Streaming Media West 2005 Wrap-Up Part 1

Last week in San Jose, Lionel Felix and Damien Stolarz posted blog entries that captured the substance and the flavor of some of Streaming Media West’s most notable conference sessions. In cased you missed the show or the blog, here are some (slightly edited) capsule summaries of what Felix and Stolarz had to say about sessions in the Monetizing Content and Enterprise tracks.

Advertising Evolution: Television Versus Streaming
Presenter: Todd Herman, Streaming Media Evangelist, MSN

Todd Herman is grabbing traditional media and giving it a sobering slap, essentially saying that regardless of how jealously content providers want to protect their content, the line between network broadcasts and Internet streaming is blurring. Advertisers are seeing the value in getting the eyeballs of the "fifth quintile," that segment of viewers that watches less than 5 hours of TV a week yet has the most disposable income.

From what I heard him say, the key to staying competitive is to embrace the change, see the advantage of breaking down the borders and walled media gardens, and focus on getting the content and advertising to as many platforms as possible. The upside is that most of these devices are resistant to ad-skipping, and so retain value for the advertisers.

It seems that the only barrier to seeing the immediate gains is the FUD factor. Giving in to the troika of Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt is a time-tested way to lose the competitive edge while technology leaves you behind. Old-school types in the media continue to maintain a death grip on content and advertising models that have lost their competitiveness and relevance. The question is, will the networks jump in or suffer the fate of the music industry and the myriad industries that raged against the Internet machine and lost?
—Lionel Felix