| MUMBAI:
Over two days of seminars on distribution platforms, consumer preferences and
content in various media and the last session on Day 2 had both the panelists
and audience divided on the question – 'Who really is the King?' . Someone from the audience
quipped 'if content is the king, then who is the queen?' There were fewer answers
and more questions that the session on 'Content is King' elicited. William Morris Agency Vice
President, Business Affairs David M. Taghioff set the stage by saying, "The
two key areas in this discussion that has emerged in recent times is a community
of users- whether it is the public at large or more congregated communities on
social networking sites and such like that consume and discuss content and content
preferences. Then of course there is the need to create compelling, engaging content."
Taghioff talked about the building initial content like character pages
and introducing it in the early stages on to platforms like a blog or a social
networking site and have the consumers discuss and evolve the character before
the content was actually taken to the producers. Another interesting
point he brought up was the idea of creating content for the medium. So even within
the ambit of visual media he talked about the 2 feet, three feet and 10 feet medium
referring to mobile, the desktop and the television. Illustrating his point, he
noted that Ugly Betty a world wide syndicated show had now added a perfect 2 feet
experience. "The Ugly Betty show constantly shows her family
watching a particular television series. So watching the show on television was
like watching a series about a series. The 2 feet experience has the series available
for mobile download. It's like answering 'what is Ugly Betty's family watching.
That kind of curiosity grips television audiences all the time."
Granada International Regional Director (Hong Kong) James Ross a distribution
of British shows to Asia talked about going back to the basics. "While the
multiplicity of platforms helps business models, what attracts consumers is still
localization of content." The panelists debated on the quality
of content agreeing that despite all efforts this was a key area that broadcasters
and producers of television content were constantly battling. Steven
Abraham, IBM Global business Services noted that "if the key to success is
content, there will also have to be a shift in perspective so far as definition
of content is concerned and the kind of distribution platforms that are available."
He also emphasized that the established media was fighting back
with cases like Viacom suing YouTube hit headlines last week. The
panelists also discussed the new phenomenon of Interactive TV. "The future
of television viewing is cross media television viewing." The
Indian representation on the panel was led by SET Creative Head Sandiip Sickand
who also reiterated the idea of creating distinct, identifiable content."
Another futuristic idea discussed was Schematic's layered television,
where the company has used NBA gaming boxes and used pre game time for promos
of ESPN. Calling it "layered television" and explaining how it works
in a user friendly manner with an interface that allows the user to look at multiple
functions within the same medium. Variety's Patrick Frater also
the moderator however had a pertinent question when he said, "Are the existing
measurement tools keeping up with all these innovations? Are the content and the
platforms growing faster than we can measure them?" While
Interactive TV on the net may be able to register users there was a general consensus
that innovations like the layered TV didn't really allow an accurate measurement
system. Paramdeep Singh's BODVOD Networks works in the area of
video on demand service and he was keen that apart from content, the marketing
of this content should also be a prime focus. "The consumer preference also
shows that there is a fundamental shift from browse to search." Ironically,
the debate turned a full circle with the audience still unclear on 'who is really
the king' but both content and distribution are the big agendas at the Ficci Frames
2007 seminar. | 
