Analysis of Always-On Hollwood
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Here’s the complete AlwaysOn Hollywood video archive list and below are my notes or comments from two of the panels. Check out Stowe Boyd’s post for more concise and insightful analysis.

1) Where’s the Ad Money Going?-

Audience Question-Where’s the [advertising] money going?
Sarah Fay, President, Isobar U.S, said that the money on digital is coming from all of the other mediums. A big flux from TV to digital- "a gusher." Since online market has been a small part of the media mix, it doesn’t take much for online/digital media budgets to double.

Also from Sarah, she mentioned a client that spends $100 million a year that undertook an internal analysis to understand how much time they bought in TV media with their target audience over the course of year: 6 minute average

Audience Question- Working with advertisers, it’s difficult to manage their online campaigns because of fragmentation and complexity, as compared to reaching millions via TV?
Panel Answers:
a) Rocketboom guy- if anything, if you find right show then you can the exact target of 10,000 people that are a perfect fit
b) New era of brand accountability. You must deliver the brand promise now and if you don’t, the consumers will fill it in for you.
c) Even if you mess up the online plan, you’re still better than if you committed the ad money to TV. As an advertiser, it’s much more precise than having to wait 6-8months for TV response data.

Audience Question- Who has substantially increased budget to online? How has a large budget percentage transferred to from traditional to online without affecting performance of traditional media.
Sarah- Dollar for dollar is the same but the performance percentage from online is better. One example is Adidas, who used to see online as too experimental and it took arm twisting to get them to sign up.

Audience Question- Where are TV up-fronts going this year?
Sarah- It will be down. Also, where online used to ride on the coattails of TV, online and TV will now come to the negotiating table with equal voice.

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2) Is the Web the New Hollywood



I posted Thursday the opening quote from this panel and it’s a point worth repeating:
The audience is taking over the programming. A few years ago we looked at litigating it, now we are looking at how to monetize it."
Ted elaborated later on saying this loss of control is a huge pill to swallow for the traditional media companies.

From Ted Cohen, he mentioned the online launch of Alias and Desperate Housewives. He described how the ads are embedded in the videos and you’re forced to watch for maybe 20 seconds but then there’s an option to skip the ad. As Curry and Dave Winer have said, if you make good advertising, it longer is really an advertisement and people will want to watch that content.

Also, it may not be entirely user-generated content, but the ability to mash-up or how you can users put frames around their videos. Hmm, if there’s a huge market there for being able to frame or re-mix (or mash-up), then all of those online video editing tools will take off. Check out TechCrunch for some reviews of those companies.

Advertisers are confused about user-generated content, some like it and some litigate it.
Ted Cohen- “You’re seeing a lot more letting go." There can’t be too many rules right now. “If you don’t let them play, then they’re going to play anyway. So we have to figure out how to monetize it."