5 lessons for marketing media content

Snakes on a Plane: 5 lessons for marketers
"Snakes on a Plane" was the number-one movie this weekend, taking in $15.3 million. Some traditional media outlets that were so quick to trumpet months of unprecedented Internet buzz called the take "disappointing" and a "letdown."
Don't believe the hype. "Snakes on a Plane" was a first in many ways and if anything, proved that giving fans a stake in the outcome made the movie more successful than it would have been otherwise. (I saw it this weekend and it was pretty bad, but in a fun way, like "Rocky Horror" but without the singing.)
I think there are five key lessons to take away from what will always be remembered as the SoaP phenomenon:
1. Memes have never been more important. The simple and straightforward title was so unlike Hollywood films that fans took interest. Like a gene, a meme knows how to replicate itself. All of the instructions to copy it are inherently transmittable. "Snakes on a Plane" had all of the cultural transmitters necessary for it to easily sink into our cultural consciousness, which made it easy for DC Lugi and all of the other creative content creators to have fun with the concept. Social media means memes will spread faster than ever before. A name means everything if spreadability is the goal.
2. When fans embrace your meme, embrace your fans. Kudos to SoaP director David Ellis for acknowledging bloggers and fans. The studio didn't get medieval on them. They reached out to bloggers to thank them, invited them to promotional events, and finally invited many of them to the Hollywood premiere.
3. The culture of participation is here. Driven largely by the 20-something generation of Millennials, participation is what they expect. That's how they grew up and that's what they love. When Millennials and other meme-infected creative people are passionate about a product, idea or cause, they find the means to create and participate. Social media is their collaboration system. SoaP has proven that citizen marketers will help even the most niche-oriented product like "Snakes on a Plane" find an audience.
4. Embracing citizen marketers reduces risk. Launching a new product is betting against huge odds: Over 80 percent of all new products fail. New Line reduced its risk by listening to fans who wanted more snakes, gore and f-bombs. Making $15 million in one weekend is disappointing how? (Silly media.) If New Line hadn't listened to fans and released a PG-13 film called "Pacific Air Flight 121," chances are no one would have talked about it, and it would have been just another low-brow Hollywood movie.
5. The experience is the difference between profit and failure. SoaP was not just a film but a film-going experience. People dressed up, brought rubber snakes, shouted lines at the screen and had fun. All of the fan-created fun (and Sam Jackson's infamous, fan-created line) created an expectation of "we're in this together." (Read through these comments for first-hand reports from movie-goers.) It wasn't "Snakes on the Waterfront," but some people said it was the most fun they'd had at a movie in years. That's welcome news for an industry whose revenues keep declining. Before seeing SoaP on Friday night, I had not been to a movie in five months. The film industry's theater partners insist on ruining the experience by commercializing it to death. After sitting through 40 minutes of commercials for video games, the Army, Sprite, new TV shows and upcoming films, I won't return anytime soon.

from: http://customerevangelists.typepad.com/blog/2006/08/snakes_on_a_pla_1.html

Thanks also to Christy Dena; http://www.cross-mediaentertainment.com/

Avatar socks...

Yesterday I read a very amusing report about the growing trend of people to turn socks into favorite friends. De Telegraaf reports this to be a worldwide trend.. With this character, designed by yourself you express yourself and have an ever caring friend with you all the time.
I started wondering which of my socks would have a chance of becoming my caring friend. My socks are actually quit boring, most of the time. But sometimes I hide Disney characters in my boots. One of my favourites is Thinkerbell, naughty emotional little bitch. Kind of fits to (the dark side..) of my otherwise "lovely" character. Furthermore I found the idea of actualising an avatar for IRL funny. Is it because we are getting more used to building avatars in virtual worlds? Is it a transcending of virtual habits back into everyday life? When Thinkerbell transforms to be my favorite avatar sock friend I will upload a lovely picture of her.. promissed ;-)

TV content on its way to the mobile platform in the US

ABC is developing mobile phonegames as extensions to its succesprogrammes Desperate Housewives and Lost. Unfortunately in Europe not yet available because I am very curious how they have adapted the content to a light (mobile) game.

US cable network HBO has released one of its original documentaries for free for the first time as a video podcast available from its own website and from Apple's iTunes Music Store.

(c21 media.net)

20th century fox offers popular movies and series online

Twentieth Century Fox is passing by its' coldwater fear of offering films online. Warner Bros already started film offerings online a while ago. It seems the big 5 are not waiting for a catastrophhic market make over as the music industry has experienced through Peer to Peer. Already most of the P2P traffic (which is the major part of internettraffic worldwide) is for movie content. The movie mologs are following the i-tunes model and started an online offering. When the price is right, the advantages are that users can get their movies 'clean'.
Listening to the wishes of your customers is always a wise thing to do. The obstacles for listening to these wishes are often organisation-culturally dominated. It takes courage to break through these barriers, but on the other hand, there is no other way.

Digital Media Space "share of voice"; blackberry TV, sony and channel 4 VOD

Slowly but certainly the race for 'share of voice' in digital media space is heating up.

CanWest launches Blackberry TV: Global TV parent CanWest MediaWorks is launching bbTV, the first advertising-fuelled Canadian market effort designed to deliver video content to users of BlackBerry handheld devices

Sony preps new AXN channels for Europe: Sony is poised to roll out a string of new channels across Europe under its AXN action banner, with Germany, Switzerland and Austria all on the agenda and an animé network for the UK.

Channel 4's VoD plans go beyond TV : UK terrestrial Channel 4 is planning to launch on-demand services that go far beyond television in its continuing quest to gain a "disproportionate share of voice" in the digital media space.

(www.c21media.net)

The user in the director's seat; UGC is gaining impact

The explosive growth of YouTube (300 % in a year), myspace and video google (no figures yet, but I am convinced it is growing extensively) is making the notion of users wanting to generate content more solid.
Now in the Netherlands@ home is adding a UGC service with Zizo to the offerings. Users can send in material, that is rated and then aired. Idols on a daily bases. And NCRV is starting up 'videotalent" http://www.videotalent.nl a video upload service for the public.

All of these, it is a rough land of new beginnings, lovely to see. Yet at the same time it needs to grow beyond the material of the poodle in the pool to generate a break through. I am awaiting for the next global news issue (allas it will probably be a catastrofic situation) where witnesses will send in their reports and google video and youtube will be the number one news deliverers because of the fastness and the "no control" over the content that is an essential part of the "format". And for now, nothing wrong with the poodle in the pool, for what is the information we like to share anyway? What do users want to show off themselves? Wonderfull sources to explore..

crossmedia lessons learned at the world championships football

Very interesting event on august 25 in cologne about the experiences with integratedn crossmedia customer oriented models at the world championships Football.

http://www.inccom.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=103

Cross media week in Amsterdam not balanced for niche thinkers

A good line up of speakers for the Amsterdam Cross Media week. But.. only large industry players. I miss the balance of innovative and creative thinkers from the scientific fields and arts. It looks like media republic was dominant in creating the programme.

As time goes by, I am getting reactions from accredited thinkers and (artistic) workers in the cross media field that they have not been contacted or invited to join the debate. I will certainly visit the week, but I will certainly miss these thinkers to feed a good debate. Sharing insights is one of the prerequisites of crossmedia. ..like multiple points of view... Besides if I look at the list of speakers I can certainly see a bias in favour of the organisers, that have created a nice image-boosting platform to embed their own messages in at cost of the Amsterdam community that sponsors with... 500.000 Euro. Where a big mouth will take you..

http://www.crossmediaweek.com

Another jewel from the mediacenter

Get inspired at this wonderfull new blog of the mediacenter portraying visions that count!
And join in the debate!

http://www.mediacenterblog.org/we_imagine/

Talpa starts with streams and chat in MSN

Finally we hear something of a crossmedia experiment coming from Talpa.
So far now all Talpa has done is follow the developments and copy the successes, like 'programma gemist' as a copy of 'uitzending gemist' a pubcasters's initiative. There is nothing wrong with copying good ideas. Better a good copy then a bad idea. But as De Mol suggested a year ago when he launched the Talpa channel, that the medialandscape will 'change more in five years then in 25 before (or something like that..)' I agreed fully and was anxious to see what would be his initiatives in this respect. So far Talpa has played it safe by following the lead of others. I found that dissapointing, because.. now we had one person with a view on the future that could make a change because he has the means to experiment and he can suffer some loss there to get some win. He could speed up initiatives, making use of the fact there is not a lot of negotiating necessary to start a project. This could give him a big advantage in the market place. He could differentiate at a high speed, with projects failing in total, some in part en some successes. Instead all we saw whas more of the same. Not strong strategically.
Now this initiative starting from june 1 I find interesting, because it will tell you more about how people will act sharing at televison program while being at another place. With MSN you can simultanuously with your buddies watch the same stream of a program and chat about the programme will doing that. This gives Talpa a very interesting insite into what the viewer is experiencing while watching their programs. Good material to rethink what the viewers are negative about and to see what is succesfull to further build on. That is listening to your public and deciding what is relevant to them. Two of the key drivers of crossmedia communication in my perception. The article is in Dutch..

http://www.emerce.nl/nieuws.jsp?id=1488594&WT.mc_id=nb

changing newsparadigm around the world

Take a look at the we media conference currently held in London:

http://www.mediacenterblog.org/events/06/wemedialondon/home/

Happening now and probably it will be accessible afterwards too.

first dutch crossmedia congres

Today I had the honour of co-chairing the first dutch crossmedia congres in the RAI. It was an interesting day in which we could see that from where companies might start, be it newspaper publishers (PCM), television (Endemol) or telecommunication (KPN), the convergence was noticable. PCM is starting projects on the internet AND on television. Endemol is going into distribution together with KPN and KPN is starting as a television provider. (IPTV) Everybody is getting into the competition on other fields. In comparison to a year or two ago where the general meaning was that this will come sometime somewhere, action is being undertaken today. The Dutch industry is starting to get awake. Still if you compare to the UK and the scandinavian countries sophistication in crossmedia thinking is not to big. But in Holland we do have the perfect starting situation, infrastructure is excellent as also noticed by Dick van der Graaf from Endemol. What we need is disruptive thinking. I did not here very much of that today. But then are the big institutionalised companies ever the ones to disrupt? I dare to question that. Difficulty is that you have to keep your share in the current market and at the same time attack the system you thrive on.. The Dutch advertisers (the money) in the market are still a little to anxious to try really new disruptive crossmedia projects. But this is what we need to foster catalysing growth. Look for, be open to and try new (low cost) things. Start small and then let it grow organically, by users pulling on the concept. Like a circle that starts small from the middel and gets bigger and bigger all the time.

social currency

I have been thinking about this concept that popped up in my mind a couple of months ago, during my work with the p2p tribler project group: "social currency" it has to do with getting the value out of the ever growing folksonomy that is being created by us all.

A good visionary blog on this is:
http://www.vanderwal.net/random/category.php?cat=153

As massmedia are deteriorating in there strength, how to grasp what is going on?
The internet is a wonderfully logged place. Logs are being tagged and connected to other people;places.. But what are the connections and more importantly what do these connections between people mean?

An opinionleader in one field creates social currency when he/she exhibites knowledge or tips. At the same time the opinionleader will be a follower in a completely different field. What is the value of his knowlegde node network. In other words what is his social currency?
And can you trade social currency? One currency for another? What is the value base?

The space is a medium, let's make that accountable!

I have worked for several years now at a product that is using videotracking technology to capture movement of people in spaces, such as stores or stations or events.. etcetera.
From 2003 to 2004 I conducted a pilot in a store in Roosendaal, Netherlands to explore the possibilities of videotracking to get information on behaviour of people. This resulted in developing 2 applications to generate keyfigures to look at behaviour...
near a screen, near an assortment, in a waiting line, on an airport... You name it. I condensed the information to media key figures such as OTS and Window of Opportunity.
It is a very intelligent product that is still very easy to work with and that can generate amazing results, especially for centrally organized organizations. Imagine we lifted turnover by up to 10% in some weeks in our pilot store. If you take that centrally and work through the adjustment in say all stores. Also if effects are not that strong overall, It may still very well turn a smile on your face. Because the measurement is continuously you can learn through time what has worked well and what did not and you can adjust seasonal products as they go. Off course you can also see effects of new products more timely and make adjustments right away. After a while it may even be possible to use the information in your storage policy and personell planning. It takes time to tell the story though and it takes even more time for most companies to do really new things. Working with this instrument forces you to take what happens on the floor into account strategically. But the pressure of needing a measure for the effects of narrowcasting, digital signage accelerates the need for information on what happens in spaces where these installations are installed. After all there are sometimes large investments involved that need a return. In order to calculate this, we need a measure of the effects. Not to forget we need a measure of the effects on screen level, if we want to attach a rating to the messages on screen. RetailTreks (that is the tradename of this product) is very well able to give you information on the effects of digital signage. In a store we can even look directly at the effects on category level. Did the message of a product result in more visits to the assortment? And after that, did the assortment visits generate more sales?... This first step is an important step to make by the way, only looking at sales uplift to see if digital signage is effective, may have you ending up working at a message that was effective in the first place, not getting the conversion went wrong on assortment level, and if you do not measure that you will not see the difference, turning on the wrong screw to get it better!)
And while you are looking at the effects of digital signage and can make up a rate card for third party advertisers, you may as well look at improving your total retailformula and take alongside the percentages of improvement you can make with that. It is what we say in Holland to catch two flies in one stroke.

P-2-P Fusion; aboutP2P television

On March 17 there will be a workshop on P2P television in Amsterdam
It will be held at:
Felix Meritis
Keizersgracht 324
1016 EZ Amsterdam

I have the honour of moderating the discussion with the experts. The workshop can only be attended after invitation. If you are interested you can send a motivation of your interest to:

j.a.pouwelse@EWI.TU.DELFT.nl

personal observation about blogging

When you get busier and busier, you try to keep on blogging, but deadlines of projects seem to be more pressing all the time. And in the blogosphere not publishing in a week is a certain dead. So I am definitely dead by now. If anyone may read this (by coincidence) I only want to bother you with interesting stuff (not like this then) and I have a lot to tell, but need some time to reflect on it and tell you about it. But as a promo to keep in touch, here's what will be coming up:
- making measures to count audiences to CAN {Captive Audience Network} ; narrowcasting; Digital Out of Home etc (you know the screens everywhere) , so that viable business models can be built. Yes it can be done, will be done and I will tell you more about it.
- What will happen to the broadcast model when TV becomes a free asset? Yes, we are talking P-2-P television and the regression of the total value chain. Relevant? I think so. Interesting.. you decide.

See your next time, after my reanimation

Talpa and Endemol trying to make money with pull services

Talpa as well as Endemol are trying to get people to pay for their content. Talpa is selling its serial Van Speijk price 1.50 Euro per episode. Endemol is selling one minute versions of the popular soap GTST. price will be around 0,50 Euro up to 1.00 Euro per minute.

X-media club, a party it was!!

I had the pleasure of moderating a very interesting debate on crossmedia at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam. There is a stream available, total duration is 3 hours, but every minute interesting.

We had

concept developer Theo Meereboer of Sanoma;

Krijn Schuurman as a media trendwatcher

Annelies Kaptein, one of the first interactive television programmers in the NL, who has won several international awards for the work of her company Stoneroos,

Paul Naber of Microsoft about XBox 360 Live and the mediacenter

And finally Johan Pouwelse (TU Delft) to disrupt all the earlier presentation with his work on P2P television, it may change the nature of broadcasting completely.. remember Napster and the music industry..

Obviously it is in Dutch..

Take a look

http://home.interactievemedia.hva.nl/x-mediaclub/

the guys that wrote the ' we media ' report

Take a look:

http://www.hypergene.net/blog/weblog.php

50 million for Dutch crossmedia-fund

Joop van den Ende, the other half of the famous Endemol enterprise is back in the mediagame. He has started up a crossmedia fund. Together with Hubert Deitmers (former board of directors Endemol) Van den Ende plans to bring his passion for media back into new companies that operate on the converging marketplace. Van den Ende has been active in the world of theater with his VandenEnde foundation after he left Endemol. His work has had a significant influence on the developments of the theater market in the Netherlands and as far as I know also in other places in Europe. He explained in an interview that he was making money in two ways, by exploiting the theater buildings and by selling tickets for the plays in these theaters. One of his last projects is building the new DeLaMar theaters in Amsterdam, by reconstructing this old theater in the center of Amsterdam for new glorious theater moments. Not all projects are highly profitable, also high culture productions are supported. Van den Ende was bound to a non-competition agreement with Telefonica untill 1 January of this year, after John de Mol and Van den Ende sold their company to the spanish 6 years ago. Both of them earned billions with the sale. The new fund (VandenEnde &Deitmers) aim at smaller but innovative enterprises. A return on investment of 20% per year is achievable in this field. That is very probably a good informed estimate and means good news for all of us operating in this field.
Another 100 million is reserved to help middlesize companies, such as Eyeworks grow (although I doubt if Eyeworks is still middlesized, they are a pretty large player by now). There has been a long term relation between VandenEnde and Oerlemans (Eyeworks) as Van den Ende was the first to recognize Oerlemans talents as more then a soappie. On the verge of the convergence in the mediamarket to seriously take up, both big mediaplayers are back in the game. And both de Mol and Van den Ende have been very succesfull in the broadcasting market, signaling a good view on the possibilities in the mediamarket. Since both are aiming at crossmedia developments, that is good news for the development of the crossmedia market in the Netherlands and Europe. The flip side may be that again the same people will be dominating the media market. In general it is good news for all crossmedia missionaries out there.

how writing will change in this century, says christy

Christy Dena is a well appreciated co-thinker on crossmedia. Here's what she has to say on the future of the noble art of writing:

http://www.cross-mediaentertainment.com/index.php/2006/01/06/writing-predictions-for-the-next-decade/

reserve in your agenda 23th of January

Yours truly will moderate the discussion at the X-media event on 23th of january:

http://x-mediaclub.blogspot.com

It's free and inspiring

newsvine, news by you

In Korea they already have a website that is made by the readers (Ohmy).
On Frankwatching I saw this tip:

http://www.newsvine.com

It is still in beta, but looks very interesting. This can function as a "portal", sorry for using that out of date term, but that is what it is, for the news you would like to receive. You can publish articles and if you do that good, meaning you have high relevance, you will make more money on the ads that accompany your articles (you get that money). Next to your own rss feeds, that generate your personal news window, you can browse the newsvine for new points of view. Not everybody will do that, but I can imagine (as a former journalist) it is a very rewarding source for professional journalist to skim for interesting items. Big and small news..

My source; http://www.frankwatching.com/archive/2006/01/07/newsvine_iedereen_kan_nieuws_m

inscript sponsoring is to safe broadcast budgets

The new European directive for the audiovisual industry will 'loosen' the rules for product placement. This will help the broadcasters to grow their budgets and keep on pace in the market of emerging on-demand services is wat the commission expects. Because this will be more effective commercial communication thereby generating higher income for broadcasters (again).
Off course this will not be enough. Broadcasters will have to get into the on-demand field as well if they plan to keep their position at least almost stable. They have a big advantage opposed to newcomers, they are known and trusted brands to the public. What is very interesting is the 'country of origin' principle. Meaning your service has to be build to the rules of the country you are established in AND may not be hindered explicitely by the law of the country it is aiming at, besides the country of origin. If I look at the UK for instance, rules for lotteries and gambling are much more liberated then in the Netherlands. Off course the Dutch can hold on to many of their rules, claiming on public policy. However if harmonisation is required, these will have to be liberated too. Working from UK territory and offering services to the other Member States, what is the freedom to offer your service in the whole of the EU? Is Luxembourg still a good country of origin to be based? If so, it will be even busier in this small country (where Viviane Reding, commissioner of IST and Media originates from). On demand services will only have to conform to very basic rules regarding protection of minors and from discrimination and hatred etcetera. Because people decide themselves to consume this content rules are very basic. The consumer has to take his/her own responsibility on what to consume. One market that is definitely going to boom under these rules is the on demand market for adult content. A category per se that will be demanded by consumers. Short reporting (news and sports) are to be offered to other countries on reasonable terms. Foreign sales of news is a source of income under fire. What will be the role of the international news agencies? Will they see their positions harmed. Owners of sports rights may have to see into their estimates on income from short reporting too. In favour is the consumer in any case because more easily they will have access to relevant information.

NSE, last attempts..

NSE the news sport and entertainment show on newcomer Talpa is currently still in heavy weather. A newsprogram always needs more time to grow, the same applies here.

NSE has to question itself.., What is my true added value to the newsparadigm that is already offered? And that is not in the form of your newspresentation it is in the news itself. What is the point of view? Are you going to kick ass, well go out and kick some real ass! Are you going to tell the true story of people, well go out and paint me the portraits. I want to see interesting people that are touched or part of the news, it may take a 6 minute portrait a day.. I want to see politicians, the guys and girls in charge confronted at their spot, not with a sneering remark in the studio. Play it straight, put it in their faces and tape their reactions. Be the rebel on the court, instead of playing the role. Don't make it easy on yourselves.. Go all the way, time is almost up..

http://www.nse.tv

Homework for the European market

Viviane Reding (European commissioner of IST and Media) has recently published the proposal for the new directive following television without frontiers. If you are working in European Territory this is obligatory reading.

Download the directive at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/avpolicy/regul/com2005-646-final-en.pdf

Cluetrain manifesto

I am ringing along with Jacqueline Fackeldey who wrote a comment on the cluetrain manifesto. In the manifesto one of the main points is that markets are conversations and you have to listen to them. That got my attention right away, because it covers 2 of my main principles when working with crossmedia. There are three:

1. Co-creation or User Generated Content (either in co-creation or singular)
2. Conversation
3. Listening

http://www.frankwatching.com/archive/2005/12/20/markets_are_conversations_so_a


Find the whole book (for free) at http://www.cluetrain.org/book/index.html

Dutch Creative Industry and figures about the bizz

The Dutch government has pinpointed the creative industry to be of importance for the Netherlands economy. At the crossmedia cafe Paul Rutten of HvU, presented some of his work on analysing the industry in the North Wing of the Netherlands. Most creative industry is concentrated around the cities (no surprise here) Amsterdam has largest creative industry (again no surprise) Utrecht is developing as a game nod (interesting). Hilversum and Amsterdam are mainly focussed on content production, while Amersfoort and Utrecht are focussed on services.

The other speakers, industry, where setting the marks for the business as they see it coming the next 3 to 4 years. De Telegraaf faces 1 million Euro's loss a year in the printed personal ads section a year, due to the digital trading places like 'marktplaats' and ''E-bay", which is one company. Therefore they started "speurders" on the internet as a counter 'attack'. The offer is interesting to the customer if you get a print ad AND an internet ad for the price of one and a half. I do not know if this is the model, but it is the only advantage they have over the other competitors they still have presence in print. Translate that to an offer to the public and you may have a chance. Dick van de Graaf (Endemol) was openhearted on the Endemol strategy. In the next 3 to 4 years Endemol plans to service 50% off its current customers (broadcasters), 40% directly to advertisers and 10 % directly to the consumer. I do not know if this is the worldwide strategy or just the Dutch strategy. But it gives an indication that Endemol is very hard working on entering new markets. They have to get out of the incenstueus relation of broadcaster-producer. Their arrogance towards the 'outside'market during the past years has not helped the company very much, at least this was the situation in the Netherlands. In case of UK or South America the company has had a very different approach. The succesfull entering of new markets is to be expected in these parts of the company. Peter op de Beek of RTL Interactive confessed to be still a little player in the RTL company but by now not to be ignored for RTL Interactive is presenting a 40% return on sales to RTL this year. Idols is off course one of the main forces here. As for Talpa (not present as speaker) the other speakers wondered why they did not try pay per view on the highly popular Big Brother on the internet (500.000 unique visitors each day) I do not agree on that. First behaviour of looking on the internet has to be established. At least in the Netherlands. And what a wonderfull case Big Brother is again to signify the importance of a crossmedia approach for Talpa. Comparable is the UK model of pay per view on the internet for BB. It grew very gradually in line with the behaviour and acceptance of the public of such services.

To conclude, broadcasters, publishers and producers are aware of the changes ahead and are actively anticipating. Compared to a year ago when people seem to glaze when I was telling i did something with crossmedia, because of the changing media landscape?? Large players are aware. The aggressive entering of the market by Talpa and the advocacy of de Mol for converging media has awakened the market a little more. Still if you compare to other countries like UK, France, Spain, Sweden and Finland the Netherlands is just only getting out of their comfort zones. As I have been very critical of Talpa at the start; they are doing a wonderfull job at establishing a strong broadcast channel in a short period of time. The channel sentiment is getting more clear by the day and loyal viewing habits are emerging. I am still not very enthusiastic about their 'crossmedia approach'. There is however one very important thing they are doing right now and that is establishing viewing behaviour on the internet for Talpa. What I see now is Talpa making television and establishing second and third windows for the same product. That is a smart multichannel approach. But it is not crossmedia yet. I am thankfull for Talpa generating new viewing habbits on the internet, that is good for the whole market to gain from.

Crossmedia about the pearls and the pigs..

In the Netherlands more and more people are opting for being crossmedia specialists. Allas this is devaluating the term, because some are rightfully claiming, but a lot are not.
In the Netherlands there are only a handfull of people really knowledgeable in this converging field because they have been working on it for many years. It does not mean if you are making nice websites to a television programm you are a crossmedia specialist as many seem to think so. But that is just my opinion.

Just a short list of jewels you should look at:
http://www.low-fi.org.uk/vanishingpoint
http://www.interactivenarratives.org
http://www.projectemergencia.net
http://www.persuasivegames.com

Fare crossmedia. Max Giovagnolli

Max Giovagnoli has published his book on crossmedia communication and was so very kind as to send it to me, as he has quoted me a couple of times in his book. I am very honoured by that and it is quite fun to see your own words in italian. A language unfortunately I don't understand. I am very much looking forward for the english version, because it looks so very interesting from what I can understand about it. If you are able to read italian, don't wait any longer and get this book: "Fare crossmedia: Dal Grande Fratello (Big Brother) a Star Wars Teoria e technice della communicazione integrata e distribuita nei media"; Dino Audione Editore; via di Monte Brianzo, 91; 00186 Roma; http://www.audinoeditore.it Max is a professor at la Link Campus-University of Malta di Roma. He has a blog on his crossmedia work: proiettiliperscrittori, the italian # 1 blog on crossmedia. Max has also used a lot of the work of Christy Dena, our bright australian crossmedia researcher: http://www.crossmediastorytelling.com.

Now experiencing the camera's in front...

My role in broadcast and video production has always been on the backside of the production. There are two kinds of people in television production, the ones wanting to be in front of a camera and the ones from the "back". I am definitely a 'backsider'. But on 1 december I was invited to try it from the other side. Studio A asked me to moderate there debate on crossmedia that was streamed live on the internet and.. here's the fun part you can still see it at their website on http://www.studioa.nl. Because of the subject.. crossmedia I felt confident to do that. Offcourse the discussion is in Dutch. It's nice to look at if you want to have an introduction to webcasting and are able to understand the Dutch language offcourse. Studio A has built a webcast studio in their office in the Hague. You just walk in, and make and simultateously stream your statement on the internet live. This makes using webcast very easy. A very sound idea

Public broadcasting under fire

Yesterday the parliament debated on the new plans for public broadcasting in het Netherlands (2008) A lot of the parties favoured a commercial free public broadcasting system. The responsible state secretary Medy van der Laan however is not in favour of a commercial free public broadcasting system. Now the revenues from commercials for Public Broadcasters are valued at 150 million Euros per year. However there is a decline already set in, caused by newcomer Talpa, generating a larger choice for the market for advertising on the commercial side. Talpa is aiming at a broad audience and already has achieved a market share of 8,5 % (last month). The policy will be set in from 2008. Concern is there about uncertainty the Public Broadcasters are facing now their budgets are declining AND it is not for clear if they will keep commercial revenues. At the other side internal inbalance is evolving as the board of directors wants to integrate programms on the channels, one aimed at young people, one at cultural content and one broad channel to compete with commercial ones, while the broadcasting societies aim at getting there profile more sharpened. Public Broadcasting needs to get out of their inertia and speed up to market developments. Focus should be on generating more value through high quality products in stead of on policy and structure.

Utrecht students show crossmedia talent!

This afternoon Jorgen van der Sloot and I functioned as a jury to new media students in Utrecht. Nine weeks of hard work had to be pitched in 10 minutes:

http://crossmediaforum.web-log.nl/log/4060642

In every project there where pearls, like the personal assistant with an attitude in "get dressed", the promo of E-force and mixing of real life environments with virtual worlds, which was very strong and appealing. The love for film in Vertigo, the strong co-creation theme of shot! the creative use of sound in jazzture, the expirimental approach to theatre of Romeo and Julia, taking the user as starting point at Koken is cool and the fun in chicks and chicken!
Klein Dictee won the competition because it had a good worked out "story arch" in the concept, it made a clear start, there was attention to getting awareness to the concept. It had a concious aim at the user group (10-14yrs) and this was supported in the design of the concept en the choice for characters, like Ali B, who is very popular amongst 10-14 year old. It made creative use of IPTV and typing IN the contest and there was a strong build up of tension towards a final on television. (although the TV format needed to be worked out more) . The other winner; 'localiser' had a very clear-cut concept. It was clear right away what the concept was about and what was in it for the user!

I would like to conclude: Good work from all of you guys and girls. I am sure we will be seeing more of you in the near future. And very good work from Indira!!

Sell your virtual villa and make a real buckl!!

A gamer who spent £13,700 on an island that exists only in a computer game has recouped his investment, according to the game developers.

He made money by selling land to build virtual homes as well as taxing other gamers to hunt or mine on the island.
Project Entropia offers gamers the chance to buy and sell virtual items using real cash, a trend which is gaining popularity as the boundaries between the virtual and real worlds continue to blur.

Last month, another of Entropia's virtual properties - a virtual space station - sold at auction for £57,000. While the real housing market may be somewhat static, the one in the virtual world is booming, said the space station auction winner, gamer Jon Jacobs, AKA Neverdie.
He said the virtual real estate market was "on fire" as gamers increasingly realised that virtual worlds could start to compete with real worlds at an economic level.
Neverdie plans to use his space station to establish an in-game "night club" through which the entertainment industry can sell music and videos to gamers.
The Entropia economy works by allowing gamers to exchange real currency for PED (Project Entropia Dollars) and back again into real money.
Ten PEDs are the equivalent to one US dollar and gamers can earn cash by accumulating PEDs via the acquisition of goods, buildings and land.
Project Entropia was launched in 2003 and now has 300,000 registered accounts.

Digital Think

The mediacenter has come up with a new bundle of work from 'digital thinkers'. Here's what they say about it:

'This is the dawn of the connected epoch in human civilization. We are living, you and I, in the first seconds of a society reshaped by empowered individuals connected by digital networks, of lives shaped by unprecedented volumes of information and shifting notions of knowledge and trust. Institutions like media and governments are bending under the weight of change, of social and economic disruptions to the way people acquire and apply knowledge. New institutions and conventions are taking shape.
Storytellers are everywhere.

But we are a decade into the visual Web. Digital storytelling is NOT new, is NOT unexplored terrain in the new communications frontier.
Perhaps we are in the Morse Code stage or the silent film era (one camera, no lights); pioneers have already experimented with Flash, with different combinations and permutations of interactivity, with components that hint at a richer, more satisfactory digital future. Forms and storytelling techniques have historically taken time to evolve from the first experiments to stylistic and production conventions, and great artists have long sought to challenge such conventions. Even now, Hollywood production conventions are crumbling as digital editing and rendering create new processes and artistic possibilities for video-based media. Meanwhile, digital games have eclipsed movies as the bellwether of youth culture and experience.
What will news look like in this connected, digital society? Will it occupy its own space, or share personal bandwidth with gaming, blogging and the personal video remix?

DigitalThink is about the art of the possible, and a nod to thinkers around the globe who see in those possibilities a variety of pathways to more enriching forms of communication."


I could not agree more!

http://www.mediacenter.org/digitalthink

Inscript goes back to its roots

´Foodfight´ an upcoming animation of Threshold Animation Studios and Lions Gate Family Entertainment are making supermarktproducts into regular TV Stars. Inscript sponsoring goes back to its roots.

Charlie Sheen, Eva Longoria, Wayne Brady, Chris Kattan, Christopher Lloyd, and Hilary and Haylie Duff have all signed up for the film, which takes viewers inside a supermarket after the lights go out and the staff have gone home. It shows real products, ranging from food to cleaning items, and their respective character traits and relationships.

Imagine your soapbar falling hopelessly in love with your detergent? An intriguing way to give story to your products!!

http://www.c21media.net/news/detail.asp?area=79&article=27210

SBS's Sloan pops up at MGM

Veteran media exec Harry Evans Sloan, who last week completed the sale of SBS Broadcasting for about $2.6bn to private equity firms Permira and KKR, has popped up at MGM.Sloan has been named chairman and chief executive of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Sloan has served on MGM's board since June.Providence Equity Partners, one of MGM's biggest equity investors along with Texas Pacific Group and media companies Sony Corp and Comcast, have had a long-standing relationship with Sloan and approached him about assuming the MGM chairmanship shortly after the SBS sale was announced in August.Sloan, who is making a "substantial investment" in MGM, could, through potential stock option earnings, end up with as much as a 5% interest in the company.Last year, MGM was purchased for nearly $5bn and, although technically an independent company, operates as a label of Sony Pictures, which now releases MGM's movies in theatres and on DVD. MGM executives, however, oversee the licensing of the company's library of 4,000 films and 10,000 TV episodes.Over the past two decades, Sloan invested in and helped build three publicly traded media companies: Lions Gate Entertainment; New World Entertainment, which he bought from director Roger Corman in 1983 and sold six years later to investor Ronald Perelman; and European media company SBS Broadcasting, which he founded in 1990.In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Sloan said he planned to return MGM to its former status as one of Hollywood's major movie suppliers by tapping his expertise in independent film financing and enlisting the kind of low- to moderate-budget movie strategy that he applied at Lions Gate and New World."MGM is the best movie brand in the world," he said. "In five years, there will be 400m new digital homes in the world, and given my experience internationally, I think MGM is the perfect asset to develop to that end."

Kris Sofley 27 Oct 2005 © C21 Media 2005

Sloan has been a very successfull and powerfull man in media, with a very sharp insight in where to go to next. His move away from the Broadcast Channels in favour of the pure content industry may very well signify an upcoming devaluation of Broadcast Channels in general.

Shakira's Oral Fixation Large Scale Crossmedia Campaign

In a bid to offer multi-platform support to new releases and to provide music fans with exclusive content, MTV is teaming with Sony BMG and Epic Records to launch MTV 5 Star.The project, which kicks off by supporting Latin singer Shakira's upcoming release Oral Fixation Vol. 2, is MTV's first-ever new music initiative that taps into its television, internet and mobile platforms in Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and Russia.MTV 5 Star will see MTV International's channels air four exclusive 30-minute shows, offer fans a once-in-a-lifetime Shakira competition later this year, provide online users with full-length streams of songs from Oral Fixation one week prior to release and debut a series of exclusive 'mobisodes' over the next few months.The initiative will also include additional local marketing activities in which MTV, Sony, BMG and Epic will team with local print, radio and retail partners.Specifically, the initial 5 Star foray will be comprised of a two-hour programming block airing on MTV channels from the end of November.This block will include a 30-minute MTV Live performance show; All Eyes on Shakira, in which other artists ask her questions; Making of the Video, for her first English single Don't Bother; and Diary of Shakira, charting the performer's MTV appearances, including the MTV Music Awards in Portugal next week.On the interactive side, MTV will produce a series of mobisodes featuring interviews and performances related to the new album, which will be distributed via existing MTV mobile and on-demand partnerships. MTV will also create a dedicated Shakira WAP site enabling users to enter the competition, and access graphics and on-air promos. In addition, the site will include an exclusive, full-length stream of songs from Oral Fixation Vol. 2 as part of the First Listen series one week prior to the album's street date.

Jo Anne Kenny 27 Oct 2005 © C21 Media 2005

http://www.c21media.net/news/detail.asp?area=1&article=27234

Viviane's 'light touch' to Europe's IST and Media industry

Viviane Reding is the European commissioner on Information Society Technology and Media. She is the first commissioner with a combined post for IST and media. Because the EC is convinced that information society and media fields are converging. Offcourse they are right. In this difficult field Reding has to set up a new regulatory framework to update the Television without Frontiers Directive of 1995. The new 'Audio Visual Content without Border Directive' already in its', this title already shows the new approach, no longer is television the main field, but it is defined in a broader sense. Reding says:Convergence is closely coupled with cultural, economic and network issues which form an integral part of the Information Society:

• From a cultural perspective, it challenges the traditional relationship between content creation, the media and the consumer.
• From an economic perspective, we are confronted by a high pace of development of new actors in the value chain, the "creative destruction" of established positions and changing consumption modes.
• From a networking perspective, the emergence of the Internet as one of the major vehicles of converged services has the capacity to challenge the sustainability of traditional business models in the sector.

It is the Commission's task to ensure that the right framework for the digital convergence and for investment in ICT is in place. This is Europe's best bet for delivering sustained growth and skilled jobs.

Reding approaches this with a 'light touch' Light but Europe wide rules offering one single basic framework instead of 25 different legal regimes. With the 'light touch' a lot is left to strong user control, but with a task for protection of minors and fight against the incitement of racial hatred. This needs to cross national regulatory borders an fill in a regulatory 'gap'. At the same time there needs to be minimal harmonization so that the country-of-origin of content stays identifiable, this is imperative for a legal framework to develop new audiovisual content services. Not to build 'chinese walls' but to identify the content work in the legal framework it has to oblige to the regulation of its' country's origin.

The light touch is also ment not to strangle new nascent audiovisual content services giving them maximum freedom to develop.

SAGAS.. exhausting and very very rewarding

My munich week at the SAGAS future TV workshop was very intens and extremely rewarding. I feel an overflow of creative and inspired ideas. I need to do this more ande more.
Reimo Lang, who gave the workshop has the ability to bring working structure to my crossmedia ideas, which evidently helps them grow stronger.

I will tell smoe more about the workshop later. Our final group had a concept that we are going to work out more, beause it is a strong basic idea that needs a lot of hard work to become something interesting, but it may very well be...

Keep you informed

Inspiring crossmedia students at HvA

Today I had a very inspiring afternoon with students of the Hogeschool van Amsterdam talking about crossmedia. These guys and girls already get it, but they are just not so aware of that. They ARE the new generation of crossmedia project makers and here is where you will find the new talents of the future. Talking about crossmedia they may not be summing up definitions or theory, they can clearly imagine how they will use media in the future and understand the implications of that immediately. We discussed the concept of Google TV, will this be the next model. Well yes and no, it will be a mix of googeling for the information you want AND letting yourself be entertained. Hope I will get the chance to discuss some more aspects, because I like to see this new emerging talent come to bloom!

we media Gaining momentum...

Gloria Pan the famous director of the mediacenter in Reston is excited for the mediacenters next upcoming event. And she is probably right, there is a momentum coming for crossmedia, participatpory journalism and wemedia as the mediacenter tags developments. If you cannot be there, you can tune in at.. http://mediacenter.blogs.com/morph/tmc_event_we_media_05_ap/index.html
to get the feed live..AND react. Now if that isn't crossmedia!

I will be in Munich this week attending a SAGAS workshop and I am extremely looking forward to letting all that creativity flow..

I will keep you posted as much as possible!

Get some inspiration in 2006

Celebrating collaborative cultures and independence movements - from independent labels to peer-to-peer culture, from free parties to free networks, from locative media to local food

Futuresonic 2006 will explore the state of independence today, and showcase independent music, arts and technologies that are open, emergent, collaborative and ad-hoc.

http://10.futuresonic.com/

Plan pervasive and locative arts network

A new international and interdisciplinary research network in pervasive media and locative media has been funded as part of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Culture & Creativity programme. The network will bring together practicing artists, technology developers and ethnographers with the aim of advancing interdisciplinary understanding and building consortia for future collaborative projects. It will be of relevance to people working in the arts, games, education, tourism, heritage, science and engineering.

http://www.open-plan.org/

Interesting man in crossmedia (really a man!!)

Gary looks interesting (tipped by Christy Dena)

http://www.personalizemedia.com/index.php/about-gary/

fat kids inspire new formats

Fat kids are becoming an issue worldwide. How to get them moving and not sit for telly all day? Well, make a televisionprogram about this and for them. Maybe not such a bad idea..

http://www.c21media.net/news/detail.asp?area=79&article=26653

Warner and MTV close mobile TV deal

MTV has struck a global licensing deal with Warner Music Group that will allow it to create original short-form video content for mobile phones, based on Warner's catalogue.Under the terms of the agreement, MTV will be able to create made-for-mobile content based on artists including Sean Paul, Twista, Green Day, Big & Rich and Maná and distribute it around the world.

According to the two parties, the deal represents the first of its kind between a media company and music label covering programming on mobile networks on a global basis.

This is a great leap forward in the evolution of our mobile video strategy, and we look forward to developing more exciting initiatives in this space over the year to come," said MTV Networks chairman and chief executive, Judy McGrath. Read more at..

http://www.c21media.net/news/detail.asp?area=1&article=26621

Economics of crossmedia

What are the economic advantages of using crossmedia instead of a one medium approach?
The Wall Street Journal finds this in composing multiskilled teams around one subject or newsstory. The story gets input from the regular newspaper journalist but likewise from the internet journalists and off course bloggers will let their light shine on it. The economic advantage is that it all happens simultaneous and tasks can be shared instead of done twice (with twice the cost). Crossmedia is always about composing differential teams. Kim Dingler, former media manager at Heineken and recently started with her own company Thys thinks there are enough monochaistic approaches in the market, you don't all have to be of the same bloodgroup to make excellent team work. Indeed, you'd better not be.
So different approaches affecting one another makes more excellent crossmedia work, better value is always better economics.
But for now there is a cost involved, because to get such a team working you need openmindedness, respect as well as the ability to harshly criticise one anothers boundaries of the medium you are coming from. In short, it will hurt.
How to use channels wisely, that is cost-effective and with the highest rate of return is another question to be answered. Approaches will have to differ from the current ones. Instead of coming from a mass approach and accounting number of individuals, maybe now you have to start with individuals and account when is your critical mass?
I am currently working on a model to get this better accounted for, so that when you move to crossmedia communication you may also know why you should!

De Mol's vision on Dutch journalism

In this interview de Mol gives his vision on the journalistic landscape in the Netherlands. With Talpa he has become a player on the formation of public opinion in the Netherlands as is any broadcaster. The interview is in Dutch, I will translate a few remarks: Traditional newspapers are not going to survive. Talpa will consider partnering with a newspaper, but not owning one because it is not in the experience of De Mol to direct a newspaper. He wants to be able to direct all his content!...And he dislikes being compared to Berlusconi. (But being able to direct all of your content is not really a democratic attitude, now is it!!). If he will cooperate with a newspaper means he will bring in his expertise in making television. On the long term.. De Mol does not have a 20 yrs plan but is convinced convergence of media is inevitable (I agree) He again tells he wants to develop the ideal convergence model and has the right team to do this (If he says so ;-)He tells us he will judge people when he sees them; what is their attitude, do they fit the team.. Saillant to tell, that a couple of months ago I too visited Talpa and very briefly met him, so he probably judged and found I did not fit the team (I agree). For me (an excellent working) crossmedia aspect of projects is most important to achieve. A different approach all together, because Talpa is not designing new crossmedia projects, the team is just copying some international formats and adjusting them to the local market.


http://www.villamedia.nl/journalist/n/17.2005.johndemol.shtm

20lives and Blackbeard crossmedia game

The dutch company zground developed a crossmedia game that reminds of the nokia game that is also about to start Nokia's 20 lives.
The blackbeard connection will use mobile and the internet as well as spits a free newspaper for travellers. Costs to develop the game are estimated at 700.000 Euro (which I personally find quit a sum) Players will spend 49,50 Euro as a maximum and they need 25.000 players to get the cost out. The development of the game was initiated by Zground which found sponsor onto it. As nokia's game offcourse is very much an initiative of the sponsor themselves. Did like the autocue joke on 20lives as a former autocue operator ;-)

http://theblackbeardconnection.com/

http://www.nokia.com/20Lives/

buzzcut.com - Video Game Theory and Criticism

we love to learn about games..

buzzcut.com - Video Game Theory and Criticism

Grand Text Auto

Check out these riders..

Grand Text Auto

Want to write a paper on media convergence?

And maybe go to Nottingham, just like Robin ;-)

IPerG; designing crossmedia pervasive games

Information on making pervasive crossmedia games

http://www.pervasive-gaming.org/index_swf.html

Crossmedia is a woman's world

Sorry you guys, but everytime I find something compelling on crossmedia it's a woman!

http://www.avantgame.com/

eBay takes over Skype

eBay has acquired Skype for approx. $ 2.6 billion upfront cash and eBay Stock. Niklas Zennstrom has finally cashed in major after first also setting up Kazaa. Wonder what he is up to next. Keep a track on that man!!
eBay - Events & Presentations

Come and play with me

If you could play all day, what would you be playing? Would you engage in sports and be competitive (you're a male.. right) Or would you like to be engaged in strategic participation with others to conquer more land (woman.. definitely!). What would you like to play, please be interactive and tell me.. I am looking to write a piece about work and play (a research subject for the EC)
Can you come and play with me...because..

Bright spirits enlight one another

(got this one from one of those wisdom in lines books and really liked it)

Endemol to Amsterdam stock exchange

Endemol will go to the Amsterdam stock exchange before the end of this year according to the words of César Alierta, head of Telefónica.
Endemol is in the sales window at Telefónica for quite a while now. This looks like the pressure is hightened for current negotiations with buyers or there may not be an attractive enough buyer for the format and television production company at this moment. Telefónica at the beginning of this year announced it was looking for a buyer (not going to the stock exhange but a sale of the whole company) Telefónica five years ago bought Endemol for 5,5 Billion Euro's. It is not expected they will get this amount from the market. By the end of this year though the media market is looking much better and therefore timing will be right for Telefónica to sell the company. Shareholder value will be driving the company then, even more then now (some initiatives may be not so attractive in revenue but of strategeic importance to Telefónica).. It is a question if this will be a good driver for a creative company?

Practicum nieuwe media: Crossmedia formats - web-log.nl

Indira Reijnaart is on to work with her students in Utrecht. You can follow the activities of the students at:

I met Indira last week and energy was streaming right away. She is a very likeable lady and we had a very inspiring afternoon and discussed crossmedia for four hours.. so that's what happens when you meet kindred spirits.

Looking at the neighbours..Big Brother

As it happens to be, my house and office are located only meters from the Big Brother house in Aalsmeer. Big Brother off course is the excellent example of a crossmedia project (as I have stated many times before) The first BB ever, I did see on a regular bases as did almost every Dutch at the time (1999). After that the genre quickly lost my interest and today I am not a big fan of the genre personally, professionally off course I am very much an admirer. The fun thing is ..What I started doing every now and then is take a peak at the neighbours through the live stream (good quality by the way!!) I still don’t feel bonded, because I have not invested time in looking at the series and getting to know the inhabitants of the house. I did visit the house only 1 day before it would be visible on the net and the people got in, resulting in a very nervous guard asking how the …. We’ve got into the house...:-) (Which is by means of an employers’ pass because my partner regularly works there, in fact also at the Big Brother program.)
This proximity makes me curious to mirror what is happening only a few meters away, every now and then during work. All they do is lay in the sun.. Would I also do this if I would not be situated so near?
I have considered making a streaming blog with webcams called “In the mean time outside the BB house”.. And letting my neighbours comment on it all ;-) Because it is so easy and right outside my door. Would only cause just a little problem with IPR..


http://www.talpa.tv/big-brother/

media policy explosive political material

Medy van der Laan who has announced a radical change of policy for the Public Broadcasters is overwhelmed by the comments to her policy. Next week the 'house of commons" would debate the plans. But because of the large amount of protests the debate is postponed. Some journalists even wonder if the plans will be evaluated during this government period. This may also be wishfull thinking of them. Most surprising I found that the the WRR (Scientific council to the Dutch Government) who has issued a study on the changing media landscape upon which Van der Laan claims to base her new policy is OPPOSED to the plans! they claim they never ment the report to be a base for new media policy. I just feel a lot of lobbying pressure here. It is the task of the WRR to generate bases for new policy for the government. how can they not mean it to be used like that then. Medy van der Laan has landed in heavy weather. But I support her plans on the changes. Not all of it, but I hope she perseveres, because changes are already set in and the Public Broadcasters need to realise they are not living in an isolated world. Definitely not now that the internet is going to be the bases for television activities. As we all know the internet has no borders!

Van Massamerk naar Mensmerk - Merken in een Veranderende Mediacontext

Yesterday I met Erwin van Lun, a very friendly and enthusiastic man. My attention was immediately triggered by his book called "From massbranding to personal brands". When I started reading parts I got even more enthusiastic. Erwin has an origin as an artificial intelligence expert, after that he has studied and worked in the world of brands. It gives him this rare and very valuable view on the changing media context. He based his book on a lot of interviews with experts from the field (in fact the book is his thesis for obtaining a master in brand management at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam) Erwin also has the ability to write in a very understandable and a nice-to-read way about his findings. The book is in Dutch (sorry english readers) hopefully Erwin will translate it later on. Because it is a must read for anybody working on crossmedia communication. You can find information on Erwin and his book on his blog..

http://mensmerk.blogspot.com/

Storytelling Animals

Involving children in nature and science by letting them interact with storytelling animals
The Interactive Institute - Home

Hart van Nederland: Changing the Dutch news landscape forever

This is a personal story (about a Dutch news adventure):
10 Years ago I just finished my study communication sciences at the University of Amsterdam. It was a time of recession and not easy to find a job, so I hopped from one temp job to the other. In the summer of 1995 in Amsterdam there was also a small group of people busy with the start up of a new television channel. At the time it was regarded an absurd idea, because there already was public television and two large commercial channels, RTL 4 and 5. There will not be room for more then 6 channels…! Fons van Westerloo, leading this small group had made another calculation for SBS6. News is an important anchor in your schedule. And as a former journalist Fons van Westerloo very much wanted to have a news programme but he knew he never had the budget to make that in the next coming years. He talked about his wishes with producer Marck Feller and senior editor Jean Mentens and an ingenious idea was born. If you do not have the budget to sent your reporters all over the world, why not focus on national news, the small news items everybody is ignoring, but that is very much at the heart of the lives and homes of everybody. And so..the initial idea for Hart van Nederland was born. Soon they were setting up an initial team to produce the programme. Profile: young and cheap people with enormous drives to create something new. I just happened to walk into the building in July 1995 to become one of them. It was one of the luckiest things happening in my life and it was to become one of the most intens periods too. Now Hart van Nederland is an institute in Dutch television, changing the way we look at news at the very core. A month ago someone of the old group noticed it was almost ten years ago that we started on this adventure and soon everybody was e-mailing we needed to meet. In Eik en Linde off course, centre of our lives at that time. And it was a heart warming meeting last Friday; some of us had become regular stars by themselves. Some of us had chosen or rolled into quit different paths (me for instance) and also a lot of us where still there working at the program.
Now, ten years later there is also someone who makes a different calculation about there being enough channels in the market. And as you need news for an anchor, another news programme, NSE is born. It looks like the same adventure.. But there is a big difference. Hart was not only bringing a new form of news, like NSE, the big change was in the point of view AT MAKING THIS NEWS. NSE is adopting new forms at bringing the SAME news, which is its Achilles’ heel. People want to see something they cannot see anywhere else. This is the also the same reason why Boulevard is a great success, the content of the programme is different, not only the form. How is NSE going to renew the content of its news? That’s really the question they should ask themselves. It’s a great adventure, let me tell you that!

anmi meeting on crossmedia with kpn and talpa

Yesterday I visited a meeting on the future of crossmedia by Anmi Summerschool in Amsterdam. Michiel Buitelaar, KPN and Edwin Tromp, Talpa cross media where giving their views on future developments. Unfortunately I missed the first part of Edwin's presentation, but got right on time to learn where Talpa is expecting to make money: traditional spot, sponsored content, stream spots, subscription fee, pay-per-view, shared business and market places. He has also talked about putting the concept central at Talpa and then thinking channels (I got this second hand). I think it is the right idea, but with the 'wrong' people, because Talpa's team is dominated by television people. They are not able to think crossmedia, as is becoming ever more clearly visible by now. Not an easy job for Tromp I think. Then Buitelaar, KPN talked freely of his ideas on the future. I happen to know Michiel from many years ago, where he was only thinking telecom. And was very eager to learn about the other media I was coming from at the time (television and internet) He has made a further step in his thinking from then and had a very clear presentation. Unfortunately he also turned out to have become quite blase as director of the KPN consumer division, I noticed when I walked up to him. Not all legs can carry the weight elegantly. Michiel talked about co-creation in the form of a 'pigeon channel'; A channel where one pigeonkeeper can upload his films of the pigeons he is keeping and where other pigeonlovers can watch the birds as they fly away. Not your everyday mass television offering, but it will be there eventually, a particular niche producing and viewing each others' content. He is definitely right that it will be going this way. It already is. KPN wanted to ENABLE this, which I think is a smart position to take. But how?

Let's work with kids!

I wondered what sonja kangas was doing in Finland, so I decided to ask. This is one of the interesting projects she is involved in. It's about crossmedia for kids and it is this week. So you have to hurry to attend the workshop! (I am afraid I will not be able to be there, but comments on the workshop of attendees are very welcome! )

http://www.studio12-21.se/crossmedia/

After the first week..Talpa

If I am kicking at forehand at Talpa (de Mol not spending..) let me also make up the balance after Talpa on air in the Netherlands for one week. First of all, an amazing prestige to have it running so well in the first week. This marks the truly professional television people working at Talpa (as I have said before). As it is I have some experience with starting up a new channel (about ten years ago I was part of it all at SBS) and so I know how difficult this is. Another compliment goes to Beau van Erven Dorens and all of his team working at NSE. They truly have amazed me! NSE has a huge potential and already has a good ritm and beat to it. Definitely very much NOW. But..then "Thuis" the programme preceding NSE really isn't NOW anymore. It feels terribly outdated. And off course it is not about crossmedia at all (which it is pretending to be...). If they think putting somebody with a laptop in the public to read aloud the e-mails during the show is crossmedia..Oh dear. 'Thuis' is an excellent example of NOT understanding what crossmedia is about. Forcing other channels in the programme in such an unnatural way. It makes me sad, it really does to see this happening!

Italian crossmedia modelling: proiettiliperscrittori

This is very interesting. An italian scolar that is trying to model crossmedia. His latest notions are of a supportive/proactive model and competitive/defense model (don't know exactly what he means and planning to ask him later today) Another notion is to use the latest theories on the shaper of the universe. Don't really get it yet, but it is definitely triggering insights. Take a look.
proiettiliperscrittori

Crossmediaforum

If you would like, you can discuss crossmedia subjects on this forum. It can be an interesting means, a forum and it is definitely very democratic, but I think it gets messy very easily.
Anyway, it is a good initiative, see what you can find of your liking here (It is in Dutch only by the way).

Crossmediaforum

PaidContent.org

Usefull: PaidContent.org

Narrowcasting in NL: hip tv: The Entertainment Group

All Talpa has to do, is buy this later, which will definitely happen,
if you look at the artists and the board, from the Entertainment Group one of
the initiators of this project: both familiar liaisons of De Mol.
(how to keep your friends rich)
And it will all be more crossmedia after all.
Looks really nice.

http://www.hiptv.nl
The Entertainment Group

John de Mol; All that money and nothing to spend..

John de Mol promissed to build the ideal convergence model in the Netherlands...Sounds exciting.. doesn't it. I thought so too, but how ignorant. He is entering the market with a more then traditional channel, all of it dominated by traditional television programmes. Working only with well established companies, you know.. safety first. Bringing really nothing new actually. From a business perspective, I can understand the strategy of entering a competitive market and you are not going to do it all different on top of that. It would be asking for trouble. That's healthy economic thinking. But Talpa is boringly old fashioned television thinking. This is not about me, not selling a project, I have not even offered anything to Talpa yet (and do not see any fit for my crossmedia setups in the schedule as it is right now, besides I need the advertisers before all that). But there have been lots of little companies trying to do new things. If you tell the market you are (going to be) about crossmedia, well show (at least one thing). All that money and nothing to spend.

United Productions.co.uk: Exploiting the Future

The UK’s Film Council recent event, Exploiting the Future - Digital Opportunities for diversity and difference was not just timely but illustrative of the digital ghost in the machine peering into tomorrow. The PD150 a must-have in any digital film making armoury is about to be toppled by High Definition Cam-corders costing about the same. Films with interstitial multiple arcs (think hypertext) in which cinema-goers can influence the film's narrative with SMS/ MMS is an interesting development. It could mean a studio and directors cut run simultaneously with the audience choosing what's on screen. United Productions.co.uk: Exploiting the Future http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/

Sites honored for interactive storytelling, rethinking journalism - CyberJournalist.net - Sites honored for interactive storytelling, rethinking journalism

Five finalists have been named for the 2005 Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism, which gives cash prizes up to $10,000 for "setting new standards for interactive journalism, advancing creativity in digital storytelling and recalibrating the role that news organizations play in their communities." Take a look..

Sites honored for interactive storytelling, rethinking journalism - CyberJournalist.net - Sites honored for interactive storytelling, rethinking journalism

Mobile marketing by SMS DEBAT Partner Jigal Schrijver

Often Jigal and I agree on how to approach things (not always ;-). We work together on SMS DEBAT. He wrote this inspiring article on mobile marketing. IN which I like the crossmedia thinking he displays. Take a look ...
LaComunidad Nieuwsbrief | 2e jaargang | 4e editie | � 2005 LaComunidad

WRT: Writer Response Theory � Blog Archive � Interactive Entertainment Practice Software

Good work by Christy Dena:

WRT: Writer Response Theory � Blog Archive � Interactive Entertainment Practice Software

A Storied Career:

Another jewel found by Christy Dena's work. Christy has landed in a turmoil by now (see http://www.crossmediastorytelling.com) which means the academic world is beginning to see the light. Now let's hope there's commerce coming after this.

A Storied Career: Storytelling for College Students: Stealth or No Stealth?

apophenia

ONe very interesting lady with a very interesting assignment: Dana Boyd

apophenia

CBBC multichannel strategy for children

Alison Sharman, the recently installed controller of CBBC, sees CBBC as the "vanguard" of the digital revolution:"The phenomenal success of the iPod demonstrates to me some important general themes about the way media consumption is evolving.
It is going personal, mobile and, most important, on-demand," she said. Sharman added that we are in an age where viewers increasingly take what they want, when they want it.
"And this genuinely revolutionary change in the consumption of content means that we must take a long, hard look at how we currently go about providing that content; how we schedule; and how we distribute it. It is not enough just to upgrade what we currently do, we need a whole new operating system, a new way of thinking about and executing content creation and delivery. We need - in many ways - to redefine what we mean by broadcasting," she said.


C21Media:

interview TVM (in Dutch only)

NPS "leaving" may also open doors to new crossmedia initiatives..

After first being startled by the decision of Van der Laan to ban the NPS from a budget I have to reconsider. At first I feared real investigative journalism to disappear. But that need not be true, because when this may disappear there will inevitably be people picking up the glove. As I propagated myself so many times, we are moving toward an environment where people will be in greater control over the information they want to consume. They will be more active in looking for that even up to really (co-)creating content. The best investigative journalism already these days, originates from the amateur reporters on blogs, just happening to be right on top of the subject. So drawing that line a little further, say three years from now when the plans of Van der Laan are to be effective, the landscape will probably have changed so much already that the minor voice will have found there new homes in the niche channels by then.

swarming

Talking about community and conversations I looked at swarming again and realised now that this application is working at the stage just before that, community and contact. In the right context the swarming application may be very effective. Take a look at www.eyebees.com

Dutch mediamarket: Talpa coming, NPS leaving the stage? And KPN has 1 mld EU to spent on Telfort?

Yesterday was quite a day for the Dutch Broadcast market. While Talpa where presenting their new channel in a glossy entourage on one side of the mediapark in Studio 21 (see de Mol's ideas on crossmedia on http://www.talpa.tv.. PS. I like the story, but I didn't not see it in the programming yet) ... on the other side of the mediapark in Hilversum, Medy van der Laan situated in a packed basic room was in fierce discussion with employees of the NPS, the public broadcast channel that is put out of play by this state secretary of media. An odd choice to say the least, because she wants public broadcasting to be more about opinion and debate and less about amusemen and it is just the NPS that is taking care of the minor voice in the public debate. I have agreed with van der Laan on the necesarry changes for Public Broadcasting, where a lot of money is going to the management of the broadcasters and NOT to programmemakers. But I do not understand the choice to ban the NPS, which offers typical content for the public domain. It is just this minority voice that needs be protected.

KPN, in huge debts because of the high paid UMTS rights, still had 1 miljard Euro hidden somewhere to buy Telfort. I do not understand money flows in telecommunications! I really do not!

Community as building blocks for communication

Ah live as a communication manager isn't what it used to be, hey! Neatly dividing your target groups in the 20-49 yrs groups does not seem to work effectively anymore. New channels like the internet and telephone are interfering in the picture and what to do with them? And what about these new means like digital channels or iptv? Can I reach my audience through these means? How to target then? Will they still see/hear/notice me?

There are two important keywords to remember:
1. community
2. conversations
It is all going to be about having conversations with the right community to build:
a. interest
b. believability
c. trust
And finally ..connect with your target group. Ever wondered, which communities you are part of? If your really think about that I am sure you will conclude that through the use of the internet you have become part of many more communities then before. All little villages in the global network society. Besides the family, regional and working community that you are already a part of before. These new participations in communities will have probably come naturally to you. Logical because there where mutual interests being served by joining the community so obviously you joined! And you decide how much time and effort to invest in them. This all depends on relevance, timeliness and functionality of the communities to you. People are all members of a mass and many niche communities. The art is to use this knowledge to your advantage and let the communities work with you. Listen, look and see what is happening with your customers. Instead of dictate, tell and sell to them.

Crossmedia is the buzz, but where is the money?

The buzz is about crossmedia and that should be good news, right? But, what do I hear.. advertisers are looking hard for new ways to communicate with target groups that change media consumption behaviour dramatically. But they don't know where to turn!
Well, not to your usual advertising agency, that's for sure.
Not to your broadcaster to arrange for a sponsored programme. They just want you to pay for your spots and let them do the buying of cheap re-runs in a package deal. That is their business model (for just a very little while more)
Not to a big producer to ask for a programme. Because they only know how television works and haven't got a clue about your business or marketing communication issues.

Advertisers know because they have tried this again and again. And now they don't know anymore, because there is no "well-established" company to help them solve this problem. You need to see that you cannot find new ideas with people dependable of you paying them for their old ideas. I am not going to eat my own shoe, right! First, you are not going to find an established company in this field, because it is pioneers' ground. And secondly it is huge impact pioneering ground. Simply because the public is ready for it, now all you have to do is get up to their speed. So, you need to get out there and look for the pretty little jewels laying around

(by the way I do consider my company to be one of those precious gems)

Just do it and you will find it is going to work out just really wonderfull!

Communities Dominate Brands

Found this through an article in Emerce on "open source marketing". An interesting article which also mentions co-creation. The journalist however takes a more technical approach to the subject, and sees co-creation as a product of opensource software. Unfortunately, thereby they take it out of the very important cultural context. Why do people WANT to co-create should be the first step at looking at the subject and that is NOT a technical question at all. People are NOT motivated by technique. On this blog you may find some very well informed articles and comments on the movement of communities (co-creation and crossmedia .. related in my opinion)

Communities Dominate Brands

BBC Training & Development > Free Online Broadcast & New Media Courses

Found this through the website of Christy Dena, my australian crossmedia colleague (she is in my favorite links: crossmediastorytelling). It is really nice of the BBC to teach us how to make television, since a lot more of us are going to do this in the near future when co-creating crossmedia stories! I was in Brussels (again) at the EC last monday. The IST directive is going to include a lot more media then before, because of the reality of convergence taking place. Focus will be more individual centric policies instead of industry centric policies. The goal is to empower the EU individual. For tommorow polls are that the Dutch will vote against the EU constitution. Still the politicians that I have spoken (for SMS DEBAT), in favour or against the EU constitution, are happy anyway because the subject of the EU is evidently beginning to be important to the people and that is perceived as a gain come what may..

BBC Training & Development > Free Online Broadcast & New Media Courses

NEW dutch station TEN goes for (golden) OLDies

The profile of TIEN (ten) the new Dutch television station that John de Mol is launching the next season in the Netherlands is slowly becoming clear. What strikes most is the use of old (proven) Endemol formats like Big Brother, The Soundmix Show and Deal or No Deal and not Endemol but with a long history Robinson Island. With the announcement of his enterprise in september 2004 de Mol was generating publicity with his idea of giving the Netherlands a real convergence model not seen before... Well- off course we must wait and see.. but I don't see it yet. I see what I have seen so many times before. A focus on old-thinking television with some quick and dirty add-ons like SMS-TV and talks about programms at the Talpa owned radiostation 538 and sister station Noordzee FM. Sure it will work, but it could have been so much prettier. How can you start up a media "imperium" now and take it from a yesterday starting point?

New formats for news

Here is an excellent report from the mediacenter about the future of newsmedia. I really could not agree more then with their description of the changes. Which are upon is in Europe just as well. But the pace is slacking in EU. Why isn't there a mediacenter like institute for the even more diverse European media market? News is of serious influence on how people perceive the world and make decisions in line with that. It is of imminent social cultural importance.

http://www.mediacenter.org/mediacenter/synapse/synapse_psp_0405.pdf

Blogs and the news: BuzzMachine... by Jeff Jarvis

Here is a valuable tip for journalists that are up to speed with the changing news media landscape: Here's what they do in the states with the influence of bloggers. So the basic idea is, be smart and look at it fresh and get those voices in your format!

BuzzMachine... by Jeff Jarvis: "CNN has the chicks reading the geeks. MSNBC started by having bloggers actually on the air and I thought that was good (being one of them). Last week, they switched format, it seems, to have producer and nice guy Tony Maciulis do the reports: He's good at it. Everybody's reading text off a screen and, yes, it does make for a straight line.
So what's the point? Well, sure, TV wants to get the geek-cool ruboff of this blog thing. But I think it's good that they're also promoting these new voices: The more the better. Have they found the right way to do it? Not yet.
MSNBC has talked about having a blog reporter and then having bloggers on to have actual opinions. I think may end up being a good way to go.
This week, MSNBC's Connected had me on not do the blog report -- I'll miss that question: 'What's happening in the blogosphere, BlogDaddy?' -- but instead to have actual opinions about the news media and the internet.
I think we'll end up with a hybrid: Blog reports do give a fresh breeze of vox pop on the air. Bloggers as guests get to bring new perspectives and voices to TV (and radio and print). And what I still want to see is citizens creating their own reports and commentary -- vlogs, podcasts, whatever -- and getting those on the air.
: Ed Cone comments here... without the cam."

By the way: We can also confirm the take-over of '538' by Talpa as mentioned in the previous article about a Dutch mediatycoon and the question will he be modest? He's not!

Peter R. de Vries joins SMS DEBAT

National Celebrity and crimefighter Peter R. de Vries has recently decided to go into politics. It looks like he has the trust of a relevant group of civilians. Different polls have currently given him around from 5 to 9 seats in parliament and up to 22% of the votes (De Telegraaf). He wants to have a large piece of the cake or else he does not feel to have an impact and will withdraw. In the mean time we want to learn more about his ideas and so we can, because he has joined SMS DEBAT. Scholars can pose to him questions on where he wants to take his political party PRDV. And off course Peter can pose questions to them. Another reason to join this debate!

SMS DEBAT

Powerplay for position of most influential mediatycoon of Europe has started

This is really beginning to look like one of their drama scenario's; A small circle of influential European mediatycoons are fighting to gain the most influence in the (European) TV World. Berlusconi's company Mediaset is eying Endemol; is the news according to Southern European journalists. While John de Mol is currently busy building his media company from the Netherlands. And Joop van den Ende has announced to enter the market as of january 2006, when his non-competition agreement with Telefonica is ended, meanwhile their former company Endemol (van den Ende & De Mol) is sought after by Berlusconi. While the Dutch just started to build their imperium, Berlusconi already gained large influence in his home territory; "Mediaset (Berlusconi owned) dominates Italy's media landscape with private channels Canale 5, Italia 1 and Retequattro, production outfits, digital channels, internet portals and the biggest publishing house, Publitalia. (C21media)" Despite denials the Italian press is holding on to negotiations between Mediaset and Telefonica taking place currently. The spanish have put Endemol in their shoppingwindow as of the beginning this year. "Big Brother company Endemol is the biggest format producer worldwide, with revenues for 2004 at €1.03bn, and an EBITDA of €181m. But Telefonica has already stated that it's preparing for Endemol’s flotation on the stock market towards the end of 2005 or early 2006. (C21media)" Powerplay with real influence for 'he who owns the media, owns the minds of people' (who's quote was that again?).

C21Media:

Press activity SMS DEBAT results in good internet coverage

To get more applicants and interest in the project, last week we send out a press release on SMS DEBAT. We got a lot of interest, that's good. We wanted some national news coverage, but the journalists needed larger numbers to bring this as news. Editie NL made the choice to make an item om goose instead...talking about relevance hey ;-) I know how journalism works, that is a nice item, as a closure to serious news. I was closely involved in building the success of Hart van Nederland. A format that changed the national news permanently. For now this may not be the case with SMS DEBAT, but I am having this feeling that is growing stronger all the time that I am working on this. That is that with the right effort and energy put into this, it may very well become seriously relevant. Hart van Nederland did not work out to be a success overnight, not at all. It is the users' respons that is most relevant. And that's just why I believe with SMS DEBAT we are on to something, this respons is here IF politicians join the debate in a timely manner and if questions are relevant. No jokes or funny meant statements here. It is a downright serious debate that scores highest among the young users. What shows that you should not have a preconceived opinion of young people NOT being interested in politics. From the little time I have spent on this project now I can already assure you, they ARE INTERESTED!!

Interesting Day at the European Commission to talk about games and collaborative working environments

Yesterday, I spent a day at the office of the Directorate Generale of the Information Society and Media of the EC (sounds pretty awesome hey ;) Specialist from different backgrounds; games, organisation management, interactive storytelling and crossmedia where invited to discuss the use of game structures for achieving collaborative working environments. Making work more like play seems to me as beneficial for most humans. The main conclusion was that for the Long Term the EC needs to invest in the development and research of applications and environments that enable: To empower people with building components to design and author their own collaborative working environments What can we learn from games, what makes them so engaging that we can learn from and use in collaborative working environments? A lot is the conclusion, although be aware not to copy paste games on working environments and to look at a game success does not mean it will be a success in a working environments. The co-creation element that is getting ever more important in games and crossmedia communication plays an even larger role when you look at working environments I think. People need authoring tools that are richer then e-mail, weblogs and chat. But just the success of these lies in the ability to co-create with these means in an easy way. Rich authoring tools that are extremely easy to use, intelligence that is unobtrusively helping you to design and author your own collaborative working environment. The characteristics of crossmedia communication may even apply more direct to the collaborative working environment then games. In a crossmedia environment as in the real world you need to interact in virtual environments, media channels and in the real world, the same applies to collaborative working environments being a mixture of real and virtual environments.

Dissimulations

Sometimes you stumble upon a piece that is old, 1995 and yet so very insightfull that it even gives you reflection on what is happenig today. Dissimulations is such a piece. It hunts my presumption that story is the DNA of meaning and therefore I like it.

Dissimulations

Correction: POSSIBLE take over '538' Station

I have to correct myself. The take over of radio station '538' is still not confirmed by Talpa and therefore my conclusion of Talpa buying '538' are to preliminary. The sources I have used are other blogs, and not a confirmation by Talpa (as if they are going to send me one ;-) However I think it very presumable the take-over will be confirmed later this week.

What to do about keeping measure if you can buy it all?

In Holland John de Mol has bought another radio station; '538'. This is a very popular commercial station, meaning that aside from commercial radio station no1;Sky Radio, which is also somewhat older skewed, de Mol has a very direct line to the younger radio listener in the Netherlands. Besides '538' he already owned Noordzee FM and Radio10 Gold (older audience) The 538 station, 90 % owned by investers was for sale for a while now. At this moment in the Dutch market de Mol is getting more and more inevitable. In England, the US and Italy people are already used to this, a very powerfull mediatycoon dominating media. But in Holland we did not have this situation untill now. De Mol, although very powerfull with Endemol, still had to face the programming board before he could air his products. He is very relieved not to have to face this, with his own channel. But I am beginning to feel a little bit uncomfortable by this inevitability of the man. What to do about keeping measure if you can buy it all? There is no democratic voice here about what the content should be. In the end it is only one man pulling all the strings. And what if that man is wrong about some things? After all it is very human to be wrong about things. I do not see any well paid employee telling him he is wrong. Everybody wants a nice car and a good pension? Luckily the final verdict is in the hands of the public. The further influence of the audience on the final product seems even more necessary for "the other voice", now. The public broadcasters are in a cramp now after a very long time of impasse. First there must be some kind of revolutionary change, else the already falling behind position is getting hopeless even more. Anyway, this will take too long. I think it is time to give the people more means to influence the stories that are told, and not just one very rich man. Something like Current may very well be a necessity in this market. Now.. where did I leave my red paint ?

unmediated; tools for YOU to create

Free tools for decentralised media
unmediated

Current TV

As mentioned before, this is an interesting project, where Al Gore is involved. It is an IPTV Station for people by people. The payment for delivered work (yeah they actually tell they will pay) is however unclear. Prices differ and it is not clear what you will be paid for your work or on what measures. You have to submit a quit claim do, before you enter your work, whereby you grant Current all crossmedia rights and future rights to any spin-off of your work. It seems irrelevant for "amateurs' but it is certainly relevant for the (semi) professional. You keep copyright, but IF you may have a potential success at your hands, you need to negotiate with the guys and girls from Current. Be quick they will surely give you good conditions, this is the PR they are looking for. Anyway it looks really good and.. American.

Current TV