It’s the Summer Content Season
Imagine if the summer of ’07’s biggest moneymaker is a thirteen minute video on itunes.com; or an on going 45 minute series with new episodes appearing weekly in theaters nationwide. Not likely, probably not this summer but far from mission impossible in the summers ahead.
The Internet is driving warp speed changes in movie distribution models. Deeper still is the Internet’s impact on content formats. Any story told on video or film of any length now has a place to reach an audience and thus ideally to make money. How much money is a function of the reach of the distribution – how many people are signed up for itunes.com, the audience for the content and how much they are willing to pay for it.
Today Hollywood may not care, last year box office receipts were up 5.5% over ‘05 and the ‘07 roster includes; Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Bourne 3 and Spiderman 3 all guaranteed blockbusters. It appears the studio moguls have the goods to pull people into theaters.
But sometime in the middle of 2006 we all went from talking about movies, television shows and video to talking about content. The industry leaders pragmatically grouped together all these entertainment formats because it facilitated discussions of new distribution models, technologies and rights management.
For the rest of us, this seemingly innocent semantic change highlights a shift in evaluating all entertainment media. Now all entertainment from the biggest blockbuster to a 2 minute video on youtube.com is CONTENT. Historically we have been told to put different values on content appearing in different places: TV, film, short film and lonelygirl15. What is art? What is worth leaving the house? What needs to be viewed on a big screen? What do you pay for and what is free?
Now it’s all content regardless of venue or length. The only real differences separating these types of content are their modes of distribution and the associated revenue models. Those don’t actually matter to the average 25 year old watching a video on myspace.com or downloading a short film from the Internet. For them its all about which content is entertaining.
Here is where the Hollywood moguls may want to step back from planning the next three hour CGI car chase extravaganza. Increasingly the preferred content is short content. The short format trend is most apparent in the demographic that feeds the Hollywood machine should; the under 30s; GenerationY.
Nor can this be blamed on youtube.com, iPods and the limits of the Internet. After all they have only made short content widely available. It is the fragmented, multi-tasking lives of GenY and frankly most of us, which makes it so appealing. The Oscar nominees for Best Short Film are leading downloads wherever available.
At this rate Hollywood studios are running the risk of being the source for long format content, leaving the increasingly attractive and thus lucrative short format content in the hands of amateurs and more flexible newcomers. That may not be bad for the audience, but it will negatively impact long format content ticket sales.
So what should Hollywood do? Return to its earliest roots and start making eight minute one-reelers. To do so they must throw aside their biases against short format content; that they are necessarily low quality, home movies that could never replace the appeal of a Spiderman 3. They may want to start thinking about serials and creating new in theater viewing experiences that don’t require commitments of three hours at a time.
They also should look at their considerable resources as an asset that can enable them to make the most, best short content in the world. Different types of writers, born in the short format, different Stars who can live on the Internet. This will determine if the wooly mammoth that that is Hollywood can adapt to the content preferences of today’s audience and create the summer blockbusters of the future.
