Tag: lori h schwartz

Emmys acknowledge role of digital platforms

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Emmys acknowledge interactive (Academy of Arts and Sciences)This year I sat in on the blue ribbon panel for judging the final winners of 2009 Emmy Awards for Creative Achievement in Interactive Media for Fiction and Non-Fiction.  As a member of the executive committee for the Interactive Media Peer Group for the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, it’s been a big year for interactive plays in all television content.

As announced earlier this summer, below are the 2009 Primetime Emmy Awards Nominees for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media: Continue reading “Emmys acknowledge role of digital platforms”

Fox finds new, savvy uses for Twitter

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Fox finds new, savvy use for Twitter (Fringe, Fox)Yet another cute Twitter name for leveraging the micro-blogging solution has emerged this week with Fox’s “Tweet-peats” which refers to the behind the scenes tweets on about certain Fox  shows during repeat broadcasts.

Both “Fringe” and “Glee” stars and creators will initially participate and dole out commentary through Twitter while fox re-broadcasts those shows to set the stage for the fall season.  In a UK interactive television style, these tweets can be followed online but will also appear via a scroll near the bottom of the screen providing commentary on the episodes, revealing behind-the-scenes details and answering fan questions.   Fans can sign  up at Twitter.com/FRINGEonFOX and Twitter.com/GLEEonFOX to follow the event.

From a engaging an audience perspective, this is a brilliant strategy for stirring up interest in two shows that Fox has heavy hopes on for the fall season as well as seeing what fan chatter can be leveraged into a consumer research play. Continue reading “Fox finds new, savvy uses for Twitter”

Yet another Silver “man” lining

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Yet another Silver "man" lining (iStock)The departure of Ben Silverman from NBC has stirred up a lot of news chatter that this hammers yet another nail in the coffin of the traditional production company. As co-chair of NBC Universal Entertainment, Silverman was responsible for bringing the same programming flair he originally brought to his company Reveille, with such big hits as The Office and The Biggest Loser, translating many foreign hits into popular US shows. Silverman was also known for exploring new ad models. Now he’s leaving the company to start up a new venture in partnership with Barry Diller’s media and Internet company, IAC.

Anytime you mention “360” these days as a description for a new content model (which has been part of most of the press today), you have to raise an eyebrow and think, oh lordy, Silverman wants to be a cross platform cool kid. As my dear colleague, brand strategy expert Brian Seth Hurst twittered, “repurposed distribution does not a cross media value proposition make.” Continue reading “Yet another Silver “man” lining”

Why Twitter has not jumped the shark

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Has Twitter jumped the shark? (iStock)If I had a nickel for everytime someone asked me What is hot right now? I’d be twittering off my yacht in the Côte d’Azur.

In a recent meeting with some of my fellow digerati we were pitching ideas to get a client excited about  what new’s in the media landscape and all of them declared, Twitter is dead…it’s over. But I think there’s plenty of life left in our friend Twitter.

We are at an interesting crossroads with Twitter, Facebook and a lot of other overly hyped platforms. In many cases, it’s not about the solution itself but about how people are leveraging the data and behavior surrounding that platform and hence, their API’s (application programming interfaces – see my recent article on using APIs for content delivery). Continue reading “Why Twitter has not jumped the shark”

When did you first hear about Twitter?

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This week was a big week for the Lab. Not only did Google announce a new feature for Gmail that finally cracks the code on un-sending emails that were a bad idea, and not only did our favorite video recording device, Flip Video get bought for a ton of cash by Cisco, but the Lab has been immortalized in our first-ever cartoon by Ad Land on AdWeek:

AdLand's take on Twitter (AdWeek)

See David T. Jones’  full Ad Land cartoon.

And yes, we too have given up and are throwing ourselves at the mercy of Twitter.

“Over-the-top” is the new black

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(iStock)Recently I attended the TV of Tomorrow Conference which focuses on understanding how the interactive multiplatform television industry is structured. It also looks at the emerging business models in this space, and how user-generated content, social networking and other Web 2.0 phenomena are impacting the television space.  (Check out Tracy Swedlow’s blog for more on the evolving interactive television industry.)

As a speaker and panelist, I took some time to chat with some industry professionals.  Most prominent this year was the universal admission that cable is falling behind in terms of interactive deployments and broadband video or “over-the-top” video services (meaning they ride on top of the broadband bus, but they don’t require any business or technology affiliations with the underlying broadband network) are leading the way with true interactive capabilities.

From Yahoo to Hulu, to the new Boxee…over-the-top is exploding. Continue reading ““Over-the-top” is the new black”

Afternoon in the Life of A Battlestar Fan

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Battlestar Galactica1)    I turn on the Tivo and select the latest episode.  I have saved the Friday night broadcast viewing for Saturday afternoon…when I have time to savor it.

2)    I log on to the Facebook group to  to check out the chatter.  What a bunch of frackin’ geeks.

3)    I watch more of the show.

4)    I pause the show to hit the main fan site,  and watch a webisode that I missed, that feeds nicely into the episode I’m watching.  I do a search on Battlestar webisodes and find them all over. Including veoh.com where some brits complain that they can’t find the webisodes anywhere else due to rights issues and “thank god” for video sharing sites.  I want to tell them that the BBC player needs to be available in the US so I can watch the last few Dr. Who episodes…but why get into a battle.  (I will do a Dr. Who search later tonight to see if I can grab anything.  I yearn for new Dr. Who episodes and don’t understand why David Tenant can’t sacrifice his career goals to continue playing the role forever. He is obviously selfish.  But he’s the doctor and so groovy).

5)    I get a snack

6)    I watch more of the show and pause…sometimes  the lighting is so dark it reminds me of the W hotels, when I bang into everything in the lobby.  I somehow connect Starwood points to Battlestar episodes and wish for a little more brightness in space.   Star Trek was well lit. What the frack!

Continue reading “Afternoon in the Life of A Battlestar Fan”

Kindle illuminates Amazon

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Kindle (Amazon.com)When the Kindle first came out, there were many of us that wondered if yet another device would capture the public’s eye in a year or so full of “gadgets.”  In our 2009 Digital Trends, we’ve talked about the the fact that many consumers are clamoring for simplicity and the devices that are really winning, have one basic feature to highlight. Certainly the iPhone and the host of applications it’s opened the door for challenge that theory, but you could argue that the iPhone’s  most popular feature and function is as a “application house.”

More obvious is  the success of the Flip camera and surprise, surprise, the Amazon Kindle. Continue reading “Kindle illuminates Amazon”

Kutcher a ‘katalyst’ for innovation

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kutcher_flickrAsthon Kutcher is up to it again with a new web series airing on Facebook’s FunSpace application. The app comes complete with an “On Demand” interface with access to Funspace’s other channels (Kutcher’s Katalyst HQ series currently owns the main stage) and  the ability to forward to all your facebook friends and of course, commenting.

Unique to Katalyst Media’s play here is the first Facebook video series. Like Seth MacFarlane, the innovation is present in the sponsorship or brand integration with the video content and delivery method.  The mandate from their first sponsor, Cheetos, was to  target 18-35 year olds just out of college or getting into the real world; and to develop content that would entertain rather than interrupt.   Continue reading “Kutcher a ‘katalyst’ for innovation”