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Speaker 1: Welcome to Strictly Business, Variety's weekly podcast featuring conversations with

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Speaker 1: industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. I'm

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Speaker 1: Cynthia Lyttleton, co editor in chief of Variety. Today's episode

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Speaker 1: was recorded on the ground at the CES Conference in

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Speaker 1: Las Vegas. As always, going to CES is an eye

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Speaker 1: opening and even overwhelming experience. For the past decade, Variety

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Speaker 1: has partnered with the Consumer Technology Association to produce an

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Speaker 1: entertainment focused track of programming. Our day long Variety Entertainment

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Speaker 1: Summit on January tenth served up a powerhouse slate of executives, entrepreneurs,

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Speaker 1: movers and shakers, and even a bona fide TikTok star.

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Speaker 1: When we come to CEES, we are on a mission

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Speaker 1: to help the entertainment industry make sense of the whirlwind

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Speaker 1: of change that is all around us. This episode starts

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Speaker 1: with a group chat among myself, my Strictly Business co

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Speaker 1: host Andrew Wallenstein, Variety's Business editor Todd Spangler, and Audrey Schomer,

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Speaker 1: analyst and data editor for the Variety Intelligence platform that

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Speaker 1: Andy heads from There will segue into highlights from some

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Speaker 1: of our sessions at the summit. It was hard to

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Speaker 1: choose just a few, which is a good problem to have,

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Speaker 1: and for that we have to thank our longtime colleague, Susannahl,

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Speaker 1: Variety's VP of Event Programming, who works NonStop, year round

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Speaker 1: to make all of our events as strong as possible.

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Speaker 1: That's all coming up after the break, and we're back

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Speaker 1: with a special Cees edition of Strictly Business. Well here

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Speaker 1: we are in the bowels of Cees at the Aria Hotel,

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Speaker 1: where Team Variety has just wrapped a very successful Variety

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Speaker 1: Entertainment Summit, a day long affair of talking about streaming

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Speaker 1: and content monetization. We had everyone from top leaders of

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Speaker 1: the biggest entertainment companies on the planet to rising TikTok

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Speaker 1: sensation Linda Don who charmed the audience. I'm Cynthia Littlton,

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Speaker 1: co editor in chief. I'm here with my partner in

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Speaker 1: crime on Strictly Business, Andy Wallenstein, President of Variety Intelligence Platform.

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Speaker 1: We're also here with Variety's Business editor Todd Spangler and

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Speaker 1: Variety Intelligence Platform media analyst and research editor Audrey Schomer.

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Speaker 1: Although we're all tired, we are posted up in the

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Speaker 1: hallway here, so forgive a little overhead music and perhaps

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Speaker 1: some clean up activity. But we are going to chop

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Speaker 1: it up here for a little bit about what we

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Speaker 1: learned and what was interesting and exciting today. I found

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Speaker 1: this to be probably our best CEES conference yet and

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Speaker 1: we're about eight years into this, Andy, What did you think?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I've been to quite a few of these, and

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Speaker 2: I thought it was right up there. So many learnings

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Speaker 2: throughout the day.

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Speaker 3: For me what stood out.

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Speaker 2: Sorry to be a little self serving here, but I

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Speaker 2: got a chance to interview the CEO of Reddit, Steve Huffman, who,

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Speaker 2: to be honest, don't know didn't know going into it

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Speaker 2: that much about Reddit. It was a real learning experience

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Speaker 2: for me. But this is a company with a real

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Speaker 2: story to tell in more ways than one. I came

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Speaker 2: in a little skeptical about how a company like this

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Speaker 2: competes with much bigger companies like Meta and Alphabet for

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Speaker 2: digital advertising dollars, and also came in with some skepticism

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Speaker 2: about the only thing people really want to know, as

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Speaker 2: they've wanted to know for a long time now, is

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Speaker 2: when's the IPO going to happen? And of course I

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Speaker 2: asked that question didn't get anywhere, But where I did

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Speaker 2: get some somewhere was on the notion of how this

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Speaker 2: company plans to stand out, and I kind of understand

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Speaker 2: why they really are distinctive. What they're here at CEES

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Speaker 2: talking about is what they call contextual relevance, and what

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Speaker 2: it really boils down to is that what makes this

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Speaker 2: company stand out, that is sort of their differentiator that

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Speaker 2: all these other bigger companies don't do. Is what it

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Speaker 2: comes down to it they're not a social network. It's

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Speaker 2: a place where community offers recommendations about the products that

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Speaker 2: advertisers who of course that's how they make money. That's

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Speaker 2: what is not done by these other companies. And so,

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Speaker 2: you know, Ready To is filled with these communities where

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Speaker 2: people are endlessly debating, you know, going very deep into

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Speaker 2: the on all sorts of products, whether it's you know,

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Speaker 2: the entertainment stuff that people come to read about in

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Speaker 2: variety or really any sort of product in all sorts

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Speaker 2: of categories. And that is what they're sort of staking

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Speaker 2: their claim on. That's what they're hoping advertisers are going

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Speaker 2: to reward them for. And they've had some progress over

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Speaker 2: the years and they're hoping that's going to take them

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Speaker 2: to the next level. We'll see if that's what stands

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Speaker 2: out for them in twenty twenty four.

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Speaker 1: I think Reddit is an interesting example of you know,

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Speaker 1: their interface is basically low tech. Yeah, it looks like

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Speaker 1: it's you know, ten, twelve years old, but clearly their

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Speaker 1: audience loves it, and you know, I know, on the

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Speaker 1: news side, I mean, Reddit is a place to go

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Speaker 1: if there's something rumbling, if you're you know, everything from

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Speaker 1: a celebrity breakup to you know, more substantial things like

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Speaker 1: you know, some company is going to be sold, or

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Speaker 1: there's going to be some M and A activity. There's

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Speaker 1: a lot of people that feed Reddit anonymously, and it

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Speaker 1: is it is really a source of you can sort

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Speaker 1: of gauge trends, but that's also it also can be

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Speaker 1: a news source. Audrey, what stood out to you?

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Speaker 4: I moderated a couple of a couple of different panels,

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Speaker 4: and one focused on how brand marketers are reaching fans.

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Speaker 4: The other was focused on what content is breaking through

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Speaker 4: to modern audiences. And I was really struck by specifically

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Speaker 4: how across both panels people were referring to the popularity

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Speaker 4: of roadblocks and the importance of roadblocks among other platforms,

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Speaker 4: but in particular, numerous people referred to the sort of

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Speaker 4: breadth of breadth and depth of partnerships and and other

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Speaker 4: kinds of interactions on the platform for young people in particular.

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Speaker 4: The other interesting thing that came out from the content

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Speaker 4: panel was referring to the notion that we're facing a

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Speaker 4: more budget constrained development environment, and really the learnings that

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Speaker 4: I think came out from all of the panelists there

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Speaker 4: were that content development decision making going forward over the

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Speaker 4: next few months or throughout the year is going to

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Speaker 4: be driven by a deeper understanding of what has worked

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Speaker 4: in the past, whether that's IP that's already been proven

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Speaker 4: out through another format, or because it's a franchise that's

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Speaker 4: being extended through another medium, or simply paying attention to

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Speaker 4: data that they may have access to.

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Speaker 1: I was struck by on your panel. I believe it

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Speaker 1: was a Lionsgate exec who said, people, you should know

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Speaker 1: that your teenagers spend about two hours a day on roadblocks,

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Speaker 1: and he and she also made the point that it's

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Speaker 1: not just playing games or interacting, but just hanging out.

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Speaker 1: It's it's a it's basically a you know, right, sort

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Speaker 1: of a digital watering hole for the for those that

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Speaker 1: can't drink or shouldn't be drinking anyway that this is

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Speaker 1: what I love about this event is because you can't

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Speaker 1: like that in and of itself isn't a story, but

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Speaker 1: it's the kind of thing that sticks in your head

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Speaker 1: that you recognize it. And I think also on the

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Speaker 1: content side, you can you definitely got a sense of

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Speaker 1: the great retrenchment that people are talking about, that it's real,

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Speaker 1: but you definitely I definitely got the sense that, you know,

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Speaker 1: the turn of the page from twenty twenty three to

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, there's something of a reset. And yes

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Speaker 1: they may not go forward go forth in green Light,

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Speaker 1: a drama series that's going to cost twenty million dollars

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Speaker 1: an episode, but there's definitely there's definitely win behind the sales,

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Speaker 1: I think, and after all the doom and gloom of

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, that's kind of been heartening to hear.

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Speaker 3: It's interesting to me to hear how optimistic the people

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Speaker 3: in the room were, you know, after the strikes of

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Speaker 3: last year, and you know, macroeconomic headwinds across the board

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Speaker 3: affecting advertising and businesses in all sectors. Really, you know,

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Speaker 3: there's and maybe maybe it's just the new year turning over.

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Speaker 3: People are prone to be optimistic. But I did sense that,

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Speaker 3: you know, there was some feeling that you know, a

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Speaker 3: couple of people said like, hey, streaming isn't cannibalizing our

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Speaker 3: TV business. It's additive, you know. Twenty twenty four seems

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Speaker 3: to be people seem to think that the things will

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Speaker 3: be back on track. So that that was the one thing.

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Speaker 3: The other thing to your point about you know, Lionsgate

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Speaker 3: commenting pretty in pretty significant detail about a platform like roadblocks.

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Speaker 3: I heard this in a number of speakers. It's just

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Speaker 3: you know, this professionalization of you know, savviness about digital

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Speaker 3: platforms how to work with them. Because when I first

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Speaker 3: started had variety of twenty thirteen that it was almost

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Speaker 3: an afterthought studios networks, would you know, like sort of

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Speaker 3: have somebody halftime doing their social media or posting stuff

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Speaker 3: to YouTube, something like that. And today it's it's it's

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Speaker 3: very it's very much a discipline, and it's very much

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Speaker 3: a business. And and I heard that several times.

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Speaker 1: Today, utterly ingrained in everybody's everybody's plans, not just as oh,

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Speaker 1: here's the marketing adjunct, but this is part of it.

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Speaker 1: And I mean this is not just at this conference,

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Speaker 1: but you know, TikTok is such a paradigm shift where

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Speaker 1: it's where content companies, please please take my content and

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Speaker 1: change it up or put put something on it. You know,

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Speaker 1: don't pirate the whole thing, but please take take my show,

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Speaker 1: because that's that's become the gauge of is this thing,

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Speaker 1: is this show?

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Speaker 3: Is this title?

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Speaker 1: Is this star resonating? How many you know the metric

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Speaker 1: of TikTok videos?

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Speaker 3: And it's crazy what a contrast that is to when

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Speaker 3: Viacom filed a billion dollar lawsuit against YouTube. If you

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Speaker 3: remember that, they said, hey, you're stealing our our Comedy

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Speaker 3: Central content. You know, you're posting South Park clips without

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Speaker 3: our permission, and take them down like it's a It's

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Speaker 3: a big sea change from that from those days.

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Speaker 1: Well, clearly Viacom strategy of suing their way to success

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Speaker 1: that was that was a bang up job. We're actually

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Speaker 1: going to talk about that in a minute. But I

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Speaker 1: also just in general, of course, you can't walk around

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Speaker 1: here without hearing ai ai ai. That is Audrey's areas

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Speaker 1: of expertise as a as a virtual luddite. I will

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Speaker 1: say that this time around, I'm starting to I'm starting

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Speaker 1: to talk to people that are talking about a specific

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Speaker 1: thing that an AI tool can do, and I'm you know,

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Speaker 1: they're building this specific platform to create low cost television

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Speaker 1: advertisements or there's more specifics around it. So for my brain,

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Speaker 1: it's easier to get my head around.

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Speaker 3: Okay, that's that's what it could be used by.

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Speaker 1: It feels slightly less menacing, although that could change in

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Speaker 1: a minute.

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Speaker 4: Well, a lot of the panels today that at least

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Speaker 4: that I witnessed, you're hearing a lot well, some of

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Speaker 4: the experts. Anyway, we're speaking to machine learning applications. I know, Todd,

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Speaker 4: you spoke to someone who was talking about the applications

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Speaker 4: of machine learning that is years and years old for

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Speaker 4: content recommendations on platforms, and that's not necessarily new, but

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Speaker 4: it is it does matter essentially for the success of

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Speaker 4: any content business. But what's new, of course, is generative

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Speaker 4: AI and some of the applications there. My takeaway from that,

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Speaker 4: among other things, was just that some of these tools

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Speaker 4: where they're used for let's say like VFX Superstars VFX

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Speaker 4: or film production use cases in general. And then there

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Speaker 4: was another expert, I think the CEO from Entertainment Arts,

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Speaker 4: referring to just the the huge acceleration of using generative

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Speaker 4: AI in game development, and some of those processes really

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Speaker 4: just making things that much faster for game development, all

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Speaker 4: the way from ideation through production processes and testing and

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Speaker 4: some of those kinds of applications really starting to emerge.

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Speaker 4: Uh and the idea that some of those processes that

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Speaker 4: now take you know, something like six months in a

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Speaker 4: development phase now could take six weeks and and could

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Speaker 4: further accelerate to take only just a few days. So

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Speaker 4: there there were references to things like that, but on

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Speaker 4: the on the flip side, there were references to the

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Speaker 4: idea that this kind of ubiquitous access to some of

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Speaker 4: these generative AI tools will have repercussions broadly for humanity.

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Speaker 4: We're not talking just about like each other, you know,

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Speaker 4: film and TV production or business use cases. While those

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Speaker 4: will be actually a little bit more sanctioned or circumspect

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Speaker 4: people will be paying attention to how regulators are taking

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Speaker 4: charge of these things, and they won't necessarily want to

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Speaker 4: go out of certain bounds. But at the same time,

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Speaker 4: once everyone has access to these tools, there's a democratization

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Speaker 4: effect that some of the panelists were referring to, and

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Speaker 4: how potentially challenging that will be for everyone to deal

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Speaker 4: with them.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, there continues to be this real conspicuous dichotomy

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Speaker 3: about sentiment toward AI.

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Speaker 5: Right.

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Speaker 3: On the one hand, Wow, we can really make our

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Speaker 3: ad targeting better, it can make our content recommendations like

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Speaker 3: super precise ideally, or it could you know, to your

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Speaker 3: point about democratization, like it can let people who don't

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Speaker 3: have access to a two hundred person visual effects team

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Speaker 3: create something really amazing. But it's also you know, like

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Speaker 3: any technology, like the Internet, right, there's pros and there's

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Speaker 3: cons There's some bad stuff that has come with the Internet,

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Speaker 3: for sure, right, but it's also been extremely beneficial and

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Speaker 3: created brand new industries. Same with social media. Right, It's

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Speaker 3: been a great thing for a lot of people to

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Speaker 3: connect and a great thing for media companies to connect

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Speaker 3: with their audiences. But it also has a lot of

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Speaker 3: there's a lot of negative stuff there. So I think

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Speaker 3: AI is really and generatively, I you know, in particular,

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Speaker 3: is very much in that inflection point of like, boy,

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Speaker 3: we're scared to death of it, but we're really excited

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Speaker 3: about what it could do.

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Speaker 1: Well. While we were talking and waxing a little bit

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Speaker 1: about AI on the East Coast in Congress, there were

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Speaker 1: some people We're making a very strong case, the New

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Speaker 1: York Times and other media companies making a very strong

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Speaker 1: case that, hello, AI platforms, you can't just ingest every

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Speaker 1: article that we've ever produced that's not really cool. And

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Speaker 1: so the tension here is just this is definitely going

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Speaker 1: to be one of the stories of the year. So Audrey,

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Speaker 1: you will have no shortage of things to write about.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: By the way, Joe Biden. President Biden said that he

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Speaker 3: was inspired to issue the executive order, saying they were

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Speaker 3: going to create a framework for regulating AI after he

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Speaker 3: saw the latest Mission Impossible movie, where it's one of

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Speaker 3: the central plot points. Not to give anything away, but

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Speaker 3: it's this autonomous sentient AI thing that has the potential

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Speaker 3: to subvert all governments in the world, and of course

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Speaker 3: it's Tom Cruise flick, but it scared Biden enough that

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Speaker 3: he was moved to act.

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Speaker 1: On Tuesday of this week, at the AFLCO and SAG

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Speaker 1: after I have for years hosted a labor conference that

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Speaker 1: kind of piggybacks on CEES and the idea. Their Their

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Speaker 1: vision is let's put people and labor at the center

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Speaker 1: of technology and in that discussion. It was very it

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Speaker 1: was very removed from our discussion, and there is a

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Speaker 1: there's a focus on union and labor leaders, on putting

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Speaker 1: parameters and guard rails around AI. And I don't don't

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Speaker 1: in the slightest mean to be dismissive or diminishing what

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Speaker 1: many people see as the threat to jobs. But as

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Speaker 1: I as I sat and listened, I just it felt

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Speaker 1: to me like putting toothpaste back in a tube, like,

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Speaker 1: how do you really effectively do those guardrails? Well, Congress

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Speaker 1: and the federal courts and the best lawyers that everybody

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Speaker 1: can buy are going to start those out in the

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Speaker 1: next couple of years. Well, I know we all have

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Speaker 1: things we want to do. It's it's Las Vegas, and

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Speaker 1: we've all worked hard, so we're going to go have

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Speaker 1: a little fun. But the last thing I do want

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Speaker 1: to just riff on a bit. Is there there's also

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Speaker 1: you can't escape. There's a lot of m and a

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Speaker 1: chatter in the marketplace right now. People that were you know,

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Speaker 1: media folks that were at our panel. We're talking about

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Speaker 1: Paramount Global, NBC Universal, and Warner Brothers Discovery and the

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Speaker 1: fact that no the path for any of these companies

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Speaker 1: is not entirely clear, is makes it makes it a

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Speaker 1: very fraught time.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's all everyone is talking at about here.

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Speaker 2: But I'll tell you something though, to be a little

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Speaker 2: bit jaded, I can't remember a CEES when it's not

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Speaker 2: like this, and that I'm not chasing these rumors down.

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Speaker 2: And so I mean, of course I'm not going to

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Speaker 2: bet against especially given we're literally talking having this conversation

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Speaker 2: just hours after we're seeing news about sky Dance, you know,

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Speaker 2: literally going forward to make a move on paramount. Clearly

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Speaker 2: M and A is in the air in a big way,

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Speaker 2: but I cannot remember it CEES where I have not

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Speaker 2: been chasing down rumors about M and auh and that

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Speaker 2: taking place in previous years where the air was thick

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Speaker 2: with speculation, and yet nothing would happen in those years.

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Speaker 2: And so CES is always a time for me to

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Speaker 2: and I'm talking more broadly than just M and A

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Speaker 2: where I kind of have to put a check on

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Speaker 2: myself about hype about trends. I mean, I think last

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Speaker 2: year I was here and people were talking about the

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Speaker 2: metaverse and NFTs, and here we are a year later,

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Speaker 2: and it's like those things disappeared.

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Speaker 3: There are certainly arguments for and against industry consolidation. It

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Speaker 3: does seem like something is going to happen. What form

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Speaker 3: and shape that takes means to be seen. And you know,

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Speaker 3: there's a lot of debate over the strategic rationale for

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Speaker 3: any of these kinds of combinations. You know, for years,

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Speaker 3: Like to your point, Andy, like, when is a big

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Speaker 3: tech company going to buy a media company? We haven't

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Speaker 3: seen that, right, It's it's that's kind of been in

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Speaker 3: the wind for many years. Who knows, Right, does Apple

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Speaker 3: need to buy a big content library to bow up

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Speaker 3: Apple TV Plus? Yeah, that makes sense. Will it happen?

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Speaker 3: I don't know. They certainly have enough money to do it.

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Speaker 3: And that's the one thing that you know, industry analysts

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Speaker 3: are saying is, you know, would make that an attractive

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Speaker 3: potential deal is that they've got very clean balance sheets

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Speaker 3: for the most part, and a lot of cash. And

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Speaker 3: the media companies would be it would certainly be able

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Speaker 3: to pay down their own debt if they took some

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Speaker 3: of that cash.

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Speaker 1: It's been interesting to see the fortunes, the fortunes of

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Speaker 1: media and big tech kind of converge and change. And

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Speaker 1: all I know is as soon as we write definitively

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Speaker 1: that Apple will never buy a studio the next day,

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Speaker 1: that's when it's good. That's when it's going to happen.

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Speaker 1: I think one thing is interesting is that to your point,

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Speaker 1: they really is usually an M and A. You know, bankers,

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Speaker 1: everybody stands to make a little money. Everybody's cheerleading it. Yes,

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Speaker 1: you know, they really want to push it forward. This

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Speaker 1: time around. The response to the chatter about is Warner

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Speaker 1: Brothers Discovery looking at Paramount Global? Is Warner Brothers Discovery

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Speaker 1: looking at Paramount Global to get NBC Universal to the

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Speaker 1: dance all of that stuff, And the reaction has kind

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Speaker 1: of been to what end? I mean, people have thoughts that,

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Speaker 1: you know, this would be better with that, or that

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Speaker 1: that would be a better fit with that, But there

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Speaker 1: hasn't been like, oh, that's obvious. That makes sense now.

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Speaker 3: In the stock prices that both companies were down right

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Speaker 3: after the initial reports.

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Speaker 1: Once again, our crystal ball might just be a little hazy,

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Speaker 1: but we do our very best and work hard and

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Speaker 1: cover this business to the best of our abilities. Don't

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Speaker 1: go anywhere. You don't want to miss the highlights from

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Speaker 1: Varieties Entertainment Summit at cees'll be right back after this

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Speaker 1: pause for monetization, and we're back with highlights from Varieties

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Speaker 1: Entertainment Summit at CES twenty twenty four. First, we'll start

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Speaker 1: with a panel that got a lot of attention because

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Speaker 1: we brought together the advertising chiefs of Disney, Warner Brothers, Discovery, Netflix,

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Speaker 1: and NBC Universal for a candid discussion about media monetization,

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Speaker 1: something everyone in Hollywood should care about. We'll hear first

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Speaker 1: from Disney's Rita Ferro, followed by Warner Brothers Discoveries John Steinloff,

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Speaker 1: NBC Universal's Mark Marshall, and Netflix's Amy Reinhardt. Where is

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Speaker 1: the money? Where is the advertise?

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Speaker 5: Where are the sound like? My boss?

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Speaker 1: Well, there you go, I must be Then that's a

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Speaker 1: hitting on a good question. No, But in all seriousness,

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Speaker 1: obviously it's been. It's been just in terms of pure

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Speaker 1: We're going to talk about other forms of monetization, but

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Speaker 1: just in terms of pure where the rubber meets the

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Speaker 1: road on advertising sales. It's been a tough couple of quarters.

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Speaker 1: I think everybody everybody would agree that it's been a

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Speaker 1: tough couple of quarters. So what is your hunch? Are

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Speaker 1: there marketing dollars that are being expressed in other ways,

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Speaker 1: in other small slices rather than traditional, traditional, old fashioned

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Speaker 1: spot television. Is it being expressed in other experiences or

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Speaker 1: do you think that marketers are just holding their powder

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Speaker 1: for another time to you know, for a time later

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Speaker 1: when they feel like maybe consumers the recession clouds whether

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Speaker 1: there will be or won't be when those part a

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Speaker 1: little bit and consumers are ready to spend. Would really

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Speaker 1: love your thoughts on where you think the money is

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Speaker 1: that doesn't seem to be flowing through the ecosystem like

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Speaker 1: it has been.

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Speaker 5: I'm happy to start.

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Speaker 3: That's cool.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, great, So I think thank you, Mark. I think

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Speaker 6: what you have seen is there are pockets where the

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Speaker 6: money has flowed. Sports is a great example of that.

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Speaker 6: We saw growth in sports. I think every one of

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Speaker 6: us on the stage would agree to that. I think

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Speaker 6: the other area is you're seeing that this past year

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Speaker 6: you've had how many fast channels launch in the marketplace,

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Speaker 6: and so there's this bifurcation of all these new products

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Speaker 6: and services that are available for partners to come in

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Speaker 6: and spend money on. But we're seeing growth and streaming

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Speaker 6: advertising dollars as well. Where you are seeing absolutely a

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Speaker 6: compression of pricing as well as demand is in the

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Speaker 6: linear businesses. And when you have a portfolio like ours,

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Speaker 6: where it's at scale, branding and performance, we're able to

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Speaker 6: move those dollars to the platforms that matter. And I

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Speaker 6: do think, yes, the first three quarters of the year

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Speaker 6: were really tough, but I would also say probably you're

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Speaker 6: going to hear from this group that you saw a

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Speaker 6: slow comeback in Q four twenty three, and I think

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Speaker 6: we're starting to see some momentum in the areas that

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Speaker 6: really matter from a global perspective, around and sports continuing

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Speaker 6: to be strong this year.

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Speaker 7: The marketplace for US as three connected markets, Sports, streaming,

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Speaker 7: rest of linear, and in our case, rest of linear

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Speaker 7: at WBD means cable networks and sports is up and

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Speaker 7: it's a linear business and it's up, which is really

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Speaker 7: saying something. Streaming is way up and the rest of

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Speaker 7: linear is where we're challenged and we're working to try

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Speaker 7: to reverse that. But there's a lot of headwinds in

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Speaker 7: the rest of linear world. And to answer your question

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Speaker 7: about where is the money going, we're a big advertiser too,

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Speaker 7: and we're a top twenty Warner Brothers, Discovery is a

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Speaker 7: top twenty advertisers. So we look at this all the

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Speaker 7: time with our agencies, and you know, we think interest rates,

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Speaker 7: you know, being up as high as they've been, they

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Speaker 7: went up so quickly last year. I think a lot

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Speaker 7: of marketers CFOs are saying, maybe we're better off holding

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Speaker 7: our money for a while. Now we see them coming down,

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Speaker 7: so we're hoping for better. Twenty four.

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Speaker 5: The first time that the first Summer Games were Peacock

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Speaker 5: will have every event live and so that's about seven hours,

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Speaker 5: seven thousand hours of programming. So to put that in context,

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Speaker 5: you basically have about ten and a half months of

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Speaker 5: content that happens, you know, within seventeen days. So there

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Speaker 5: are obviously brand opportunities within that. But these games being

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Speaker 5: over in Paris, it's also interesting. As much as we

434
00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:35,800
Speaker 5: enjoyed South Korea, Tokyo and Beijing and the last two

435
00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:38,280
Speaker 5: with no fans in the audience, the fact that we're

436
00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:40,240
Speaker 5: gonna get to go to Paris and Paris will be

437
00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:44,120
Speaker 5: the backdrop. It will be part of the storytelling opening

438
00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:47,520
Speaker 5: ceremonies with the teams going down the Sene River into

439
00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:52,159
Speaker 5: the stadium, having beach volleyball next to the Eiffel Tower,

440
00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:56,240
Speaker 5: equestrian at vers I, You're gonna have surfing in Tahiti.

441
00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:00,360
Speaker 5: It's going to be a phenomenal backdrop to be able

442
00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:03,560
Speaker 5: to tell the story. And I think in our country

443
00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:06,480
Speaker 5: and probably the world, the Olympics is that one thing

444
00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:09,280
Speaker 5: that kind of brings us all together. So whether you're

445
00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:12,320
Speaker 5: a Detroit Lion or Bills fan doesn't matter. We're all

446
00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:15,240
Speaker 5: fans of the Olympics and the US team.

447
00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:19,280
Speaker 1: As we get to the Olympics, Amy, can you talk

448
00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:21,920
Speaker 1: about what I know Netflix has gone to market with

449
00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:25,120
Speaker 1: its kind of a different fashion and has different metrics.

450
00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:27,800
Speaker 1: Can you talk about what is important to Netflix and

451
00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:29,680
Speaker 1: how they've been received by Madison.

452
00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:35,879
Speaker 8: Yeah. Sure, Look, I think we're very fortunate to be

453
00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:38,480
Speaker 8: able to kind of take a long term perspective on this,

454
00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:42,359
Speaker 8: right so we've been very vocal that's sort of member

455
00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:45,320
Speaker 8: choice and member experience is very important to us. So

456
00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:49,119
Speaker 8: scaling our business is absolutely our biggest priority right now,

457
00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:50,600
Speaker 8: but we want to make sure that we're doing that

458
00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:54,160
Speaker 8: in a meaningful way for the member. So to your point, yes,

459
00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:56,600
Speaker 8: we have made the choice on sort of ad loads

460
00:27:56,600 --> 00:27:59,479
Speaker 8: that we will have a lighter ad load experience and

461
00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:01,960
Speaker 8: We're all about we know there's a lot of work

462
00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:04,360
Speaker 8: to do on our side, but we're all about learning

463
00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:07,480
Speaker 8: and iterating and working with our advertising partners to figure

464
00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:10,000
Speaker 8: out how do we grow this business in a meaningful way.

465
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:12,440
Speaker 8: How do we keep our members engage, How do we

466
00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:14,840
Speaker 8: keep the focus on the content because we think we

467
00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:18,959
Speaker 8: bring a lot of great content to the platform, and

468
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:21,560
Speaker 8: how can we just continue to uh to learn and

469
00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:23,960
Speaker 8: grow off of that experience.

470
00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:27,639
Speaker 1: Andy Wallenstein did a one on one with Reddit chief

471
00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:32,159
Speaker 1: Steve Huffman. Huffman outline growth plans for the brand that

472
00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:34,520
Speaker 1: is more than just a website but not quite a

473
00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:38,560
Speaker 1: social media network. Here, Huffman explains how Reddit is pursuing

474
00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:39,800
Speaker 1: growth through e commerce.

475
00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:45,920
Speaker 2: We're this recommendation centric, contextual, relevance centric strategy. How does

476
00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:49,479
Speaker 2: this play in this world that we're in now in

477
00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:53,680
Speaker 2: terms of this, uh the demise of the cookie era,

478
00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:55,920
Speaker 2: Does it have a special place there?

479
00:28:56,720 --> 00:28:57,360
Speaker 9: Absolutely.

480
00:28:57,920 --> 00:29:01,200
Speaker 10: The idea is if you're using con text to make

481
00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:04,680
Speaker 10: those connections to do the targeting, you don't need cookies

482
00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:08,120
Speaker 10: and so on Reddit, we target with first party data.

483
00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:10,600
Speaker 10: When you're on we see your behavior on Reddit, and

484
00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:12,840
Speaker 10: we use that so we don't have to cookie you

485
00:29:12,920 --> 00:29:15,600
Speaker 10: all over the internet and watch what you're browsing and

486
00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:18,360
Speaker 10: reading and searching for all of those things. It's your

487
00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:24,200
Speaker 10: explicitly expressed interests on Reddit and so I think you

488
00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:27,040
Speaker 10: know that the cookie transition that the industry is going

489
00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:30,280
Speaker 10: to go through, it's it's you know, it presents some challenges,

490
00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:33,080
Speaker 10: but I think the platforms that will do best through

491
00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:37,080
Speaker 10: that will be the ones that rely on on first

492
00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:38,600
Speaker 10: party data, and we're one of those.

493
00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:42,280
Speaker 1: Speaking of e commerce, one of the most interesting sessions

494
00:29:42,280 --> 00:29:45,560
Speaker 1: for me was Todd spangler sit down with talk Shop

495
00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:50,280
Speaker 1: Live founder and CEO Brian Moore more confidently declared that

496
00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:53,600
Speaker 1: the future of retail is media. I think he's right.

497
00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:57,360
Speaker 3: You told me that you created branded content unit last

498
00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:01,680
Speaker 3: year and you're working with companies like never Experimount to

499
00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:05,520
Speaker 3: do shoppable series, Yeah, as well as Walmart Connect. I

500
00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:08,400
Speaker 3: think is in your program? Yeah, what does that look like?

501
00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:10,480
Speaker 3: How is that different from the sort of talent led.

502
00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:14,160
Speaker 11: So the talent led, you know, our gateway categories were

503
00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:16,120
Speaker 11: books and music. People are coming on. They were selling

504
00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:19,239
Speaker 11: between three and nine times their online preorders right then.

505
00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:21,840
Speaker 11: When we started working with the retailers and really driving

506
00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:25,240
Speaker 11: products and really driving you know, you know, affinity for

507
00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:32,080
Speaker 11: brand connection, brand awareness, brand loyalty, and as as these

508
00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:35,880
Speaker 11: advertisers started, you know, driving into retail media and investing

509
00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:38,600
Speaker 11: in retail media, the next step was how are you

510
00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:44,280
Speaker 11: creating the actual experience behind that? And that's where what

511
00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:47,600
Speaker 11: we've done by you know, our branded content division has

512
00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:51,320
Speaker 11: been exploding over the past year, right, because we service

513
00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:54,680
Speaker 11: all of these retailers and these brands in a way

514
00:30:54,760 --> 00:30:58,360
Speaker 11: which is really making them content creators, you know, creating

515
00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:00,320
Speaker 11: content like I think I was reading some thing on

516
00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:03,440
Speaker 11: LinkedIn the other day from Todd Kaplan, CMO of Pepsi, right,

517
00:31:03,440 --> 00:31:06,120
Speaker 11: and he was talking about how it's so critical now

518
00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:09,400
Speaker 11: right to break through the noise with true content. And

519
00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:11,320
Speaker 11: I think as we look to the future, you know,

520
00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:14,320
Speaker 11: you as someone that covers digital but also works in media,

521
00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:17,440
Speaker 11: when you look at the future of retail as media

522
00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:20,120
Speaker 11: and you start to think of like, Okay, in a

523
00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:24,200
Speaker 11: few years, retailers will be having their own programming. You know,

524
00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:26,480
Speaker 11: people will be going there to watch a cooking show

525
00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:29,360
Speaker 11: and shop from the cooking show right there, but also

526
00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:31,400
Speaker 11: distributed everywhere.

527
00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:34,160
Speaker 3: So your model, I mean, it's not stovepiped where you

528
00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:38,280
Speaker 3: do fulfillment and order transaction processing. You can do that,

529
00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:39,120
Speaker 3: We can do that.

530
00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:41,760
Speaker 11: And well, the thing is with Talkshop Live, we're integrated

531
00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:44,920
Speaker 11: with our retail pinners, so every product available at those

532
00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:47,520
Speaker 11: retailers can be available within his talkshop.

533
00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:51,480
Speaker 1: Lib Todd also spoke with TikTok comedy star Linda Dong.

534
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:55,840
Speaker 1: Here she explains how her seventeen point seven million followers

535
00:31:56,040 --> 00:31:59,959
Speaker 1: and counting help her turn TikTok videos into cold heart,

536
00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:01,320
Speaker 1: hard cash.

537
00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:03,840
Speaker 3: So, so you tell me how do you approach brand deals?

538
00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:06,120
Speaker 3: And just to let the audience know, there's a link

539
00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:10,200
Speaker 3: in your TikTok Bioddominoes, which is which is a paid

540
00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:12,280
Speaker 3: sponsorship right? Yes, okay, yeah?

541
00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:16,200
Speaker 12: With brand deals, I am under a management click Now

542
00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:18,640
Speaker 12: we've been together for nine years and so with any

543
00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:21,800
Speaker 12: business or brands, they kind of come to them and

544
00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:24,480
Speaker 12: they facilitate the whole branding and whatnot.

545
00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:27,520
Speaker 3: And that's and that's where you generate your income, right

546
00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:30,880
Speaker 3: through those kinds of deals. What what kinds of deals

547
00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:34,720
Speaker 3: do you turn down? Or what are off brand? Have

548
00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:35,640
Speaker 3: you turned any down?

549
00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:35,960
Speaker 1: I have?

550
00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:40,360
Speaker 12: I'm trying to how do I like, what where do

551
00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:40,959
Speaker 12: I say it?

552
00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:43,880
Speaker 3: So it's like if it's if it's inauthentic.

553
00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:45,680
Speaker 12: Yeah, just anything risky.

554
00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:46,360
Speaker 3: Oh.

555
00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:48,080
Speaker 12: I'm like, no, I don't know if I could do

556
00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:50,080
Speaker 12: that for my audience because I have I have a

557
00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:53,320
Speaker 12: young audience as well. I don't want to like have

558
00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:58,080
Speaker 12: anything to I don't know, make them feel uncomfortable. Yeah,

559
00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:00,959
Speaker 12: and I'm being being very but I don't want to,

560
00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:02,240
Speaker 12: like to say too much.

561
00:33:02,640 --> 00:33:06,040
Speaker 1: Audrey steered a panel of marketing mavens, who also weighed

562
00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:08,520
Speaker 1: in on what it takes to build a brand from scratch.

563
00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:12,640
Speaker 1: These days, we'll hear from Mike Stein, executive VP and

564
00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:17,200
Speaker 1: head of Television and Audio for Kevin Hart's production company Heartbeat.

565
00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:21,240
Speaker 4: We're basically living in an era of unlimited content choice,

566
00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:24,440
Speaker 4: and so my question would be, is it possible anymore

567
00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:29,040
Speaker 4: for any content to be created that reaches a broad

568
00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:32,440
Speaker 4: audience or that you know, you know, automatically achieves that

569
00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:37,880
Speaker 4: when it's released, or alternatively, how could you see that

570
00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:42,840
Speaker 4: niche content becomes a bigger a bigger possibility in the future.

571
00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:45,400
Speaker 13: I mean, look, I think it's important to do both,

572
00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:49,000
Speaker 13: you know. With Heartbeat, you know, we obviously strive for

573
00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:51,440
Speaker 13: the broadest, you know, possible audience. In a lot of cases,

574
00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:53,600
Speaker 13: you know, we got Lift coming out on Netflix, you

575
00:33:53,600 --> 00:33:55,760
Speaker 13: know this week. That's you know, hopefully going to be

576
00:33:55,800 --> 00:33:58,160
Speaker 13: a very big global hit. Right at the same time,

577
00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:01,240
Speaker 13: we produce a show called Dave raph Facts, which you

578
00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:04,160
Speaker 13: know has been incredibly successful, a ton of critical acclaim,

579
00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:07,480
Speaker 13: does extremely well for Effects, extremely well for Hulu. You know,

580
00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:10,080
Speaker 13: that is a fairly niche show, but it hits that

581
00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:11,160
Speaker 13: audience in.

582
00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:12,520
Speaker 3: Such a way that it really resonates.

583
00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:15,000
Speaker 13: And so I think, you know, across the board, as

584
00:34:15,040 --> 00:34:18,160
Speaker 13: you know, the audience has become more disperse, you know,

585
00:34:18,200 --> 00:34:19,840
Speaker 13: I think it's important to kind of like play on

586
00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:21,319
Speaker 13: both sides of that spectrum.

587
00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:24,400
Speaker 1: Our keynote speaker this time around was someone I have

588
00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:28,280
Speaker 1: known for a long time, Roku Entertainment President, Charlie Collier.

589
00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:31,839
Speaker 1: I asked him to give the elevator pitch for why

590
00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:34,960
Speaker 1: Roku stands out in a sea of streaming options.

591
00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:38,080
Speaker 9: Here's the deal. If you turn on your television, here

592
00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:40,759
Speaker 9: go with me and say you believe television now is

593
00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:43,919
Speaker 9: an experience. It's not just you turn on your TV

594
00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:45,400
Speaker 9: and go to your show or go to that network.

595
00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:48,440
Speaker 9: Actually you mentioned Food network. In the world of cable,

596
00:34:48,840 --> 00:34:51,319
Speaker 9: there was only enough bandwidth for one food network. So

597
00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:53,799
Speaker 9: once you made basic cable, think about how easy it

598
00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:56,160
Speaker 9: was to market a brand. In the world of basic cable,

599
00:34:56,239 --> 00:34:59,759
Speaker 9: there was only one food network. So guess what food network? Well,

600
00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:03,719
Speaker 9: was the one or Home and Garden or ESPN. In

601
00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:07,200
Speaker 9: the world of the Internet, there's no bandwidth constraints. So

602
00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:09,520
Speaker 9: as I showed you, our job is to if you

603
00:35:09,560 --> 00:35:11,920
Speaker 9: want to watch Hot Ones, which I did, and somehow

604
00:35:11,960 --> 00:35:14,879
Speaker 9: it knew I got to go watch the Pete Pete

605
00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:17,840
Speaker 9: Davidson episode of Hot Hot Ones and it was sitting

606
00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:20,200
Speaker 9: next to I was watching Next Level Chef, which is

607
00:35:20,239 --> 00:35:22,320
Speaker 9: Gordon Ramsay, and it said do you want to continue

608
00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:24,560
Speaker 9: watching her do this? And so all of a sudden,

609
00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:27,319
Speaker 9: it's an event for me as the viewer to go

610
00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:30,279
Speaker 9: find the shows I want and it could sit next

611
00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:32,080
Speaker 9: to We have a show coming up. We announced it

612
00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:36,839
Speaker 9: today you all fast It's called what it's called Chain,

613
00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:41,000
Speaker 9: and it's it's really exciting production. Think about this in

614
00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:43,799
Speaker 9: the context of what we just showed. So Chain, which

615
00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:46,440
Speaker 9: is produced by a company. Guys sitting over there, Davis

616
00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:51,040
Speaker 9: and Kraft bj Novak from the office is behind Chain,

617
00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:52,919
Speaker 9: And think about this. We all have our favorite fast

618
00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:55,680
Speaker 9: food chains imagine if they took your favorite dish from

619
00:35:55,719 --> 00:35:58,000
Speaker 9: your favorite fast food chain and put it in the

620
00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:00,520
Speaker 9: hands of a world class chef, what would do with it?

621
00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:03,920
Speaker 9: And these guys, because pop culture is everything, it doesn't

622
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:07,040
Speaker 9: just happen on the show. Chain fest which you referred to,

623
00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:10,800
Speaker 9: became a who's who events. So there was John Legend

624
00:36:10,840 --> 00:36:13,680
Speaker 9: and Christy Tiegan, and there was you know, Chris Pratt,

625
00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:18,239
Speaker 9: and they were all sampling the dishes of Tim Hollingsworth

626
00:36:18,239 --> 00:36:21,800
Speaker 9: and who yeah, who used to work at French Laundry.

627
00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:24,280
Speaker 9: And he's putting you know, maple bacon on a donut.

628
00:36:24,440 --> 00:36:26,359
Speaker 9: It's really it's pretty great.

629
00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:35,600
Speaker 1: There you have it, listeners, I hope you enjoyed this

630
00:36:35,719 --> 00:36:39,239
Speaker 1: quick tour of Varieties CEES Entertainment Summit as much as

631
00:36:39,320 --> 00:36:42,200
Speaker 1: we loved hosting it. Our thanks to all of our

632
00:36:42,239 --> 00:36:45,719
Speaker 1: panel participants and the sponsors who made the day possible

633
00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:51,640
Speaker 1: the Trade Desk, Amazon Ads, Talk Shop Live, Deloitte, e Y,

634
00:36:52,120 --> 00:36:56,640
Speaker 1: Nagra and Samsung Ads. And thank you as ever for

635
00:36:56,800 --> 00:37:05,160
Speaker 1: tuning in to Variety's strictly business