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22 executive summary theibcdaily


Online evolution The future of TV


The chair of the UK’s largest independent production company, and former chief executive of ITV companies Granada and LWT, talks about consolidation and new opportunities.


M T


aking YouTube content is different from


making a


TV show – it’s more autobiographical, more chatty – you talk more directly into the camera. Through our start-up Little Dot Studios we manage 60 online channels as well as a further two through YouTube’s Original Channel Initiative, and a third from this fund which we manage for a third party. Many of these channels are not like TV channels in the conventional sense. They are more like portals where an amount of original material is freshly made each week. Also, it’s the young YouTube ‘stars’ who are driving these channels. They tend to make


and star in the content – in shows such as The Daily Mix – so they are talking to their viewers and subscribers every day, which is what is making them so successful. The proof of it will be whether we find sufficient revenue through sponsorship and branded content to make a sustainable model out of online content.


Evolving content opportunities are changing the nature of the TV programmes we make. Our new format for NBC, The Million Second Quiz, is one example. Contestants compete continuously over 11 days from a glass bubble in New York, while viewers playing the game at home one evening have the opportunity to be flown into NY the next evening to play live from the studio. Even when the


programme is not on air, other shows on the network will ‘check in’ to see how the contestants are doing. The idea is to get everyone in the US involved.


All3Media celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Based on my experiences at ITV, we’ve never tried to change the culture of any of the 17 companies we’ve bought over the years, opting instead to let them flourish within a ‘federal’ system. Through natural evolution some of these companies have ended up collaborating – such as the partnership between our digital media production companies Illumina and Maverick. But in general we take a democratic and pluralist approach to managing the group, and the companies within


Digital lifecycle


he new digital head of FremantleMedia, The X Factor producer, is pretty clear about the kind of TV format the production giant is


looking for: “The Holy Grail for us is a show that works across all platforms with interactivity online before the content goes live, a level of interactivity while it is broadcasting and then, once it has finished, would lead into 24/7 game play online.”


This integrated package is becoming a viewer expectation and FremantleMedia even restructured its business in March to ensure that digital became more integrated with the content side. This restructure saw Hindle – formerly chief exec of Fremantle Enterprises’ Americas division – promoted to assume responsibility


for the company’s global digital strategy.


Increased levels of interactivity have also become a commercial expectation, according to Hindle. “Major advertisers of a 30-second spot want to be woven into the fabric of the show which is achievable via digital elements. And they will want exclusive content too – stuff that viewers won’t be able to see on the TV,” he says.


Key sponsors and advertisers –


such as Pepsi on the first two seasons of American X Factor–do not want to be locked into a show’s website but require “transferable content” which viewers can talk about across a range of platforms. FremantleMedia operates 90


YouTube channels across 18 territories with Britain’s Got Talent and The X Factor UKeach surpassing 1 billion lifetime views.


Keith Hindle


Chief Executive of Digital and Branded Entertainment, FremantleMedia Region: Global


Interview by Ann-Marie Corvin


“YouTube has given us the opportunity to discover some real talent and some real IP,” Hindle says. FremantleMedia-funded YouTube Channel FreddieW has attracted over 6.2 million subscribers to follow filmmaker/musician/gamer Freddie Wong, whose programming includes Video Game High School.“It’s good enough to be sold to TV but the real point is that we are now making quality


content for digital-only channels.”


When it comes to exploiting the second screen opportunity Hindle argues that even if apps don’t make the company an immediate return, Fremantle is keen to develop more of them just for the “pure stickiness” they bring.


An app accompanying the latest US series of TheX Factoris a case- in-point. The audience was able to


vote via their phone, text or


online but by far the largest number of votes came via the app – despite the fact that viewers had to download it – something they could only do if their phone network was the show’s sponsors: Verizon. “People genuinely want to interact in this way,” Hindle notes. “They are actively seeking out the second screen experience.”


“YouTube has given us the opportunity to discover some real talent and some real IP” Steve Morrison


Chairman and Co-Founder, All3Media Region: UK


Interview by Ann-Marie Corvin it have grown in different ways.


We need more polymaths. When you go to college you are separated into Science and Maths or Arts and


Humanities. My view is that to be successful in the digital economy you have to have a more hybrid education, and


learn IT coding and art and design. And this needs to be phased into the educational system. Some people from different disciplines will collaborate to make a self- selected team. This is one of the big social developments that we have to prepare people for.


“A successful digital economy requires a hybrid education in IT coding, art and design”


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