We will introducing David along with the other panelists over the next few days here at SobelMedia.com. In the meantime, here is a some info about the issue along with great video that David Granger recorded to talk about the AR issue I thought you might find of interest.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK

Congratulations to our buddy, George Kliavkoff, a past (and future) SobelMedia/NY:MIEG  event speaker on the launch of an exciting new product from Hearst LMK.com

“LMK.com’s goal is to curate for customers the most authoritative content on any topic for which they have an affinity and deliver that dynamically-updated information in a beautiful, user-friendly, intuitive layout,” said George Kliavkoff, EVP and deputy group head, Hearst Entertainment. “To launch LMK.com, we built a next-generation platform for the aggregation, presentation and syndication of authoritative content that will be used to power other pages, sites and services.”

LMK.com, a digital company incubated by Hearst Corporation, is headed by Michael Gutkowski, a media veteran with nearly 20 years experience in multi-channel advertising, marketing, finance, strategy and business development, including 12 years experience in interactive business management and e-commerce. Gutkowski was most recently the COO of iVillage Properties. Prior to iVillage, Gutkowski was a founding member of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia’s launch team and also served as SVP of Digital for Time Inc.

ABOUT LMK.COM

LMK.com is a new digital service that curates, designs and delivers the most authoritative content on any important person, place or thing. At launch, the service has topic-specific pages for more than 2.3 million entities, aggregating and presenting the most current and relevant facts, stories, photos, connections charts, and tweets related to each topic. LMK.com offers a customized e-mail service allowing consumers to receive the most relevant and timely content, from only authoritative sources, delivered how and when they want it.

CLICK HERE FOR A LINK TO THE NEW LMK.COM

The Hearst Corporate Headquarters in New York

For those of you who have been asking, I (and a number of others) received the following email from Geroge Kliavkoff.

I asked George if it was ok to share it with you and he said it was fine.

-Bill

Friends:

After enjoying a few months off with the family, I started a new job yesterday at Hearst Corporation.  Here is a quick article explaining my new role.

Best wishes,

George K

Brain behind Hulu lands at Hearst

from CNET

by Greg Sandoval

George Kliavkoff, the former NBC Universal exec who helped conceive of Hulu, is joining the Hearst Corporation, the century-old company known more for newspapers than digital media.

Kliavkoff, who has one of the best track records for building digital media services from the ground up, will become the executive vice president and deputy group head of Hearst Entertainment & Syndication. He will report to the unit’s president, Scott Sassa, the former CEO of Friendster and Uber.com.

The news was first reported by Peter Kafka at All Things Digital.

The unit Kliavkoff joins is responsible for managing the company’s ownership stakes in cable companies, such as A&E Television Networks, the History Channel, and ESPN. The division also operates a television product unit, a newspaper syndication business, and a merchandise licensing unit. In addition to helping Sassa run those businesses, Kliavkoff told CNET News that that he will also oversee Hearst’s “building, buying, and operating of new digital businesses.”

Kliavkoff says Hearst wants to invest in both start-ups and also create companies on its own, which is what he did with Hulu, the popular video site.

Kliavkoff said in November, when he announced his departure from NBC, that he was ready for a new challenge. He certainly found one in Hearst.

FOR THE COMPLETE STORY CLICK HERE

According to Wendy Marx, it’s yours truly…and I’m darn proud of it…especially coming from her! Wendy Marx, if you don’t already know,  is an award-winning public relations and marketing communications executive who helps B2B companies and executives become well-known brands. But what she has done for me involves is the blog she writes on personal branding for FastCompany.com entitled “Brand U By Wendy Marx”

You might remember an article she wrote over a year ago about me called “The Master Connector.” Not only do I still receive emails about but I use it as part of my portfolio.

Believe it or not, Wendy and I just met for the first time this past week at the George Kliavkoff breakfast and it was so nice to finally meet her. She also did a great story about the breakfast which I wanted to share.

Careers: Branding and the Future of Media from NBC’s Top Digital Gun

I had the privilege this week to enter the media future – or at least a very smart person’s view of it – and learn that the future is all about personalization.

“The future of local TV (and seemingly everything else digital) is personal,” was the rousing cry of NBC Universal Chief Digital Officer George Kliavkoff who spoke this week at NY:MIEG‘s holiday breakfast as part of a Q&A session with Limor Schafman, president of The KeystoneTech Group. “Think about all your favorite news and information websites. With any of them 90 to 96% of the pixels are wasted on you,” said Kliavkoff. Instead, using the smarts of technology, you will be able to get served content and advertising that you want. Kliavkoff’s takeaway: The online future includes a lot more personalized products and services.

The prognostication was made at the ultra slick, electronic showcase of The Samsung Experience at the TimeWarner Center, which gleamed with electronic high tech before a sold-out crowd of the media upper crust, along with a few wannabes.

Overseeing this media blitz was Bill Sobel, a middle-aged, rumpled, down-to earth guy who is anything but high-tech in style. However, don’t let his appearance fool you. Sobel, who conceived and runs NY:MIEG, is Mr. Media, a master connector and media impresario, who could be an electronic gizmo himself since he radiates enough energy and enthusiasm to light up the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center.

FOR THE COMPLETE STORY CLICK HERE

Two for the price of one!

The story on “AdAge 3-Minute Video” yesterday was so great BNET (CBS/CNET) picked it up and went with it as well.

Special thanks to Steve Raddock at AdAge for the great footage.
NBC’s Kliavkoff: Digital Drives TV Viewership

By Catharine P. Taylor | December 18th, 2008

As media continues to fragment into millions of finely-targeted shards, much is being made about how increased usage of digital media affects usage of existing media. As one example, NBC Universal’s outgoing chief digital officer, George Kliavkoff, says that online streaming of video content actually drives TV viewership.

Kliavkoff, speaking yesterday at a New York Media Information Exchange Group breakfast, noted, “If someone watches a primetime show online, it actually drives incremental television viewership in following weeks. It’s sort of an opportunity for people to catch up on a drama and stay with the story.”

This proved true even during the Beijing Olympics, he added, when there was an astounding supply and demand for Olympics content online. The network provided 2200 live broadcast hours during the Olympics, and provided 10 million hours of online streaming to 52 million unique visitors who racked up a total of 1.4 billion page views. Still, according to Nielsen Media Research, it was the most watched television event ever in the U.S., with 211 million people, or 86 percent of TV households, tuning in.

Why does this dynamic happen? I’d argue it’s about the power of the story. In the main, print news media is being cannibalized by the Internet, but when there’s a heavy element of drama, all media benefit from the increased interest. It doesn’t matter whether that drama is fiction, like a compelling primetime drama, or non-fiction, like the Olympics or the presidential election. Something tells me that non-episodic series, and run-of-the-mill news stories, never see this benefit.

For interview excerpts go to 3 Minute Ad Age.

Illustration by David G. Klein courtesy of The New York Times

Thanks to our friends at NYConvergence for a great overview of the Kliavkoff Breakfast

Media’s Digital Future Discussed at NY:MIEG Event

NYConvergence ORIGINAL

At the third annual NY:MIEG holiday breakfast this morning, NBC Universal Chief Digital Officer George Kliavkoff participated in a Q&A session with Limor Schafman, president of The KeystoneTech Group. The conversation centered around media’s digital past and future.

Among the digital lessons learned by NBC this year was that online veiwership drives audiences to television, which is counterintuitive to the predictions many had about online video taking away from television.

On the relaunching of NBC local sites in New York and Chicago, it was noted that much of the content generated for the new local sites happens automatically through algorithms that crawl relevant sites for interesting content.

FOR THE COMPLETE STORY FROM NYCONVERGENCE CLICK HERE

More later this week!

“Tectonic” – pertaining to changes in the earth’s crust. “Tectonic shift” was something George Kliavkoff said at least three times in the course of his NYMIEG interview on December 17th. Probably not surprising from the Chief Digital Officer at NBC Universal at this moment in media history. And those three were only a few of many implied.

The first shift he mentioned was the shift of media and advertising to digital platforms as ROI becomes increasingly important to marketers. At the moment, he commented, some pockets of advertising will slow but overall, we can expect to see a flight to quality – to premium content, such as NBC’s www.hulu.com.

But Hulu itself seems to me to be a tectonic shift in business models. A joint venture between NBC and FOX, the site delivers free streaming video content of hit television shows to online viewers. Doesn’t this run the risk of cannibalizing the television shows and their revenue streams, he was asked? No way. To the contrary, NBC has found this drives incremental TV viewership later. “Prime time television viewers use mobile devices and online to catch up,” he said.

The magic sauce in the new world of content is making things convenient and easy for customers. It’s all about making a great customer experience accessible to customers when and where they want it and giving them choice. This is a tectonic shift Kliavkoff and others now take for granted, the shift in power from seller to buyer.

Hulu’s ad model gives viewers an amazing choice. Viewers choose between three to five 15-second interstitials and a pre-roll of a full movie trailer. About half choose each. Interesting.

FOR THE COMPLETE STORY FROM FUTURETECH BUSINESS CLICK HERE

Knowledge, ideas and information are flowing like never before. Even in the face of daunting economic challenges, creative companies and individuals continue to unleash a torrent of game-changing services, business models and experiments to make the world better through media. My colleagues at We Media and iFOCOS have a couple of exciting initiatives that I thought you might find of interest.

Here’s what we’re doing to help:

1. Today we’re announcing the We Media Pitch It Challenge.

We’re offering two visionaries up to $25,000 each in seed funding to help turn their bold ideas into reality. We’re looking for brilliant concepts, ideas and early-stage businesses that use media to connect, inform and improve the world. We’re looking for commercial AND non-profit ideas. Finalists will present their ideas live at We Media Miami, Feb. 24-26, 2009. The challenge is sponsored by the Ethics & Excellence in Journalism Foundation.

To learn more and enter, click here.

2. The Pitch It Incentive at We Media Miami

If you’ve got an early-stage venture or one in the works then bring your idea to We Media Miami. Whether or not you make it to the Pitch It Challenge finals, The Pitch It Gallery is a demo hall open to anyone with an idea or new venture. Nonprofits and commercial startups are welcome. We’ll provide one seat, wifi and a venue for you to meet a network of business leaders and social entrepreneurs who can help you with advice, contacts and funding.

Here’s the Pitch It incentive: sign up now and reserve a space in the Pitch It Gallery and you’ll save $250 on your conference registration. You’ve got to display in the gallery to take advantage of this offer. To reserve a space in the gallery, use this code when you register: PITCH-250
Click here to register now.
Hurry. We have limited display space in the gallery. To take advantage of this incentive you must register before Jan. 8, 2009. Register before Dec. 31 if you want to account for the expense in 2008.
3. We Media Miami 09. For game changers and dreamers.

Our annual innovation conference at the University of Miami features winners of the 2009 We Media Game Changers Awards, live finals for the We Media Pitch It Challenge, the Pitch It Gallery and a provocative series of workshops with a unique, global community of thought leaders who are changing the world through media. Participants will include Vivian Schiller, the incoming CEO of National Public Radio, Ashoka president Diana Wells, Lookery CEO Scott Rafer, SocialMedian CEO Jason Goldberg, GroundReport CEO Rachel Sterne and Social Citizens author Alison Fine. And many others. Contact us now if your company wants to get involved as a sponsor.
Click here to register now.
4. Online: Seek solutions in The We Media Community

Join the global business network for innovators who lead and inspire a world made better through media. There’s no cost to join online – but you need to find a way to contribute. Find business partners. Organize a group. Share knowledge in forums. Participate in local mixers. Create a blog. Seek ideas to solve your problems – and share your expertise to solve others.
Click here to join the community.
5. Face to Face: We Media Mixers

Join us at our next breakfast mixer. It’s Dec. 17 in New York City with George Kliavkoff/Chief Digital Officer of NBC Universal. Or let us know if you can help us organize We Media Mixers in your city.

Click here to register.
One way or another, we hope all of this will help you and your business prosper in 2009. We hope to see you at We Media Miami – and online in the We Media Community starting today.

Sincerely,
Andrew & Dale
Founders, We Media & iFOCOS

Limor Schafman

If you don’t already know it by now, Limor Schafman is a good friend, trusted advisor, colleague and one of the best moderators and panelists we’ve had at our NY:MIEG events.

As a matter of fact, Limor will be hosting our breakfast on Dec 17th with George Kliavkoff

Her new show “DigIn!” is heard weekly on BlogTalkRadio and is awesome!

“DigIn! Radio – Mobients Speaks on Developing Mobile Applications” on Monday, December 15 at 4:00pm.

“The Nexus for Technology, Business & People”
Where: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Limor-Schafman

Q: What Beatles Song was Number One on America ‘s Billboard Chart when the boys arrived in America on 2/7/64?

Before I give you the answer I just wanted to remind you about our next event on Wednesday December 17th. It’s our 3rd Annual Holiday Breakfast, produced in partnership with We Media when our special guest will be George Kliavkoff, Chief Digital Officer at NBC Universal in a one-on-one interview with Limor Schafman, President of the KeystoneTech Group.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO (as well as the answer to our trivia question)