charles Young Drive in Los Angeles on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 starting at 7 pm. You can pre-register here.

Despite the rapid online video adoption, achieving profitability continues to be a challenge for many content creators and distribution companies.

Panelists include:

Brett Brewer - President of Adknowledge, a performance-based advertising network; Myspace (Intermix Media) Co-founder (acquired by News Corp) & Advisor at Crosscut Ventures

Curt Marvis - President of Digital Media at Lionsgate; Curt oversees digital distribution at all Lionsgate divisions, the company's stake in online video hub Break.com, the FEARNet VOD/Internet channel, as well as the new EPIX online streaming venture together with Paramount & MGM

Mark Suster - Partner at GRP Partners with ~$1 billion under management, previous Founder and CEO of Koral (acquired by Salesforce.com) and BuildOnline (acquired by SWORD Group)

Frank Chindamo – President of Fun Little Movies, the first company to make comedic movies for mobile; FLM won the Content Award at Cannes and the Mofilm Award at GSM and airs on Sprint, MSN Mobile & the iPhones

Michael Metzger (Moderator) - UCLA Anderson Alumnus; GABA Board Member; Vice President at New Century Capital Partners - a digital media focused investment banking firm

The panelists will share their vision of the future of mobile and online video and cover topics including:

--Key success factors for content generated by users, independent producers and the major networks

--Distribution strategies on an individual brand’s site, video portals, mobile carrier’s deck and social networking sites

--Most effective methods for monetizing video content in North America and Europe

--Exciting opportunities for entrepreneurs and video content creators

Techlicious Blog Unveiled: Tech-Savvy Friend for Women

The Techlicious blog was launched today, whose mission is to simplify technology, particularly for women.

They tout themselves as the tech-savvy friend women can count on for tips and tricks to get the most out of technology; whether that’s saving time in their hectic schedules, discovering new ways to enjoy their personal interests, or keeping up with the latest technology trends and styles.

As founder Suzanne Kantra points out on the site, according to the Consumer Electronics Association, women influence the purchase of more than 90% of consumer electronics, yet there is nowhere women can go to get straightforward advice tailored to them that is not overly geeky, snarky, or dumbed-down.

Techlicious simplifies things by cutting through the hype and technical jargon to give you the information you need, in language that's easy to understand.

The content will include how-to videos, new product and website recommendations, as well as useful tips for getting the most out of the products they already own.

Their Buyer’s Guides provide advice on choosing the right product for every lifestyle, and include recommendations at various price points. Techlicious also offers a community forum where women can get answers to their questions and share their own tips and discoveries.

Mark Cuban on TV & Online Business Models

Mark Cuban was at D last week in a blue and white football jersey. It's hard to believe that the man is neary 51. Still engaging and (okay, hot), he draws the audience in with controversial comments and an air of leadership.

He reminds us that 99% of people still watch TV versus online despite the growth of online video, especially for movies, "HDTV is a big part of people’s lives in the living room," says Mark.

“When Google bought YouTube, they didn’t monetize it immediately. The message was volume and ubiquity, and if that’s the criteria, then you don’t pay attention to money right away.”

As for Cuban on his future plans, he says, "it’s a big fight and really expensive to have anything stand out. Unless you think you can create a platform that out-numbers YouTube, and then you have to work up against some really big pockets."

Despite some that say online viral will work alone, there’s still a huge cost of marketing, particularly if you want to stay in the game long term. Walt Mossberg asks him whether he actually watches online video and we learn that he does but it's not "substantial."

Video for the internet becomes a testing ground for mediums that have revenue and actual businesses that can be profitable. Rupert Murdoch, who was sitting three seats away from me in the front row, was busy jotting down notes as Cuban talked about online video business models. And then he changed direction, "What happens if someone outgoogled Google?" he asks Walt in an intimate on-stage dialogue.

He expands on business models. "Facebook has a large user base but is experimenting with everything else." Mark reminds us that everyone has a primary area and then everything else. He says, "Google has search that they monetize and that subsidizes everything else. Everyone has their one big thing where they make money and it subsidizes everything else."

Swisher asks him what he thinks the business model is for Twitter, still determined to get an answer a day after the Twitter founders were on stage. Cuban responds, “its not a question of a business model, it’s a question with what. They’re just having fun teasing everyone and playing with people, but its just a question of when.”

Charisma and a sense of authority remains, football jersey and all. Latest stats I've seen is that he has a net worth of $2.3 billion. Not bad for recessionary times.

La Calle Mission: Poetry & Visuals in Motion

Everyone's having fun with video. A relative of someone I know was involved in the creation and production of this amateur video about San Francisco's Mission District. Directed by Xaul Reyes, poem by Huracan Gomez.

While the quality is sketchy at times, remember that these guys don't have video experience and simply by playing around with basic video editing tools, they can throw Huracan's poem up on the web in no time without spending a fortune and give viewers a pretty realistic view of the lower Mission.

Video 12Seconds at a Time

Hope to start playing around with 12Seconds which recently launched soon.

You can use 12Seconds to send updates through video in short snippets using your web cam or mobile phone. 12Seconds allows you to show your friends where you are, share your thoughts, or tell them how you're doing.

Gaming Movers & Shakers

Below are a collection of mug shots I took at the VentureBeat GamesBeat conference on Tuesday. Their one day event was a welcome break from the week long GDC (game developers conference) at the Moscone that was largely technical.

Here, movers and shakers discussed business issues in a series of panels. At the end, six companies presented five minute demos. The winner of the on-stage demo was Dave Long of Exponential Entertainment -- photo can be found at the bottom of this post.

Kai Bond of Switch Games

VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi

N'gai Croal

Mark Pincus

Playfish's Kristian Segerstrale

Below: Judges watch as vendors demo

Game designers and founders demo to a panel of judges below:

VentureBeat's Matt Marshall introduces the winner

Matt Marshall with Dave Long of Exponential Entertainment

Additional photos can be found here.

VentureBeat's GamesBeat 2009

I'm gathering data, shooting and hanging with interesting characters in the gaming industry at VentureBeat's Games Beat event in San Francisco.

VentureBeat is teaming with industry heavy-weights to explore how gaming is quickly becoming pervasive in both business and our everyday lives. It's a perfect day excursion for those in town attending the GDC (Game Developers Conference) at the Moscone this week.

Conference sessions will be streamed live through both the GamesBeat and VentureBeat sites. Emcees include Dean Takahashi (VentureBeat) and Chris Taylor (Gas Powered Games) with the first morning session covering where investing and business models are heading in the next five years.

There are also be a number of players who are presenting a five minute pitch and a winner will be chosen by a panel of judges based on their potential for marketability and financial success. The audience will vote on the “gamers’ choice.

OnHollywood's Spring Agenda

Check out Digital Hollywood's LA Spring 09 Agenda. Despite the recession, conferences and events continue even if less people are going.

This year's date: May 4-7, 2009 at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel. They're still accepting speakers and track topics are broad: money, media, entertainment and technology, Hollywood platforms and content, advertising on social networks, TV & video, broadband, mobile and games, selling movies on the web, personalized video and advertising on the web, metrics & analytics and P2P and user-generated media.

There's also an interesting one on how content celebrity media will transform broadband, mobile, social media and TV.

Moving Panoramic Shot of American Bloggers in Africa

We had an opportunity to hang out with the founder of Virtual Africa for a few days in Cape Town. After an amazing 360 panoramic view of Table Mountain and the surrounding Cape by helicopter, he took a shot of the American visiting bloggers, which also includes three South African bloggers in this amazing shot. We'll cover them in depth in a later post.

360^o picture of the participatingUS and South African bloggers, courtesy of Virtual Africa. Full screen version.

RADUS New Media Platform Unveiled

Today, client RADUS unveiled a new media hub platform that allows anyone to simultaneously discover, search, share, and view digital-rich media across leading computer, mobile, and social networking services, including Facebook and MySpace.

The new platform was designed to address one of the major issues confronting online content delivery—the lack of a consistent user experience—cited by half of all senior industry executives surveyed as the main barrier to mass consumer adoption of digital-rich media, according to a recent Accenture Global Media Study.

RADUS transforms the way you experience digital-rich content by enabling you to view all your favorite media types under one roof while making it easy to explore new areas of interest.

Free to the public, RADUS’ new media hub streamlines content discovery and navigation, offering you quick and easy access to hundreds of mainstream and user generated news, sports, and entertainment channels from leading broadcasters, bloggers, directors, musicians, photographers, etc.

RADUS provides quick, one-click access to mainstream, vertical, and niche content and can be easily customized to suit individual needs. You can create your own personal media hub by adding your own personalized feeds, changing skins and more.

The new media hub also makes it easy to connect with friends and other users who share common interests. The RADUS widget supports dozens of leading social sites, letting you share your favorite videos, photos, and blogs on the fly. Groundbreaking widget features include comprehensive channel navigation, search, share, and content display capabilities.

Academy Award winning director Michael Moore’s latest film —SLACKER UPRISING—documenting his controversial nationwide get-out-the-vote tour during the last weeks of the 2004 Presidential Campaign is being broadcast in its entirety commercial free until election night at RADUS.com. Be sure to check it out.

They have received some nice blog kudos and early looks so far, including AppScout, CNET, InformationWeek, Mashable, ReadWriteWeb, TechCrunch, PC Magazine, and Ubergizmo to name a few.