BEVERLY HILLS, California -- This year's Digital Hollywood convention was a study in contrasting worldviews between old media and new media.
NBC Internet president Marty Yudkovitz endured good-natured jibes from former broadcast executives David Neuman of Digital Entertainment Network and David Wertheimer of Wirebreak.com during one panel discussion. Whereas Yudkovitz trumpeted NBC's ability to reach the broadest possible audience, Neuman trumpeted DEN's ability to reach ever smaller demographics.
"How much would an advertiser pay for an audience of two, for one hour, if that two happened to be Bill Gates and Warren Buffett?" he said.
Yudkovitz insisted that big sponsors would be much more interested in reaching a certain demographic through one advertising buy that reached millions. Wertheimer pointed out that one of Wirebreak's biggest sponsors was Gillette. Neuman decried the absurdity of a studio system that forces one hit like Seinfeld to pay for dozens of losing shows.
Both sides agreed on one point: "Traditional television as we know it will disappear in coming years," said Yudkovitz. "All television will to some degree be interactive."
Among the other highlights from the conference, which wound up Thursday:
HDTVery Good Start: TV set manufacturers gathered for the Digital Television Summit that ran concurrently with the first day of Digital Hollywood, reported strong sales of digital TV sets in their first full year on the market. "There's been tremendous demand at retail," said Mitsubishi executive Bob Perry, speaking on a panel to discuss HDTV sales.
"We're substantially back-ordered. I seriously doubt that there's going to be any lack of demand for HD product this fall."
The comments, seconded by other panelists such as a Sony executive, are surprising given the general lack of product for HDTV sets. Most shows still aren't broadcast in high-definition, although a growing number of sports shows are. Sports enthusiasts and early adopters are driving early sales. None of the executives would give sales figures.
Popping Out: Taking its cue from companies like Seattle Filmworks that post photos for free on the Web, streaming media service provider Popcast unveiled a new service at the show that will put up to 20 megabytes of streaming video for free on the Web. Rather than sending lengthy email attachments that tie up a recipient's Net connection, the recipient simply logs onto a Web site. The company will make money from people purchasing more than 20 megabytes of space and by adding advertisements at the end of the videos.
Puny Campaign: Wirebreak.com, the new purveyor of "short digital entertainment" online wasn't above employing six midgets to walk the floors of Digital Hollywood with that motto emblazoned on their T-shirts. Politically incorrect, no?
"We feel we're an irreverent and provocative company," said Corey Weiss, marketing director for the newly formed company. The campaign was "on par with what we're about."
That may well be. One of Wirebreak's new features -- "Girls' Locker Talk" is aimed squarely at a certain segment of the 18-to-34 demographic.
Cyberpsychic Dept.: Ready to go postal after losing a bundle in bad day trades? Tired of logging in to find your favorite stock plunging? You may wish to download the "Stock Market Psychic" from North Pasadena-based Pixelwave. The soon-to-be-released free utility features a wise-cracking, animated swami who makes comments in a heavy Indian accent when you view tickers. To wit: "That's better than yesterday's curry." Pixelwave developed it to broadcast its Internet animation expertise to potential studio and corporate clients.
