George Kliavkoff, Chief Digital Officer
On Hulu vs. syndication partners:
- Premium content is valuable, “there is a huge value in aggregating content, we believe in ubiquitous content.” If people are interested in multiple content providers Hulu destination site & syndication channels will reach 98% of users.
- Hulu will offer higher quality video, full screen video, possibly a way to take a piece of it with you which you won’t have at syndication sites. NBC is re-skinning the Hulu player for each distribution partner. There are constraints on what can be done on distribution partner sites, no constraints on Hulu.
On Hulu promotion:
- We’ll probably ourselves be promoting for people to go to two places. NBC is giving users the option of where to view content… A recommendation engine will create a loop where someone will watch additional content.
On the Apple fallout:
- We still have a contract with Apple and we were required in the contract to send a notice that we would be leaving or it would have automatically renewed, it’s unfortunate that Apple released a press release, it shouldn’t have become a public thing.”
On targeting:
- The technology is just starting…it’s a little bit difficult because to do that you have to collect a lot of information and you have to be very careful about how you use that information but for us it’s sort of the holy grail and we’re working to get there.
- Web 2.0 has been all about community and social networks, for me the long term of web 3.0 is about predictive marketing. At the end of the day folks don’t want ads that are not relevant. When I’m not in the market for a car I don’t want to look at car ads, if I am in the market for a car I will.
On Long-form content:
- I disagree with the premise that online is about short-form only. The great news is that [users] they sit through the full episode they retain the advertising.
On cannibalization:
- 83% of the people who start watching an hour long episode online get to the end of the last chapter. When people started putting full episodes online there was concern over cannibalization, it actually drives incremental viewership, it’s actually being used as a DVR.
- If we don’t put it online someone else will. If people are going to watch it anyway why not give them a better choice and a fair choice and a legal choice. “Our first run will be successful for a long time but our syndication business may be a point of exposure”
On original web content:
- We actually have been incubating in my group for two years now a digital studio and they sell those in a similar way that TV studios do, we distribute it through portals. I think more and more as we think about how we have to invest in that business…over time we really have to be a content factory that creates content for three screens.
On mobile:
- The revenue distribution model for mobile phones is just broken. The carriers take about 70%, the content aggregators take about 21%, there is no standardization, that leaves 9% for content providers.
- You think about how people consume media on that mobile device and what that device means to you versus what your television means to you…people spend $3.99 for a ten second ring tone that for a computer download would be $.99 for the full song.
On online strategy:
- In the digital world everything you launch is not going to be successful so we need to get comfortable that some things will not be successful, trying to set up the kinds of processes that allow you to fail fast, don’t want to sink a lot of money into it.
On IPTV:
- The promise of IPTV is instant channel change for purposes of our conversation, unlimited channel capacity, highly personal.
- Unlimited programming options. “Shame on us as an industry if we re-purpose our linear channels…we have to embrace all the things these channels can do and program differently for them”
