Festival Programme

The Midland Hotel

The Midland Hotel

8:15 - Registration

9:30 - Presentation Opening session with Phil Redmond

Phil Redmond , Founder of Mersey Television, Creative Director & Vice Chair - Liverpool Culture Company, Liverpool’s Capital of Culture Board

10:10 - Panel Music under the spotlight – feeling the digital pinch?

This session examines music industry business models and debates how they might evolve in the future.  It will evaluate the different ways that bands, labels, managers and distributors are approaching the different music platforms (live, online ad-supported, paid for download, packaged media) to monetise - and market - artists. What will be the roles of the different platforms and what will the evolved music business look like? Which types of companies are best organised to achieve success in future?

With music content at the sharp end of many of the challenges the wider media industry is facing, the music industry is pioneering business models that other media organisations will also adopt.

Some artists’ prioritisation of live music and merchandising revenues is a robust response to the many issues that face digitised music.  Is digital music going to be reduced to a marketing tool to support live music?  What are the download sites’ bottom lines looking like and how are they combating piracy?  What will radio’s role be and what does the evolved value chain look like?

Spencer Hyman, Chief Operating Officer, Last.fm

Eric Nicoli, Former Chairman & Chief Executive of EMI, now Chairman, R&R Music

Dave Raynard, Executive Producer of SingStar, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Gary McClarnan , Deputy Chair , Sparklestreet Creative Adventures

11:00 - Morning refreshments and networking

11:30 - Panel Content funding opportunities #1

Hear the commissioning heavyweights talk through their channels’ forthcoming programming strategies. Learn which genres and formats they are looking to commission now. Understand what doing business with them entails.

Chaired by Peter Bazalgette.

Peter Fincham, Head of TV, ITV

Julian Bellamy, Head of TV, Channel 4

Peter Bazalgette, Media Consultant

13:00 - Lunch and networking

14:15 - Panel Exploring content opportunities in the mobile space

Until recently, mobile has lagged behind online broadband entertainment because network providers have tried to run over-prescriptive walled gardens.  But with the advent of genuine internet-enabled phones, this is changing. And fast. Networks and handsets are improving their offering, contextual marketing and branded utility are increasing in importance and earlier technical and commercial issues are being resolved. 

So what is the future of mobile content - paid for and ad-supported - and who stands to gain? How do you adapt your business to make the most of the medium? And who’s getting it right – in terms of product and revenue – in the evolving mobile space?

Chaired by Peter Bazalgette.

Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman, Ogilvy UK

Mark Selby, Vice President - Multimedia, Nokia

Peter Cowley, Managing Director - Digital, Endemol UK

15:00 - Presentation Enhancing and encouraging creativity in large organisations

Jana Bennett shares her thoughts on the importance of creativity and those of her colleagues throughout the BBC in a revealing presentation and a series of interviews conducted throughout the organisation. In this unique session, discover the importance of depth and diversity in content, building audience loyalty and establishing a reputation that allows and encourages creative risk.

Jana Bennett, Director, BBC Vision

15:30 - Afternoon refreshments and networking

16:00 - Presentation The Long Tail – Place your bets!

In an era of disruptive technologies, should creators, aggregators and distributors should bet ‘large’ on achieving one ‘block buster’ hit, or spread their bets across many niche products?

This may sound like a lot of economic theory but this session contains practical information in it for every producer and seller of digital content.

The theory of the Long Tail has come along way. The blog-on-its-way-to-a-book allowed the debate to be aired in public, then two and half years later, the book was published and the debate raged even further.  More recently, Professor Anita Elberse, of Harvard Business School, published a HBR article titled ‘Should You Invest in the Long Tail’ - and challenged much of what Chris Anderson has been arguing since the original Wired article came out. The next instalment in this tale of the long tail comes from a collaborative piece of work from Professor Elberse and Will Page, Chief Economist at the MCPS-PRS Alliance, where they present to The Media Festival new research on the profile (shape), tension (cross subsidisation) and profitability (investment strategies) for those working in markets affected by the Long Tail. The purpose is to consider, in an era of disruptive technologies, whether creators, aggregators and distributors should either bet ‘large’ on achieving one ‘block buster’ hit, or spread their bets across many niches products?

Chaired by Rory Sutherland. 

Anita Elberse, Associate Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

Will Page, Chief Economist, MCPS PRS

16:45 - HEAD TO HEAD Gambling: joining the entertainment mainstream

There’s never been such a good time for entertainment brands to engage with gaming and gambling companies.  Media can engage with gambling on different levels, from straight brand licensing through to true collaboration.  As gambling companies come closer to being entertainment brands in their own right, and look to entertainment for creative ideas, isn’t it time you considered what gaming and gambling can do for your IP..and your bottom line?

This session takes two different perspectives: Brian MacSweeney, whose company Boolabus creates and develops content for a range of entertainment genres, and David Kicks, who works for St Minver, a leading gaming network operator offering white label gaming resources to leading entertainment brands.

Product development strategy – what works, what doesn’t, how consumers interact with games – and the commercial perspective – how gaming companies work, how they fare commercially and how they are regulated – and demystifies the sector through a head to head discussion and Q&A.  The session will uncover opportunity and explain the processes and peculiarities of this potentially lucrative industry.

Chaired by Peter Cowley.

David Kicks, Business Development Director, St Minver ltd

Brian MacSweeney, Managing Director, Boolabus

Peter Cowley, Managing Director - Digital, Endemol UK

17:15 - Day 2 close

The Midland Hotel

8:15 - Registration

9:30 - Panel Content funding #2 - It’s not just TV

Content is being commissioned from a variety of different sources, for a range of different purposes and platforms.  Meet the new commissioners and understand what they’re looking for and why.

Chaired by Conor Dignam.

Jon Gisby, Director of New Media & Technology , Channel 4

Simon Nelson, Controller - Multiplatform & Portfolio, BBC Vision

Steve Read, Managing Director, Brandirector.com

Stefan Bardeg, Director Of Digital Strategy, MediaCom

11:00 - Morning refreshments and networking

11:30 - Panel Examining arts organisations’ roles as funders and producers of PSB content

With a new deal for funding public service television/content now inevitable, John Woodward, the Chief Executive of the UK Film Council, sets out a radical vision for connecting film and the moving image with audiences in the UK.  This is followed by a panel exploring PSB content funding beyond the traditional sources.

John Woodward, Chief Executive Officer, UK Film Council

Will Gompertz, Director, Tate Media

Rachael Castell, Interactive Producer, English National Opera

Andrew Whyte, Executive Director of Advocacy & Communications, Arts Council

12:20 - Case study Building a multiplatform organisation with user-generated content and new talent

This is the story of how Lego transformed itself from a company making toys to into a multi-platform brand incorporating successful web, gaming and TV and film.  In doing so they converted sharp losses into healthy profits. Here Peter Hobolt Jensen unveils plans for further expansion into the digital world and the necessity of providing a full multi-platform experience for today’s kids.

Peter Hobolt Jensen, Head of Online Communications, Lego

13:00 - Lunch and networking

14:15 - Panel Innovations In Online Drama

Kate Modern and Sophia’s Diaries are among the most familiar examples of web drama. But is it an innovative form of creative media or a return to tine-honoured traditions, where only the distribution platform is really new? Channel 4’s Stuart Cosgrove, who helped establish C4’s 4iP Fund, and who has a Doctorate in Drama, will open the session with a hectic 5 minute journey through theatre history, from Greek Tragedy to the Web. He will be joined by a generation of interactive UK creatives, who are all working on projects that take web drama into new territories. The session will debate marketing, the role of the social networks, interactive gaming and contemporary creativity.

Chaired by Stuart Cosgrove.

James Kirkham, Managing Partner, Holler

Dan Hon, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, Six to Start

Damien Smith, Partner, ISO

David Jacklin, Chief Producer, Littleloud

15:00 - Hollywood Hit Factory

How Studios are using neural networks and algorithms to predict Box Office success and reduce financial risk.

Chaired by Alex Graham. 

Nick Meaney, Managing Director, Epagogix

David Graham, Chief Executive Officer, Attentional

Alex Graham, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Wall to Wall Television

15:30 - Afternoon refreshments and networking

16:00 - Presentation Pitch your business in front of a panel of VCs

The Media Festival is giving delegates a chance to put their businesses before an expert panel of Venture Capitalists.  This is a unique opportunity to meet and learn from the people who could decide your future!  We’ll dissect and anatomize the pitch, including the panel’s response, to give you an granular understanding of how VCs’ minds work, what they look for when investing, and which types of businesses they think have the brightest commercial future!

Mike Chalfen, General Partner, Advent Venture Partners

Peter Bazalgette, Media Consultant

Julie Meyer, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Ariadne Capital

Jonathan Diggines, Chief Executive

17:00 - Close of festival