We were proud to sponsor the ‘Monetising Digital Platforms’ workshop at this year’s Children’s Media Conference in Sheffield.

In a tropically hot room, the session – led by Peter Cowley and Justin Judd – focused on how TV and digital media indies can commercially exploit content across TV, digital media, interactive and 360 platforms.

Peter and Justin focused on revenue generation, offering case-studies of specific projects, and then examining how concepts can be developed with monetisation in mind.

Delegates were guided expertly through the monetisation maze, exploring current examples of what’s working and what’s making money; what rights they own and what they could exploit; what is selling the best on new platforms; what opportunities exist in Broadband, VOD, IPTV, Mobile, non-broadcast corporate and branded content; and how to capitalise on international opportunities.

Delegates included Aardman, Animated Yorkshire, Back2Front Animation, BBC, Bold Creative, Brown Bag Films, Complete Control, Conker Media, Disney, Icecandy Entertainment, Target Entertainment Group and other media producers and freelancers.

To see Peter and Justin’s predictions for the future, please check out the workshop summary by clicking here.

Peter Cowley is former MD of Digital Media at Endemol, where he successfully extended high-profile TV shows onto digital channels – including Big Brother and Deal or No Deal – and has pioneered some of the very first mainstream web series including Signs of Life (BBC), The Gap Year and Beat (Bebo), and Kirill (MSN).

Justin Judd founded i-Rights to focus on the management, distribution and exploitation of IPR and content on emerging digital platforms. i-Rights is now part of the Digital Rights Group, one of the world’s leading independent distributors of content. He was previously Controller of Interactive Media for Granada and has worked as a TV producer in the UK and US, winning an International Emmy in 1994.

Justin and Peter deliver regular workshops for ITF. They run the Multiplatform workshop: Making Money from Digital Platforms and Rights.

Justin Judd (left) and Peter Cowley (right) at CMC workshop, sponsored by ITF.

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Tags: app, Children's Media Conference, cmc, cross-platform, digital, digital platforms, i-rights, IPTV, justin judd, monetising, multiplatform, peter cowley, Pitching, sheffield, VOD, workshop
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Many thanks to Peter Cowley (Endemol) and Justin Judd (i-Rights) for leading another engaging multiplatform session on 23 March 2010.

Delegates can view passworded course content

Look out for further multi/cross-platform training in coming soon…

Cross-platform: Generating New Projects and Markets 08.07.10
A one-day workshop to encourage TV, digital media and interactive producers to originate, develop, plan and pitch multiplatform projects

Cross-platform Storytelling 15.07.10
A full-day workshop to develop the storytelling & writing skills of TV and digital media production teams over a range of platforms and genres and to review trends in cross-platform scripted content.

Multiplatform: Joined-up Production 17.06.10
A one-day workshop to help production companies and digital interactive agencies work
together to create cross platform content

Making Money from Digital Platforms and Rights 18.11.10
A half-day introductory workshop to help production companies and interactive agencies understand how to make money from digital platforms, and to exploit the content rights in both broadcast and corporate markets

Book more courses

June 2009 course – Previous delegates can still view the passworded June 09 presentation

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Tags: Add new tag, digital media, digital platforms, digital rights, i-rights, justin judd, multiplatform, peter cowley
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Can you now pitch successfully for a TV commission using just 140 characters on Twitter?
This was one of the questions raised in ITF’s provocative and topical Open Forum discussion “So what’s all this multiplatform business?” in a full house at London’s Framestore cinema on 18th March.

Jokingly suggested by Endemol’s Digital Media Director Peter Cowley, the idea was taken up with enthusiasm by Louise Brown, Channel 4’s new Head of Cross-Platform Commissioning, who encouraged the TV and digital media professionals in the audience to get on as many networks as possible. She also suggested that planning how to develop and manage communities of viewers/users was now becoming increasingly important, as well as deciding how and when to respond to them. Her own checklist for cross-platform commissions is “niche, open & interactive”.

In his opening remarks the chairman Andrew Chitty, MD of Illumina Digital, had set the scene by noting the challenge of the shift from broadcast platforms to participatory online media, and the resulting creative and commercial impetus to engage users across multiple platforms. Acknowledging the threats to local media producers and ad-funded broadcasters, and of Video on Demand to niche broadcast channels, he asked what the role of PSB would be in this new environment.

C4’s Louise Brown said she thinks the digital production explosion will be good news for small suppliers and the creators of electronic games. New content ideas can initially be tried out at lower cost on the web before TV transmission (like C4’s “Osama Loves” which was made in partnership with Mint Digital).

Peter Cowley explained how much more challenging than TV commissions it is to get digital and non-broadcast projects off the ground because, as well as the content, the producer now has to find the funding and the platform, and also identify and develop the target community. It is higher risk but there should be a higher potential reward.

Jonathan Jackson, COO of the Digital Rights Group , pointed out that digital rights currently make up only a small percentage of overall distribution and sales deals but that he expected them to grow rapidly.

Anthony Lukom, MD of MySpace UK, stated that providing the platform and acting as a broker between the content-provider and potential sponsors, as MySpace does, was the model for the future.
After Cowley showed a clip of Endemol’s short  viral HD mini-drama series “Kirill” for MSN, Lukom proposed that one way forward to avoid product placement issues is to do a cheaper branded version on the internet, and a full high-quality version for TV transmission without  the commercial content. Although product placement is commonplace in the USA and Holland for example, it still appears to be a dirty word for Ofcom and the government in Britain, so the more acceptable new term may be “product integration”…

Lukom  also said that social community networks can now complement and greatly reinforce TV broadcasting. “Skins” was successfully previewed on MySpace before its transmission on E4. Just as music fans have broken the industry’s commercial clout by expecting to download tracks for free, Lukom believes that the success of what has traditionally been TV content will now be decided by the user, and not the broadcaster.

The chairman Andrew Chitty concluded by asking what skills gaps there are if we want to succeed as Digital Britain in the future. (He is a member of Lord Carter’s committee who produced the recent interim report.)  Rather than digital technologists he thinks we need more effective service design producers to provide a better overall digital media experience.  Anthony Lukom is looking for people who can adapt longer-form media content structures to short-form interactive with strong social network appeal.

Both Lukom and Cowley ended by saying that if the government and Ofcom try to over-regulate the media industry, and especially the “unregulate-able” digital sector, they will hold back British creativity and future economic success in this area.

This Open Forum event was staged in association with Film London

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Tags: Add new tag, andrew chitty, anthony lukom, jonathan jackson, louise brown, multiplatform, open forum, peter cowley
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