Pravda on Media, Technology, and Rebel Filmmaking

- Erik Huggers was announced as the BBC new media Tsar. Which actually means that he is the most influential person in the UK new media industry, replacing Ashley Highfield.

- Facebook is designing a new profile page

- Apple just can’t get MobileMe to work properly

- Macromurs blogger is leaving his medical career for his blog.

- And if you are into Mac, and know some Hebrew, check out this video blog about Mac.

That’s it for this morning, have a great week!

The state of Silicon Valley:

- Web 2.0 as we know it is over - the first years we saw Flickr, where we learned how to use the web smarter and better. But our expectations changed, all good services should have the high level of product. There were a lot of startups, and suddenly you had too many services all around. web 2.0 is being used in non web2.0 companies. The concepts are now mainstream.

Now what?

- Get things done kind of applications (such as 37signals)

- There is an explosion of information, and content creation

- We need someone to clean the noise

- Summize for the web - is a killer concept

- Mobile application has an important role in this area as well

- Cloud computing reduces the need to pay a lot of money for infrastructure

Hey, I have a question for you. What are all these discussions about media revolution?

Let’s look on traditional media business models:

Film: production companies raise funds and make movies. They distribute them through distribution companies that has relation with cinema owners across the globe. Marketing companies promote the movies worldwide. Money made from selling tickets goes to the production companies, distributers and license owners. Popcorn profits are going to the venue owners.

Newspaper: reporters create content that is printed by publishers, next to ads. These ads finance the whole operation. Some newspapers also have subscription models.

TV: Production companies make TV shows, that are aired by a network. Networks and production companies sell ads or product placement and cover or profit beyond the production cost.

What is the basis of these industries?

1. Cost - it is expensive to own a film camera. It is expensive to hire a crew to make a film. Therefore, one should raise a considerable amount of money in order to make a film. It is expensive to print and distribute a newspaper, pay reporters and so on. It is expensive to create a season of a TV show. In some cases, more than 100 people are working on one drama show.

2. Ownership and scarcity of distribution channels — there is a limited amount of movie theaters in the world. If you have distribution agreements in place, you create scarcity in distribution of films. True, there are zillion TV channels, but if you are the 500th channel, no one will zap to your channel just like that. The same goes for news stands.

3. High marketing cost — how can you persuade viewers to go to your movie or watch your show? You need to do three things: advertise, advertise, and, well, advertise. Billboards, banners, and TV spots cost money. Loads of money.

Cut to the chase. I am paying you by the hour.

Three important developments changed these industries:

1. Stronger computers - I am writing this post on a Dual Core 2.4 GHz Mac, a machine that render, edit and present HD video. It costs around $2000. The fact that I have on my desktop the equivalent of a computer that used to cost tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars changes the market place fundamentally. Video is the most resource draining technology. When talking about text or audio media products, everybody could be a writer or a radio talent.

2. Cheaper cameras — with $6000 one can buy today high end HD camera, and become a movie maker. But, even with less, one can create content in fraction of past costs. Almost every cellphone has a video camera, every laptop has a webcam, and a cheap point-and-shot camera can shot HD today. Shooting video is no longer an economic barrier. It is all about talent.

3. Higher bandwidth - The increase of available bandwidth means that High Definition video can be distributed over the Internet directly to consumers. That, coupled with the proliferation of computers at homes, made the computer screen a viable source for media and information.

And yes — number 4 - almost everyone in the western hemisphere has Internet access today.

Cool. But how does it affect the media business, or my company?

These developments affected the whole value chain:

1. Strong computer and cheap cameras made content creation cheaper than before. Therefore, more content is created by amateurs, semi-professionals and professionals. Your mom can shot and edit a short movie.

I hope she won’t

Me too.

2. Higher bandwidth made video distribution available to the masses. Sites such as YouTube made video publishing as simple as sending an email. Other companies are focusing on HD and long format distribution. Now, everyone can distribute their videos, for free. So, more content is made, and it is freely distributed, directly to consumers. Slowly but surely, the computer screen is competing with TV sets and Movie theaters on viewers’ attention.

3. The Internet changed the promotion game. Though marketing is still a major expense in the media business, new ways of content promotion are created, through search engines such as Google, and social networks such as Myspace and Facebook. An effective social media campaign is much cheaper than a TV spot.

4. Everyone can publish everything on the Internet. It can be a rumor about your company, an expert opinion, a story, or breaking news.

This is a unique period in time, where the media business is being disrupted across the whole value chain — from content creation, through marketing, to distribution and consumption. This change affects not only media companies, but also corporate marketing, and consumers.

OH MY GOD! Now what?

Well, you’ll need to keep reading this blog for that…

Well, if you are reading this blog you know that I am usually writing at least once per week. However, lately I was a bit slow on my posts. 

Besides some great announcements coming soon, last week, on Thursday, May 8th, I married my long time girlfriend. As you can Imagine, it took some of my attention to say the least

Next week we will be back in business with regular updates. 

Kfir Pravda 

More information at this Silicon Wadi Report post.

Dear readers - I just bought my first Mac and wanted to share the love. So I’ve opened a blog for new Mac users, describing my adventures as a new Mac users, the hopefully will become a useful resources for new users. It can be found here.

 Several new posts are on the way for this blog as well - stay tuned…

These weeks are full with amazing events. On Thursday, October 25th,  there is a local wordcamp, where I am participating the business blog panel, talking about social networks and your business, and then I am flying across the Atlantic to Boston.

On Sunday, October 28th, 1000 at room 204a,  I am doing a brainstorming session discussing Internet TV and its false promise, as discussed in this post. It is a part of Podcamp Boston. After participating in Podcamp Europe, I can tell you that it is an amazing experience.

Here is the promo:

Last but not least, on Monday, the 29th of October, I am hosting IMTC Forum on content delivery and unified communications. In the event I am also moderating a content creators panel with great speakers such as Kathryn Jones from “35″, Grace Piper from Fearless Cooking, and Mark Pascarella from Gotuit Media.

Some Exciting days ahead - looking forward to see you. Feel free to email me at kpravda@gmail.com if you want to meet.