Category: media

The entertainment giant is developing an “emerging media and advertising research lab” to try to figure out why people watch the shows they do.

“Each year, headlines out of Cannes treat the event as an improbable David and Goliath showdown between art cinema and Hollywood, but increasingly the festival is bridging the gap… From the Hollywood perspective, this year’s Cannes story is somewhat light on the mainstream goods.”

Cannes opens today, and while “everyone may be expecting the bounty of good and even great films from around the world over the next 12 days, the excitement is tempered by a sense that those films are facing unusually difficult prospects back in the United States.”

“The brightness of many of YouTube’s original stars (Brookers, LisaNova, thewinekone, et al.) has waned, making it seem more difficult for homegrown stars to succeed on clever writing and talent alone. Now it’s turned into a kind of contest about who can hit the high note at just the right moment to grab a microsecond of collective attention. And a group of five Belgian filmmakers/pranksters/activists may be one of the early masters of this game.”

“ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC had nearly 9 percent fewer viewers in April and May so far than during the same period a year ago.”

Broadcast network ratings have been declining year-to-year for many years, but “a confluence of several difficult dynamics came together” to make this a particularly bad season

“The debate is the latest example of how the economics of traditional media are being upended by the growing popularity of video-sharing Web sites like YouTube, and how audiences’ tastes and habits are being transformed in the process. According to Internet marketing research firm comScore, 134 million Americans view online videos each month, with YouTube alone attracting 80 million unique visitors monthly.”

“Entire industries have been built on developing viral campaigns. Movie and games companies lead the way with clever, funny and attention-grabbing ideas. These are shrewd campaigns which normal web users will instinctively Fwd to their friends.” But when organizations try to “manufacture” viral campaigns…

“Clint Eastwood is in the main competition with “Changeling,” starring Angelina Jolie, pitting him against, among others, Kornel Mundruczo of Hungary in the kind of David-and-Goliath contest on which Cannes thrives.”

“Several television series have tried to translate the Internet’s user-generated content to television. But a new National Geographic Channel special is believed to be the first hourlong documentary to be inspired by a YouTube clip.” It probably won’t be the last.