@ D: Bob Iger, CEO of Disney: Multiple Windows; User-Gen; Disney.com Portal: "
Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, had a relatively easier time at the D conference…Kara’s easier on them. I found his somewhat blase attitude towards user-gen video slightly suprising, but then it fits into the whole Disney attitude. Other than that, tame.
Some notes:
The killer app is great creativity, married with fair amount of intelligence about technology and consumer. It seems somewhat groundbreaking (what we did), but it was really obvious to us.
Downloads: downloads has been very successful…Lost is first, Desperate Housewives is second. About 6-7 million sold since October last year.
How do you sell more? Device penetration will help us..and then we need to put more content on it.
Collapsing windows: We need to look at it as multiplying windows….more options, more revenue generating opportunities for us. The entertainment industry has missed the empowering of the consumer, by and large. Windowing, if it is to be compressed, it has to do with consumer demand, not so much what we want to do.
Streaming: ABC’s four shows on ABC.com…in 29 days we have had 11 million streams. What we have learned: 89 percent recall value for advertisers…for only a 30 second break.
Pissed-off parties: affiliates, cable companies, actors, retailers etc: In the end we may create opportunities for all of them: affiliates working with us and selling advertising; Comcast selling shows on Comcast.net, etc.
Actors compensation: There are a lot of mouths to feed, and it will get figured out in the long run. We just need to figure out ways to track consumption, and we’ll pay them for sure as needed.
We are willing to provide our video to anyone who will pay the right amount and right experience. We need to have an environment somewhat similar to what we have been used to.
User-generated content: We created America’s Funniest Home Videos…we were the original there. Not our primary business, but I am fine with it.
Studios’ rising costs: Movies are being made today to cost the support of studio and its marketing infrastructure, rather than the other way around. They are putting products in the markets for all the wrong reasons. Our goal is to make more Disney movies, and make it not just to support our infrastructure.
Disney.com’s portal ambitions: He discussed it at some length, and WSJ’s blogs about it, here.
(Via paidContent.org.)