Hollywood's Pursuit of the Digital Dollar
For content creators in Hollywood, the rise of digital media is creating a dilemma, one that stretches far beyond piracy. As digital replaces physical and content is becomes available from many new sources, the studios worry that some of the audience for their big, expensive traditional projects may be drawn away by the new media productions, which themselves may not scale well or generate significant revenue. Second, the studios and other producers and distributors are uncertain--still--how to monetize the online audience. Netflix, despite its larger subscriber base, is far less profitable than HBO. Disney wrote a $500-million check to purchase YouTube-focused Maker Studios while at the same time joining Sony Pictures in re-evaluating its own interactive content and online marketing operations. This panel will examine where the opportunities are and where the digital profit model will lead.
