Cynopsis Media Presents: Most Intriguing People – Digital
03/25/13
by Sahil Patel
It’s still Monday, March 25, and today we honor the movers and shakers in the digital video industry as part of our series of Special Reports Celebrating the Most Intriguing People of 2013. Our list was selected by the thought-leaders in the digital space as well as by the Cynopsis staff, and offers a glimpse into the minds of those leading and molding the digital video programming and ad businesses. From writers and creators, to producers and investors, to executives who know a thing or two about helping brands achieve ROI, the following Q&As pull back the curtain to reveal the men and women who have already left an indelible footprint in the digital video space.
Congratulations to all of our honorees. We can’t wait to see what they have in store for us next.
Who do you consider your mentor and why?
Two or three people were instrumental in my ability to make films and have a career, including: David Geffen (Risky Business), Tom Pollock, Chairman of Universal Pictures (Fried Green Tomatoes), and Bill Haber (co founder of CAA, Broadway productions such as Spamalot and History Boys).
What was your first job?
Working at a car wash at age 16. My first film job was as a PA on John Cassavetes’ A Woman Under the Influence.
What changes or trends do you foresee in our industry?
I believe there will be a further consolidation of outlets. Within the next five years or so, there will be a single pipe, where all media is released as branded content. The distinction between free TV, cable TV, satellite TV, and internet will be irrelevant – only the nature of the content and the method of payment involved (subscription, ad supported, etc.) will matter. Films will probably be released day and date with internet/single pipe releases on a subscription/platform-related basis.
What career accomplishment are you most proud of in the past year?
My role as Executive Producer of Black Swan and of Darren’s filmmaking and Natalie’s performance. I’m also proud of what Rodrigo Garcia, Jake Avnet, and I have been able to accomplish with WIGS. The quality of the people we have worked with has exceeded our expectations.
What would people be surprised to know about you?
I’m a presidential scholar — an amateur, to be more precise. In the last five years, I’ve read at least one biography of every president in chronological order. It’s been an incredible ride, amazing to realize how little you know about many of our presidents. It’s also been quite enlightening to see how little “the process” changes, for better and for worse.
What TV do you watch on a regular basis (guilty pleasure or otherwise)?
Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men. Homeland, Justified (I am the Key Director of the show, so this is a very conflicted choice on my part), Girls, True Blood, Game of Thrones. I believe that ESPN has a coaxial implant in my body, because I can’t seem to get enough of it.
What’s the one technology you couldn’t live without?
I love my Macbook Pro. I write quite a bit, and typing for me is second or third nature. I would have a tough time without a keyboard as a way to express myself.
What do you think was the biggest TV and/or online video biz news story of the last year?
Felix Baumgartner’s Spacejump. Here was a program, sponsored by Red Bull, where a guy performed this amazing feat and it captured audiences across the entire spectrum, from television to online video. It was the most viewed live stream in YouTube history. It demonstrated the possibilities of what could be done across all of these different platforms.
Who do you consider your mentor and why?
The Chairman of Alloy, Gerry Laybourne, who I also worked with briefly at Disney. So much of what she’s taught me — about not only connecting with audiences but also maintaining a relationship between programming and audiences, is incredibly important. She’s had a lot to do with who I have become as a programmer and creator.
What was your first job?
At an Aquarium Store, where I sold tropical fish. As for my first industry job, I was the Head of Marketing and Content for Harvey Entertainment. We sold Caspar and Richie Rich.
What changes or trends do you foresee in the next year or so in our industry?
The lines between traditional television and digital will continue to blur. The way the younger generation, my son’s generation, consumes content is screen agnostic. It doesn’t matter to him if he’s watching a show online, on the Xbox, or a live show on broadcast TV. He doesn’t differentiate.
What career accomplishment are you most proud of in the past year?
My partners at Smosh, Anthony (Padilla) and Ian (Hecox), both bought houses. That was a huge thing for me.
What would people be surprised to know about you?
I read actual books. Like book books. I play a lot of online scrabble at a Romanian scrabble site.
What TV do you watch on a regular basis (guilty pleasure or otherwise)?
I hate to say it but I watch a lot of Ancient Aliens and Finding Bigfoot. Re-runs of Law & Order and Criminal Intent, which seem to air on every single channel. I don’t have a lot of appointment viewing on TV, but I watch a lot of sports. Also, MSNBC and Homeland.
What’s the one technology you couldn’t live without?
Very old school answer, but I would have to say electricity and the internal combustion engine. I like to turn on the lights and be able to get around.
What do you think was the biggest TV and/or online video biz news story of the last year?
YouTube’s original channels initiative was one, and Netflix committing to original programming was the other.
Who do you consider your mentor and why?
A lot of people have influenced me. Of the ones I don’t necessarily know, I’d say Steve Jobs, J.J. Abrams, Howard Gordon, Reed Hastings, and Jason Kilar. In my personal life, it’s Robert Abel, a guy I worked with for a long time. He was a pioneer in the visual effects and interactive media industries. He very much had this attitude, of really pushing the envelope when it came to creativity, media, and business.
What was your first job?
I had a teaching fellowship in computer science at the University of Pennsylvania. It was teaching numerical methods to freshman engineering students.
What changes or trends do you foresee in the next year or so in our industry?
I think what Netflix, Hulu Plus, and HBO Go have shown is that people will watch premium content outside of a traditional TV channel. I think we are going to see a flurry of activity in this category, whether that means more TV libraries being made available on such non-traditional distribution channels or original programming that gets launched that way. I also see more SVOD-like experiences, whether they follow the Netflix and Hulu Plus model, which doesn’t require a cable subscription, or HBO Go, which does.
What career accomplishment are you most proud of in the past year?
Our level of engagement with our viewers. There are a lot of companies that reach a large audience. The combination of audience and engagement makes Machinima unique. We are very focused on our demographic. We have also begun to prove that premium, serialized content works on this platform, launching shows about Mortal Kombat, Halo, and Battlestar Galactica in the past year alone.
What would people be surprised to know about you?
I grew up in Italy. I was there until I went to college.
What TV do you watch on a regular basis?
Homeland, The Walking Dead, Dexter, Downton Abbey, Breaking Bad, Shameless, Californication — though I am not sure where that one’s going — Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, Mad Men. And of course, sports.
What’s the one technology you couldn’t live without?
My iPhone.
What do you think was the biggest TV and/or online video biz news story of last year?
The continued decline of traditional television viewing and the rapid acceleration of online viewing, which is just leading to the ultimate merger of all of these different media platforms.
Who do you consider your mentor and why?
Tom Tucker, my first real boss at General Electric about 20 years ago. He was my first manager and taught me the discipline of challenging the status quo, understanding the numbers and understanding financials, and being a self-starter.
What was your first job?
I was a super-duper ice cream scooper at Baskin & Robbins. My first job out of college, I was a financial analyst for General Electric.
What changes or trends do you foresee in the next year in our industry?
From a consumer perspective, it’s definitely how all media platforms are integrating and collapsing into one. Consumers are becoming screen-agnostic, and content providers will have to do the same thing. Whether you’re a traditional media company or a new media company, you have to recognize that consumers want to watch content wherever they are.
What career accomplishment are you most proud of in the past year?
Alloy’s recognition of this trend as well as the growth of our core intellectual property, such as Smosh, Clevver, and The Escapist. We have been able to take popular intellectual property and accelerate growth because of great content and a great infrastructure to help facilitate it.
What would people be surprised to know about you?
Merging this with your next question, I watch any and all reality TV. The lower-brow the better. And I’ll leave it at that.
What TV do you watch on a regular basis (guilty pleasure or otherwise)?
See above.
What’s the one technology you couldn’t live without?
I struggle with this one. Any phone-based email device, meaning BlackBerry or iPhone. The ability to answer email and text via a mobile device is essential.
What do you think was the biggest TV biz news story of the last year?
The tremendous impact that time-shifted/DVR viewing has begun to have on television ratings.
Who do you consider your mentor and why?
It would be unfair and inaccurate to name just one individual. I’ve had the great fortune of working directly for several amazing individuals, and all have mentored me on some significant level.
What was your first job?
It was for Knight-Ridder’s Miami Herald. As part of a management rotation program, I worked in the classified advertising department for about two months taking calls from little old ladies who wanted to place garage sale ads.
What changes or trends do your foresee in the next year in our industry?
I think you’ll see more product and service innovation than we have witnessed over the last decade; it will cover vastly disparate areas of the business, from advances in video production, storage, and distribution to underlying technological infrastructure, to consumer products and services.
What career accomplishments are you most proud of in the last year?
Having the opportunity to help an organization like Scripps that, for over 125 years, has successfully participated in every facet of the media business. It’s also navigated the ecosystem in a manner that allows it to maintain its dominance over the lifestyle category in the digital era.
What would people be surprised to know about you?
I consider myself to be a writer. I would love to be a published author before all is said and done.
What TV do you watch on a regular basis?
“Regular basis” may be a bit of an overstatement given that I have two very active pre-teens, so there is nothing “regular” about my schedule these days! However, my husband is a big-time “home project” guy, so we watch a lot of HGTV and DIY.
What’s the one technology you can’t live without?
Definitely my tablets. I have more than one. Obviously great for e-mail and getting my Food Network fix, but I underestimated their utility as a way to read e-books. Regardless of my mood, as long as I have my tablet, I’ve got something of interest to read.
What do you think was the biggest TV and/or online video biz news story of the last year?
Certainly YouTube launching its premium channels was one of them.
Who do you consider your mentor and why?
My WIGS partner Jon Avnet, who produced my first feature film, is one of the principal ones.
What was your first job?
Camera P.A. for a commercial company in Mexico City.
What changes or trends do you foresee in the next year or so in our industry?
Increasing exploration of the web as a platform for high-quality content.
What career accomplishment are you most proud of in the past year?
Getting our YouTube Premium channel WIGS off the ground and being joined by so much great talent.
What would people be surprised to know about you?
That I am not a woman.
What TV do you watch on a regular basis?
Dexter, Homeland and many other cable series.
What’s the one technology you couldn’t live without?
My smartphone, though I’d like to.
What do you think was the biggest TV and/or online video biz news story of 2012?
YouTube’s $100 million investment in premium video was a defining moment for the industry. It showed that YouTube is betting big on made-for-the web content and that the rest of the industry should take it seriously. It also proved that digital distributors are going to compete with TV distributors in a meaningful way that will seriously disrupt the cable industry. With that investment, YouTube started a movement that everyone — AOL, Yahoo, Netflix, Amazon — is following.
Who do you consider your mentor and why?
There are a group of CEOs of online video companies — FreeWheel, BrightRoll, AdapTV, Revision3, and many others who joined this industry around the same time I did and who I really admire. We were all here in 2006-07 before the serious money started coming in and they always give me great insight and advice these days as well.
What was your first job?
I was in the Israeli Air Force from ages 18-25, and then I was a journalist at Tel-Aviv Magazine for four years after that.
What changes or trends do you foresee in the next year or so in our industry?
Mobile devices and connected TVs are going to have a huge impact on viewership habits and the way video content is consumed. People are already watching video on every device, instead of just through their TVs or computers, and big media companies who aren’t able to respond quickly are going to be disrupted by more nimble start-ups. We’re also going to see a big move from linear to non-linear viewing as companies like Amazon and Netflix allow people to “binge view” on every episode of a given show at once. That is a tectonic shift!
What career accomplishment are you most proud of in the past year?
I’m incredibly proud of how far video at AOL has come, particularly since we launched The AOL On Network at last year’s NewFronts. I think our Q3 earnings numbers speak for themselves(from $10M to$100M in two years),and having been second only to YouTube in video views for seven consecutive months.
What would people be surprised to know about you?
I think most people would be surprised to know that I was in the army for seven years, primarily because I tend to believe it didn’t have a major impact on my personality.
What TV do you watch on a regular basis?
I watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report religiously. I pay cable to watch ads (professional obligation), and Stewart and Colbert are my only other excuses to not cut the cord.
What’s the one technology you couldn’t live without?
To me, Twitter is still the most exciting platform on the web. Reading it makes me laugh on a daily basis. I’m addicted to it (@harnevo).
What do you think was the biggest TV and/or online video biz news story of 2012?
The continued proliferation of professionally produced content online: the YouTube original channels; Yahoo’s programming push; players from Netflix to Hulu, to Amazon and Xbox, committing to produce professional video content. Live video also gained increased significance as a way to drive audience, with Huffington Post’s HuffPo Live channel and of course, Felix Baumgartner’s jump from the stratosphere.
Who do you consider your mentor and why?
I moved to Los Angeles in 1997 to serve as a law clerk for a federal judge, Consuelo B. Marshall. As one of the first women of color on the federal bench, she has been a trailblazer and a role model to many. She taught me the value of hard work and how there really is no substitute for simply knowing your field better than anyone else.
What was your first job?
I actually practiced law for more than a decade before going into digital media. So my first “real job” was at a mid-size law firm in San Francisco, practicing commercial litigation.
What changes or trends do you foresee in the next year or so in our industry?
We will continue to see great content coming from an increasingly diverse set of players — television studios and networks, but also Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, YouTube, and Yahoo. And with an ever-increasing array of media choices and even less time to watch, consumers will place an even-higher value on curation. Personalization will be key.
What career accomplishment are you most proud of in the past year?
I am perhaps proudest of the boundaries we pushed in providing new and unique video experiences for our users: Electric City with Tom Hanks, CrazySexyPolitics with Bill Maher, Cyberggedon with Anthony Zuicker, and of course, Burning Love with Ben Stiller’s Red Hour and Paramount. All of these experiences were “firsts” for us in many ways, and they required a level of effort for us as a team and for the larger Yahoo organization in ways I could not have predicted.
What would people be surprised to know about you?
1. I grew up in Aspen, Colorado and have skied since I was 2 years old.
2. My favorite drink is tequila. No mixers.
3. I have right-left dyslexia (meaning I mix up my left and right), so I wouldn’t recommend taking directions from me.
4. Boxing is my favorite sport.
5. In 1999, I worked at an early online video start-up calledz.com. No one had high-speed internet back then, so we didn’t last long.
What TV do you watch on a regular basis (guilty pleasure or otherwise)?
Showtime is killing it. Homeland is the best drama on television right now, and I’ve been a huge Dexter fan since the beginning.
What’s the one technology you couldn’t live without?
My smartphone. Sad to say, it’s my everything.
What do you think was the biggest TV and/or online video biz news story of last year?
The fundamental shift in advertising and where the money is flowing. The IAB reported that US internet ad revenues totaled an all-time high of $17.0 billion in the first half of 2012, a 14% increase from the same period in 2011. The organization also said that mobile ad revenue nearly doubled from the first half of 2011 to the first half of 2012, reaching $1.2 billion, and that digital video ad revenue reached a little more than $1 billion in the first half of last year (up from almost $900 million in the same period of 2011). These are significant levels of growth.
Who do you consider your mentor and why?
Sun Tzu’s The Art of War has been my bible for every job from competitive strategy to running large sales organizations.
What was your first job?
Strategy Consulting at Monitor Company.
What changes or trends do you foresee in the next year or so in our industry?
Advertisers will take advantage of the interactive power of video. Traditional TV has sight, sound and motion, but touch-pad screens and keyboards add the fourth dimension, which is, well, touch. When people reach out to touch a screen, they’re showing that they want to engage. And brands will hope it is their content that is grabbing people’s attention. Given this interactivity, digital video will become a laboratory for the creative in our industry. Brands and their agencies will create a couple different versions of a commercial for their digital ad buys and use technology to test which version is more popular. Then, with that intel, they’ll produce that version for the big TV buy. In this way, digital video and TV will increasingly complement each other. And brands will be able to take the mystery out of the creative process. They will know what works because they’ve tested it via the world’s largest focus group: the internet.
What career accomplishment are you most proud of in the past year?
My decision to join Tremor Video last fall. Advertiser Perceptions has us ranked first in advertiser satisfaction among digital ad networks. And quite frankly, digital video is an exciting space to work in. It’s incredibly rewarding to be a part of it.
What would people be surprised to know about you?
I love adventure travel. I’ve hiked Maccu Picchu in Peru, jungle trekked in the tropical rainforest of Borneo Indonesia, and spent the night watching volcanic eruptions at Arenal in Costa Rica.
What TV do you watch on a regular basis (guilty pleasure or otherwise)?
I am a huge fan of Downton Abbey. My kids and I like to watch Modern Family together.
What’s the one technology you couldn’t live without?
Gogo, which gives me access to the Internet, email, text messaging and my corporate VPN while flying.
Other Honorees:
Niko Chauls, Director of Original Programming, MSN
Dave Dickman, Global Head of Sales, iAd at Apple
Paul Kontonis, Native Digital Video Strategist, GM of Magnet Media Originals
Marissa Mayer, CEO, Yahoo
Danny Zappin, CEO & Co-Founder, Maker Studios.
Later – Sahil
Sahil Patel, Associate Editor for Cynopsis Digital
03.25.13
Roberta Caploe: Editorial Director
Denise O’Connor: Group Publisher, Cynopsis Media
Diane K Schwartz: Senior Vice President, Media Communications Group
Cynopsis Ad Sales: Mike Farina | VP Sales & Marketing | 203-218-6480
Classifieds Sales: Trish Pihonak | Director of Operations & Content | 888-702-3858
Copyright Cynopsis 2013
All outgoing e-mails are scanned and sent out virus free. Copyright Cynopsis 2013
