November 11, 2009
FNB Innovators: Jeff Pulver
FilmNewsBriefs had the great privilege of sitting down with Jeff Pulver. Jeff redefined voice on the net with companies like Vonage and is at the forefront of online video innovation. We talk about the boom in online videos, studio vs. independent content, new revenue streams, Hollywood and Twitter and the 140 Conference.
FilmNewsBriefs: It seems you’ve made a shift from voice to video, why is that?
Jeff Pulver: I never decided not to be in video. In 1995, when I coined the term VON, it stood for voice and video on the net, but from a business perspective in 1996, when I did my first conference in NYC, it was called the talking net. Back in the day of dial-up, online video sucked. And it really took until broadband internet happened pervasively for the quality of the user experience and a lot of the technologies were not practical for processing speeds of the computers, bandwidth availability and licensing issues.
FNB: When did video first pique your interest?
JP: From a business perspective, I looked at video on the net back in 1996. I did my first video on the next conference in Hollywood, actually Long Beach, California, ’cause that’s the closest I got to Hollywood in February, 1998, and I tried it once and it didn’t really take. I looked at video as an application, not as a service, early on. What that meant was that I truly believe that there is technology out there that allows individuals, independent of gatekeepers, to run their own video. If they want to be an independent TV network they can, or be independent creators of content they can be, but back then the idea of a gatekeeper, top-down model was so pervasive that thought of an independent person coming into disrupt the model wasn’t so easily understood or seen.
FNB: Have you created any independent content?
JP: Over the years I built my own internet radio stations and for about three years I had my own internet TV studio. I even gave myself my own Jeff Pulver show. Good for the ego, but it actually felt good, too, and I felt like I could connect to people. On the internet it was much different because I could say something wide for people to react and I’d react to what they are reacting to. So it gave me a really true interactive experience. So many companies have come and gone since, and certainly Ustream has become very popular for events, but I think at the end of the day the studios win. Because like it or not, they are the ones that have the content, they are the ones that have the creative process, they understand the consumers, it’s just their model changes a little bit. There’s part of me that believes 10 years from now, 20 years from now, cable companies that only provide connectivity and not content will change because they become dis-intermediated. Any of the guys like Comcast or Time Warner or other places that have billions of dollars in the studio and understand the creative process, they’ll be around for a long time.
FNB: What’s your perspective on the different revenue models?
JP: The way that brands connect to consumers changes. There was a reason that HBO used to pay a lot of money to be channel 6, because it wanted to be there right when you switch the channels. But the advent of the internet has changed all of that. Every TV show on the internet could be a brand if they wanted to and they can go directly to consumers and if it wasn’t owned by the networks, and it was independent content, they can bypass all of that. One day it will happen when American Idol will no longer broadcast on Fox, it will be only on the internet. It’s just as big as Howard Stern moving to Satellite. That day will happen when it goes direct to consumer and the model will be either a paid subscription basis or advertising.
FNB: How does that change ad models?
JP: If you’re forced to consume ads, wouldn’t you like it if you could set preferences? For me, I want to know about upcoming movie premieres. I’d want to know about cars. Or perhaps I’m thinking about going on vacation so I want to see vacation related ads. But what I don’t want to see is feminine hygiene products as advertisements I’m watching. But if I have a direct pipeline to watch content and if I happen to see advertising, I want it to be based on my own preferences.
FNB: Is there anything else happening for new revenue streams with video online?
JP: When I look to the technology as a whole, there are some amazing things happening on internet TV. What I find very fascinating is some of my friends, particularly in Tel Aviv, have built technology like in video product placements so that you can take post production stuff and put an object into the film that will look natural to the viewer at [different] camera angles. This changes the whole idea of product placement so that you can have product placements in a TV series when its on broadcast and product placement on the DVD. What some of my friends are doing is interactive so that if you’re streaming online, imagine that you are a woman in NYC watching “Friends.” Based on your location and demographic the products placed on your interactive version of “Friends” will be different then a guy in Tokyo or a person in London. And you have a the flexibility to have seamless integration of product placement.
There are also people that are doing amazing things with video search. Friends of mine have a company which takes the soundtracks of episodes and will automatically translate it into 28 different languages and understand the context as to where it is, and they offer the ability to buy ad words and key words against words in the dialogue. If you’re buying a product placement for tea or coffee and you know that movie has those words in it you can tag exactly where it is and show it, and it happens in 28 languages. It can be language independent and drive key words to movies and things not in the natural language. There’s a lot happening in terms of key words and content, and I strongly believe in the three C’s, Context and Content to enable Commerce.
FNB: Are people just tagging the audio?
JP: One of my fiends had an idea to tag content. If you’re a movie or a TV show, they’ll look at the props database, what all the actors and actresses are wearing, they’ll tag clothes, they’ll tag location, tag the soundtrack so that when you consume it in a way that doesn’t take away from the viewing experience, if you like that person’s wedding dress or like music you can buy it on the spot instantaneously based on your own consumer skills. It caters to needs. If you actually have content, you can modify this so many ways, and if you can figure out how to drive the user experience to watch content and watch it through your portal, there are billions, if not trillions, of dollars worth of opportunity and there’s never been a better time to be innovative then now. Every time the technology improves, it’s usually a mistake that becomes the next big thing.
FNB: Did you see the great article on Alley Insider that lists 10 companies, what they originally were doing and what they are doing now? [Ed. note: The article can be found HERE.]
JP: Yeah, it’s a surprise. When you discover the technology or the technology discovers you. It defines who you are. Its like Twitter. The worldwide adoption of Twitter has implemented systemic change in the word. The world is different now.
FNB: How did you discover Twitter?
JP: I cheated a little bit. A friend was using twitter, at CES [Consumer Electronic Show] 2007.
FNB: So the service was still relatively new?
JP: I think it came out in June ’06. I was with my friend Chris, and we were in CES and at the same time Mac world was going on. And I couldn’t figure out how he knew where all his friends were and what was going on at Mac World. We were considering flying to San Francisco for it and ultimately didn’t. When I got back I got my account going and started to connect to people. I realized that this was slowly becoming a new way to communicate with folks. It’s different than what I had thought.
FNB: Really, How so?
JP: I spent thirty some-odd years as a Ham radio operator and I’m someone when I was nine years old went into my uncle’s office and I noticed that he talked to a radio and all of a sudden people started talking to him. I was so obsessed with that it took me till I was twelve and a half to get my ham radio license and I used that as my social media. Where I was social, where I grew up, where I connected to people where I discovered humanity for the first time. It was pretty amazing and my foundation of voice which is really just an extension of communication. Twitter is really an extension of that. Anyone that used instant messaging is used to sharing ideas, and Twitter isn’t new, but it was so simply modified and adopted and the creators of Twitter changed the platform as the consumers used it so @ replies didn’t originally exist. There were many things in the language that didn’t exist when it was first introduced.
FNB: How do you feel Twitter has changed community?
JP: Right now the thing that has happened with Twitter — believe me, no one from San Francisco went to Iran and recommended this to the dissidents and suggested using Twitter to tweet the Iranian election. No one went to Hollywood and said if you’re a celebrity, use twitter to delineate the studios cause we can give you direct branding. But it’s happening. The governments of the US, Israel and the UK use Twitter for public diplomacy. In the United States, there are over 260 police municipalities that tweet for public safety. People in public health use it. I’ve found educators using it. Rather than blocking it, they are using it to teach. It’s a global phenomenon that represents the beginning of the real time internet. For the first time in a very long time, people have a voice and it can matter.
FNB: How is Twitter affecting Hollywood?
JP: It scares the crap out of the Hollywood guys. You should see what they are trying to do to upcoming actors and actresses. They are putting in no tweet clauses.
FNB: Even for big stars, we heard they put a no-tweet clause for Mike Myers and Cameron Diaz for an upcoming movie.
JP: Really? What this represents is a classic form of disruption. Disruption is one of my favorite words. I used it to help redefine the telecommunication industry and its redefining Hollywood. I’m not saying to use twitter to break NDA’s and there are certain shows that you don’t want to reveal the plot but you can tease a little bit. To officially say thou shall not tweet is ridiculous.
FNB: In Hollywood, they are saying no tweeting, but if you’re talking to independents, they are encouraging emerging filmmakers to build their audience, connecting financing to a built in fan base.
JP: The thing is, they are discovering that Twitter, Facebook and Myspace is allowing actors, producers, writers, directors to build their own fan bases and all of a sudden, some of the power wielded to certain people is being shifted to the net itself and that’s the scary part. The power of the individual is being shared by the many. It’s not just Hollywood, its also ESPN, they have a policy that if you work for ESPN you can’t say certain things. If you’re an athlete in the NFL, you cannot tweet. Same for the Marines, it’s getting very extreme. We live in a country where we have free speech but I can’t have free tweet. The shift that you’re getting to in Hollywood is the ability for individual brands to grow up and for many more to become brands. John Mayer right now has over 2.5 Million followers on twitter.
FNB: Why do you think he’s so successful on this platform?
JP: He has a true sincerity. As a kid, I connected to musicians through Rolling Stone magazine. I didn’t write messages to the record label. And now my kids are 15, I have twin sons and they are fans of certain artists and they tweet with them. It’s the line from “Almost Famous,” “When you miss some of your friends you go to the record store.” And now for me I just go on Twitter. And there’s a realness there. Everyday they are no longer just icons, they are people and they have feelings. They do react to things. Anyone that’s willing to admit themselves to a platform deserves to get the benefits.
FNB: Let’s discuss the 140 conference. What’s the goal?
JP: When I hear about Twitter conference, I expect to see tips and techniques about Twitter. For me, what I discovered is humanity and serendipity in a very big way and that I had the Kodak Theater, we took it over for two days and had over 140 performers, 64 acts on one stage in two days. What we shared were experiences, laughed, cried, some people really connected at different levels. We discovered people, personalities, we hear their voices and we learn that we are all in this together.
Learn more about Jeff Pulver at Jeffpulver.com
The next 140 Character Conference (#140Conf) is in London on November 17th, More info is HERE
The NYC #140Conf tech Meet-up is on December 1st, RSVP HERE
Below is a video from the Los Angeles #140Conf:
Posted in: 140 Conference, advertising models, Almost Famous, Cameron Diaz, CES, Comcast, consumer electronic show, ESPN, Facebook, Friends, hollywood, howard stern, Jeff Pulver, john mayer, Kodak Theater, Marines, mike myers, Myspace, NFL, Rolling Stone Magazine, sattelie, Time Warner, Twitter, United State Marine Corps., VON