New Media Conference Call--Issue 10 1/16/2001 Wherein we profile the 3rd thing inevitable in the life of a new media exec--death, taxes, and trade shows. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Streaming Media West 2000--Part One of Two Parts WHEN: Dec. 12-14, 2000, WHERE: San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, CA Streaming Media West 2000--Deja Vu All Over Again by Richard Landry Streaming Media West 2000 eerily resembled a conference from the last decade that defined its market -- and ultimately died along with it. The conference it so closely resembled? Intermedia, a Microsoft-sponsored event for CD-ROM publishing professionals, which took place during the early 1990's. Streaming Media West displayed many of the same factors that led to Intermedia's demise: an overabundance of startups, with virtually identical names, hawking virtually identical technology; obvious consumer indifference, as evidenced by the high exhibitor-to-attendee ratio on the show floor; and most of all, the clear absence of any viable business models for the content companies that were supposed to be buying all of the broadband technology being displayed on the show floor. Sessions. The long knives came out early during a session entitled, "Making Content Pay," moderated by TechTV's Carmine Gallo. In a desperate bid to find working content models that didn't simply amount to paid advertising, Gallo relentlessly grilled his all-star panel, which included Shockwave's executive producer Esther Chang and House of Blues' production VP Phil Fracassi. Scott Kramer, CEO of Multibrain, which produces sponsored infomercials he calls "product placement on steroids," blew off efforts to paper over the current state of the market, saying flatly, "Compelling content is content people are willing to pay for." This theme was hammered elsewhere during the conference by guests trumpeting various infomercial strategies, such as "the all-powerful up-sell," described by Craig Ellins, CEO of Hello Network. Ellins, whose past accomplishments include launching the first 24-hour live TV shopping network, was pushing his Toysclub.com, where kids reportedly can get live product recommendations from Santa Claus. Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer dusted off an old Intermedia speech for his keynote, touting Microsoft investments in the space and promoting corporate presentations as the streaming content market's killer app. As to whether or not there was any room in today's market for legitimate, original broadband content, speakers contradicted each other and themselves. Shockwave's Esther Chang disagreed with those who advocated simply recycling linear content as a way to keep down costs. To be successful, the streaming market requires "truly interactive content," she emphasized; but when asked about her own company's commercial fortunes, she admitted, "Monetizing our content is really our challenge.this is a tough space." Even TechTV's Gallo couldn't cough up the name of a paying customer for his company's content. Unfortunately, otherwise excellent panel sessions were obscured by bush-league A/V support. Attendees decried the sub-standard sound system and lack of rich-media presentations in a conference entirely devoted to that subject. In Sum Veterans could not help but notice how the conference had adopted a disquietingly familiar tone. Speaker after speaker pointed out that the consumer broadband audience, now measured at about 5 million households by Dataquest/Gartner, was simply too small to support either paid or ad-sponsored streaming content. Exhibitors complained that their employees were standing around talking to each other rather than to customers. And at the end of the day, no one disputed the assertion made by one frustrated conference attendee: "The streaming media conference business obviously has the best business model in streaming media today." About the author: Richard Landry is principal of richmedium ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) a new media strategic consulting firm. Landry formerly served as publisher and editor-in-chief of NewMedia magazine and newmedia.com, as well as editor-in-chief and associate publisher of PC World. Article reprinted with permission from Conferenza, www.conferenza.com KILLER APP DEMO: For those of you who'd like to see a slide show featuring highlights from Streaming Media West, please see: http://demo.tvtaxi.com/smw2000/ It's clean, short, and visually descriptive. Later this week: We surveyed 56 exhibitors and dozens of attendees. Learn what they had to say about Streaming Media West 2000. CHECK 'EM OUT AT: www.streamingmedia.com $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Media Heavies JOINING IN ON NEW MEDIA CONFERENCE CALL: Intertec Publishing (www.intertec.com) Penton Media (www.penton.com) Reed Midem (www.reedmidemorg.com) The LA Times Tech Team (www.latimes.com) AdWeek (www.adweek.com) Imagine Media (www.imaginemedia.com) Digitrends (www.digitrends.net) eVariety (http://ev.variety.com/) i-Street (www.i-street.com) $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ You've heard of Dilbert, Ratbert, and Catbert (the Evil HR Director). Please check out Advert, our more Benevolent PR Director, below. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ADVERT$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Submissions season opens after Sundance for the Pixie Awards, THE Award for Online Films and Animations. www.pixieawards.org $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ADVERT$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Get the rest of the story from the i-Street Reporter, the best-written weekly on line! Read the latest news, notes, gossip, and profiles--of the up & coming and the down & counting. Find out who's rising before they peak and who's falling before they land--in your bad accounts pile. Written by former Chicago Tribune business journalist Phat X. Chiem, it's i-Street on the e-Beat. Subscribe by writing to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit their website at www.i-street.com/la. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Raves (and rants) about New Media Conference Call: I get your e-newsletters and get a kick out of them! --Roy Reeves, CEO, PrepStar, Inc., www.prepstar.com Very interesting reviews/comments about conferences! Would you please add me to the New Media Conference Call list? --Rick Bender, CEO, CyberStrategies, www.cyberstrat.com Nice work--this is a great concept. And...I was at MB-5, and agree with your short blurb here so I look forward to your piece on it. Best of Luck with this newsletter. --Michael Fagien, www.milor.com :) --Andrew Keen, Exec. Producer, www.mb5.com Thanks for the revue. A number of people emailed it to me. You're definitely getting around. See you next time. -- Victor Harwood, Founder and Producer, Digital Hollywood http://www.digitalhollywood.com Thank you for keeping me abreast on all the "going-ons" in iHollywood! I don't ever have to worry about being out of the loop. --Penney Wei, Marketing Coordinator, WireBreak Entertainment http://www.wirebreak.com I enjoy your newsy newsletters!!! --Laura Klein, Film Editor: Mission Impossible II, Deep Blue Sea, The Negotiator Hey, I'd like to get on the New Media Conference Call e-mail list! Thanks. --Jon Healey, Tech Correspondent, Los Angeles Times, www.latimes.com Like the show revues - good stuff. Please add me to your e-mail databank. Thanks a lot. --Mirko Whitfield, Reed Midem, http://www.reedmidemorg.com I'm not exactly sure how I got on this list, but I'm happy to be on it. I look forward to your review. Best regards, -- Samir Shah, Interactive Sales & Marketing ,South by Southwest New Music Confab, www.sxsw.com Thank you for your reviews and inside info - always a treat to read! My e mail address is going to change and I do not want to miss an issue! Thank you, --Andrea Korpita, National Accounts Manager, LA Office ShowBiz Expo, www.showbizexpo.com Great and to-the-point content. Thanks for keeping me informed. Please let me know about conference call opportunities. --Chet D. Linton, President & CEO, TeachStream, www.teachstream.com Great Newsletter! --Douglas Fiacco, Sales Executive, ShowBiz Expo, www.showbizexpo.com Good job on this issue. I enjoyed it - I would like to continue receiving it. --Dr. Jean R. Perlman, CEO, MetaConnect, www.bizdirections.com $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Reader e-Mail: "Hey, our campaign for Yahoo! Online Film Fest 2000 got nominated for the PR Week Awards! Cheers, --Henry Eshelman, Baker/Wynokur/Ryder PR, LA" [Ed. Note: We had earlier written that last year's Yahoo! Online Film Fest was the most successfully PR'd event we had seen during the year.] $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ And Just How Important Are Conferences to Our Readers? Read these email autoreplies: I'm in New York City for Kagan Streaming Summit and Internet World from October 23rd through the 26th. I hope to check email several times during the week. D.B. I am out of the office right now for the IBC exhibition, I'll be reading my mails occasionally. I'll return to the office on October 23rd again. Best regards, Peter I will be attending a conference on Monday, October 16-Wednesday, October 17 and will have limited acces to e-mail. Thanks! Amy Thanks for your email. I will be out of the office from October 12-18 attending the Direct Marketing Association Annual Conference in New Orleans. I will reply to your email as soon as I can. Derrick Hi Ho, Hi Ho, to Comdex I do go! I'll whistle when I see Bill Gates, Hi Ho, Hi Ho! Jerry [Ed. note: subtle at first glance] I am currently out off the office untill Monday 18th December due to the Streaming Media West 2000 Conference and Exhibition. Regards, Daniel I will be out of the office from 12/28/2000 until 01/16/2001. I'll be traveling: New Zealand, CES, MacWorld. D.W. , LA Times $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ To unsubscribe, just type "unsubscribe" in the subject heading and mail it back to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mike Martin, Editor www.21stcenturyvox.com Archive location at http://www.21stcenturyvox.com/NMCC/index.htm Circulation: 3,114 ============SPONSORED BY REALNETWORKS================ New RealSystem iQ - Bringing Intelligence to Internet Media Delivery Featuring the breakthrough quality of RealAudio 8 & RealVideo 8 ====> To learn more please visit: http://www.realnetworks.com/iq --- Register for Streaming Media Asia/Berlin/West/Europe/East 2001: http://www.streamingmedia.com/upcoming.asp --- To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To switch to digest mode send blank email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
