Facebook正在颠覆好莱坞

在最近的一篇文章里，我写到为何媒体必须转型，以及转型进展。简单来说，用户浏览习惯的迅速转变和科技进步都在迫使媒体转型。随便举个例子，美国全国广播公司（NBC）自制的经典情景喜剧《老友记》曾牢牢占据每周四晚“必看电视内容”榜单，左右着观众的口味，传输价值观，那样的日子已经一去不返。观众再也不需要也不想让电视网和有线供应商决定何时、何地看什么内容。我们想自由选择观看的模式，希望选项菜单更灵活、更有新意，也更符合个人喜好。

传统媒体的广告客户也不用太担心，高品质好莱坞节目和有线电视内容还是有需求的，尤其是40岁以上人群。与此同时，针对年轻客户，一批以科技为本的新生代媒体平台涌现，创新强大而前卫，内容制作成本不高但很讨喜。由于初生不久，平台上的频道资源十分丰富，来源五花八门。此外，平台也会帮助制作方生产、管理、发行内容，实现商业化，并持续跟进内容。

昔日，传媒寡头通过广播、有线电视和卫星掌控媒体的发行渠道和内容生产，控制网络可谓密不透风，然而庞大的媒体帝国已经土崩瓦解，宝座拱手让给了U-verse、Hulu、You Tube、Facebook、Snapchat等等市场新贵，有些已站稳脚跟，还有些虎视眈眈。新玩家都深谙新媒体和数字格式的内容，并不介意观众怎么看视频。当然，如今想看内容有多种形式选择，观看的地点也很灵活。但是怎样生产、发行并最终从纷繁复杂的各种选择中实现盈利还是有点困难的。幸运的是，科技最善于解决复杂的问题。

新一代媒体网络将配备核心的传媒技术平台作为支柱性基础设施。通过技术手段分析Twitter和Facebook等社交媒体上的内容，就能锁定用户感兴趣的领域和热门话题。例如目前金州勇士队是NBA最火的球队，有关该队及队内最大牌球星斯蒂芬•库里的消息就像NBA总决赛前排的座位一样抢手。想象下制作这样一些相关节目，比如和金州勇士队飞赴各地打季后赛，或者坐在现场观看训练，或者拍全队晚上私下聚餐，效果会如何。

技术也可以用来协助制作或者自动生成节目，从摄制到后期制作全程管理内容资产。内容只要制作完毕，就可以在所有适合的渠道发布、持续跟踪数据，追求收入和观众人数最大化，然后总结经验教训。这种全链条式的生产方式可以让内容制作方策划引人入胜的娱乐节目，不用太考虑提高效率和必要的后端操作。

或许科技更重要的作用是降低一些与生产高品质内容有关的财务风险。专家预计，采用新科技和设备以后，生产某些内容的成本将大概只有传统方式成本的十分之一。Awesomeness、Vice、Machinima和Tastemade等初创公司（我的公司参与投资了Machinima和Tastemade）就积极采用了极具吸引力的模式，生产成本较低的数字媒体内容，并以多种方式编辑，方便在不同媒体上打包和出售。创业公司的商业模式各种各样，从订阅、赞助、许可授权到传统的广告都有尝试。比如我投资的Tastemade专门制作美食和时尚生活类的视频，可以在任何时候用任何设备观看。该公司也获得英国美食频道Food Network授权制作一档节目。

可以确定的是，21世纪的科技平台并不会改变创新的过程，也没法将劣质内容变为优质，不会发掘新的情感、也达不到触动人心的境界。可新技术确实能让内容制作的过程更简便、更有生产力、更容易盈利，也能更好地满足客户的需要。今天的世界无疑比20年前更为复杂难解，下一代媒体公司难道不应该体现错综复杂的特性吗？

时代毕竟是滚滚向前的，我写这文章已经不用羽毛笔蘸墨水在羊皮纸上一笔一划了，不是吗？ （财富中文网）

作者杨卣铭（Geoff Yang）是红点风险投资（Redpoint Ventures）创始合伙人

译者：Pessy

审校：夏林

In a recent article , I wrote about how media must—and is—beginning to change. In a nutshell, the combination of a rapid shift in people’s viewing habits and technological advances is forcing the issue. To state the obvious: Gone are the days when NBC’s Friends anchored Thursday night’s “Must See TV” line up and determined viewer tastes and successes. We no longer need or want to rely on the networks and cable providers to tell us when, where, or what to watch. We want to control our own viewing patterns, choosing from a more flexible, more innovative, and more personalized menu of options.

For those who are wed to traditional media’s offerings, fear not. There will always be demand for high-quality Hollywood programming and cable bundles, particularly among the affluent, 40-plus-year-old set. But for younger consumers, a bevy of new, technology-centric media platforms is emerging that combine powerful, cutting-edge innovations with creative, relatively inexpensive, and smartly curated content. Still in their infancies, they will offer unbounded distribution channels populated by programming from a virtually limitless array of sources. Beyond that, they will help creators produce, manage, distribute, monetize, and track their content.

The once formidable oligopoly that controlled media distribution and ultimately content creation over air, cable, and satellite is already breaking down, giving way to outlets ranging from U-verse to Hulu to You Tube to Facebook FB -0.40% to Snapchat and many, many more that are either already in the market or will be soon. These players can handle a slew of new media and digital formats because they don’t care how you view video. Content, of course, is already available in many forms and in many places. But figuring out how to create, distribute, and make money off of a hodgepodge of interconnected options is a complex problem. Luckily, technology is good at solving complex problems.

The next generation of media networks will have core media technology platforms as their backbone infrastructure. Technology will be used to identify topical areas of interest and trending topics by analyzing social media feeds like Twitter and Facebook. For instance, the Golden State Warriors are currently the hottest team in basketball and information about it or its biggest star, Stephen Curry, is as coveted as front row seats to the NBA finals. So imagine programming around what it might be like to travel with the team during the playoffs, or sit in on a practice session, or see the team eating together at a private dinner.

Technology can also be used to assist or automate the creation of this kind of programming, managing the content assets through production, and then in the final production. Once it is produced, it can be published in all appropriate channels, tracked, revenue and audience optimized, and then accounted for. It’s a cradle-to-grave approach that allows creators to spend the majority of their time concocting compelling and entertaining programming and less on improving efficiencies and the essential back-end operations.

Perhaps more importantly, it can alleviate some of the inherent financial risk associated with producing quality content. Experts estimate that new technologies and equipment enable some content creation to be done for roughly 1/10th of traditional costs. Startups like Awesomeness, Vice, Machinima and Tastemade (my firm is an investor in Machinima and Tastemade) are embracing this attractive economic model, producing digital media relatively cheaply and then editing it in a variety of ways so it can be sold and packaged for multiple, different mediums. Business models range from subscriptions to sponsorships to licensing to traditional advertising. Tastemade, for instance, a company in which I am an investor, produces digital videos about food and lifestyle that can be viewed at any time on any device. It also creates a show licensed by the Food Network.

To be sure, these 21st century technology platforms will never replace the creative process or make bad content good. Nor will they push the boundaries of emotion or touch the human spirit. But, they can make the process easier, more productive, and more profitable for those creating the content while providing consumers with more of what they want. The world is infinitely more complex than it was 20 years ago. Shouldn’t the next generation of media companies reflect that complexity?

After all, I’m not writing this on parchment paper with feathers dipped in a well of ink, am I?