MTV
Lee Brenner
From his base in Washington D.C Lee Brenner is executive producer of IMPACT, the Myspace political initiative.
As his first project with MySpace, Brenner spearheaded a partnership with MTV, leading to the online interactive political engagement forums of the 2008 Presidential election. He was formerly a senior editorial producer at CNN.
Brenner has a B.A. in International Relations from Tufts University and a Masters in International and Public Affairs (MIPA) from the University of Hong Kong.
Check out his Myspace profile, which has a great music playlist, including Milli Vanilli’s Blame it on the Rain.
Popularity: 5% [?]
MTV: Internet kills the Video Star
If video killed the radio star, this week the Internet just killed the VJ.
I just had a great nostalgic moment playing the Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star” on the new MTV Internet platform that was launched on Tuesday. The platform is intended to counteract YouTube’s defacto dominance as the best place to find old music videos.
“Video Killed the Radio Star” was the first music video shown on MTV in North America, so it seemed the best song to test the new MTV platform. The platform is nice, if minimalist. There seems to be little advertising, but I presume that will come over time.
More from Ars Technica:
MTV has launched a new site Tuesday called MTV Music that opens up the company’s massive video archive and puts it on the web for free.
MTV Music expands upon the music video offerings already posted to MTV.com by offering an entire back catalogue of videos that go all the way to when music videos were born. The library includes more than 16,000 videos, sprinkled with ‘exclusive’ MTV concert footage and MTV ‘Unplugged’ performances that used to be all the rage.
And that’s just the beginning. According to a blog post on MTV’s Splash Page, more videos are being added by the day. In addition to the consumer-facing side of MTV Music, the company has also launched an API that allows developers to build applications that make use of MTV Networks Content.
MTV is owned by Viacom, the company that filed a USD 1bn lawsuit against YouTube for ‘brazen’ copyright infringement in 2007 (the suit is still pending).
Among other things, Viacom wanted to have full control over any of its content that gets posted-something that YouTube could not provide. MTV Music is also differentiating itself from YouTube by being light on the ads.
All 16,000+ videos lack any form of advertising except for banner ads at the top of the page, while Google is currently testing video ads on some of its videos in order to monetize the massive (and otherwise un-monetizable) amount of content on the site.
Like YouTube, MTV Music allows users to not only watch videos on the site, but to also leave comment, give ratings, and embed the videos on their blogs or personal websites.
Popularity: 4% [?]
CASBAA: Bill Roedy of MTV International
Running notes from on stage interview of Bill Roedy, CEO and Chairman MTV International.
LOCALIZATION
“MTV launched into localized content ‘back before it was cool’”.
“At the time, this was controversial because of opening local offices, transponders and all the expense. Now the local strategy has hooked us into many centers of cool around the world.”
“Our aim it to take elements from all channels and connect them to the rest of the world. There are many common elements about how our audience dresses, dates, eats and their music tastes. That said, there are a lot fewer global music stars now.”
CRISIS
“This is a global recession. I was not here in 1929, but 1980/81, 91 and 2001 we recovered strongly. In our business there are some recession-proof aspects. With cable TV subscriptions can go up because people want to stay home.”
Crisis plans for MTV:
1- Focus on the long term
2- Plan for it to be longer than it is.
3- Communicate with employees constantly
4- Energize your employees (redo the bonus structure)
5- There are competitive opportunities in tough times.
“There is a media ladder of where the pain hits first. It starts with print then radio, local television, broadcast television and then cable, Internet and digital.”
AIDS and CLIMATE CHANGE
“Television is often blamed for a lot of things, but by getting involved in issues TV can be a really good thing.”
Two goals of MTV’s AIDS efforts:
1- Arm audience with knowledge of how to protect themselves.
2- Discrimination: It is about humanity and equality.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Michael Wolf
Michael Wolf former president and former COO of MTV Networks who before that headed McKinsey’s Global Media and Entertainment Practice.
Wolf wrote The Entertainment Economy: How Media Forces Are Transforming Our Lives (1999).
Popularity: 6% [?]
Michael Wolf: Join an Attacker or a Defender?
Until January 2007, Michael Wolf was president and COO of MTV Networks and before that lead partner in McKinsey’s global media and entertainment practice. He is also author of The Entertainment Economy: How Mega-Media Forces Are Transforming Our Lives.
I saw Michael at TechTalk Menorca shortly after his non-compete clause from MTV expired.
Should Michael go offensive or defensive?
Michael views the media world as divided between Defenders (traditional media) and Attackers (upstarts like Google, Facebook, Yahoo, etc).
Defenders’ comprehension problem
The problem is that too few traditional media companies understand that they need to get more involved with their users than just delivering content, Michael said.
Defenders’ structural problem
Traditional media must learn to eat its own lunch to find the next meal. The structural problem is that established media companies have lines of revenue, expectations of profit and shareholders who want a good return. This makes it easier for a start-up to steal revenue lines than for a traditional media company adapt.
There is hope! (sort of)
As the economy gets worse, traditional media companies will be pressured to make necessary changes.
Working to change an old media company could be fun
“The real challenge is to go to a place that has not made the transition and drive it,” Wolf said.
And some traditional media companies have changed
News Corporation is an example of a company that has embraced changes and beyond just purchasing MySpace.com. Almost all News Corp properties. Fox News has a large web presence, while ESPN is a magazine, online property and a mobile presence. News Corp leveraged big franchises like American Idol to create this large presence on the Internet.
But joining an Attacker offers tremendous fun
Michael is on the board of Jack Hidary‘s iAmplify, a video syndication company that has built a library of more than 25,000 hours of expert generated video. He describes the business as going gangbusters and showing what creation of a new distribution channel can do for traditional video.
Michael’s bottom line?
“I am looking for companies where it is really possible to redefine the business and own a category.”
Popularity: 7% [?]
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Thomas Crampton was a correspondent for the International Herald Tribune and The New York Times for more than a decade, reporting from five continents, writing a column on Asia and covering Asian politics, economics and culture. Currently based in Hong Kong, he writes here about China, the Internet and New Media seen from Asia, while also advising companies on digital communication strategies. For more information click here...
