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Thomas Gewecke (right)
and Levi Shapiro
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Ask Warner Bros. Digital Distribution
President Thomas Gewecke about the
forecast for Hollywood and he’ll likely tell
you, “Sunny, sunny, sunny” — at least on
the digital front.
With two years under his belt as chief of
WBDD, the studio’s content delivery arm,
Gewecke said he’s “incredibly impressed”
by the growth of digital delivery through
Warner’s entertainment channels, such as
downloads and video-on-demand (VOD) —
both in terms of total volume delivered and
the ever-increasing number of transactions.
Key to Gewecke’s sunny vision of the
future is his belief in the emergence of the
“digital living room,” a vision of digital
convergence in which computer-downloaded
entertainment counts for at least as much
volume as cable, satellite and telco VOD
combined with rentals such as Netflix and
Redbox. “It has the potential to completely
transform the entertainment experience,
both for consumers and for those of us who
create content,” he said.
Gewecke articulated his vision in a
Tuesday afternoon NAB Show session
moderated by Levi Shapiro, TMT Strategic
Advisors partner. A veteran of both music
and publishing industry positions, Gewecke
was quick to specify his goal for Warner’s
digital operations: to “expand digital
consumption.”
The biggest positive change to the
distribution landscape, according to
Gewecke, came with the shift to the practice
of releasing content to VOD outlets soon
after theatrical release concluded. “We need
to shape our business model to consumers’
expectations,” Gewecke said.
Asked about the role of “content
aggregators” in Warner’s universe, Gewecke
said, “It’s a very large marketplace, and
there’s room for many different models.”
Delivery through WBDD’s more than 200
worldwide partners is important, he said,
but at the same time, technologies are
changing so rapidly that with new avenues
such as mobile applications, “there certainly
are opportunities to look for content
programming options that make sense for us
to pursue directly.”
The long-term recipe for success is a
straightforward one, according to Gewecke.
“Consumers are more than happy to pay for
content that meets their expectations,” he
said. “It has to be available when they want
it, it has to be high quality ... and our job is
to make that experience great.”