V I D E O • A G E JU N E 2 0 11 24 (Continued from Cover) 360 Degree TV Business “In the past,” recalled Sebastian Burkhardt, head of Sales and Marketing at Banijay International, “The pitch to a broadcaster would have been almost entirely about the show, and at the end of the presentation there would, typically, have been a few slides about possible brand extensions. Now extension of the brand is an integral part of the development process, as it is responsible not only for generating extra revenue streams, but also a great deal of ‘buzz’ around a show. And for broadcasters, this ability to generate extra revenue and buzz, as well as audience commitment, is probably now their top priority.” These are sentiments shared by Gary Carter, chief operating officer of FremantleMedia, and chief creative officer of FMX, who was clear that, “if this kind of engagement isn’t important to broadcasters — then it should be.” Underlining the importance of 360 degree exploitation, Carter noted, “Increasingly, the market expects formats to touch audiences across the full range of platforms on which the audience is present, enabling them to do what they have always done with our content, which is to engage, not with it, but through it to their own community, whether that be family, friends or fellow fans.” All of which is, doubtless, both true and important, but nonetheless, these observations mask a seismic shift in the nature of the content business. Producers increasingly see themselves as generating ideas, from which they can produce content for any platform, not necessarily television, and they see the important challenge as generating extensions of the idea from the medium in which it was born to others. David Flynn, managing director of Remarkable Television, and producer of Endemol’s Money Drop, explained, “Our creative team thinks about lots of different media, consequently, some of the ideas we work on are purely digital ideas and some are purely television ideas, and we would never walk away from a great television idea just because it had limited ability to be extended into other areas, just as we would never walk away from a great digital idea just because it wasn’t easy to see how it could be developed for television.” Fremantle’s Carter concurred, stating unequivocally, “Not all ideas can do everything. We are in search of ideas on their own terms and so if an idea came up that was brilliant, but limited to on screen exploitation, we would not turn it down. Just as, increasingly, Fremantle diversifies into adjacent business areas such as gaming, brand funded programming and live events, we would not turn down a brilliant idea in one of these areas just because it was unsuitable for television.” Banijay’s Burkhardt stated that this is a precursor of things to come. “In the future,” he suggested, “we will see loose partnerships developing between companies in all sorts of different areas such as advertising, event management, promotion, IT etc. to develop new ideas even when there isn’t a specific project for them to work on.” Key to this is Burkhardt’s view that, “a great idea is a great idea and no one would walk away from that. What makes a great idea is its ability to connect with an audience, and, if it does that, then it should be possible to design brand extensions. If that isn’t possible then I would think that the idea probably doesn’t have that sort of connection with its audience and probably isn’t such a great idea after all.” Head of Formats and International Relations at Sweden’s TV4, Cathrine Wiernik did not dispute the growing importance of brand extension, and acknowledged that, “TV4 is a very forward looking company, and we consider the exploitation of rights in every field, especially the Internet. These elements are getting more and more important, and it is true that we see ourselves more and more as a media house rather than just a broadcaster. That said, it is important to remember that TV is still the ‘mother ship.’ In the case of Idol andBig Brother, for example, the online communities are almost as big as the TV show, but my point is, had it not been for the TV show, these communities would not have existed.” In contrast, Banijay’s Burkhardt pointed to their new format Faces, launched at April’s MIP market in Cannes. “This is an idea that was initially designed as an app for Facebook in which people were asked to pair up faces and match them with their connection, so, for example, we might have pictures of two members of the Rolling Stones and ask they be matched with the band’s logo. This worked really well on Facebook, and so we decided to develop it as a television property.” This willingness to think “360” about a show’s development is also having an impact on the nature of the shows being offered to broadcasters. David Flynn, for example, was clear that, “Money Drop could have been done as a traditional game show, pre-recorded in front of a studio audience, but the 360 extension, especially the fact that the show is live and the audience can play along on their computer screens in real time, made it a totally different show that appeals to a much younger demo — one that does not normally watch traditional game shows. But, at heart, it is still a traditional game show.” “Ultimately,” suggested Banijay’s Burkhardt, “what we are talking about is understanding the DNA of a great idea and then transplanting it into other medium, and this will mean that all of us in the business, whether producers, distributors, channels or platforms, will all have to develop our business away from our core activity and become much broader businesses of a more general nature.” Money Dropproducer David Flynn FremantleMedia’s Gary Carter Banijay International’s Sebastian Burkhardt “ Producers increasingly see themselves as generating ideas, from which they can produce content for any platform, not necessarily television, and they see the important challenge as generating extensions of the idea from the medium in which it was born to others.
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