Monday, March 13, 2006
ARS Technica: NBC Universal Chief Calls for 'Net-savvy TV pitches
Posted by Jason Dunn in "NEWS" @ 05:00 PM
"Jeff Zucker wishes TV producers would catch up to the iPod craze. As the CEO of NBC Universal Television Group, Zucker wants to see executive producers come to NBC with ideas that will play well in what one might call TV 2.0. From cell phones to iPods to Origami devices, TV is quickly reaching beyond the boob tube to computers and mobile devices, and some of it is even legal. The coming paradigm shift in television has convenience and cash written all over it, as the big players slowly figure out that providing users with content on their schedules could turn out to be a lucrative idea. One instantly wonders how such a paradigm shift might actually affect the way in which new shows are born. For Jeff Zucker, the question isn't one of audience profiling or broadcast frequency. It's about planning from the earliest stages."
In some ways, this strikes me as idle hype, because the number of consumers who want to consume video regularly on a small screen are not yet large - eventually, it will become more "normal" but for now it's certainly a cutting-edge case. By the same token, however, it's refreshing to see a TV executive that seems to get the fact that in the Internet era, consumers are used to getting what they want, when they want, and how they want it. Any business that doesn't grasp that is going to lose out in a big way.
In some ways, this strikes me as idle hype, because the number of consumers who want to consume video regularly on a small screen are not yet large - eventually, it will become more "normal" but for now it's certainly a cutting-edge case. By the same token, however, it's refreshing to see a TV executive that seems to get the fact that in the Internet era, consumers are used to getting what they want, when they want, and how they want it. Any business that doesn't grasp that is going to lose out in a big way.
