DAY 1. Tuesday January 19, 2016
VISIT US AT NATPE Chateau Tower | 15th Floor, Suite 1540
AMERICA’S
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Upfront
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
3
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TODAY AT NATPE – All sessions at Eden Roc Resort unless otherwise shown
OCEAN TOWER SALON 1B & 1C
OCEAN TOWER SALON 2C
Game Changers
Platforms Accelerated 1 Track sponsor: Nielsen
9-9:10 a.m.
Opening Remarks: Andy Kaplan, Rod Perth
and J.P. Bommel
11-11:45 a.m.
Future-Proof Your Content: To 4K or Not To 4K?
That is the Question Sponsored by: Insight
9:15-10 a.m.
Scripted State of the Union: Will Creative
Excellence Survive Tough Business Realities?
12:00-12:45 a.m.
The Art of Discovery Sponsored by: SeaChange
10:15-10:45 a.m.
Keynote: Zander Lurie, GoPro
2:45-3.30 p.m.
Navigating The Wave of New Video Platforms
11-11:30 a.m.
Top TV Station Groups: How to Stay Afloat in
Turbulent Times
3:45-4:30 p.m.
The Numbers Don’t Lie: Content Creation in a
Data-Driven World
11:45-12:30 p.m.
Cracking the Mobile Code and its Perceived
Return On Investment
4:45-5:15 p.m.
Multiplatform Challenges: Senior Executives
Discuss Their Approaches
OCEAN TOWER SALON 2B
Masters of Marketing Track sponsor: Reedeux Media
10-10:45 a.m.
Dawn of The Day of The Publisher
OCEAN TOWER SALON 2A
NATPE Reality Track sponsors: WE tv, CAA, PactUS,
Endemol Shine Group
5-7 News
Reporting from the NATPE floor.
8
Welcome: Rod Perth
NATPE’s outgoing president and CEO
on the changes he’s seen while in the top job.
12 Profile: Andy Kaplan, SPT
14 Profile: Morgan Wandell, Amazon Studios
18 Q&A: Phil Gurin, The Gurin Company
20 Profile: Justin Rosenblatt, The CW
23 Trendsetting: Formats
25 Profile: Mariam Zamaray, Insight
26 Six of the Best: 4K
29 Profile: David Beebe, Marriott International
3:30-4:30 p.m.
What’s Real About Virtual Reality? Demystifying
VR For Storytellers and Brands
4:45-5:30 p.m.
The Rise of New OTT Platforms
IN THIS EDITION
11-11:30 a.m.
Creativity Matters: A Conversation with Philip
Thomas of Cannes Lions
31 Profile: Gary Davey, Sky
32 Six of the Best: NATPE buyers
34 Profile: Lynda Clarizio, Nielsen
36 Profile: Steve Pruett, Sinclair TV Group
39 Profile: David Freeman, Creative
Artists Agency
11:45 a.m.-12:35 p.m.
Owned and Influenced: How Digital Influencers
Today Are Powering and Building The Consumer
Brands of Tomorrow
41 10 Things to Know: Virtual reality
10:30-11:15 a.m.
The Producers Speak: Reality Content & The New
Digital Frontier
11:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
Doing Business in Cable – The Process: Is It
Working?
2-2:45 p.m.
Live By The Touch, Die By The Swipe: Creating
Compelling Content For Mobile Audiences
45 Profile: Steve MacDonald, 20th Television
2-2:45 p.m.
Insights From China’s TV Market: Opportunities
And Future Sponsored by: CAA
3-3:30 p.m.
Between The Sheets of The Marriott Content
Studio
3-4 p.m.
If It’s Broken, Let’s Fix It: Global Trends in Formats
3:45-4:30 p.m.
Behind The Curtain: CMO’s Uncensored
4:15-5 p.m.
The Unscripted Glut: Is it The End… Or a New
Beginning?
4:45-5:15 p.m.
Commercials Aren’t Effective: New Ways For
Programs to Make Money
10:15-10:45 a.m.
Telemundo: The Evolution of The Novelas Genre
2:30-3 p.m.
ABC Discovers: Latin America – Finding The Next
Star
3:30-4 p.m.
Novel Adaptations: A Booming Content Pipeline for
Scripted Television
47 Feature: Formats
What can international players teach U.S.
station groups embracing original content?
51 Q&A: Bill Livek, Rentrak
52 Profile: Marcello Coltro, CMD
54 Six of the Best: New shows for 2016
56 Profile: Mark Greenberg, Epix
59 Q&A: John Roberts, Bunim/Murray
Productions
KEY BISCAYNE B
Access to Insight
42 Q&A: Harry Friedman, exec producer,
Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!
EDEN ROC RESORT, MONA LISA BALLROOM
12:30-2 p.m.
2016 NATPE Reality Breakthrough Awards hosted
by Howie Mandel. Tickets required – please purchase
at registration.
60 Profile: Alberto Ciurana, Univision
62 Profile: Kirstine Stewart, Twitter
65 Profile: Tomás Yankelevich, Telefe
67 Q&A: Ron Garfield, Buzzr
FONTAINEBLEAU POOLSIDE
6-8 p.m. Opening Night Party @Fontainebleau
Poolside. Sponsored by: YouNow, tubefilter, Insight, Cisneros
69 Profile: Bob Sullivan, Tegna Media
70 Backstop: Adi Sideman, YouNow
Digital revolution isn’t all about social media.
Associazione Nazionale Industrie Cinematografiche
Audiovisive e Multimediali
Original television programming.
Fresh from Italy.
Italy at Natpe 2016 / Booth #120
January 19th – 21st / Hotel Fontainebleau Miami Beach / Miami Florida
NEWS
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
5
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Opportunity knocks
C
hanging business models,
more original production
from
station
groups
and an influx of international
exhibitors are all set to create
new opportunities for delegates
at NATPE this week, according to
industry execs heading to Miami.
“Station groups are getting more
open-minded about looking beyond
the large syndicators that used to
own this corner of the industry,”
said Terry Murphy, co-founder
and exec producer at New York’s
East 86th Productions. “They now
realize they can get good content
without paying the hefty price tag
associated with the big syndicators.
They want to take more control of
their content.”
East 86th has consequently
taken on the syndication duties to
its new first-run strip The Security
Brief With Paul Viollis itself, and
the show started testing last month
on Scripps, Tegna and Sinclair
stations. “We’re using brand
New exhibs at NATPE
More than 65 first-time exhibitors
have made their way to Miami
for NATPE this year as the event
outgrows the Fontainebleau Hotel
and expands into the Eden Roc
next door.
The exhibition floor and suites
will remain in the Fontainebleau,
while this year the conference
sessions, including the expanded
two-day NATPE Reality track, all
take place a short walk away at the
Eden Roc.
The new exhibitors are both
U.S. and international companies,
including multiple firms from
China, Spain, Italy and Turkey.
The increasing internationalization
of NATPE reflects the opening
up of markets in North and
South America to international
programming.
Exhibitors can be found in
the Sparkle Ballroom in the
Fontainebleau, in suites in the
Versailles, Tresor, Chateau and
Sorrento towers as well as poolside.
East 86th’s Terry Murphy
integration to help pay for the
show to make it less expensive for
stations,” Murphy added.
This market also sees the debut
of station group Tegna Media
(formerly Gannett Broadcasting)
as a syndicator, with its daytime
talker T.D. Jakes being sold by
Scott Carlin, further illustrating
how changing business models are
driving new opportunities in firstrun (see page 69).
Other factors pushing station
groups into original production are
the lack of off-net comedies coming
to market – though Fresh Off The
Boat and Last Man Standing are at
NATPE – and the impact SVOD is
having on demand for reruns. Execs
also pointed to the scant new firstrun shows coming out of Hollywood
this time, the big launches being
Harry Connick Jr talkie Harry from
NBCUniversal and game show/
cooking hybrid South of Wilshire
from Warner Bros.
Cassie Yde, president at The
Television Syndication Company,
said station groups’ new focus on
original content meant they “want
a bigger piece of the pie,” in terms of
ownership. “It’s all cyclical. Station
groups merged a few years ago but
now they are starting to diversify.
Station groups are becoming more
like cable channels,” she added.
By Ed Waller
Juanes tale on TV
The life of popular Colombian
singer Juan Esteban Aristizábal
Vásquez, better known as Juanes, is
to be turned into a comedy-drama
for TV, with the project unveiled to
top NATPE buyers at an exclusive
dinner in Miami last night.
The people behind the show
include Electus founder and former
NBC Entertainment chief Ben
Silverman, Narcos showrunner
Eric Newman, AEG’s head of Latin
business Rebeca León, writer
Isabella Santo Domingo and WMA
talent agent Eric Rovner.
“The show will be a mixture of
Narcos and Entourage, set in the
cutthroat world of Latin music,”
Silverman told NATPE Daily. “It
will tell the story of Juanes’ life as he
leaves Colombia to come to Miami
and is a fantastic opportunity
to combine great music with an
aspirational narrative.”
The series will run to between 10
NEWS IN BRIEF
Hersey investigates
classic movies
Veteran broadcaster Dana
Hersey has signed on to be the
face of The Film Detective, an
OTT channel for classic movies
currently available to stream on
Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire
TV. Hersey, known to many as the
host of Boston-based WSBK-TV’s
iconic The Movie Loft program for
two decades, will introduce classic
films from the distributor’s archive
that have been fully restored and
digitally remastered. Phil Hopkins,
CEO of The Film Detective, said:
“OTT video revenues are expected
to double by 2020 and The Film
Detective is positioned to grow
with the industry. Dana has been
a huge part of our local broadcast
experience.”
Pawn Stars at NATPE
Cablecaster A+E Networks has
sealed a deal with Hollywoodbased syndicator Trifecta
Entertainment to launch History
series Pawn Stars into off-cable
syndication. With the number
of episodes now topping 400,
Trifecta is launching the unscripted
show with a cocktail party here at
NATPE with stars Rick Harrison
and Chumlee in attendance. The
series debuted on History in 2009
and is produced by ITV Studios’
Leftfield Pictures. Pawn Stars joins
Trifecta’s line-up of series already
in syndication: Judge Faith,
Forensic Files, OK! TV, Leverage
and Whacked Out Sports.
Sarandos moderates
Silverman (left) with Jane the Virgin
star Gina Rodriguez and Juanes
and 13 hours, and like Narcos, will
mix English and Spanish. The show
is certain to attract attention here
at NATPE, given Juanes’ popularity
throughout Latin America and his
15 million album sales to date.
Silverman is behind hits
including The Office and, more
recently, Jane the Virgin, starring
Gina Rodriguez. “Hits like Narcos
and Jane show there is crossover
demand for Latin talent,” he said.
Netflix chief content officer Ted
Sarandos has agreed to be the
moderator for the conversation
with producer legends Norman
Lear and Quincy Jones at NATPE.
The marquee session will form
part of NATPE’s Storytellers and
the Shaping of Pop Culture track,
taking place on stage at 2:00 p.m.
in the Eden Roc, Ocean Tower
Salon 1B/C tomorrow. Sarandos
has led content acquisition at the
streaming service since 2000.
This month, Netflix expanded into
another 130 territories as it looks
to complete its global roll-out by
the end of the year.
CENTAURO’S WOMAN
SERIES HD 51 X 1 HR
BIRDS OF A FEATHER COME TOGETHER
Produced by
NATPE MIAMI 2016
January 19-21
Tresor Tower 2, Suite 2303
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach, USA
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NEWS
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
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Sony conjures Blue Demon
T
he life of celebrated Mexican
wrestler Alejandro Muñoz
Moreno (a.k.a. Blue Demon)
is to be brought to TV screens
in a 65-episode drama being
coproduced by Sony Pictures
Television (SPT) and Mexican
broadcaster Televisa.
The one-hour series, titled
Blue Demon, will air across Latin
America on multiple Televisa
platforms. SPT and Televisa will
distribute it jointly throughout the
rest of the world. Production on the
series is slated to begin in April in
and around Mexico City.
Blue Demon will be directed
by Mauricio Cruz, who helmed
Telemundo’s telenovela hit La
Reina del Sur, and is written by
Carlos Algara, Alejandro Martínez,
Fernando Abrego, Larissa Andrade
and Rodrigo Ordoñez. Daniel Ucros
and Juan Pablo Posada are the
executive producers. Casting is
currently underway.
The series will follow the
HITN preps streaming
U.S. Hispanic network HITN
is planning to roll out an OTT
offering by the end of 2016. HITN
general manager Eric Turpin told
NATPE Daily his firm will launch
a VOD service with “free and
subscription elements” within the
next 12 months.
“The goal is to make the online
content add to our linear offering,”
Turpin said. “We are not trying to
cannibalize linear but we recognize
that a good portion of our audience
spends a lot of time online. If
we want to push our message
even further, we need to put this
together.”
Turpin said HITN’s existing
linear content will feature on the
as-yet unnamed service but will
be staggered. Plans for original
productions are also in place. “It
will be like programming a second
channel,” he said.
HITN recently partnered with
U.K. pubcaster the BBC to launch
a preschool programming block to
help educate young people.
SPT’s Angelica Guerra
blue-masked wrestler from his
childhood in rural Mexico on his
journey to become the NWA World
Welterweight Champion in 1953, a
title he held until 1958.
SPT has previously produced
biographical series such as Lady,
la Vendedora de Rosas, which was
made in Colombia last year, but
this is its first in Mexico.
“There is a growing demand in
the region for stories about real
people and events, a trend which
started in Colombia and has now
made its way to Mexico,” said
Angelica Guerra, senior VP and
managing director, production,
Latin America and U.S. Hispanic
for SPT.
“Blue Demon will offer audiences
an intimate look at one of Luche
Libre’s greatest legends, exploring
a complex and turbulent world that
very few knew about.”
This is the third coproduction
under a five-year pact between
the two companies, coming after
70-parters Señorita Pólvora (2014)
and El Dandy (2015), the latter
an adaptation of 1997 Hollywood
movie Donnie Brasco. SPT and
Televisa also adapted Breaking Bad
as Metástasis in 2014.
In other news, SPT this month
unveiled a licensing deal with
Hulu for shows including dramas
Dawson’s Creek and The Shield,
and comedy Happy Endings.
Rowland gets into FormatZone
Former Supernanny and Robot
Wars exec producer Mark
Rowland is launching a new
company here in Miami aimed
at revitalizing the unscripted
format market.
FormatZone is working with
global producers, YouTube talent
and digital creators to develop
and produce unscripted formats.
Rowland and veteran TV
exec Ben Robinson, who has
worked on shows for ITV, BBC
and Discovery, are behind the
company. Multihour output deals
have already been forged with
Made TV and Big Centre TV,
which operate regional networks
across the U.K.
The company has also secured
investment from funds including
Finance Birmingham, Ascension
Ventures and Midven, and is
using a new five-studio facility in
Birmingham, U.K.
Rowland, also known for Fox’s
Paradise Hotel, told NATPE Daily
the fledgling firm wanted to open
up the format market to “riskier,
edgier” shows.
“FormatZone is being founded to
act as a platform to get new ideas
away, and we’ve been partnering
with talent and brands and
already have the finance in place,”
he said.
Several shows with mainstream
entertainment talent are being
prepared as the company gets set
to officially launch, but details are
being kept under wraps.
Rowland, who will be
participating in the NATPE
Reality session Rights, Deals and
Negotiations on Wednesday, said
the new outfit would offer a “costefficient, fresh and innovative
route into the U.K. market.”
“We intend to be quick and agile,
to operate in a similar way to the
games world where they develop,
produce and get product out as
quickly as possible – and then let
the audience decide.”
NEWS IN BRIEF
Online market TRX
staffs up for Lat Am
TRX, the soon-to-launch online
marketplace for secondary TV
and video rights from Zodiak
Media veterans David and
Matthew Frank, has hired an exec
to manage all Latin American
content rights. Raquel Yepes joins
TRX having previously been an
executive producer for Zodiak
Latino and Telemundo, among
others. TRX aims to provide
an efficient way to buy and sell
secondary TV and video rights
internationally and is due to
launch this spring. Yepes will be at
NATPE this week alongside TRX
colleagues Jennifer Buzzelli, senior
VP of North America, and chief
marketing officer Sarah Walker.
MarVista picks trio
MarVista Entertainment has
acquired three new independent
films to launch at NATPE this
week. Daryl Wein’s Consumed
examines the impact of genetically
modified foods; Waffle Street
depicts the true riches-to-rags
story of hedge fund manager
turned waiter Jimmy Adams;
and Raising the Bar follows a
gymnastic champion who moves
to Australia. Buyers “are always
looking for timely, topical stories
that examine real-life stories,” said
MarVista’s exec VP of distribution
Vanessa Shapiro.
Dori romcom adapted
A broadcaster in Mexico has
ordered a local version of Dori
Media Group’s Argentinian
romantic comedy Esperanza Mia
(My Lovely Hope). TV Azteca will
produce a local version of the
series for its main channel, Canal
13, where it will air in primetime
early this year. The series follows
the love between a woman
pretending to be a nun and a
priest who is the brother of the
man responsible for the death of
the woman’s mother. The original
was a co-production between Dori
and Argentinian prodco Pol-Ka
Producciones that launched on
Argentina’s Canal 13 last year.
It has since been acquired in
Poland, Spain and Indonesia.
PROFILE
Rod Perth
8
Follow Rod on Twitter: @PerthRod
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
As NATPE president and CEO
Rod Perth prepares to leave the
organization in February he tells
NATPE Daily about the highlights
and changes he has seen during
four years at the helm.
T
he theme of this week’s Miami conference
is Be Creative, Be Fearless, Be Ready,
and as NATPE president and CEO Rod
Perth says: “It’s going to take all three of those
mindsets to be successful,” given today’s media
landscape.
The 2016 edition of NATPE will be the last as
CEO for Perth, who steps down in February after
four years at the helm. The scale of change in
the television business during that time, largely
driven by the pace of technological progress, has
given him plenty to reflect on as he prepares to
say his farewells.
“We’ve focused on embracing the digital and
new technology sides of the business,” Perth
says. “We recognized we had to view what we
did in a more ambitious way. The business isn’t
just about buying and selling any more, it’s about
creating and distributing content for a variety of
platforms.
“We’ve tried to bridge the creative world to
the rest of the moving parts that constitute the
business. We’re placing the chief marketing
officers of major international brands in the
room with creators, showrunners, writers and
producers. We’re bringing people from the
mobile, advertising and brands worlds on to
our board of directors. We’re bringing MCNs,
Hollywood studios and distributors together.
“It’s competitive, it’s really hard work, and it’s
been empowering. I have enormous appreciation
for both the NATPE board and my great staff for
helping to pull this strategy together to create
this momentum. There’s an excitement around
what we do that hasn’t existed in many years, but
we are never complacent.”
Perth’s replacement by J.P. Bommel, who
arrived as managing director and chief operating
officer in September after eight years at Mipcom
organizer Reed Midem, isn’t the only change at
NATPE.
The number of attendees signing up for events
is ahead of previous years, with more than 65
new exhibitors from every sector of the business
coming to Miami for the first time. Due to the
increased attendance, the market floor has
been extended into the neighboring and newly
refurbished Eden Roc Miami Beach Resort.
NATPE’s strength has always been scripted
content, but this year there will be a special
emphasis on the development, deal-making
opportunities and international appeal of
Embracing
the future
By
Clive Whittingham
scripted content for every platform. The
inevitable growth of mobile will be a central
theme that influences virtually every track at
NATPE because of its enormous impact on how
viewers watch and interact with smartphones
for all forms of content.
The conference’s successful NATPE Reality
strand returns for a second year, this time spread
across two days rather than one. This growing
initiative will offer executives, producers,
writers, creators and agents a Miami setting
for the first non-scripted market of the year for
interaction with buyers, distributors, creators,
producers and stars from every corner of the
content business.
“We provide an abundance of opportunities
beyond just reality for those people in the nonscripted world,” says Perth. “While we were
once a market primarly for finished content,
we’re now an event to buy and sell new content,
ideas and formats directly from the creative
community.
“It’s a chance to hear ideas before anybody
hears them anywhere else in the incredible
setting of Miami Beach. It’s not only relevant,
it’s very consistent with what NATPE is, as we
create value at the ‘creative’ end of the business,
which is the creation and production of shows,
in addition to monetization at the back-end
of the cycle. As I’ve said before, our value-add
is that we are the big-tent of every sector of
the business, which has become increasingly
interdependent, and we’re dedicated to that
business proposition.”
Howie Mandel will return as host of the
second annual Reality Breakthrough Awards,
SEASON 2 PREMIERE APRIL 10TH
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IN U.S. CABLE
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Season 1: 6 x 60 min
Season 2: 15 x 60 min
NATPE / Versailles Tower
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PROFILE
Rod Perth
10 Follow Rod on Twitter: @PerthRod
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
NATPE 2015 opening night at the
Fontainebleau Miami Beach
“
We’ve really embraced the digital and new technology sides of the
business. We recognized we had to view what we did in a more
ambitious way. The business isn’t just about buying and selling
anymore, it’s about creating content for a variety of platforms.
Rod Perth
NATPE
which recognize the competition, docusoap,
reality and game show genres, among others.
Big names are this year set to receive the
prestigious Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award, a
prize now in its 13th year. Musician, producer
and pop culture legend Quincy Jones; comedy
pioneer Norman Lear; Endemol Shine Group
CEO Sophie Turner Laing; and Viacom’s Doug
Herzog join TV host and comedian Steve Harvey
on the list of honorees.
“The Tartikoff awards have earned a level
of prestige that is deserved,” Perth says. “The
caliber of people we’re honoring is in recognition
of how worthwhile and important this award is.
“To be able to bring Quincy Jones and
Norman Lear together on one stage to honor
them is really something, and it stuns me that
we were able to do it. Sophie Turner Laing is
in charge of one of the biggest suppliers and
creative forces on the planet. Doug Herzog is
an amazingly respected executive who has
shown a magic touch in discovering and
nurturing talent that has left a cultural imprint
on all of us. Steve Harvey is a wonderfully
popular host who has two hit shows on the air,
and he’s both extremely talented and funny.
This is our halo event, and it will be a very special
evening that no one should miss!”
”
There’s been change at the NATPE Europe
event recently as well. After two years in Prague,
the conference will switch back to its original
home in Budapest in 2016, running from June 27
to 30 at the InterContinental Hotel. For Perth,
it was a smart move as the CEE TV industry
increasingly focuses on local creation and
production.
“Budapest is more centrally located within
Eastern Europe and given the incredible
growth of original content, we’re repositioning
the market as more locally focused,” he says.
“These are trends in the business that need an
international stage for buyers and sellers. We
will create a summit that hasn’t existed in the
CEE before, because we bring Hollywood studio
screenings, and we have the value of the NATPE
brand, which reaches across continents and
territories. We are very excited about the many
new reasons to attend that are in development.”
Does that trend towards local programming
make NATPE ready to start new events in other
parts of the world?
“We’re always interested, but the events
industry in general is rather crowded these
days, and we are a non-profit,” Perth says. “We
want to focus on providing an increasing return
on investment to what we already have. We’re
looking forward but we have to be thoughtful
about our ambitions. We want to continue
serving the people who depend on us and
improvement each year with our existing events;
that’s the focus.”
Speaking of those who depend on the Miami
event brings us back to the Latin American and
U.S. Hispanic markets. These attendees are far
from the only string to the NATPE bow these
days but remain an important part of this event.
“NATPE Miami isn’t just about Latin
America by any means, but it is an incredibly
important market for us and the Hispanic part
of the industry,” Perth says. “We’re delighted
that [Telemundo network president] Luis
Silberwasser and [Univision president of
programming and content] Alberto Ciurana are
on our board, and that speaks to how important
we believe the U.S. Hispanic market, and the
Spanish-speaking market internationally, are to
the industry.”
Perth’s unusually diverse career in the
industry is highlighted by his many years at CBS,
where he rose to become senior VP of latenight
and non-network programming, and was
instrumental in David Letterman joining the
network in 1993. He was one of the early execs to
pioneer original programming that has become
so important to cable channels as president of
entertainment for USA Networks. He also cofounded the Reelz channel and was president of
global TV at the Jim Henson Television Group.
So what will he reflect on with greatest pride
from his four years at NATPE? “Leading this
great team has been a terrific experience, and
I’ve been fortunate to be in the center of seismic
changes in our industry, and I will remain
involved on the NATPE board,” Perth says.
“On an intellectual level, it’s been compelling
and challenging, because I’ve enjoyed staying at
the forefront of this new kind of convergence,
which is happening at warp speed. Managing
the process of increasing NATPE’s relevance
has been a real highlight, and I’m optimistic
that J.P. Bommel is bringing even more value
to NATPE’s mission. As I switch gears I don’t
plan on running a business again, but I think I’ll
bring real value to the appropriate consulting
situation. In the interim, I’m going skiing!”
MAKE A DATE: As well as delivering NATPE 2016’s opening remarks today at 9:00
a.m. in Eden Roc, Ocean Tower Salon 1B/C, Rod Perth will be moderating the
Access to Insight session titled ABC Discovers: Latin America – Finding the Next
Star today at 2:30 p.m. in Eden Roc, Key Biscayne B.
PROFILE
Andy Kaplan
12 Follow SPT on Twitter: @SPTV
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
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Sony Pictures Television’s Andy Kaplan was named chairman of NATPE last August. He gives his take
on the current challenges facing the international television industry.
By
Andrew Dickens
A
ndy Kaplan’s first trip to NATPE was 30
years ago but he describes the past 24
months as the most disruptive period
he has ever witnessed in the international
television industry.
It is therefore “vital,” according to the
president of worldwide networks at Sony
Pictures Television (SPT), that NATPE remains
at the center of the television debate for many
years to come.
“Under the leadership of Rod Perth and soon
JP Bommel, NATPE is well positioned to look at
the central issues facing the television industry,”
says Kaplan. “The organization is an important
place for all the different
parts of the TV ecosystem
to come together, not only
to do business but to discuss
and debate issues and be
exposed to new things.”
For
Kaplan,
TV’s
disruptive period has been
fueled by the rise of OTT
services such as Netflix
and Amazon impacting on
traditional media, with U.S.
channels like CBS and HBO
launching their own SVOD
services in response.
“It all makes it very
exciting and a little bit
nerve-wracking but it keeps
everybody on their toes and
we have to figure out the
way forward,” Kaplan says.
“There’s soon going to be a
requirement that any cable,
satellite or OTT service
must have all the rights and
provide all the methods of
watching different forms
of TV. Consumers have become conditioned
to choice and flexibility, and deciding how and
when they want to watch things.
“The winners will be the ones who figure
out how to provide that kind of service and
flexibility. The ones who hold back are going to
be left behind.”
That said, the industry veteran doesn’t see
on-demand players jeopardizing the future of
pay TV services anytime soon. On the contrary,
View from
the chair
Kaplan notes: “Pay TV isn’t going away, it’s just
going to evolve.”
“People will continue to pay for their content
and channels. However, they are going to
demand more stuff for their money and maybe
programming services will
have to provide more down
the line. As long as pay TV
evolves, it’s not going to go
away. If anything, it will be
a more robust and better
product.”
Kaplan, who heads SPT’s
global cable and satellite
networks and investments,
as well as broadband, VOD
and SVOD, is well placed to
comment on the so-called
‘golden age’ of TV drama.
Sony itself is contributing to
this drama boom, with NBC
hit The Blacklist selling into
180 territories worldwide,
64 of them via SPT’s own
networks, and it has been
renewed for a fourth season.
But
Kaplan
clearly
disagrees with the widely
reported notion that all this
new drama production will
inevitably lead to a glut in
the market. “Predictions
of bubbles and the end of days for drama are
premature,” he says.
“It’s less of a volume issue and more a quality
issue. Whether there are 200 or 400 shows being
provided, the great stuff is always going to be
The Blacklist
found. We don’t know what the right amount of
volume to be absorbed is yet; the marketplace
will tell us that.”
Kaplan also maintains that the international
demand for U.S. product will continue to be
strong despite the rise of local production
activity worldwide. “We are seeing demand
from viewers go up, and not down,” he says.
“There is still a huge global appetite for the best
content and with more channels and on-demand
services launching, they will be able to provide
that content to viewers.”
So what will be the big talking points over
the next 12 months? Kaplan doesn’t see any
dramatic 180º turns happening. Instead, he
predicts this year will see a continuation of 2015,
in terms of how on-demand services are trying
to figure out how to compete in the crowded
marketplace.
“They will be looking to compete more and
more via subscription and advertising models,”
he says. “NATPE is really well positioned to look
at these issues. We are talking about them all the
time and trying to be at the center of them.”
MAKE A DATE: Catch Andy delivering his opening remarks about NATPE 2016 this
morning at 9:00 a.m. in Eden Roc, Ocean Tower Salon 1B/C.
PROFILE
Morgan Wandell
16 Follow Morgan on Twitter: @MorganWandell
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
A brave
new world
With a reported $2bn annual content budget, Amazon Studios’
head of drama development Morgan Wandell is enjoying his position
as prime disruptor of traditional television.
H
aving built a career in network television
with series like ABC’s Ugly Betty and
CBS’s Criminal Minds, it must have felt
strange to segue from Hollywood to heading
drama development at the world’s largest online
should expect from us,” says the Amazon exec.
retailer.
Next came Ron Perlman thriller Hand of God
Morgan Wandell admits he was a little
apprehensive about taking up the post at but bigger still was The Man in the High Castle,
Amazon Studios just over two years ago, having an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s novel imagining
spent seven at ABC Studios, but says the reaction an alternative outcome to the Second World
War, exec produced by Ridley Scott and Frank
couldn’t have been more positive.
“The reality was people were dying to move Spotnitz and released in November.
The latter came about in much the same
away from broadcast television, to get away
way as other Amazon dramas. “I started to call
from industrial-grade shows. There were a lot
of creators with passion projects they hadn’t
been able to find homes for or who wanted
Amazon’s The
to do something different.”
Man in the
Wandell joined a few weeks before
High Castle
Amazon confirmed its first two drama pilots.
Bosch, an adaptation of Michael Connelly’s
best-selling Harry Bosch crime novels, went
ahead and has since been renewed. The
After, a sci-fi drama that marked The X-Files
creator Chris Carter’s return to series, never
made it off the starting blocks.
It was Transparent that really put Amazon
on the map, however. Jill Soloway’s comedydrama about a father who comes out as
transgender became the first online-only
show to win Golden Globes in 2015. Having
garnered two awards it was quickly renewed for producers who I’d worked with previously,”
a second and third season and scored three out says Wandell. “I knew Frank from a show called
of a total of five nominations for Amazon in the Night Stalker we did at ABC. My question to him
was simple, ‘What do you have that you’re dying
2016 shortlist.
“Transparent was an unbelievable asset for to make that keeps you up at night, that you
the company to have straight out of the gate. haven’t been able to get made any other place?’”
Finding the right people to work with hasn’t
It helped define the brand and what people
By
Jonathan Webdale
MAKE A DATE: Morgan is on the panel of the Game Changers session Scripted
State of the Union: Will Creative Excellence Survive Tough Business Realities
today at 9:15 a.m. in Eden Roc, Ocean Tower Salon 1B/C.
always been easy, however. When Wandell
began at Amazon, he was surprised to realize
there was “a whole generation of creators
who’ve spent their lives building up very specific
narrative muscles” as a response to network
requirements.
When he started out as a development
executive, a four-act structure for television
shows was prevalent. During his time at ABC
this evolved to five, then six. At Amazon, that
rulebook is thrown out the window.
“There were a lot of producers or writers who,
once they moved into this environment, were
liberated from that kind of structure but had
a difficult time creating the sorts of scenes
you really need in premium TV because
we’d stripped away the narrative tropes they
relied on,” he says.
Herein lies the fundamental difference
between traditional television and what
Amazon is doing.
“Broadcast networks have schedules, they
need programming. They’re in the business
of being a lot of people’s third-favorite show.
We’re in the business of being somebody’s
absolute favorite,” says Wandell. He admits
the company might not achieve this every
time but believes its open online pilot
process offers improved chances of success.
“Hopefully, you make better decisions
when you have hundreds of thousands of
people watching versus testing centers in north
Hollywood where 50 people who have nothing
else to do on a Tuesday afternoon will, for cold
pizza and 40 bucks, come in and tell you why
your pilot stinks.”
Wandell may owe his position to a career in
broadcast but he doesn’t hold high hopes for the
future of the networks he came from. “It’s very
challenging for them and their business,” he
says. “I have no crystal ball but it’s a lot more fun
to be a disruptor than the disrupted.”
Amid crime and revenge, a great love arises.
An extraordinary epic love, starring a brilliant cast,
luxuriously produced with spectacular scenery.
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Q&A WITH…
Phil Gurin
18
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
Follow Phil on Twitter: @TheGurinCompany
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
Going off script
Experienced reality producer Phil Gurin, a member of the NATPE executive committee and CEO of The
Gurin Company, offers his views on the NATPE Reality track, the changing unscripted landscape and
the effect of the drama boom on the genre.
Why is NATPE Reality growing in size and
significance this year?
We stuck our toe in the water last year,
launching NATPE Reality as a one-day event
with the Reality Breakthrough Awards. The
feedback was so strong and positive from
people, changing the perception of the
market from purely acquisitions into a place to
pitch new ideas to commissioners, that we’ve
expanded it to two days.
NATPE is the first content market of the
calendar year, it’s an opportunity in the reality
sector for commissioners to come and hear
new ideas pitched by producers, writers,
creators and talent. NATPE is embracing
reality television in a big way.
How is demand for unscripted programming
changing in the U.S.?
Reality is a mature part of the business. All
over the world more channels turn to nonscripted programming because it’s costeffective; a generation of viewers are just
used to it. We’re not necessarily looking for
the ‘next big thing’ anymore, we’re looking
for new. Great shows that have been onair for a long time can still be great, but the
appetite and attention span of viewers needs
satisfying with something new.
Producers and channels can’t survive
on just the big home runs, they need a
steady diet of lots of things that capture the
imagination of the viewer. There is still the
potential for a global hit that could change a
company’s life, but you can’t plan for it.
How has the drama boom affected unscripted
television?
There is so much great content in scripted,
the complaint is there aren’t enough hours in
the week to watch it all. My DVR is exploding
and you get to a point when you haven’t
watched a show in three weeks so you decide
to skip it. Unscripted has tended not to be
DVR-friendly, meaning if you miss it within a
week you’re probably not going to go back. If
you miss a live, primetime competition show
you’ll be aware of what happened through
social media.
We have to ensure there is storytelling in
our unscripted shows – the journey has to be
as important as the result. That will make it
a little stickier in the DVR. We can see in the
U.S. an absolute increase in the appetite for
live, event programming to tackle the problem
of monetizing a fragmented audience.
Is there demand for unscripted from the plethora
of VoD, SVoD and MCN players?
It’s very early days but a lot of those
companies have hired commissioners
to look into it and explore possibilities.
The appetite seems to be for bluechip, high-end projects. They’re often
looking for celebrity attachment, big
brand names, big ideas. I don’t know
what the future holds but I’d imagine
they will expand their appetite for it
and we have to play there.
Are U.S. broadcasters softening their stance
on rights retention?
All the big channels and cable networks in
multinational groups want to take as many
rights as they can. There are, however,
several ways producers of all sizes
can keep their rights. If you
have an idea two
buyers want, you
can make it a deal
point. If you can
offer the channel
MAKE A DATE: The NATPE Reality track has sessions
throughout today and Wednesday at Eden Roc, Ocean
Tower Salon 2A. Catch up with Phil Gurin and other
panelists in the session If It’s Broken, Let’s Fix It: Global
Trends in Formats today at 3:00 p.m.
an argument why you can sell it better than
they can through your relationships they may
hear the conversation.
Ultimately, nothing talks like money. If
you’re willing to deficit-finance some of it and
meet them with a percentage you can control
some rights, if you put enough money on the
table.
Does adapting foreign formats fit with the remit of
a public service broadcaster?
When a broadcaster, whether it’s public or
commercial, brings in a format and makes a
local adaptation everybody making that show
is a person from that country,
both in front of and
behind the camera.
You’re giving
your citizens a
job, your viewers
the opportunity
to feed your
creative talent.
You can
make it
specific and
culturally
relevant to
your territory.
That, to me,
makes it entirely
appropriate for
PSBs.
The new interactive game show
premiering on TV4 Sweden
SATURDAY JAN 16, 2016
ELK ENTERT AINMENT
PROFILE
Justin Rosenblatt
20 Follow The CW on Twitter: @CW_network
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
This year’s Model
The departure of America’s Next Top Model from The CW’s
schedules marks the end of an era for the U.S. broadcast
network – and the start of something new.
center, so even if the idea is broad, I always try
to draw out a component that gives it some edge
and helps it feel completely distinctive.”
That doesn’t mean he will be splashing out
on a headline star for the sake of it, Rosenblatt
adds. “It seems like star power will continue to
wane in 2016. Outside of some press interest, a
marquee name headlining a show continues to
Masters of Illusion
be less of a draw. Ultimately, the sum of all parts
has to surprise and entertain the audience to
keep them sticking around.”
Making The CW’s younger audience do just
that is no easy task, which is why shows are
t seems fitting that when you ask The
available online and via its own mobile app. OTT
CW’s senior VP of alternative programming
service CW Seed also offers a digital home for
Justin Rosenblatt what the biggest surprise
comedy, and Rosenblatt says he doesn’t see the
on his schedule was during 2015, he cites Masters
changing viewing habits as a problem.
of Illusion.
“It’s the way we’ve evolved in terms
He says the revived magic show’s second
of watching content,” he explains. “Our
season was “a solid performer” on Friday
programming gets viewed on many other
nights – a notoriously tough evening to grab
platforms and truly the nature of our content
an audience. Yet it also shows how Rosenblatt
and The CW are tweaking their offering and CW and was a defining show for us for many appeals more to cord-cutters. We’re more
negotiating the rapidly changing viewing habits years, our creative direction and perception has conscious of how our audience watches our
shows and that’s why we’ve been at the forefront
changed significantly,” Rosenblatt explains.
of its younger demographic.
“Our audience now expects to see broader of getting our programs out there.”
The show built on its second cycle in total
Coproductions are also on the cards and
viewers and became the network’s most unscripted shows versus something that
watched program on Friday nights during its resonates primarily with women. There’s no Rosenblatt has already looked internationally
July-October run, and more magic looks likely direct spin-off of anything in the works, but for formats and series, including the U.K. for
we are developing something that could be ITV’s Penn & Teller: Fool Us, which was renewed
to be part of the plan for 2016.
“We’ve been building on our comedy and compatible with Whose Line, produced by the by The CW in 2014, and London’s Hat Trick
Productions for Whose Line Is It Anyway?.
magic portfolio, so we’re developing a handful same team.”
But simply rebooting another network’s
Comedy is a clear focus and Rosenblatt
of original projects we believe could
successes is not part
says he has a twobe compatible with either Whose
of Rosenblatt’s plan,
pronged approach
Line Is It Anyway?, Penn & Teller:
he says. “I do not make
to the tricky genre. MAKE A DATE: Justin is on the panel
Fool Us or Masters of Illusion,”
reactionary or derivative
“I
personally of the NATPE Reality session If It’s
Rosenblatt says.
decisions; if something’s
bifurcate
my Broken, Let’s Fix It: Global Trends in
This comes after America’s
a hit on another network,
development
in Formats today at 3:00 p.m. in Eden
Next Top Model finally bowed out
it doesn’t mean that a
terms of concepts
in December last year, following
Roc, Ocean Tower Salon 2A.
‘version’ of said show will
that feel broad, one
a 22-season run, starting on
necessarily work for us. I
of a kind and don’t
predecessor UPN and then The
require a specific comedian’s point of don’t believe in that course of action.”
CW itself. But the Tyra
Meanwhile, dramas such as Jane the Virgin,
view to help define the show.
Banks-fronted show’s
“On the other hand, I also loosely based on a Venezuelan telenovela,
demise looks like
develop ideas that need continue to enjoy success on The CW. But
being a watershed
a particular comedian’s Rosenblatt is clear that while scripted “may get
moment for the
vision to dictate the more critical accolades, unscripted is as topical,
network,
which
creative direction, as their and sometimes as influential, as a scripted
is now moving in
sole imprint is what sets powerhouse show.”
a quite different
Rosenblatt’s challenge is to keep the fresh
the show and tone apart
direction.
from other comedy ideas. unscripted ideas coming to ensure viewers keep
“While
Top
For better or worse, my watching during the ongoing drama boom – on
Model
helped
taste is slightly left-of- whichever screen they prefer.
to launch The
Justin Rosenblatt
By
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NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
Formats
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
23
Top executives from leading entertainment outfits assess the trends they believe will
govern the international formats business over the next 12 months, including fears of
over-supply, creative stagnation and the importance of finding the next big hit.
1
Avi Armoza Founder and CEO, Armoza Formats
The formats of the future will need to combine content across all platforms, and the industry hasn’t
yet cracked the best way to combine interactivity and new online viewing behaviors with content.
It is important to take risks in order to catch up with our consumers. Looking back at the last few
years, you can see that there has been some creative stagnation in formats. However, there is
still strong demand for unique and innovative ideas. But with consolidation it is getting harder for
companies to take risks and innovation does not come out of safe bets. @ArmozaFormats
2
Mike Beale Exec VP of global development and formats, ITV Studios
3
Jennifer O’Connell Exec VP of alternative programming, Lionsgate
4
Kate Phillips Creative director for formats, BBC Worldwide
Everyone always says they love and watch drama but half the time they don’t admit to watching
entertainment shows. There’s a bit of snobbery around it. Entertainment can be done live,
unlike drama, and what TV brings you in this fragmented world are big live events where three
generations of a family can watch a show together. Digital is also interesting; we’re keen to do
more there. There’s a bit of ‘the emperor’s new clothes’ around some of it, but as a creative
wanting to try new stuff and do things cost-effectively, the digital market is a gift. @BBCWWPress
5
Mark Rowland Founder, Formatzone
6
Michael Schmidt Chief creative officer, Red Arrow Entertainment Group
We’re not seeing break-out hits because although there are lots of sales, it’s not the same format
being bought. There’s so much product available it’s tough to find a particular show. Also, if they
don’t want that specific show then there will be another one, so it’s harder for a single format to
stand out in today’s market. ‘Stagnant’ isn’t the right word because there are a lot of sales going
on but it’s for a lot of different product. But the market will clear out because it can’t sustain this
number of shows and then there’ll be a genuine brand new direction, a real spark. @ITVStudios
Unscripted is a low-risk, high-reward business so it was an easy decision for Lionsgate to do
more of it because it’s working. Like the scripted side, I want us to be diverse in our offerings
and that’s key in my strategy: finding formats that can travel. There’s an amazing emphasis on
scripted, but unscripted has a major role to play, especially in broadcast. The networks rely on us
to bring the next generation of hits to the table. There are a lot of maturing brands on air, whether
it’s Amazing Race or Survivor, but it’s now about what that next generation will be. @Lionsgate
Unscripted formats need to get back to their roots: real reality. The genre grew because truth can
be stranger, funnier and sadder than fiction, but the spark has disappeared. The hits of 2015 were
pretty much the hits of the past five years and most new formats have been forgettable production
line product – not good enough to compete in an age when all the good TV that’s ever been made
is on VOD and when anyone with a smartphone can be a reality producer/broadcaster. Producers,
distributors and broadcasters need to throw out the unscripted rule book. @marktrowland
Risk reduction is a challenge but that’s also the reason why the scripted formats market is hot.
Proven templates with a treasure trove of scripts allow a local team to take a fully developed set of
characters on their own local journey. There might be a competing international version, but you
have the local stars and topics exclusive to you. I’m also happy the app craze is over for now and
am excited about the opportunities that arise from new digital players and buyers. A lot of money
has been invested in VR and they need distribution platforms and content. @RedArrowInt
ROMANTIC COMEDY
Co production:
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PROFILE
Mariam Zamaray
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
Follow Mariam on Twitter: @mariam_zamaray
25
Defining a 4K future
By
Clive Whittingham
Mariam Zamaray, former Fox
exec and now founder of 4K
network Insight, explains why
ultra-high definition isn’t just for
blue-chip wildlife docs and will
succeed where 3D failed.
A
s ultra-high definition (UHD) starts
to make its mark, Netherlands-based
Television
Entertainment
Reality
Network (TERN) has made an early major play
with its 4K network Insight.
Launched in October, the net has already
commissioned 200 hours of original 4K content
and will look to do the same again this year.
Insight is the brainchild of Mariam Zamaray,
a former channel manager at Fox International
Channels (FIC). The management team
comprises former FIC colleagues Quinta Baars
and Marjolein Duermeijer – previously head of
international sales and development at Tuvalu
Media – plus former 2waytraffic and Sony
Pictures TV interactive manager Natalie Boot.
Already launched in Europe and India, Insight
is now eyeing North and Latin America and
Zamaray is in Miami this week to continue those
discussions. “We’ve had interesting proposals
from the U.S. with regard to producing content
with some of the biggest prodcos, and from
platforms keen to carry Insight. The U.S. and
Canada weren’t in our original plan but they are
now. It’s all going faster than I thought it would,”
she says.
“We’re looking at 4K content that will be
of interest to the Latin American market and
talking to producers there even though the
market is not ready for UHD yet. We’re planning
to down-convert our feed to HD in Lat Am and
then, when the market and technology is ready,
we’ll already be established and will upgrade the
feed to UHD immediately.”
“
Sitting in the living room
experiencing 3D while wearing
glasses is not something people
like to do. 4K has better visuals
and a better experience.
Mariam Zamaray
Insight
”
That global rollout plan explains, in part, the
bold strategy of producing and commissioning
most of the content rather than licensing it.
TERN includes an inhouse post-production
and music production facility as Zamaray aims
to head off any potential issues over rights
ownership.
“If I don’t own the rights to the content it
becomes very difficult for the business plan,”
Zamaray explains. “I want to be able to make
quick decisions about markets we’re going
to enter without worrying about how much
extra it would cost us to invest in the content.
Coproduction is fine – I will be looking into
it – but I’ll need to own the rights and come
up with a revenue-sharing model so it doesn’t
stop my business expanding. We won’t go into
coproduction unless we own the rights.”
The other issue with acquisitions is that
there just isn’t that much 4K content around
to license – at least, not in the genres Insight
focuses on. The channel has set out its stall to
air 4K formats, reality and sports rather than
the blue-chip documentary and natural history
the technology seems to lend itself to. Nordic
producer Strix TV is working on Spartan X,
billed as the world’s first UHD game show, while
the U.K.’s Woodcut Media is working on magic
series Around The World in 80 Tricks.
It’s certainly a bold strategy, given the extra
cost of production, particularly as Zamaray is
keen to provide the channel ad-free and free-toair where possible, financing it through TERN’s
programme distribution arm, sponsorship and
deals with mobile platforms for content.
The company was set up with capital from
Russia’s General Satellite and the funding covers
the 200 hours ordered in 2015 and those to be
produced in 2016 for which pitches are currently
being heard.
“It’s a much higher cost than for HD,” Zamaray
admits. “There is a pre-production phase, which
requires extra hours. If anything goes wrong,
the rendering takes longer and the editing takes
longer. If the sound isn’t in sync you can’t fix it,
you have to re-record it all. The system doesn’t
have established workflows yet; we’re looking to
establish one standard practice in 2016.”
Nevertheless, Zamaray remains confident
the technology won’t go the way of 3D and flop.
Indeed, in Asia, many territories are leaping
straight to 4K as standard, having never quite
made it to HD in the first place.
“3D is a different business model,” Zamaray
says. “You need a TV set and all the other
equipment, like the goggles. Sitting in the
living room experiencing 3D while wearing
glasses is not something people like to do. In
a theatre it makes sense, but at home it’s not
the same feeling. 4K has better visuals and a
better experience.”
MAKE A DATE: Catch up with Mariam Zamaray at the Platforms Accelerated session Future-Proof Your Content: To 4K or Not to
4K? That is the Question today at 11:00 a.m. at Eden Roc, Ocean Tower Salon 2C.
TRENDSPOTTING
4K
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
26
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
Broadcasters, producers and distributors from across the world discuss the arrival
of ultra-high-definition 4K television – the opportunities it offers, the challenges it
creates, and why it will succeed where 3D did not.
1
Solange Attwood Senior VP of international, Blue Ant Media
2
René Delwel MD, United Broadcast Facilities
4K is much more than simply higher resolution. Higher frame rates and more colors, combined
with surround sound and HDR, will transform consumer experiences and content will become
immersive. However, the technology is changing rapidly. If you're using film and movie equipment
in a TV workflow, challenges appear. Many directors have a preference for specific cameras
or lenses. Integrating these components in a large multi-camera set-up with fast turnaround
times demands knowledge and skill. Real-time processing of the large amount of data in postproduction asks for fast storage, high bandwidth and massive crunching power. @bigreno
3
Rasha Drachkovitch CEO and co-founder, 44 Blue Productions
The big players in 4K right now are Netflix and Discovery, and HBO is nipping at their heels.
The current market reminds me of when SD turned to HD – there were a couple of networks
that decided to take the plunge, while others doubted whether the investment would pan out.
In hindsight, the SD-to-HD switchover was a no-brainer but it didn’t feel that way at the time, of
course. We’re in a similar position with 4K. There’s a slight element of rolling the dice, but both the
networks and content creators have learned from history, and adoption will continue to increase –
with networks leading the charge. @44blue
4
Marjolein Duermeijer Head of production, TERN
We decided to make a lot of the content ourselves from the start – not all of it, as we are acquiring
a few hours, but we launched after making 200 hours and the next 100 hours for next year are
already kicking in. The commissions are mostly in formats, but we have greenlit some series too.
In acquisitions, we're mainly looking at adventure reality. We picked up some extreme sports
content but it was just to give us some time so we could build our own library. We were short to
start with so we opted for extreme sports, as that’s the safest content you can acquire. Now we're
looking to produce our own. @insight
5
Anthony Geffen CEO, Atlantic Productions
Resizing, cropping and stabilization all benefit from increased resolution. 4K allows for a longer
shelf life and makes our footage more marketable, as well as giving us more control in postproduction. Another opportunity offered by 4K is that it’s allowed us to enter the giant screen
IMAX market, where you need all the resolution you can get. It’s very important to shoot and post
in 4K, even when our outputs are in HD – especially as 4K broadcast comes on stream. The detail
offered by 4K will be something the consumer will soon expect and be willing to pay for. And it
doesn’t require glasses. @AtlanticProds
6
David Royle Exec VP of production and programming, Smithsonian Channel
The industry was excited about 3D but it didn't take off, and most people think that’s because
viewers didn't want to use glasses. We began the Smithsonian Channel on the cusp of HD and it
was a way for us to make a mark. Now that 4K is bursting on to the scene, we need to step up to
that. There are many technological challenges ahead, particularly in delivery, but it's happening
faster than HD did. When you see Amazon Fire offered for US$99, 4K-ready with 4K programming,
you know the cable and satellite operators will be worried about being left behind. There's enormous
energy behind it and we'll see linear 4K channels rolled out fairly quickly. @SmithsonianChan
Natural history often showcases the latest advances in technology and 4K/ultra-high-definition
[UHD] is no different – it offers the best possible quality for viewing. However, the lack of universal
specs for UHD and high dynamic range [HDR] causes a lot of additional work for both producers
and distributors, so we hope standard specs will be defined soon. Also, the information captured is
four times larger than HD. As such, new workflows and systems are required, along with significant
capital investments. It is always important to remind our clients that delivery times and processing
times are exponentially longer with 4K. That said, it’s worth all the hard work. @BlueAntMedia
EITHER YOU KNOW THE RULES OR YOU ARE JUST A PAWN.
From the creators of “Brazil Avenue”. A hero of the people
belonging to a criminal organization faces a supposedly
well-intentioned fugitive of justice, proving that sometimes
good and evil are just a matter of point of view.
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PROFILE
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
By
Adam Benzine
I
n the fall of 2014, hotel chain Marriott
International became the latest big brand
to dive headfirst into the realm of content
creation, launching Marriott Content Studio
(MCS) as a vehicle to develop and produce its
own branded entertainment.
David Beebe, who is Marriott International’s
VP of global creative and content marketing, was
given charge of the venture, which is tasked with
creating original content across the Marriott
brand, which includes JW Marriott, The RitzCarlton, Courtyard, Renaissance Hotels and
Bvlgari Hotels & Resorts.
Explaining the mission for MCS, Beebe says
it is “very similar to the Red Bull Media House,”
in terms of its set-up. “Our mission is obviously
marketing first, but second we are developing
intellectual property and owning it,” he says.
“It’s about moving on the concept of brand as
sponsor for everything to brand as producer,
creator, owner and distributor of content.”
Before joining Marriott in June 2014, Beebe
led the Disney-ABC Television Group Digital
Studio, responsible for the development,
production, programming and distribution of
shortform content on ABC’s digital platforms.
And while he has attended NATPE in the
past as a delegate during his ABC tenure, this
year will mark his first time speaking at the
event. “There’s obviously a lot you can do with
storytelling in the TV space,” Beebe says. “The
great thing about travel and hospitality
is that it lends itself to storytelling
very naturally.
“We all create content when we
travel, telling people where we’re
going, taking videos and photos, and
sharing those experiences, and really
telling stories. There are hundreds
of ways that we can engage with
consumers.”
Among the formats Marriott has
begun experimenting with are a
number of shortform movies, created
and commissioned internally by MCS
and produced out-of-house by thirdparty producers.
The first of these is an 18-minute, stuntfilled action-comedy called Two Bellmen. It was
released in March, produced and directed by
Daniel Cabrera with Substance Over Hype, and
tells the story of two hotel employees who foil an
attempted robbery at a Marriott hotel.
David Beebe
Follow David on Twitter: @davidbeebe
29
Room
with a
view
David Beebe, Marriott International’s VP of global creative and
content marketing, discusses the hotelier’s move into branded
content via its Marriott Content Studio division.
brand. Of the latter, Beebe explains: “We shot
that one in Chicago; it’s the story of two people
from the advertising world who compete for an
account. We’ll go on to do a couple more short
films for some other brands – Ritz Carlton,
Courtyard – and then go from there.”
In addition to making shorts, MCS is also active
in the TV realm, where it makes Navigator Live,
a series that offers viewers the chance
to explore different cities through the
Two Bellmen
eyes of touring musicians. The show is
coproduced with entertainment giant
AEG and airs on U.S. cablenet AXS TV.
“It’s a half-hour show where we
take an up-and-coming artist –
traditionally from Universal Music
Group, given our partnership – and we
drop them into a city. They meet their
fans, do a performance and discover
the city,” Beebe says.
Beyond its video slate, MCS also
has ventures involving a range of new,
immersive technologies, including
GoPro and the Oculus Rift. Ultimately,
outside the hotel, and throughout the city, Beebe says, the days of brands building links
but the hotel is just part of the story. It’s not with their audience via traditional television
advertising are long gone.
integrated into it, it’s just naturally there.”
“Why are brands renting audiences?” he asks.
Other shorts have included French Kiss, shot
in Paris, and the upcoming Business Unusual, In terms of content, “why wouldn’t you a) want to
which will promote the Renaissance Hotels own it, change the conversation and participate
in it; and b) start to own that audience rather
than renting it? People are skipping television
MAKE A DATE: David will be discussing his original content plans further in a
ads, they’ve got four screens going. Anything
Masters of Marketing session titled Between the Sheets of the Marriott Content
that’s interruptive in nature, people just don’t
Studio today at 3:00 p.m. in Eden Roc, Ocean Tower Salon 2B.
pay attention to any more.”
The short has garnered more than five
million views on YouTube to date, resulting in
MCS travelling to Dubai to shoot a sequel, Two
Bellmen Two, which will be released online at the
end of this month.
“And Two Bellmen Three is already in preproduction, to be shot somewhere in Asia,”
Beebe says. “The storylines are shot in and
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PROFILE
Gary Davey
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
Follow Gary on Twitter: @GaryDDavey
31
The Young Pope
Sky
view
Gary Davey’s role overseeing Sky operations in some of Europe’s
biggest TV markets gives him a unique perspective on how viewing
habits are shifting across the continent.
I
t’s easy to forget that less than a decade ago,
‘streaming’ was a term that would likely have
been met with incomprehension from the
majority of viewers and a fair few TV executives.
On-demand has since caused unprecedented
upheaval and for Gary Davey, MD of content
at European pay TV giant Sky, rolling with
technology’s punches has kept the business
alive and ensures it does not face some of the
enormous challenges the U.S. cable market has
to deal with.
“We’ve been in front of the wave of technology
innovation right through our 27
years. Adapting to technology
and making services available
to customers is part of our
DNA,” says Davey, whose
firm operates across the U.K.,
Ireland, Germany, Italy and
Gary
Austria. “We launched Sky Davey
Mobile in 2005, for example,
five years before the iPad and about six years
before Netflix became a streaming service – so
none of this is new to us.”
Sky offers broadband, phone and pay TV
services with the addition of cell later this year
and having “direct ownership of the content
agenda,” as Davey puts it, means his business is
“very different from the cable model in the U.S.”
He believes the U.S. cable industry has been
slow to adapt, adding: “People can now make
decisions and customize their lifestyle so the
old-school way of telling subscribers, ‘Here’s
what you’ve got, take it or leave it,’ is just not
smart business anymore.”
By
Richard Middleton
Slim bundles, he says, could help win back
cord-cutters, but meanwhile “more content
rights holders will separate themselves from that
one-size-fits-all model and go OTT standalone.”
Davey admits, however, that it could all simply
mean more consolidation. “There are limitations
to how fast it can all go. By
the time you have five or six
standalone OTT propositions,
you’re back to a pretty hefty
bill. Then someone will want
to consolidate all that into a
single platform and you’re
back to where you started,” he
chuckles.
Technology’s hold on TV’s future is clear and
Davey admits there are discussions about Sky’s
OTT expansion into new territories, although
no decisions have been made. Another priority
is ramping up subscriber numbers in Germany,
“where we have 34 million of the wealthiest
households in Europe to sell to.”
One way to grab their attention is scripted
content and Sky U.K.’s 2014 takeover of its
sibling operations in Italy and Germany, where
Davey was previously programming chief,
means it now has the potential to get big-budget
shows off the ground. Yet the focus is very much
on balancing local and international demands.
“The approach doesn’t start with the idea of
a coproduction. The idea starts with a project
and then the partnerships are pulled together
around that project; it’s an important distinction
in the chronology.”
Teams from each territory present to
their counterparts and if a suitable show is
identified with international potential the
company “throws more development funding
at it, sometimes advances the budget or funds it
entirely. And sometimes it gets so big we decide
we need a partner on it.”
Such was the backstory on Jude Law drama
The Young Pope, which came from director
Paulo Sorrentino, via producer Lorenzo Mieli.
It went to Sky Italy, then Davey in Germany,
then the U.K. “Casting started coming together
and Canal+ got onboard and then HBO – it’s a
great example of a local project that very quickly
became a major international show.”
While some claim the drama bubble is in
danger of bursting, Davey is not among them.
“We’re a long way from a bubble. I see insatiable
appetite.” He adds that Netflix and Amazon’s
impact has also not hampered Sky. “They’ve
grown their numbers at a time when we have
shown our best growth in ages and got our best
churn rate in more than 10 years. So although
they have grown very strongly, they don’t appear
to have hurt our business in any way,” he says.
Davey’s mission is to ensure that remains
the case while keeping ahead of whatever else
technology has to throw at him.
MAKE A DATE: Catch Gary at the Global Navigators session titled A Conversation
With Gary Davey on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. in Eden Roc, Mona Lisa Ballroom.
SIX OF THE BEST
NATPE buyers
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
32 Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
Executives from a selection of leading broadcasters around the world reveal the types of
programming and formats they will be looking to acquire in Miami this week.
1
John Ford Head of programming, Justice Network, U.S.
2
Jonathan Katz President/CEO, Katz Broadcasting, and COO, Bounce Media U.S.
Bounce TV, Escape, Grit and Laff are the only emerging broadcast networks, a.k.a. multicast
networks, created to fulfill a need in the market by focusing on specific genres for specific demos.
We have a solid base of acquired theatricals and off-net series for all four networks, but we are
always in the market for programming that will resonate with African Americans for Bounce,
women for Escape, men for Grit and comedy lovers for Laff. And because of our independence,
we’re not beholden to any distributor or studio trying to monetize unsold product. @BounceTV
3
Anders Leifer Senior acquisitions executive, TV2, Denmark
4
Stephen Mowbray Head of programme acquisitions, SVT, Sweden
We are on the prowl for true crime series and specials for our 24/7 digital multicast channel. We
want more compelling non-fiction crime stories, whether it’s forensics, mysteries, investigations
or cops in action. Our viewers tell us they love our consistent, strong storytelling. What works for
us now? Alaska State Troopers, Border Wars, Body of Evidence. The key is intriguing stories of
important crimes, stories you have to watch to the end. We’re almost entirely acquisitions, but
limited, inexpensive, coproduced originals can get our attention too. @JusticeNetTV
We’ve learned to say ‘no’ to more U.S. shows in recent years as most of the new stuff doesn’t
work for us. Amazingly, it’s the classic comedies such as Friends, King of Queens and youth
dramas like Beverley Hills 90210 that resonate with our viewers. U.S. content used to stand out
in terms of quality but these days European content has stepped up so we don’t need to look
elsewhere. For instance, we’ve been looking at British dramas a lot more, as well as Scandinavian
content. U.S. studios don’t have a lot to offer Danish audiences at the moment. @tv2danmark
We’re scheduled until June this year already so we’re looking for programming for the last part of
2016, going into 2017. The content has to complement stuff we are getting from the U.K., so more
than anything it has to stand out. We have just finished airing Mr Robot and that’s the kind of stuff
we’re looking for – it has to be different. We don’t want soft, predictable TV anymore. The U.S.
studios have to be more flexible with rights. They’re still trying to hold on to the model from 1995
but we’re buying programming now that will broadcast until 2019. @svt
5
Amauri Soares Programming director, Globo, Brazil
Most of our shows are produced in-house but we’re still looking for content from abroad and
inside our own country, such as films, TV series, reality shows and documentaries, as well
as scripts to put into production. We also have several apps in development to maximize the
power of our content and be more interactive. We’re observing real changes in the TV industry,
particularly in Brazil. This is due to the penetration of pay TV and OTT, which offer films in advance
of free TV windows. The challenge is to anticipate an exhibition window for free TV. @RedeGlobo
6
Dario Turovelzky Head of programming, Telefe, Argentina
Telefe is a family-orientated network and at NATPE we are searching for multi-targeted content.
We are always looking for original and innovative entertainment formats with twists, but we also
develop our own via agreements with companies such as Keshet, Warner Bros. and Fuji. We’re
looking for formats that are attractive and give added value. In terms of fiction, we also develop
and produce in-house across the comedy and drama genres. Our acquisitions search is focused
on Brazilian telenovelas, Spanish series and even Korean melodrama. @darioturo
“ADDICTIVE”
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NOMINATED FOR 2 GOLDEN GLOBES®
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PROFILE
Lynda Clarizio
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
34 Follow Lynda on Twitter: @LyndaClarizio
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
Data for today
By
Marc Berman
Television data provider Nielsen is bringing together metrics from
broadcast, digital and on-demand into one unified system. Lynda
Clarizio explains how and why.
O
nce upon a time, whether a TV series was she says: “Our mission is to provide an applesa hit or a miss was determined by one to-apples comparison across all linear and
data supplier: Nielsen Media Research. digital platforms. We’ll still offer our current
And the deciding factor was households or the set of metrics for live viewing and time-shifting.
actual number of people watching. It was a But the focus here is on comparable metrics for
simple process for a simple time, when there TV and video based on the U.S. population, not
were three broadcast networks, a PBS affiliate households.”
Included will be live, DVR, recently telecast
and a few independent stations in each market.
VOD (including mobile app and computer
How times have changed.
Flash to the present and the industry focus is viewers), television viewing from DVRs beyond
on the merging worlds of television and digital seven days (eight through 35 after broadcast);
video. With more original programming than VOD, SVOD and other OTT content on the TV
ever before and the rise in media consumption screen; and digital content on mobile devices
and computers as measured
beyond those actually
by digital content ratings.
watching TV on TV,
“Nielsen ratings are based
there is no easy way to
on the average minute
monitor the landscape This is a complex process
audience, while digital video
from a consistent data
that takes time. But once
metrics are expressed in
perspective. And that
terms of views,” explains
leaves a question mark available, these like-toClarizio. “These are two
over the ability to like metrics will tell the
very different things. And an
monetize this new era of
real story. This is just the
example of a comparison that
media consumption.
was more apples-to-oranges
After all, does anyone information our business
was illustrated by ESPN’s
really know who is
2014 World Cup ratings.”
watching digital providers needs to move forward.
The FIFA World Cup
like Netflix, Amazon
averaged 4.6 million viewers
or Hulu outside their
Lynda Clarizio
on the networks of ESPN,
own executives? Does
ESPN2 and ABC, while the
anyone have a profile of Nielsen
digital stream was apparently
the typical consumer of
content on laptops, desktops, smartphones or ‘viewed’ by 125 million, which would appear
tablets? Do we have any definitive information to be more than 25 times the size of the linear
audience. But the digital stream’s average
on non-traditional viewership?
The data available at present is limited in minute audience – the same metric that is used
access and details of who is consuming content on the linear side – was just 307,000.
“Our goal is to put all the metrics out there and
today are often based on speculation. But help is
on the way, according to Nielsen, in the form of let the broadcasts and the advertisers determine
what best suit their needs,” says Clarizio.
its Total Content Ratings system.
This new data stream will be addressed in a
Lynda Clarizio, president of U.S. media at
Nielsen, joined the firm in 2013 after stints at session at NATPE today, moderated by Matt
digital ad companies AppNexus and Invision O’Grady, executive VP and MD at Nielsen. The
and a decade at AOL. Referring to the challenges focus will be on the question of how the industry
of creating comparable metrics via Nielsen’s is managing multiplatform planning, buying,
upcoming total audience measurement system, selling and measurement.
“
”
What certainly could be a game-changer is not
without its challenges and the weekly delivery of
the Total Content Ratings could be a concern in
a business known for its immediacy. And a target
launch date of sometime in the first half of 2016
is certainly not very specific.
“This is a complex process that takes time,”
explains Clarizio, and one that will offer a
first glimpse of the popularity – or otherwise
– of the growing inventory of shows on digital
platforms like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. “But
once available, these like-to-like metrics will tell
the real story. This is just the information our
business needs to move forward.”
MAKE A DATE: Nielsen’s Matt O’Grady will be discussing the issues raised in this article in the Game Changers session
Multiplatform Challenges: Senior Executives Discuss Their Approaches at 4:45 p.m. in Eden Roc, Ocean Tower Salon 2C.
WELCOME TO
CHINA JOINT BOOTH
COCKTAIL PARTY
JOIN US AT BOOTH 113 4:00pm Jan 19th, 2016
Work Hand in Hand for Win-Win Cooperation
China Joint Booth is co-organized by China Television Drama Production Industry
Association and Capital Radio & TV Program Producers Association.
China Television Drama Production Industry Association (CTPIA for short) is a society
of TV drama production organizations in People’s Republic of China, and Capital
Radio & TV Program Producers Association is one of its members. There are nearly
400 members in CTPIA, who are the most powerful and influential backbones of
the television industry in the country, taking up 90% of both TV drama production
and broadcasting at prime time.
Welcome all the professions and friends to communicate with us and seek cooperation
opportunities. We are always ready to explore domestic and overseas markets of
TV drama.
Tel:+86(10)57120512
Fax:+86(10)87514494
Email:ctvda2013@vip.sina.com
Web:http://www.ctpia.com.cn/
Tel:+86(10)87734850
Fax:+86(10)87771440
Email:cbbpa@vip.sina.com
Web:www.cbbpa.com.cn
PROFILE
Steve Pruett
36 Follow Steve on Twitter: @sjp56
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
Comet’s trajectory
Steve Pruett, VP and co-chief operating officer at Sinclair Television
Group, discusses his plans for Comet, the science fiction jointventure network launched last fall with MGM.
L
ast October saw Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
(MGM) and Sinclair Television Group
team up to launch Comet, a 24/7 science
fiction channel.
The digital broadcast network, which is being
run by Sinclair and programmed by MGM, has
the backing of 1,500 hours of MGM content,
comprising a mixture of TV series and movies,
with coverage in about 60% of the country,
representing 65 million homes.
Its main competitor is NBCUniversal’s
well-established cable network Syfy. However,
Sinclair’s VP and co-chief operating officer
Steve Pruett, who is overseeing the Comet
venture, believes the market has room for
multiple offerings.
“There are a lot of sci-fi fans and there
was one channel serving them,” Pruett
says. “There are multiple channels
serving other genres, whether it’s
Discovery or History, but the way in
which we would and could address
the sci-fi genre would be somewhat
different from the direction
Syfy channel has gone.”
Comet will target
die-hard sci-fi
enthusiasts, but
also “the casual
viewer” who is
looking for a more
lightly treated
sci-fi offering.
Since its launch
on October 31,
the channel has
relied heavily
on two series –
Outer Limits and
Stargate SG-1
– to populate its
schedule, along
with primetime
and late-night
movies including
Species, Moonraker
and The Terminator.
“With Outer
Limits and Stargate, shows of that nature have
more than just sci-fi appeal to many people
– they’re dramas,” says Pruett. “And we do
cross over a little bit into the supernatural.
Sci-fi, supernatural and horror all kind of work
together.”
The channel came about after Pruett and
his Sinclair colleagues began kicking
channel ideas around with MGM’s
president of domestic television
distribution John Bryan. The partners
saw an emerging business model based
on digital subchannels such as This TV
and Me-TV, and an opportunity based
on MGM’s considerable catalog of sci-fi
content.
For Comet’s first few
months, Pruett has largely
been focused on ensuring
the technical set-up of the
network, “making sure the
stream is running nicely and
we’re getting it rolled out to all of
our affiliates.” Longer term, the focus
will be on content strategy,
and he is confident the
channel will find a
strong audience.
“It was interesting,
when we decided to do
this, that within both
of our companies,
people began to
step up and say,
‘Hey, I’m a big sci-fi
fan. Can I work on
this?’” he says. So
far, the channel
has relied entirely
on the Hollywood
studio’s catalog for
its programming;
however, the
partners are starting
to explore options
for original titles.
“Suffice it to
say, the original
By
Adam Benzine
programming we will have will be unique and
different from just commissioning copycat
series with sci-fi themes,” Pruett says.
“There’s a market for people interested in
different aspects of the genre, and we want to
create to that voice. We expect to have a high
social media and a high interactive engagement
Stargate SG-1
with our programming choices, and a very
strong web presence. We’ve been approached
by very creative people from that industry that
have ideas for content that are intriguing.”
In terms of its target demo, “sci-fi enthusiasts
cut across a lot of genres,” he says. “People tend
to think of it as a younger demo, 18-25, but we
think it will also appeal to the 25-54, typical
mainstream television viewer.”
For producers thinking of pitching to the new
channel, Pruett says that – for the time being –
the partners are keeping its mandate as broad as
possible. Of particular appeal would be a brand
that is in some way already established in the
sci-fi realm but not yet on television. Running
time and episode numbers are less important at
this stage.
“I don’t think we are going at it from any
preconceived notion,” he says. “We have seen
and are seeing some very interesting approaches
from the online world – people who have built
up large fanbases and have an idea for linear
television that we think is intriguing. We don’t
want to just do it the same way it’s been done for
the past 50 years.”
PROFILE
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
David Freeman
Follow David on Twitter: @CAAspeakers
39
OTT opportunities
The broadcast TV industry should see the rapid growth of OTT in
terms of opportunities, not threats, argues CAA's David Freeman.
By
Marc Berman
O
nce upon a time there was only one way
to watch television, and that was on
television. It was simple. There were
three broadcast networks – ABC, CBS and NBC
– and a typical hit series attracted no less than
a 30% share of the audience. Those days are
long gone.
Broadcast TV gave way to cable, which
multiplied rapidly and changed the model as
we then knew it. And the now-unstoppable
merger between the worlds of television and
video makes the concept of over-the-top (OTT)
television the absolute ‘in’ thing.
“
OTT offers another layer and
a potentially prosperous new
model. It should be treated
as an enhancement, not a
replacement.
David Freeman
Creative Artists Agency
”
“This is what you would call a natural
progression,” says David Freeman, cohead of digital content packaging and brand
partnerships at Creative Artists Agency (CAA),
who is moderating a session at NATPE today
about the rise of OTT. “With so many more
places for content to be seen, there are more new
opportunities, both creatively and monetarily.
We just need to define what they are.”
For viewers, the basic benefit of OTT is
original programming available at your leisure
via the internet without having to subscribe to a
traditional cable or satellite pay TV service like
Comcast or Time Warner Cable. Translation:
cord-cutting can be cost effective.
The number of worldwide households using
the subscription video-on-demand (SVOD)
model – care of services like Netflix, Amazon
Prime, Hulu and iTunes – is projected to grow
from 21 million in 2010 to 199 million in 2020.
Almost half (46%) of households in the U.S. now
have streaming services, according to Nielsen,
and the figure jumps to 62% among millennials.
While some express concern about the
cannibalization of the current broadcast model
and how to properly monetize this new era of
consumption, there is no stopping this redefined
era of consuming content. Here, measurement is
clearly tied to the distribution.
“There was apprehension, and plenty of
it, back when cable arrived,” says Freeman.
“Anything new can be challenging, particularly
in defining the revenue model. But it can also be
rewarding and the OTT model offers an absolute
opportunity for producers, directors and talent
to have full ownership and creative control.
“As the model continues to expand, it is
also becoming necessary for traditional media
to make investments toward connected TV
offerings. Everyone must now have a digital
video strategy.”
In recent months, CBS, NBC, Showtime and
Lifetime have all announced or launched OTT
video services. ABC News has launched on the
Xbox One games console. HBO has introduced
HBO Now, an OTT subscription video service
that offers full access to its library and original
programming, as the network’s response to
Netflix surpassing it in terms of domestic
subscriber numbers. And online video outlets
like YouTube, Vimeo and AOL are upping their
stakes in the new OTT landscape.
“The rise of these OTT content providers is
particularly positive because a producer can
literally pitch an idea for a series and get it
up and running in six to eight weeks,”
says Freeman. “The typical pilot
process on a broadcast network, by
contrast, can take years to get a
show going. This is quicker and
more cost-effective; it cuts
out all the clutter. And
offerings like HBO Now
and CBS All Access
prove that traditional broadcast and new online
platforms can co-exist.”
The rise of OTT, of course, translates into a
more competitive programming marketplace,
making it more of a challenge to find an audience.
And this leads to naysayers predicting the
demise of network television. But Freeman sees
things differently: “The goal here is to evolve,
not hide from it. OTT offers another layer and a
potentially prosperous new model. It should be
treated as an enhancement, not a replacement.”
MAKE A DATE: David will be moderating a Game Changers session titled The Rise of
the New OTT Platforms today at 4:45 p.m. at Eden Roc, Ocean Tower Salon 1B/C.
10 THINGS TO KNOW…
Virtual reality
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
Follow Shannon on Twitter: @shannongans
41
Shannon Gans, co-founder and CEO at Sylmar, California-based visual effects
outfit New Deal Studios, lists 10 must-know facts about virtual reality in 2016.
1
Virtual reality (VR) is better than 3D. A lot of people are worried that VR is going to be like
3D, which had a lot of money put into it but never really took off. 3D can be hard for the
brain to process, but my experience is that VR is very natural.
2
Google Cardboard is a game changer. As much as people make
fun of it, it’s actually a pretty decent experience and it’s
portable. The public is really able to have fun with it and the
biggest thing is that it means anyone with almost any phone
can experience VR.
3
Mobile is key. Headsets that work with smartphones, which
also include Samsung’s Gear VR, will help the technology
reach a mass market very quickly. If it’s available at a low cost
then it gets out to more people and it’ll get adopted faster.
4
It’s perfect for storytellers. There’s going to be some amazing
experiences for narrative, but VR isn’t going to replace TV or
film. Instead, it provides a new platform to tell a story, where
the viewer can be with a character in a 360° environment.
5
Users love it. People often watch VR content more than once, because there is so much
to view. Then they talk about it and share it. Almost everyone I’ve shown VR to, and
that’s in the thousands, comes away with the smile of a six-year-old kid because it’s
such a great experience.
6
Great stuff is being done. If you take a step back and
look at where we are on the curve, we’re still very
early. But already amazing content and tech is being
created, like Oculus Story Studio’s Henry videos, HTC
Vive and Nokia OZO.
7
It’s social. A lot of VR experiences will be like being
in a games arcade. For example, if movie theatres
were smart then they would have VR arcades where
cinema-goers could go experience something before,
in between or after a screening.
8
It’s not just about entertainment. Augmented reality is also really exciting and both it and
VR will have a huge impact on travel, medicine and education in the future. Those are
the areas where the biggest growth is going to occur.
9
It’s for kids too. There are some great companies out there that are already creating
content, like Mattel, which has a really fun VR viewer for children of seven years old and
above.
10
Don’t get left behind. Content creators have to be aware of tech and how it works,
otherwise we’re going to give our industry away. So learn the language. And don’t wait
for someone else to build the market and then try to jump in: invest now, help create
something amazing, own part of it and grow the demand.
Google Cardboard means ‘anyone
with almost any phone can
experience VR’
An underwater VR experience
from HTC Vive
MAKE A DATE: Shannon
will be on the panel of the
Game Changers session
What’s Real About Virtual
Reality? Demystifying
VR for Storytellers and
Brands in Eden Roc,
Ocean Tower Salon 1B/C
today at 3:30 p.m.
Q&A WITH…
Harry Friedman
42
Follow CTD on Twitter: @CBSTVdist
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
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Top of his game
Harry Friedman, exec producer of CBS Television Distribution’s
Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! and a 2007 Brandon Tartikoff award
honoree, on the secrets of keeping the formats fresh and on the air.
Why are these two game shows so popular in
first-run syndication?
The formats are very easy to understand and
are very adaptable. They are not languageor culture-sensitive. They have somehow
survived through all of the ups and downs, at
least domestically, because they are reliable
but never predictable.
How is the domestic syndication market changing?
We’re experiencing great stability and also
terrific growth. Our shows have just been
renewed through the 2017/18 season, so that
will put us into 35 years for Wheel of Fortune
and 34 years for Jeopardy!. It’s one of the
rare types of programming that families feel
comfortable watching together and parents
feel good about exposing their kids to it.
And it’s just at the right time of day for that
transition from the busy workday into the
evening. Families have dinner around Wheel
of Fortune and Jeopardy!. It’s just a great fit;
it’s in a league of its own.
How are you keeping the formats fresh after
30-plus years?
Keeping the formats fresh is our constant
challenge. We never mess with the basic
games. If you look at Wheel of Fortune
from 30 years ago and Jeopardy! from 30
years ago, the basic games are exactly the
same but what we like to do is add different
elements that are overlays to the game
that keep it interesting. Whether it is more
Wheel of Fortune
opportunities to win on Wheel of Fortune
for the viewers and the contestants, a
little more risk or a little more reward. With
Jeopardy!, we’ve expanded the realm of
categories tremendously and also brought a
lot of the categories to life with video clues,
compliments of our Clue Crews, which go
all over the world and shoot clues and bring
them back to the show.
What is the relationship between the U.S. shows
and the increasing number of international
versions?
There is very much a sense of cooperation
among the productions. They learn from us
Jeopardy!
because of our experience. We learn from
them because they find ways to adapt the
games to their local needs and to the local
customs, cultures and conditions. We’ve been
a little bit more forgiving as far as what we
allow in terms of licensing
the format. We are not
so rigid as to say it must
be absolutely done in
this way. As long as they
are playing the game
according to the rules and
according to the bible
that we’ve written, we
allow a lot variations that
enhance the production in
those particular territories.
How do you integrate social
media to reach younger
demographics?
Social media has
provided us with the
single largest growth
opportunity domestically.
We have embraced social media in at least
a half-dozen platforms for both shows, most
specifically Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
GetGlue and Pintrest. It’s now become all
about engagement. We know that our viewers
want to have a Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy!
experience before, during and after the
program and so we provide them with that
primarily through our website. We have just
created a new Wheel of Fortune website. It’s
a hub and as part of that we have a social
aggregator. We have puzzles on Twitter and
Facebook. It’s really a 24/7 experience.
How else are you keeping the formats fresh?
On Jeopardy!, we have just launched
Jeopardy.com with some new features. We
have something called a J!6, an additional
clue from each of the categories that was
played on that day’s program, exclusively for
people who go to the website just because
they want a chance to play more Jeopardy!.
We have something called Infinite Final
Jeopardy, which is a loop of virtually every
final Jeopardy! clue and response from the
last 7,400 episodes, and it’s addictive. Things
like that have really made a difference and the
viewers seem to love it. It brings them back to
the show, so it has a very tangible effect.
DO YOU KNOW WHERE
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WE DO
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CONNEXT
watch it. > want it. > get it. >
by R E E D E U X MEDIA
Makes any television program interactive.
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PROFILE
Steve MacDonald
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
Follow Steve on Twitter: @20centuryfoxTV
45
Back to
basics
F
X Networks CEO John Landgraf’s claim
that there were simply too many original
scripted shows on air was one of the
industry’s great headline stealers of 2015.
Over at another division within the 21st
Century Fox stable, Steve MacDonald offers a
different take but one that perhaps adds further
weight to Landgraf’s argument.
MacDonald is executive VP and general sales
manager of basic cable at Twentieth Television.
It was he who steered what has been described
as the biggest off-network deal in TV history
when he sold The Simpsons to the fledgling FXX
in 2013 for a reported US$750m.
Landgraf last year produced research
identifying 409 new scripted series that debuted
in 2015, up 9% on the 376 counted the year
before and a staggering 94% up on 2009. In basic
cable, 2015 saw 181 original scripted shows, up
174% from 31 in 2002.
MacDonald has some research of his own,
conducted between January and August last
year. “We found that if you look at the top
10 basic cable networks between 4 p.m. and
midnight, 38% of their programming and ratings
was coming from acquired series, 29% from
movies and that original repeats made up 25%,
as opposed to original premieres on 8%,” says
MacDonald.
“So 67% of the content that these networks
were airing was acquired content, whether it’s
movies or TV series.”
Not only this, but in a world where video-ondemand tends to dominate discussions, he says
Twentieth Television’s research shows that
while this may to some extent be impacting
primetime, the vast majority of cable viewership
remains live.
“From an original content standpoint, if you
want to watch Fargo and you missed it you know
While video-on-demand tends to dominate discussions throughout
the entertainment industry, Twentieth Television’s Steve MacDonald
offers an alternative view.
By
Jonathan Webdale
Empire
you can go and get it. But there are also times
when you don’t want to have to pick something,
when you want things curated for you and to
show up on one of the branded channels you
watch,” MacDonald argues.
“The average person watches between 15
and 17 channels. They go there and hang out
because they have half-an-hour or an hour
and don’t want something that’s too dense. We
believe that’s why a lot of viewership on cable
happens live. Going into on-demand is more of
a deliberate act, and as much as we love choice
people get overwhelmed by it.”
So the Twentieth Television exec is bullish as
2016 gets underway. Aside from the Simpsons/
FXX sale, other notable deals to MacDonald’s
name include It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
crossing from FX to Comedy Central, the sale
of ABC’s Modern Family to USA Network, Fox’s
Glee to Oxygen and, more recently, New Girl to
MTV and TBS, while ABC’s Last Man Standing
landed at CMT last fall.
Coming up in their lifecycles are Fox drama
hit Empire and ABC comedy Fresh Off the
Boat, which Twentieth will be launching into
broadcast syndication at NATPE.
“We’re really well poised as we step into 2016
with some great content. One of the best things
about being at this studio is when we go to the
May screenings we have these phenomenal
shows that have incredible currency in the
marketplace – from Empire to Modern Family,
My Name Is Earl to Fresh Off the Boat and
Bordertown,” says MacDonald.
But with all the changes that have taken place
in TV will there ever be a show that eclipses The
Simpsons’ off-net record?
MacDonald’s not so sure, although he says
Family Guy is “moving along the same path”. But
what that FXX deal really underscored for him –
and it’s a point he says holds true today – is the
enduring power of off-net programs.
“FXX could have spent the over $500m that it
took to acquire that show on originals and who
knows if they would have found a breakout?
It’s turned FXX into a top-tier network from
a nascent start. That’s the great thing about
this business – good content can still make a
difference regardless of the number of platforms
and the way consumers access it. Breakout
shows are breakout shows.”
How do you
captivate an
audience that is
no longer captive?
In today’s media landscape, consumers expect to call
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© 2016 PwC. All rights reserved. PwC refers to the US member firm or one of its subsidiaries or affiliates, and may sometimes refer to the PwC network. Each member firm is
a separate legal entity. Please see www.pwc.com/structure for further details. This content is for general information purposes only, and should not be used as a substitute for
consultation with professional advisors.
FEATURE
Formats
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
47
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
By
Andrew Dickens
I
t’s the age-old dilemma facing broadcasters:
should you gamble on developing original
content in a bid to find and own the next big
hit or play it safe and license a proven format
from elsewhere?
Invariably, the answer depends on each
broadcaster’s acquisition strategy, budget and
appetite for risk. Licensing formats is cheaper
and more likely to create a hit, of course. Despite
this, over the past few years U.S. station groups
have begun making – or commissioning – their
own shows instead of just clearing first-run
product on the syndication market.
In recent years, Tribune Media and Warner
Bros created Crime Watch Daily, while Right
This Minute is from Cox Media, EW Scripps and
Raycon Media. At NATPE last year, the originals
trend was enough for Tribune Media’s president
of strategic programming and
acquisitions Sean Compton to
predict that station groups will
soon begin working together on
original programming. “Scripps is
doing their thing, Raycon is doing
their thing – why can’t we craft
shows together?” he asked. This
time around it’s Tegna Media
leading the original development
charge, launching its own talk
show hosted by Bishop T.D. Jakes
in Miami this week.
But any station group opting
to “do it themselves” must be
prepared to balance the risk in
a “very expensive business,”
says Paul Franklin, exec VP
and general sales manager at
syndicator Twentieth Television.
“It’s very difficult to create
a successful show without a
national platform,” he says.
“When you do it on your own
you’re absorbing all the risk, so
it’s sometimes better to bank on
the big hit everyone is looking for.
This year has been a little bit quiet
on that front, with one show, Married at
NBCUniversal’s Harry Connick First Sight
Jr program, Harry, standing out.”
This opens the door for
international format vendors – many of whom
are here at NATPE – to come into the game,
as station groups look to offer more variety
on their schedules. But what advice does the
international community give?
For Coty Cagliolo, creative director of
FremantleMedia Mexico, behind factual
Original
thinking
U.S. station groups are embracing the idea of creating their own
shows instead of clearing what’s on the syndication market. So what
can they learn from NATPE’s international delegates?
“
Even if you buy a
huge brand like
Got Talent, a lot
of adaptation has to take place.
You have to respect the format
and make things appropriate to
the local audience.
Coty Cagliolo
FremantleMedia Mexico
entertainment hits such as TV Azteca’s Mexico’s
Got Talent (Mexico Tiene Talento), a network’s
grid should be built with a “healthy combination”
of originals and imports. However, she believes
the latter is the less risky path to take.
“International formats are already developed,
have a bible and plenty of consultants,” she says.
”
“With local development there’s a lot of research
needed and piloting is a big possibility.
“The demand for international formats
isn’t going to diminish anytime soon because
networks know they are buying a brand. So the
Idols and Got Talents of this world will always
create a buzz by themselves. Investing in
originals is a little higher risk in the first season
but the upside is it may have an international
roll-out afterwards.”
To mitigate the risk, FremantleMedia is
entering co-development deals in territories
across Latin America, mainly to offer creative
expertise and a safety net. “Even if you buy a
huge brand like Got Talent, a lot of adaptation
has to take place. You have to respect the
format and make things appropriate to the local
audience,” says Cagliolo.
“Got Talent, for instance, is in its second
season in Mexico and after the first run we
FEATURE
FORMATS
48
Telefe’s adaptation of Rising Star
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
Mexico’s
Got Talent
learned that viewers were interested in some more appealing and therefore more successful.
parts of the show more than other parts. We But unfortunately this local relevance can also
found we had to develop the personal stories prevent the format from travelling and selling
elsewhere,” Pabst says.
much deeper, so we became more flexible.”
“There’s no doubt that it’s more of a gamble
Israel-based Keshet International (KI) has
also entered into the co-development game with to create a new, original concept. There are no
guarantees and it’s hard to know how
the likes of Argentinian broadcaster
the audience will react.”
Telefe. Under their agreement, Telefe
That said, Pabst – whose firm is
has adapted local versions of Israeli
behind formats including Married at
formats including talent show Rising
First Sight and Real Men – believes
Star and game show Boom!.
taking the original route can work
Keren Shahar, KI’s MD of distribution,
if broadcasters are willing to fully
says adapting a proven international
commit. “It’s very exciting to find a
format can save networks months, or
show from very local origins that’s been
even years, in development. “One of
developed in a vacuum,” he says.
the pluses of buying a format where you
“These kinds of programs often bring
have an immediate slot to fill is that you
really creative and fresh ideas, which
save cost and time, particularly if you
can be game-changers internationally.
don’t have the luxury of developing a
Our format Real Men is a great example
new show,” says Shahar. “It brings with
of this: a show that came out of nowhere
it an audience awareness, so it becomes
in Denmark and literally took the
much easier for you to sell that show
country by storm. We identified the
to advertisers, sponsors and, of course,
success very quickly and have now sold
your audience.”
it into more than eight territories.”
But there can also be downsides to
But with today’s audiences accepting
relying on importing formats, warns
more and more foreign product on their
Shahar. “When you buy a format you
small screens, can locally developed
have to share some of your revenue with
shows be just as buzzworthy and
the format owner,” she says. “But that’s
marketable as big hits from abroad?
also the right way to go as the format’s
“Local development can attract lots
owner spent the time developing it. So I
of attention if the format is created
would still argue that, upon success, it’s
by a famous writer and features
worth every penny. Relying on acquired
From top: Henrik
famous talent,” says Arabelle Pouliotformats can also hurt creativity within
Pabst of Red
Di Crescenzo, MD of France-based
your group and culture. It’s just another
Arrow, Arabelle
distributor Kabo International. “But
thing to weigh up.”
Pouliot-Di
licensees acquiring formats benefit from
But as Henrik Pabst, MD of GermanyCrescenzo of
seeing how they have been marketed in
based Red Arrow International, says,
Kabo and Wayne
other territories, and this can help create
new concepts are “rarely given the time Garvie of SPT
local buzz on a territory-by-territory
to grow” in a culture where broadcasters
basis. Then there are global formats
prefer the idea of immediate hits. So is
producing your own product worth the risk if like The Voice, which create international buzz,
which is very valuable to broadcasters.
international sales aren’t guaranteed?
“But for scripted formats in particular, we
“Local development can tap more easily
into local trends and themes, making the show downplay the track record with local audiences.
Can’t Touch This
MAKE A DATE: Many of the topics
raised in this article will be addressed
in the two-day NATPE Reality track,
which starts today at 10:30 a.m. in
Eden Roc, Ocean Tower Salon 2A.
The session If It’s Broken, Let’s Fix It:
Global Trends in Formats takes place
today at 3:00 p.m.
Scripted formats are most successful when they
seamlessly blend into the local culture.”
As international formats like X Factor, Got
Talent and I’m a Celebrity begin to reach the end
of their lifespans, many believe there’s now a
real opportunity for locally developed formats to
step up to the plate and take their place. Indeed,
according to Assaf Gil, CEO of Israel’s Gil
Formats, no country is now off the market: “TV
producers are differentiating less between local
and international formats as the international
format market becomes increasingly dominant.”
Wayne Garvie, chief creative officer of
international production at Sony Pictures TV,
behind formats including U.K. action game show
Can’t Touch This, believes the international
TV community will still start seeing more
“innovative” local series develop in response to
all the decade-old formats still airing.
“The next big show could come from
anywhere. Now we are all joined up, almost
overnight we know if a show has gone big in
Israel or Chile. It’s all about the idea and there’s
loads of opportunity out there. But what’s going
to make a broadcaster pick that up? How will it
cut through the clutter?”
Ultimately, it boils down to whether a
broadcaster has the financial resources or needs
to be able to get behind more original ideas, and
whether ownership of intellectual property is
high on its agenda. And that’s the same whether
you’re a national network in Europe or a local
station in the Midwest.
We proudly support
Q&A WITH…
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
Bill Livek
Follow Rentrak on Twitter: @Rentrak
51
It’s a numbers game
more dollars. Using these
techniques, our advertisers
tell us they are between 20%
and 100% more efficient in
terms of sales resulting from
exposure to the ad. And for
broadcasters, all inventory
has value. The pro for the
television station or the
network is that every piece
of inventory can be sold at
a greater value and they will
have happier customers.
Bill Livek, vice chairman and
CEO of Rentrak, talks through
programmatic advertising and its
impact on the TV industry.
What is programmatic advertising and why is it so
important to the TV industry?
If an advertiser is marketing a meat product,
their target demographic is people who
eat meat. It’s pretty obvious that you’re not
going to sell sausages to a vegan, so it’s
targeting on those demographics. Every ad
dollar has to yield more gain. It’s complicated
to measure it so the ratings are right and
it is more complicated to integrate all
these different databases. Therein lies why
automation is important. A human being with
a jump drive running around two computers
just can’t get that job done. I dislike the word
‘programmatic’ because it misrepresents the
opportunity and the complexity. It’s really
automation. Once a buyer understands what
are the precise TV shows and digital platforms
they should be in, then they can go execute
that buyer activation, whether they’re on
digital or on television.
What is Rentrak doing about programmatic
advertising?
We precisely measure movies and TV
everywhere with an emphasis on precision
and everywhere. For television, Rentrak
measures with a census-based currency for
VOD. We’re getting back that information
from all cable, satellite and telco operators. A
subset of that 120 million are all TV viewing,
whether it is live or from the DVR, and it is
information that is statistically projected to the
entire market in the US. Rentrak then reports
on all 210 local cities or markets within the
U.S. and then that information makes up the
total. Knowing that advertisers are obsessed
with reaching the right audiences, it takes an
automated technology to do just that. Rentrak
has the most stable and predictive ratings
for every time an advertiser can run an ad.
But that’s not enough. You have to have the
demographics that matter to an advertiser.
For example, Rentrak integrates automobile
registration information and voter files.
What are the disadvantages of
automated ad buying?
I am hard-pressed to think
of any negatives. Anytime
efficiencies are built into the
economy you have to think
it’s a good thing. With every
innovation there will be job
dislocation. It is highly likely
that we will have fewer human
beings doing the selling and
buying in the future. For the
people who are displaced
they’ll have an opportunity to
reinvent themselves.
How is Rentrak able to gather such detailed
information about users?
Those databases are available commercially.
You can license them from companies like
IHS Automotive. Voter registration files are
also readily available. Information about
propensity to use certain types of products
is available from scanner databases. Then, in
a privacy-compliant way, we integrate those
data sets. It’s the integration of big data
with the correct science to have projectable,
reliable ratings and then projectable, reliable
product usage information.
What are the advantages of this new way of buying
and selling ads?
Advertisers want more sales without spending
How does Rentrak measure across
different platforms and devices?
At Rentrak, we’ve figured it out with VOD
and DVR by measuring TV continuously over
any block of time. For different platforms –
mobile devices or computers – we announced
recently a merger with Comscore. Comscore
is world class in measuring the digital
consumer on all platforms, Rentrak is world
class in precisely measuring TV and movies
everywhere. That’s how we are going to
develop the next-generation production.
How quickly will automated ad buying be adopted
by the TV industry?
Automated buying and selling will happen
pretty quickly, but not as quickly as many of
the pundits believe it will.
MAKE A DATE: Catch up with Bill in the session titled The TV Landscape is Healthier
Than Ever tomorrow at 2:45 p.m. at Eden Roc, Ocean Tower Salon 2C.
PROFILE
Marcello Coltro
52
Follow Marcello on Twitter: @Mcoltro
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
Evolving the novela
An increasingly competitive Latin American market and shifting
viewing habits are forcing telenovela producers to step up a gear,
argues Cisneros exec Marcello Coltro.
T
elenovelas as we know them are changing
fast, according to Marcello Coltro, exec
VP of content distribution at Miamibased Cisneros Media Distribution (CMD).
Sure, there’s still huge demand for romantic
soap operas in early primetime that let families
watch something together with no explicit
violence or sex scenes.
“This kind of storyline is still very successful,
especially in the Cisneros novelas. And you can
now see some of those storylines being produced
internationally, for example by Turkey, and
they’re very successful,” says Coltro.
But change is afoot in terms of how Latin
American
broadcasters
are
developing
telenovelas for other parts of their schedules,
with far edgier, crime-orientated fare coming to
the fore. Argentinian drama Cannibals, with its
Oscar-winning director Juan José Campanella
and
coproduction
partners
Telefe and Fox International
Channels Latin America,
highlights this change.
And Coltro points to
Entre Tu Amor Y Mi Amor
(Separated by Love) and the
upcoming Para Verte Mejor
(Just Looking) as examples of
how CMD is also raising the bar.
He describes both Venevision
shows as more “dynamic”
than previous ones and
emphasises the different
approaches the producer
has taken to structure,
pacing and dialogue.
The goal is to make
novelas more appealing
to millennials – a.k.a.
the Netflix generation
– who wouldn’t dream
of
binge-watching
multiple episodes of a
traditional soap but
lap up shorter series
with plenty of
twists and turns.
“We’re trying
to make the
By
Nico Franks
upcoming Venevision drama Para Verte
Mejor, which goes into pre-production
in March and is due to air later in 2016.
It follows five couples that fall in love
in five different ways, with all these
characters either meeting for the first
time or reuniting in the same apartment
block. Little do they know, however,
that one of their helpful neighbors is a
sociopath who has cameras installed in
each of their homes.
Of course, all the familiar romantic
components of a telenovela are there in
the synopsis, but Coltro promises the
way the story will be told is both “more
aggressive and adventurous” than ever.
Coltro compares it to U.S. medical
drama Grey’s Anatomy, in the sense
that the long-running ABC show has all
the elements of a telenovela, but with
a more dynamic structure and fewer
characters.
“That’s a little bit like what we’re
doing right now. It’s a traditional
storyline but the series can be split into
several seasons if a buyer wants that,”
due to the placement of cliffhangers
every 20 or so episodes, Coltro says.
series more digital. If someone was to bingeBut does this shift toward premium
watch them, they can watch 12 episodes and
won’t get tired of it, because there aren’t so many productions mean that production budgets will
long scenes and things move faster,” says Coltro. have to shoot up to meet the increased ambition?
The uptake of cable in Lat Am is also Not necessarily, says Coltro.
“What you are investing in more is better
influencing CMD’s decision to experiment
editing
and
postwith
the
structure
production. We also
of its telenovelas to
work more with the
create these so-called MAKE A DATE: Catch up with Marcello
writer to discuss how
‘super series’ that hover Coltro in the Global Navigators
we’re going to make the
around the 80-episode session Latin America TV Trends:
series more appealing
mark, rather than 120,
Drama – From Novelas to Drama
to a younger audience
and are viewed as more
Series on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. in
and engage with them
premium productions.
through social media,”
After all, as Coltro Eden Roc, Ocean Tower Salon 1B/C.
says Coltro.
highlights, there are now
Not so long ago it wouldn’t have been
up to 67 million households in Latin America
with access to edgier and shorter U.S. dramas via surprising to see 140 characters feature in a
cable. This provides a huge opportunity for the couple of seasons of a telenovela. These days,
perhaps with Twitter in mind, it looks like
likes of CMD.
The exec has been working with veteran producers need to restrict themselves to 140
telenovela scribe Monica Montañes on the characters for altogether different reasons.
Entre Tu Amor
Y Mi Amor
The Writers’ Guild of South Africa (WGSA) is the only professional body in
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SIX OF THE BEST
New at NATPE
54
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
NATPE Daily focuses on half-a-dozen new programs that have already
created a buzz and are set to be launched to buyers here in Miami.
1
Both Worlds
2
Harry
3
South of Wilshire
4
T.D. Jakes
5
The Security Brief with Paul Viollis
6
The Verdict With Judge Hatchett
Producer: Notable Pictures. Distributor: The Television Syndication Company. Genre: Unscripted.
Orlando, Florida-based distributor Television Syndication Company (TVSCO) has brought this
series over from New Zealand, where it aired on TV3, and is looking to shop it to buyers at NATPE.
With immigration a hot topic in the news, the show retells various migrants’ stories about trying to
integrate into new cultures. It has already been picked up by cable channel Ovation for the U.S.
market and debuts in May. TVSCO has 26 half-hours on offer in Miami.
Producer and distributor: NBCUniversal Domestic Television Distribution. Genre: Variety/talk show.
Hosted by Emmy-, Grammy- and Tony-winning American Idol judge Harry Connick Jr, this
buzzworthy show will mix talk, music, comedy and variety and will debut on Fox Television
Stations in 17 markets this September. NBCUniversal will be launching it to other station groups
at NATPE. It is being executive produced by comedy brothers Justin and Eric Stangel (Late Show
with David Letterman) and has already been sold in 80% of the U.S. market, according to NBCU.
Producers: TMZ Studios, Telepictures. Distributor: Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution.
Genre: Game show
Fox Television Stations started airing an eight-week preview of this half-hour show this month on
some of its O&Os, including in New York. The game/cooking hybrid centers on celebs hanging
out in a soul food restaurant. The show is produced by Harvey Levin and Ryan Regan, and is
“interesting and different,” says Frank Cicha, senior VP of programming at Fox TV Stations.
Producers: Tegna Media, 44 Blue Productions, TDJ Enterprises, EnLight Productions. Distributor:
Tegna Media. Genre: Talk show.
This daily one-hour talk show, hosted by pastor and author T.D. Jakes, will debut on 29 Tegna
stations this fall, in markets including Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas and Seattle. The show will be
syndicated by HBO and Warner Bros. veteran Scott Carlin on a cash basis for the first year. It
marks a step into original production and distribution by Tegna (formerly Gannett Broadcasting).
Producer and distributor: East 86th Productions. Genre: Talk show
Sinclair, Scripps and Tegna are attached to this show, which began its staggered test run last
month on 19 stations in cities including Denver, Atlanta, Detroit and Tucson. NBCUniversal alum
Barry Wallach and former Debmar Mercury exec Liz Koman have provided know-how for New
York-based East 86th to syndicate the show directly. Daytime talk veteran Terry Murphy is exec
producing while host Paul Viollis is an ex-cop who now runs Viollis Group International.
Producer and distributor: Entertainment Studios. Genre: Court show.
Following her eight-year run with Sony Pictures Television, double Emmy-nominated Judge
Glenda Hatchett is returning to national syndication via Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios. Her
new show will debut on 24/7 court-themed channel JusticeCentral.TV this fall, with Entertainment
Studios reportedly sealing clearances with Hearst, Meredith, Scripps, Gray and Corridor TV. This
will be the sixth court show for Entertainment Studios-owned JusticeCentral.TV.
PROFILE
Mark Greenberg
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
56 Follow Epix on Twitter: @epixhd
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
Dramatic entrance
Mark Greenberg, CEO and president of Epix, argues that more is better as he outlines his original
production strategy for the seven-year-old joint venture.
T
“
There are great writers and
talent and not enough people
working. So let’s take advantage
of it.
Mark Greenberg
Epix
”
Rhys Ifans in
Berlin Station
oo much television? Epix president and
CEO Mark Greenberg doesn’t think
so, and he’s hoping the U.S. premium
movie channel’s push into original scripted
programming will prove the point.
Scripted originals represent the latest stage in
the evolution of Epix, launched in 2009 and owned
by Viacom’s Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate and
MGM. With a core supply of movies from its three
studio owners as well as independent sources,
the service has already added music concerts, live
comedy events and original docs to its line-up.
Offering ongoing scripted series to subscribers
as well, says Greenberg, creates “a certain
commitment in our brand. That only enhances
the value of the subscription.”
He suggests scripted series could also help
Epix – now available in 43 million U.S. homes
via cable, satellite and telco partners – as it
works towards full distribution. “As we start to
talk to some of our larger potential distributors,
originals will make the service a more compelling
proposition,” he says.
The scripted push is being spearheaded by
former Walt Disney Studios exec Jocelyn Diaz,
named Epix exec VP of original programming
last January, and Ben Tappan, recently recruited
from Landscape Entertainment as VP of
scripted programming. The two hires have made
the network “a friendly place for the creative
community to do what they do,” Greenberg says,
“an environment where you take chances.”
Epix’s first two original scripted series, both
currently in production with premieres set
for fall this year, are tailored to the network’s
relatively young and aspirational subscriber
base. Graves, a single-camera, half-hour political
satire produced by Lionsgate and starring Nick
Nolte and Sela Ward, taps into what Greenberg
sees as “an anti-Beltway feeling” in the run-up
to the U.S. presidential election in November.
And Berlin Station, a 10-part contemporary spy
series from Paramount TV and Anonymous
Content, with Richard Armitage, Rhys Ifans,
Richard Jenkins and Michelle Forbes leading an
ensemble cast, “is insightful and smart and very
much in the zeitgeist of a younger audience.”
By
John Hazelton
To get its scripted production strategy started,
Epix will leverage the IP and relationships of
its studio backers. The network is currently
working with MGM to find a third original series.
“It makes sense,” says Greenberg, “because they
have great TV departments and great access.”
But in the longer term, he adds, “obviously we’re
going to cast a wider net.”
Original production is not the only iron Epix
has in the fire. Though international expansion
does not appear to be on the cards – “it’s a really
hard business because it’s territory by territory,”
says Greenberg – the network is expanding its
multiplatform reach, most recently through
deals with Sling TV and Sony’s PlayStation Vue
internet TV service. An early exponent of the
‘TV everywhere’ concept and seeing itself as a
packager rather than a retailer, Epix favors such
deals over the launch of its own OTT service.
Greenberg explains: “You’ve got to be good at
what you’re good at. Those guys are great retailers.
We’re a packager and a curator of content.”
But Greenberg certainly sees original
scripted programming as an area in which
both his network and the television industry
in general can still grow. While some industry
commentators
have
suggested
original
production is a bubble that’s about to burst – by
one recent count, the number of scripted series
on air in the U.S. jumped 94% between 2009 and
2015 – Greenberg believes there is still demand
from audiences for fresh original programming
and, thanks in part to a decline in theatrical film
production, an ample supply of creatives capable
of producing it.
“There will be some adjustment,” says the
Epix CEO, “but in the long run we all aspire to
put better stuff on. There are probably 100 fewer
movies out in the marketplace today than there
were 10 or 15 years ago. There are great writers
and talent and not enough people working. So
let’s take advantage of it.”
MAKE A DATE: Mark is on the panel of the must-see Game Changers session
Scripted State of the Union: Will Creative Excellence Survive Tough Business
Realities? today at 9:15 a.m. in Eden Roc, Ocean Tower Salon 1B/C.
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Q&A WITH…
John Roberts
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
Follow John on Twitter: @jpr333
59
New digital realities
John Roberts, chief digital officer at reality pioneer Bunim/Murray
Productions, explains the opportunities and challenges presented by
new digital platforms.
What has been Bunim/Murray Productions’ place in
the reality TV landscape?
Mary Ellis Bunim and Jon Murray were the
pioneers of reality television. In 1992, they
went to MTV with a soap opera about young
people, realizing it would be much more
effective to use real people. The Real World
is now going into its 31st season and it’s as
relevant as ever. BMP is also very well known
for Project Runway, Keeping up With the
Kardashians and Bad Girls Club.
What opportunities do the new digital platforms
offer companies like BMP?
We’re beginning to work with a lot of MCNs.
In 2015, we worked with DanceOn to do the
Chachi’s World documentary series and it
launched on Verizon’s Go90 platform. We’re
launching Happy Wheels, our first scripted
animated series for Machinima, based on a
very popular online game, with between eight
and 10 million monthly uniques. We work with
its creator, Jim Bonacci, and it should launch
sometime in the first quarter on Go90.
The biggest single difference is that there are
no strict rules with digital. You tell the story
in the length of time it takes to tell the story.
As long as the audience is engaged they will
continue to watch it.
What opportunities does the growth of digital
create for new production?
It creates opportunities to test the waters, the
ability to incubate a concept online and see
how it does, then to turn it into something
that’s on a bigger scale. For something like
the cost of a TV pilot, you can do an entire
series online. We have to program to the
‘cord-nevers’ – the generation that may never
aspire to get cable or satellite TV, yet are
still watching all their programming online,
or buying a $65 digital antenna that enables
them to get live broadcast TV.
Production may be cheaper, but how are the models
for content monetisation now changing?
Some budgets are going up. When you
see YouTube creating YouTube Red as a
subscription service, you know they want
How does working with digital platforms compare
higher quality programming. We work closely
with working with traditional TV networks?
with brands and advertisers to figure out
how we can integrate them
seamlessly into the programs
that we produce.
Chachi’s World
MAKE A DATE: John will be joining fellow panelists in
the NATPE Reality session The Producers Speak:
Reality Content & The New Digital Frontier today at
10:30 a.m. in Eden Roc, Ocean Tower Salon 2A.
How have YouTube influencers helped
you decide what content to make and
where to put it?
We hire some of those
influencers and use their social
media. It’s an amazing way
to increase awareness of the
program and the brand. They are
not driven by money. They care
about their audience and that’s
very important for people to
realise as they are approaching
these influencers. We cast the
voiceovers for Happy Wheels
and approached those who have
actually created videos playing
the game. We knew they would
be ideal as part of this series.
How is the approach to talent different between old
and new platforms?
We are seeing more talent saying this digital
media thing is an interesting way of engaging
an audience. When Jerry Seinfeld chose to do
a series on Crackle, he was able to reach the
largest audience on the smallest screen and
do whatever he wanted.
What’s coming from Bunim/Murray Productions in
2016 and beyond?
Happy Wheels is going to make a lot of noise
and is going to be a big hit. Plenty of seeds
were planted in 2015 and we will have a lot
of new announcements coming out this year
about investing not just in our resources but
also in other companies. For the business
as a whole, the programs coming out of
these digital production companies, even our
competition, is fantastic. Their success just
raises the bar and makes us all want to do
better, bigger productions that are going to be
seen by the next generation.
PROFILE
Alberto Ciurana
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
60 Follow Alberto on Twitter: @AlbertoCiurana
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
Latin translation
The Hispanic market is fast embracing new platforms and offers
untapped potential, argues Univision’s content chief and NATPE
board member Alberto Ciurana.
By
Marc Berman
T
he Hispanic community, according to the
U.S. Census Bureau, is the single largest
ethnic group in the country. As of 2013,
there were an estimated 54 million Hispanic
people living in the U.S., which was just over 17%
of the total population, and a 2.1% increase on
the previous year.
By 2060 that number is expected to grow
to a hefty 128.8 million – an estimated 31% of
the population. In other words, the growing
relevance of the Hispanic population is one of
the key factors in the rapidly changing world
of U.S. media. But just how do all the recent
changes in technology impact this community?
“Hispanic audiences are watching video
on many different platforms. We are not
surprised since we know our audiences are early
adopters of technology and they over-index on
smartphone penetration and video viewing,”
says Alberto Ciurana, president of programming
and content at Univision Networks. He oversees
all video programming and content across all
Univision platforms, including broadcast and
cable TV, digital and on-demand.
“Our formula for the future is to have a
strong brand with exclusive content plus wide
distribution across platforms. This allows us
to be everywhere our audience is, and it keeps
them in the family, no matter how or when they
choose to connect with us.”
According to Ciurana, Hispanics have
fully embraced new media and he cites Latin
American singing competition La Banda as an
example of the community adapting to new
technology. “In the final episode of La Banda,
we reached five million viewers on linear and
created a highly mobile experience for our
audience, with nearly 82% of the visits coming
from mobile devices.
“Visitors spent more than 41,000 hours
engaging with La Banda content throughout the
season and our La Banda channel was Univision
Digital’s top reality program on YouTube,
garnering 16.5 million video views.”
To further demonstrate the changing media
landscape, Univision teamed up with Verizon
and Hologram USA to offer a fan of La Banda the
opportunity to be beamed on to the stage to serve
as a fourth judge during the show’s semi-final
La Banda
“
Our audiences
love to watch
shows that
are not only
captivating but
also have star
power. The
Hispanic community has a strong
connection with their celebrities
and the cast of a show is critical.
Alberto Ciurana
Univision Networks
”
episode. “Our advertisers are experimenting
with different tools,” notes Ciurana. “There is so
much more now that we can do together.”
Good content transcends language as
Univision, like any broadcast network, continues
to search for the next big thing. “Our audiences
love to watch shows that are not only captivating
but also have star power,” says Ciurana. “The
Hispanic community has a strong connection
with their celebrities and the cast of a show is
critical to its success. Our audience is also very
savvy and largely bilingual with a multitude of
viewing options, which makes it important to
showcase culturally relevant content.”
Coming up on Univision is a Mexican thriller
drama from content partner Televisa called El
Hotel de los Secretos (a.k.a. The Hotel of Secrets),
which is an adaptation of Spanish hit Gran Hotel
and premieres on January 25. And La Banda will
go in search of both sexes in the U.S. and Puerto
Rico as auditions for the next season begin later
this month. Next month will feature the 10th
edition of reality beauty competition Nuestra
Belleza Latina (Our Latin Beauty).
Moving forward, Univision’s primary focus
will remain on expanding both on linear and
non-linear platforms. “Last month we launched
Udisea, a digital video platform targeted at
multicultural, Spanish-speaking millennials,”
notes Ciurana. “We also recently introduced
Univision Now, our new direct-to-consumer
subscription service. With Univision Now, overthe-air viewers can watch the live broadcast
of Univision and UniMas networks, featuring
their respective schedules of telenovelas, sports,
news, award shows and more.
“Content is king and good content transcends
language. And right now the added opportunities
are unlimited.”
PROFILE
Kirstine Stewart
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
62 Follow Kirstine on Twitter: @kirstinestewart
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
Tweet dreams
Kirstine Stewart, Twitter’s VP of media partnerships for North America, discusses the impact of video
services such as Vine, Periscope and SnappyTV on the social media platform.
“
The great thing about technology
is that it’s putting opportunity
directly into the hands of people
who, at one time, used to need
huge studios to get heard.
Kirstine Stewart
Twitter
”
S
ince its launch nearly a decade ago, Twitter
has established itself as the 140-character
king of shortform expression. But in 2015,
the social media giant charged into a new realm
– video – thanks to the rise of applications such
as streaming service Periscope, six-second clip says. “I don’t think I expected the pace to be any
faster or slower than it is. I’ve always enjoyed
looper Vine and live editing suite SnappyTV.
“You’re seeing much more innovation around being in media for the changing nature of it, and
how people can get video to the platform, and in this space I’ve seen even more change, led by
you’re going to see more expansion in that consumers, users and audiences.”
At NATPE 2016, Stewart will be speaking on
area,” says Kirstine Stewart, Twitter’s VP of
media partnerships for North America. “The a panel session entitled Navigating the Wave
great thing about technology is that it’s putting of New Video Platforms, alongside executives
opportunity directly into the hands of people from tech firms such as Wochit, YouNow, AJ+
who, at one time, used to need huge studios and and 26mgmt. Her aim, she says, will be to help
content creators understand some of the new
to invest in a lot of equipment to get heard.
“Now you see the rise of the individual and the social tools available to them.
But for those in the
smaller independent voices
television sector, shortform
who are able to actually use MAKE A DATE: Kirstine will be
video is not the only area
the platform in interesting
speaking in the Platforms
where Twitter has found
ways, so that they can
new relevance. Significantly,
develop their own narrative Accelerated session titled
Navigating the Wave of New
the social media platform
as well.”
has also emerged as a major
Stewart joined Twitter in Video Platforms today at 2:45
player in another key part
April 2013 as head of media p.m. in Eden Roc, Ocean
of the industry: audience
partnerships for Canada, Tower Salon 2C.
metrics.
and in September 2014
With TV broadcasters
was promoted to a role
that covered all of North America. During her increasingly moving away from traditional
tenure she has also found time to publish ratings – most notably when the Fox network
a book, Our Turn, about women and announced in November 2015 that it would
be the first U.S. broadcast network to officially
leadership.
Prior to joining the social media drop Nielsen Live+Same Day ratings – more and
firm she was exec VP for English more platforms are looking at the number of
services at Canadian public tweets posted during a program’s broadcast for
broadcaster CBC-Radio Canada. validation of its cultural currency.
“What we’re seeing is an understanding
Yet the exec says making the
move from a conventional media that there’s more than one way to look at how
behemoth to a San Francisco- people are engaged,” says Stewart, “and Twitter
based tech outfit was not as is one of those forms, because you can measure
conversation and sentiment.
jarring as one might expect.
“We have on-going conversations through
While CBC is a “75-year-old,
legacy, traditional media place, partner managers who work with networks and
it is also morphing and changing, producers. They may have questions based on
and everyone understands the research they’re seeing, and we help with
that. Just as media is always analysis of what it might be telling them, and how
changing, so does technology they can then change their Twitter campaigns or
when it comes to content,” she presence to make it more engaging.”
By
Adam Benzine
Watched by a third
of the UK population –
almost 20 million viewers
Currently on air in over
25 countries
the
SUPERVET
Series 1: 4 x 60’ | Series 2: 12 x 60’ | Series 3: 20 x 60’
“Documentary gold”
Radio Times
NATPE Stand 533
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MULTIFORMAT CONTENT
ap.org/events/natpe
PROFILE
Tomás Yankelevich
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
Follow Tomás on Twitter: @tyankelevich
65
Global designs
L
atin America has long been associated
with the telenovela – a drama format that’s
served the region extremely well over the
years. But like everywhere else, viewing patterns
have changed considerably and broadcasters in
this region have had to adapt to a TV industry
that’s become global.
Argentina’s Telefe has been doing exactly
that, sparking its new strategy into life with
the promotion of then global content director
Tomás Yankelevich to international business
director in January 2015.
A year later and Yankelevich’s mission
remains the same: to increase the company’s
international coproduction activity and create
global alliances across all genres. “We are a
healthy company but we need to generate more
money from the international market in order to
grow,” he explains.
“If Globo in Brazil or Televisa in Mexico
stopped their international production
operations
they
could survive with
the money they get
from their national
markets. If we did
the same we would
survive for a couple
of years, but if we
don’t
grow
our
production side that
would be it for us.”
Consequently, Yankelevich is
looking to start “international
production from scratch” and
has entered into a range of codevelopment agreements with
prodcos and broadcasters from
Latin America and beyond.
On the scripted side, last
year Telefe partnered with Peruvian network
América TV to coproduce The Return of Lucas
(60x60’), a family drama that revolves around
a boy who was abducted from his parents and
reappears 20 years later.
Yankelevich says Lucas is an example of how
Telefe can tap into more coproduction revenues
from Latin American markets while not straying
too far away from the telenovela model that has
brought it success over the years.
“If the other prodco we work with has
a broadcaster attached we would usually
split all the money we contribute in half,”
By
Andrew Dickens
Telefe’s Tomás Yankelevich
tells Andrew Dickens why the
Argentinian broadcaster has
adopted a more international
production strategy.
says Yankelevich. “But if they don’t have a
broadcaster, the percentages will be different
depending on if we are putting it on air or not.
But we want to do even splits most of the time so
everyone can be in a win-win situation.”
At NATPE, Telefe Internacional is launching
Lioness (120x60’), a telenovela about a factory
worker who defends the rights
of her co-workers, produced in
partnership with producer-director
Pablo Echarri’s Buenos Aires-based
TV outfit El Árbol. Crime miniseries
Story of a Clan (11x60’) is also on its
slate for Miami.
But it’s in the entertainment
and reality space that Yankelevich
really wants to make a
mark. “We’ve started codeveloping formats with
all the big production
companies,” he says. “In
the past we produced big
formats from around
the world such as Big
Brother, Got Talent and
MasterChef. But instead
of buying them and developing on our own,
we’ve teamed up with production companies
that have more know-how when it comes to
distributing this content around the world.”
In recent months, Telefe’s development team
has partnered with the likes of FremantleMedia,
Sony, Eyeworks, Warner Bros. and Fuji TV in
Japan to develop shows for its own market.
Tomás Yankelevich. Below: Crime miniseries Story
of a Clan and family drama The Return of Lucas
Telefe’s more recent co-development deal
with Keshet International, for instance, saw it
develop local versions of talent format Rising
Star and gameshow Boom!. For the latter, Keshet
opened an international production hub at
Telefe’s own studio last October for use by all
licensors of the format worldwide.
The Argentinian broadcaster recently
licensed hit U.K. reality format Gogglebox
from All3Media International and also signed
a pact with Endemol Shine Group to coproduce
El Gran Jugador, a drama slated for this year
about a contestant in a Big Brother house who
threatens to detonate a bomb.
Indeed, Yankelevich’s new approach means
“no format gets left in the cupboard” and plans
are also in place to develop new shows Singer
Swinger (working title), a hybrid talent-dating
format, as well as cooking show The Restaurant
(working title).
It looks as if 2016 will see the fruits of
Telefe’s labors. This month, for instance,
a Spanish version of the channel’s popular
dramedy Man of Your Dreams debuts on TVE.
And with Yankelevich pushing hard in the
unscripted sector, the first formats from Telefe’s
international co-development deals will soon be
unveiled. Telefe’s international strategy looks to
be heading in the right direction.
MAKE A DATE: Tomás will be speaking in the Global Navigators session Latin
America TV Trends: Drama – From Novelas to Drama Series on Thursday at 10:30
a.m. in Eden Roc, Ocean Tower Salon 1B/C.
Connecting projects with partners
CREATE . PITCH . PACKAGE . PRODUCE
The London | West Hollywood
20 May 2016
Book online at www.dramasummitwest.com
Q&A WITH…
Ron Garfield
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
Follow Buzzr on Twitter: @BUZZRplay
67
FremantleMedia North America-backed digital multicast network Buzzr was unveiled at NATPE 2015
and debuted last June. Exec VP and general manager Ron Garfield reveals how the channel has fared.
Finger on
the Buzzr
What is Buzzr’s programming mission for 2016
and beyond?
After launching last June, we are now
looking to gain more eyeballs and
households. Right now, we are available in
around 60% of the U.S. marketplace, but the
plan for the next 12 months is to work with
our broadcast and station partners to expand
into as many markets as we possibly can.
It will take a bit of time but that’s the 12- to
24-month goal. Gaining maximum eyeballs
and figuring out how to turn that into revenue
is also key. It is entirely possible we could
get into original production but we have no
immediate plans.
How do you engage with your viewers in this highly
competitive TV market?
Social media is key for us. It’s one of the
only ways to engage with our audiences
beyond advertising. As our channel
moves forward and evolves, we will see
more of this being used. For instance,
in October we allowed our viewers to
pick the shows they wanted to see on
Sunday nights via social media. But there
are other ways to engage as well. For
instance, we counted down the 12 days
leading up to Christmas with a special
holiday programming block dedicated
to game show icon Betty White. We also
aired a Betty White 24-hour marathon
on Christmas Day and launched a Lost
and Found programming block, where
we rounded up the pilot episodes of old
game shows – some that made it and
some that did not – and curated and
packaged them.
What does the future hold for the digital multicast
television landscape?
This has become an incredibly competitive
sector but the most successful channels
are the ones that deal with retro or vintage
content. Broadcasters that are partners
with the diginets have seen that this is a
good business for them to be in. However,
this sector will remain competitive and the
opportunities to get broadcaster carriage are
going to remain a challenge for everybody.
That said, one of the advantages that Buzzr
has is sustainability. We own all of our own
content and that’s a huge plus for controlling
costs in a marketplace where demand for
vintage content is going to rise. But we are
not going to be subject to that as we own all
the rights to our content.
Is the game show genre in good shape?
The game show genre is incredibly
healthy right now. One of the top shows in
syndication in the U.S. marketplace today
is FremantleMedia’s Family Feud with Steve
Harvey. In summer 2014, Celebrity Family
Feud was the number one game show.
Meanwhile, ABC is launching a new version
of comedic variety show To Tell The Truth
this year and shows like Celebrity Name
Game are also in the mix. It’s the passion of
the viewers that has surprised me the most
and how engaged they are in today’s media
environment.
What’s stopping other digital networks tapping into
this demand for game shows?
It’s going to be difficult for them from the
standpoint that we have this library
of 40,000 game show episodes and
Betty White
nobody else does. This is basically the
dominant game show library. Certainly,
there are some other very popular shows
out there that we don’t own but in order
to program a channel that’s 24/7 you
can’t do it without this library.
What’s your mission for NATPE Miami?
We’ll spend time meeting with current
and potential broadcast partners in
Miami. It’s an opportunity for us to go
in and talk about our progress and
plans for this year. That will be our main
function. Beyond that, we’ve got some
other initiatives that we’re looking into
at the market. It will be much busier
than it was for us last year, when we first
announced the channel.
Rod,
Thank you for your dedication, passion
and all you’ve done for NATPE.
Profile
Bob Sullivan
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
Follow Tegna Media on Twitter: @tegna
69
Faith in the future
Tegna Media’s Bob Sullivan on how the firm’s split from publishing parent Gannett last year has been
followed by a move into TV distribution that could be felt far beyond U.S. shores.
B
ob Sullivan, senior VP of programming
at station group Tegna Media, is putting
a lot of faith into Bishop T.D. Jakes. The
Dallas-based preacher is the latest host to plunge
himself into the merciless world of daytime
chat shows, but it’s the involvement of Tegna
– recently spun out of the Gannett publishing
business – that’s the real talking point here.
“I was introduced to the bishop last spring
by 44 Blue Productions,” Sullivan explains,
following his own move from Scripps Media in
2015. 44 Blue had come across Jakes – who has
over two million Twitter followers, a church
boasting more than 30,000 members and 40plus books to his name – and were wondering
if Tegna and syndicator Debmar Mercury liked
what they saw.
“We decided to do a beta test followed by some
market research and it was very positive, so we
did a four-week test of 20 episodes in four of our
Tegna markets,” Sullivan says. “The growth we
saw week-on-week said to us that – without a lot
of marketing or promotion – he had a voice that
was missing in daytime.”
While Tegna bought into the bishop, Debmar
Mercury were less sure, not least because of
what was then an uncertain talk show landscape.
The future of The Meredith Vieira Show, since
cancelled, was then unclear, while FABLife had
its own problems to contend with.
With its syndication partner out of the
picture, Sullivan and Tegna found themselves
on the brink. “We could have either just stood
down, even though we knew the audience
really accepted him. Or we could take on the
show in total, in terms of both production and
distribution.”
Tegna bullishly chose the latter. Nearly 30
of its own stations will carry the 44 Blue, TDJ
Enterprises and EnLight Productions show,
titled simply T.D. Jakes – which is news in itself.
But the dive into distribution, led this week at
NATPE by 30-year syndication veteran Scott
Carlin, really breaks new ground.
Sullivan is quick to admit the daytime talk
landscape has been “a challenge” over the past
decade or so but there’s also clearly a business
opportunity being explored here and the risk is
“calculated,” he says.
By
Richard Middleton
Part of the reason is that Jakes is “clearly a
brand unto himself,” Sullivan says, and Tegna
wanted him to be a part of its own future.
And partly it’s because Sullivan believes talk
currently offers “a lot of opportunities.”
“We know station groups are either looking
for alternatives in their program line-up or to
better their time periods with current shows.
We’ll know more in a few months but that’s what
we can tell from the current marketplace.”
Sullivan, who is known for his forays
into originals while at Scripps, says further
programming opportunities are being explored
and, coupled with the move into distribution,
Tegna’s strategy is shifting.
“First and foremost, we want to get the bishop
to the marketplace, but there’s no question
that if we’re investing in standing up sales,
distribution and marketing of assets, the best
way to monetize them is to have further product
that we’re managing and selling.
“When we take a holistic approach, our
mission is to take greater control of our future.
The traditional model is to have a third of your
line-up made up of local news, a third off-net and
a third syndication, but it’s clearly evolving.
“Do we just keep using the model we’ve always
used, which is to see what the major studios can
sell us? Or are we going to take advantage of our
46 stations and thousands of employees, as well
as producers outside of Tegna, to try to enrich
the process by having more options available?”
T.D. Jakes’ multiplatform appeal was also a
key factor behind Tegna’s approach, with his
social media following a vital tool for Sullivan.
Jakes also attracts an international audience,
opening up a whole new world for Tegna’s
fledgling distribution business to explore.
Sullivan adds that in the years to come he’ll
be after “shows that have legs beyond the
continental USA” – further proof that his faith
in original programming is accompanied by
seriously global ambitions.
“
The growth we saw week-onweek said to us that – without a
lot of marketing or promotion –
he had a voice that was missing
in daytime.
”
T.D. Jakes
BACKSTOP
Adi Sideman
70
NATPE Daily 2016 . Day 1 . January 19
Follow Adi on Twitter: @adi_sideman
Tweet your news #NATPE2016 and follow us @NATPE
Riding the wave
T
his year, the people and industries that
fail to recognize the power and promise
of live social video will lose out. And
the implications of this run far deeper than
simply failing to discover the next Justin
Bieber. Participatory media is on its way toward
upending Hollywood, the music industry,
advertising, news, activism – and even shopping.
The possibilities are enormous and mostly
untapped.
If you want to understand emerging video
platforms, you have to understand the needs of
the demographic that uses them: millennials.
Young people today demand media that is
participatory, allowing them to connect to the
media creator in an interactive, real-time and
authentic manner.
Millennial viewers are a significant part of the
media they are experiencing. It does not exist
without them.
I’ve built user-generated content (UGC)
experiences and companies for the past 20 years.
We traditionally consumed media at a distance,
slaves to the whims and schedules of faceless
corporations. Social media brought us closer.
It gave us a platform to make ourselves heard.
Platforms like YouTube and Facebook gave
everyone the ability to both consume and easily
create media, mass-distribute it and instantly
get feedback about it.
Live, participatory, social media is a natural
next step.
Watch any YouNow broadcast and you’ll
observe the participation, the social interaction.
Sure, the broadcaster is at the center of attention,
but what keeps the experience engaging is
user participation through comments, voting,
gifting and guest broadcasting (in which viewers
broadcast alongside hosts in a split screen).
The internet has made everything more
personal and more immediate, and young people
born into a world where media consumption is
internet-centric will not engage in anything that
does not offer direct contact and interaction.
Today’s media stars don’t have to be packaged
or polished. They don’t need managers or agents.
They don’t audition or wait for callbacks. The
Adi Sideman, CEO and founder of audience participation network
YouNow, argues that the digital revolution doesn’t end with social
media but continues through to full participatory live video.
“
Content producers must be
creative and willing to let go of
fully controlling the narrative.
Authenticity trumps high
production values.
gatekeepers are us. What matters is that creators
make their audiences feel like they matter. It’s
easy to scoff at the new video idols, but they are
actually more real than those manufactured by
Hollywood and the old media apparatus.
Content producers must be creative
and willing to let go of fully controlling the
narrative. Authenticity trumps high production
values. And if there’s a common value among
the creators who have emerged from video
platforms, it’s the authentic.
Participatory
media
offers
multiple
levels of participation and on YouNow we
met user demand for greater involvement
by implementing a ‘gamified’ system in
which users may purchase virtual goods to
Audience participation network YouNow
”
enhance participation in the media creation,
communicate with influencers they love and
support them.
Unlike posting images or text, creating video
and interacting with a live audience is a timeconsuming endeavor that requires attention and
experience. To allow talented people to devote
time to broadcasting, YouNow provides a builtin revenue model that allows creators to earn.
Today, we see a vast group of creators earning
a living off the platform. Talents who have been
waiting tables until recently now have the time
and resources, as well as the rapt attention
of fans across the world, to write – together
– the next chapter in an ever-evolving media
landscape.
January is an optimistic time, and I’m excited
about what’s to come for media companies
that embrace live streaming. We’re on our way
toward creating a new, participatory form of
entertainment.
MAKE A DATE: Catch up with Adi Sideman
and his fellow panelists at the Platforms
Accelerated session Navigating the Wave
of New Video Platforms in Eden Roc’s
Ocean Tower Salon 2C at 2:45 p.m.
The award-winning official NATPE Daily is published under contract by C21Media Ltd (www.c21media.net).
Editor: Ed Waller. Reporters: Jonathan Webdale, Clive Whittingham, Andrew Dickens, Richard Middleton, Adam Benzine, Julian Blake, Nico Franks,
Kevin Downey, Marc Berman, John Hazelton, Toni Sekinah. Chief sub editor: Gary Smitherman. Photographers: Simon Wilkinson, Vaughn Ridley.
Head of production: Lucy Scott. NATPE Daily client contacts: Suzanne Gutierrez, Maria Moscowitz, Evie Silvers, Gary Mitchell, Mingfen Lee,
Murtuza Kagalwala. NATPE executive liaison: Matt Palmer, Natgeda Remy. Materials coordinator: Oscar Basulto. Proof reader: David Kane.
NATPE Daily client contacts (C21Media): Odiri Iwuji, Peter Treacher. Editor-in-chief & managing director, C21Media: David Jenkinson. Meet
the NATPE Daily team in San Marino at the Eden Roc or email press@c21media.net.
Showcasing fresh local CEE content & producers
Introduction of new and exclusive formats
Hollywood studios PLUS local content screening opportunities
BOOTH
519
27 June, 2016 / Conference & Sessions
28-30 June, 2016 / Market & Content Summit
InterContinental Budapest, Hungary