Digital Hollywood: Nagging Content Questions
At the recent, content-oriented Digital Hollywood conference, 流媒体娱乐内容的制作人所面临的新的清醒现实,最能说明问题的是谁not there. Pop.com的首席执行官在预定的露面中明显缺席, 数字娱乐网络(Digital Entertainment Network)——去年备受瞩目的内容创造者——几个月前就消失在网络中了. 与会者指出,去年对流媒体娱乐内容的制作人和分销商的比喻是“谁想成为百万富翁”?", this year it was "Survivor."
而在去年的大会上,“货币化”的概念是事后才想到的, this year it was the sine qua non. Discussions focused on a few central questions: What kind of streaming entertainment content are consumers willing to pay for; just how far "around the corner" is profitability; what are the models for the monetization of streaming content; and finally, 哪些机制将加强对内容创作者的数字媒体权利保护?
"Faith has been shaken - this is not Monopoly money."
许多流媒体内容提供商注意到,他们现在受到了曾经热情的风投的冷淡对待——这群人并不以长期承诺而闻名. 即使是像AtomFilms和iffilm这样有弹性且资金充足的内容聚合商也感到了压力. Heather Redman, senior vice president at AtomFilms, noted, "Faith has been shaken - this is not Monopoly money."
iffilm首席执行官凯文·温德尔(Kevin Wendle)在主题演讲中告诫人们要有耐心. 他说:“今天的互联网是20年前的有线电视行业. It took CNN eight years to reach profitability." Yet, 当时有人指出,今天的大学新生不记得一个没有CNN的世界, Michael Stroud, founder of iHollywood Forum, pointed out, “知道今天的新生将在你倒下后看着你的竞争对手,这并不令人感到安慰."
The feeling is that companies that don't minimize burn rates (i.e.(即营运资本的支出)将不会看到盈利的应许之地. Curt Marvis, chief executive officer of Cinema Now, a provider of long-form content, acknowledged, "The longer the film you're showing, 燃烧速度越慢,你就需要存活到长格式被接受."
Monetizing Solutions
在展会上,人们普遍认为,仅靠广告收入不足以提供足够的燃料来运行流媒体内容制作和分发引擎. Pay-per-view, subscriptions, 流媒体内容的在线联合最常被视为广告收入模式的替代或补充. In her keynote address, Christie Hefner, chairman of Playboy.com, illustrated the success of the Playboy.com subscription model: 65,000 subscribers pay $6.95美元/月,可以完全访问《百家乐软件》的流媒体视频和其他独家内容.com site. 值得注意的是,成人视频流媒体长期以来比迄今为止任何其他流媒体视频行业都吸引了更稳定的收入.
"It's nearly impossible to monetize today on the Web alone."
在线联合允许媒体库(如电影工作室)的所有者, television program syndicators, 以及内容聚合器)在不同的时间长度和特定的条件下向其他网站出售访问其流媒体内容的权利. 在线联合可以利用网络最引人注目的特征之一——个性化的潜力. Content can be syndicated to, and then accessed through, 那些最看重内容的用户经常光顾的小众网站. A number of companies, including Context Media and Qpass, 展示了他们最新的在线联合管理软件.
创建和分发用户想要观看的流媒体内容至关重要, 但防止这些内容被盗版也是内容公司的一个主要关注点. Having seen the music industry rocked by Napster, 好莱坞的流媒体视频制作人密切关注数字版权管理(DRM)技术的新发展. 包括微软在内的许多公司在展会上展示了DRM解决方案.
Move It Offline?
随着带宽限制继续限制今天流媒体观众的规模, David Shulhoff, 世界娱乐网络的首席执行官和现场音乐网络广播的制作人, noted, "It's nearly impossible to monetize today on the Web alone.其他流媒体网络广播制作人也同意舒尔霍夫的观点, at least for now, 流媒体将成为包括广播电视在内的多维收入战略的一部分, cable, pay-per-view, and corporate sponsorship.
Ultimately, no matter how one looks at it, 流媒体内容必须足够吸引观众,以便通过广告为自己买单, pay-per-view, subscriptions, syndication, or some other revenue model. 数字好莱坞的共识是,流媒体娱乐内容提供商应该谨慎行事, faith, 如果他们想继续支持宽带革命的话,他们也会有雄厚的财力. In his keynote address, RealNetworks首席执行官罗布·格拉泽建议宽带内容制作商采取“梦幻之地”的方式——“如果你自己建的话, they will come.RealNetworks和其他流媒体技术公司指望好莱坞的内容提供商采纳格拉泽的建议.