IanSchafer.com

Live at NY Television and Film Festival.

Paul Kontonis @ For Your Imagination blogs it best:

It's real, it's live and its all on the line at the NYTVF's "Creativity Live" mass participatory brainstorm on Tuesday, September 16 at 2:30pm at the New World Stages in NYC. Bringing together the sharpest and most creative minds in digital media - Toby Daniels from MintDigital, Paul Kontonis from For Your Imagination and Ian Schafer from Deep Focus -  with a 150 strong audience, all will be given just one hour to develop three cross-platform entertainment concepts. Can it be done? After the event people will be able to go to the NYTVF website, where they can vote on the ideas they would like to see taken forward. This promises to be a really exciting event. See you there!

This should be LOTS of fun, so if you'll be at the NYTVF, check it out!

An Apparently Too-Early Marketer ’ s Preview of the (Incomplete) Facebook Redesign.

It's been discussed quite frequently amongst the developer set, but the mass rollout of the Facebook redesign is almost upon us.

After playing around with what seems to be a not-yet-fully-functional version for a while (leave it to Facebook to let us play with things before they're either done, or fully thought-through -- and that's not a bad thing), I wanted to share my thoughts with you on what to expect, and how it might impact your advertising and marketing strategies on the 'book.

Here's what my profile looks like in the new redesign:

And here are my comments.

First of all, when I sign into Facebook, it seems that my 'home' page and my 'profile' page are the same thing. It's late, so I can't get immediate confirmation on whether or not there will be separate views (like what exists now), but I'll update this post if necessary.

Previously, Facebook went with a three-column format, but now there's only two. That means that the right-most column that was previously filled with new app messages and notifications is gone. Which means that profiles are lot cleaner -- and a lot more difficult to get your custom-app featured on.

Those apps that used to line the right column now live within the 'Boxes' tab (first I've ever heard that term used on Facebook). When clicked, that tab expands to reveal all your installed applications, but also keeps them out of plain sight. Again, nice and tidy for users, but troublesome for marketers.

There are no ads on the page - yet - although I'm sure they will be there soon.

The main navigation (seen on the upper left) doesn't scale appropriately to the browser width. That's just unacceptable. But I imagine that will be fixed as well.

The news feed is even more front-and-center, making it even more important of goal for marketers to get into. That news feed is one of those things that make the 'social graph' go 'round.

Interestingly enough, the only link that seems to be fully functional is the 'photos' link. And I can assure you that the photos section is much more intuitive.

My assessment of the whole redesign? This isn't the whole redesign. It's incomplete (I hope). And while I just as easily could have waited until the final launch, I couldn't hold it in. This is an unfinished work. I feel like a critic reviewing an unedited film. In a way it's not fair. But if I can somehow influence the outcome and make it even better, it's worth it.

The early verdict is that it's going to be increasingly difficult to brand effectively on Facebook. And it's going to be increasingly difficult to launch new applications. But once you can connect with a consumer, their news feed looks to be even more important, and more powerful.

There will DEFINITELY be a follow up post here, but sleep well knowing that if you stay tuned, you'll be among the first to get the marketing/advertising POV.

But I'm curious...what's YOUR initial reaction?

Listen to My Panel @ SXSW Here.

It's been a while, but SXSW finally got my 2008 panel titled Blogs, Buzz, and Buddy Lists posted online.

Here's the description:

Blogs, Buzz, and Buddy Lists

SXSW Interactive PodcastsUse the Internet before the Internet uses you. Thanks to blogs, web-video, and social networking sites, the online universe is a valuable (but no less intimidating) landscape for artists. How do you get the best out of blogs and other sites, to maximize your potential for an audience. Or, how do you get yourself introduced to the booming industry of online journalism and video sharing? These experts dig deep into these ever-changing trends.

Paul Harrill Lovell Films

Karina Longworth Film Blogger, Spout.com

Alison Willmore IFC

Ian Schafer CEO, Deep Focus

Victor Pineiro Writer/Producer, Second Skin

Listen to the panel here! It was most definitely a good one.

Online Spending to Surpass Television Spending in the UK in 2009.

Yes. You read the headline correctly.

Online advertising is poised to overtake television spending in the UK by the end of 2009, as reported by Mad.co.uk, and via the results of research conducted by the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau), PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the World Advertising Research Centre.

Now granted, the UK is a smaller market, but this is a clear signal that it may not be too far in the distant future until ad spending catches up with media usage here in the US.

A 2007 report by the UK's Office of Communications (Ofcom), stated that average daily internet use in 2006 (36 minutes) was up 158% on 2002 and time spent on the mobile phone (almost 4 minutes per day) was up 58%. Time spent watching TV was down 4% at 3 hours and 36 minutes.

All signs point to the increases likely being even greater in 2007, and will not likely stop climbing this year.

So why is the US so far behind? The latest numbers from TNS say that 2007 saw TV ad spending grow 17% to $64.4 billion, while online was not even at $17 billion. eMarketer predicts that in 2008, online ad spending will account for 8.8% of all ad spending ($25.9 billion).

We know that the Internet accounts for more than 8.8% of all time spent with media (not to mention all the behavioral signs that point to the web being a great place for great advertising). So why can't we catch up with the Brits?

It's ironic that a society that still has parliamentary meetings with wig-wearing electorates has a more progressive grasp on the media mix than we do. But then again, we've got Miley Cyrus, so there. And John Adams.

(Wigs-off to AgencySpy for the tip-off).

Prepare Now for SXSW.

I'll be headed down to Austin, TX for SXSW Film & Interactive on Friday, returning on Tuesday. While down there, I'll be posting my thoughts on what I hope to be a great few days. If you're not going, you can follow along right here at IanSchafer.com.

But if you are planning on attending, here's how to catch up with me and say hello in person:

1) Get a Twitter account. Follow my every move at http://www.twitter.com/ischafer.

2) Attend my panel:

Blogs, Buzz, and Buddy Lists
Room 12AB
Sunday, March 9th
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Use the Internet before the Internet uses you. Thanks to blogs, web-video, and social networking sites, the online universe is a valuable (but no less intimidating) landscape for artists. How do you get the best out of blogs and other sites, to maximize your potential for an audience. Or, how do you get yourself introduced to the booming industry of online journalism and video sharing? These experts will dig deep into these ever-changing trends.

Moderator: Paul Harrill, Lovell Films
Karina Longworth, Film Blogger, Spout.com
Alison Willmore, IFC
Ian Schafer, CEO, Deep Focus
Victor Pineiro, Writer/Producer, Second Skin

3) Check out these panels at SXSW Interactive that I'll likely be attending:

Saturday, 8 March 2008

11:30AM The Suxorz: The Worst Ten Social Media Ad Campaigns of 2007

2:00PM Opening Remarks with Henry Jenkins and Steven Johnson

5:00PM Behind the Scenes at the Onion News Network

5:00PM Social Marketing Strategies Metrics, Where Are They?

5:00PM Social Network Coups: The Users are Revolting!

Sunday, 9 March 2008

10:00AM Social Design Strategies

11:30AM Social Strategies For Revolutionaries

2:00PM Keynote Interview with Mark Zuckerberg

3:30PM Blogs, Buzz, and Buddy Lists

5:00PM Gossip

Monday, 10 March 2008

10:00AM Sponsored Panel: Going Social Now

5:00PM Pimp My Non Profit - Real Non-Profits Kicking Ass with Online Technology

5:00PM Sponsored Panel: The Web Agency: There Will Be Blood

Tuesday, 11 March 2008

11:30AM Peas in a Pod: Advertising, Monetization and Social Media (B)

4) Don't forget to check out the Deep Focus/BlogAds/NPR/PBS/indieWire/ITVS party on Sunday, March 9 @ 9pm at KLRU's legendary Austin City Limits Studio [2504 B Whitis (Corner Guadalupe & Dean Keeton)]! More information at the party's event page on Facebook.

5) Read IanSchafer.com!

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Trailer

I watched the true HD version of this in my office, on a big screen, with the lights off, and the sound turned way up.

It was so worth it.

What is it about the character of Indiana Jones that makes Harrison Ford remember that he has a personality? Don't answer that. Ignorance is bliss.

And hey, Yahoo. I know you're busy right now, but a way to grab embed code directly from the player above wouldn't hurt.

BREAKING: Strike ’ s Over.

Via the WSJ.

The negotiating committee of the Writers Guild of America voted unanimously to accept a new tentative three-year deal with the major Hollywood studios, according to a person familiar with the situation, clearing the way for final approval of the agreement by film and TV writers who have been on strike for more than three months.

The full board is meeting to discuss and vote on the contract, this person says. The WGA has scheduled a press conference early this afternoon in L.A. to talk about the contract.

Read the rest here (subscription req.)

The ‘ New Media ’ Part of the Tentative WGA Agreement.

Here is the tentative language as it pertains to 'New Media' residuals in the tentative WGA Agreement:

The minimum for derivative dramatic programs is $618 for programs up to two minutes, plus $309 for each additional minute. The minimum for derivative comedy-variety and daytime serials is $360 for programs up to two minutes, plus $180 for each additional minute. The minimum for all other types of derivative programs is $309 for programs up to two minutes, plus $155 for each additional minute. Regardless of the length of the program initial compensation can be no less than the two minute rate.

Initial compensation covers writing services and 13 weeks of availability in new media when the viewer does not pay, and 26 weeks of availability in new media when the viewer pays. After those periods, certain residuals are payable: (i) if a new media program derived from an MBA-covered program or an original new media program with a budget higher than $25,000 per minute is reused in new media, the new media reuse provisions described below apply, except that electronic sell-through is paid at 1.2% of distributor’s gross receipts; and (ii) for original new media programs, the residual for ad-supported streaming is negotiable, while reuse where the viewer pays is compensated at 1.2% of distributor’s gross receipts.

Download Rentals
If the viewer pays for limited new media access to a program, residuals are paid at the rate of 1.2% of distributor’s gross receipts.

Download Sales (Electronic Sell-Through)
If the viewer pays for permanent use of the program, residuals are paid at 0.36% of distributor’s gross receipts for the first 100,000 downloads of a television program and the first 50,000 downloads of a feature. After that, residuals are paid at 0.7% of distributor’s gross receipts for television programs and 0.65% for feature films.

Television Ad-Supported Streaming (New Programs)
Ad-supported streaming of television programs is payable at 2% of distributor’s gross receipts one year from the end of an initial streaming window.

Initial Streaming Window: There is an initial window of 17 days (24 days for episodes of the first season of a series, one-off television programs, and MOWs) with no residual. This window must include or occur contiguous to the initial television exhibition.

Residual Payment (Network Prime Time): In the first and second years of this contract, after the initial window, for network prime time television programs, a fixed residual of 3% of the residual base (“applicable minimum”) is paid for each of up to two 26-week periods. For an hour program, this fee is $654 per period in the first year of the contract; $677 per period in the second year. For a half-hour the figures are $360 and $373. In the third year of this contract, the 2% of distributor’s gross formula is applied immediately after the initial streaming window.

Residual Payment (All Other Programs): After the initial streaming window, a fixed residual of 3% of the residual base (the “applicable minimum”) is paid for each of up to two 26-week periods in the first two years of this contract. In the third year of this contract, the payment rate rises to 3.5% of the residual base.

Thanks to PaidContent for this.

Assuming 'New Media' is anything that is not television or film, then this seems to be a pretty decent deal for the writers, and actually nets them more residuals in the third year of the contract, when hopefully, more content will be distributed via new media. While I haven't seen the remainder of the contract, this looks to be a three-year deal, at which point I'm sure another round of negotiations will take place. To paraphrase Sean Combs, it's all about the residuals.

Writers Starting Startups.

The Los Angeles Times reports that writers, fed up by Studios and Networks, are banding together to launch their own production startups, aimed at producing online video.

From the article:

The groups modeled after United Artists (which eventually was bought by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. and recently was revived with the help of Tom Cruise) envision creating and distributing programming for the Web and recouping their investments by selling rights to the most successful properties to TV networks or movie companies.

If these guys are going to bet on the fact they the money they make will be earned when selling properties to networks and studios, they're going into it losing. Has this model ever worked? It barely works for the publishing business. If I were an investor, I'd be leery of any investment that would require content to be so good, and so successful, but with the only money to be made only when -- or if -- the content is snapped up by a network or studio. As the average filmmaker how successful this strategy is.

Why wait to make money until you sell the rights? The web is a big enough medium to have content reside exclusively within it. It's also big enough for that content to be seen by enough people and to make enough money to negate the need to sell ancillary (or other) rights to it. Maybe, just maybe, someone will figure out a way to distribute, promote, and sell advertising against content big enough to bring in a return for investors. Will that be a property like YouTube? Will it be a platform like VideoEgg? Time will tell, but the right time for this to happen is, like, now. So hurry up, people.

UPDATE: PaidContent weighs in on this too.

Jackass Movie To Be Offered Free Online. Deep Focus Is Very Involved.

The news is all over the trades today about the new Jackass movie, Jackass 2.5, being launched online.

As the NY Times reports...

Paramount Pictures is lurching onto the Web with its “Jackass” franchise, with what it says will be the first studio-backed feature film to have its premiere online. And the studio hopes the result will be considerably more pleasurable than the old MTV show’s trademark shot to the groin — perhaps by paving the way for more profit-making Web-only material.

On Dec. 19, the studio will make “Jackass 2.5” available in connection with Blockbuster’s Movielink service. The hour-plus film has original material and previously unseen outtakes from the second “Jackass” movie in 2006. The new movie, made for less than $2 million, will stream for free but will have 15- or 30-second commercials before and after it plays.

TechCrunch likes the strategy's potential...

The move is said in part to be a curtain raiser for the new online home for Jackass, “Jackass World” that will officially launch February 6.

As much as it sounds like a marketing ploy from Paramount, any move to debut a movie online for free has got to be a positive in the overall progression from the traditional media model to one that reflects the realities of the internet age. Of course it will take all of about 5 seconds for the movie to be ripped from the site and put onto BitTorrent, but maybe at least in this example, Paramount, unlike many of its competitors, may not be jackass’s after all.

And I agree. In fact, I agree so much, that Deep Focus has been involved in this effort for quite some time now. We will be handling the online marketing around this effort, and are proud to be involved with the very forward-thinking folks at MTV, Paramount, and Blockbuster, Mr. Knoxville, amongst others.

In the meantime, wet your whistle with this, the trailer for for the new film filled with outtakes and new and deleted scenes from previous Jackass movies. And kids, don't try any of this at home.