10 learnings from 10 years of Channel Frederator.*
10 years ago, we âMike Glenn, Eric Homan, Kevin Kolde, Emil Rensing, David Karpâ began our disruptive hobby that turned into an obsession that morphed into our future which has become our reality. We uploaded 14 minutes of video programming and had the chutzpah to call it a channel âChannel Frederatorâ figuring that it would be kinda fun. Worst case was that weâd virtually meet some new animated filmmakers and lose a little money. Best case? Well honestly, we didnât dare think there could be any best case.
A lotâs come down in this past decade, thousands of discoveries large and small. But there are a few things that keep coming up over and over that might have been obvious to a lot of people, but not to me. Not about animation necessarily, but about the media landscape we find ourselves in, and which Iâve been obsessed with for a lifetime. Against the odds, Iâve been able to participate in my second tech and media revolution, after being one of the early entrants into the cable TV wars. Thereâs a lot thatâs the same on the bonus lap, but here are 10 learnings that have really become much clearer to me.
1. Iâm a fan. A professional fan.
Iâve been lucky to work with different kinds of creative people for most of my life. Sometimes theyâre what you expect, artists, writers, actors, musicians. Sometimes they show up in unexpected ways in the guise of engineers, accountants, scientists, lawyers, and yes, business people.
One way or the other, for me, the creative folks that have crossed my path have all been beacons to my future(s).
A few years ago that I was speaking to the âcreativesâ at an advertising agency and something popped into my head that Iâd heard about a music business innovator, Ahmet Ertegun.
David Geffen, the entertainment mogul, said ⊠that he had once asked Mr. Ertegun how to make money in the music business. Mr. Ertegun said he would demonstrate, got up from his chair, hunched over and shuffled slowly across the room. Mr. Geffen didnât understand, so Mr. Ertegun did it twice more. Finally he explained: â âIf youâre lucky, you bump into a genius, and a genius will make you rich in the music businessâŠââ -The New York Times, December 16, 2006
During the speech it occurred to me just how much of the business world had it wrong. Conventional wisdom business folks perpetrated was there was millions of âcreativeâ people out there making music, paintings, films, whatever, but without the âsmartsâ of business, it was all for naught. But, of course, the truly excellent and successful businesses waited patiently (some not so much) for a brilliant creative person to show up and point them the way to the future. Thatâs success. Finding the future just seconds before anyone else realizes whatâs going on.
A creative person sits there with a blank computer screen, a canvas, a spreadsheet or what have you, and they imagine what theyâd like the world to be. And, using the tools at their command, they magically fashion a world thatâs more to their vision of things. If theyâre wrong, we ignore their work. But, if theyâre right, wow. (Thank you Beatles, Steve Jobs, Miles Davis, Hewlett and Packard, Hanna and Barbera, and the thousands, millions of people who helped us through the muck).
For me, this revelation was profound. After 40 years at work, I finally understood what I did for a living. Over the years Iâd defined myself as a musician, a music engineer, a producer, a network executive, a creative director, a tech investor, but nothing really fit.
Consistently through all those not-quite-fitting inventions, the common thread was that Iâd run into someone I thought was amazing, and try to figure out how to be helpful. Iâd become a fan of a wonderful talent and attempt to be useful.
Watching The Beatles when they came to America and charted the future of culture and music changed my life path from science to entertainment. That day I became a giant, nerdy, fan.
Iâm the same way today whenever I meet a creative person. But now, I become a giant, nerdy, professional fan. And I immediately ask, âHow can I help?â
2. Without technology, content canât be king. But without programming and data science, nothing works for no one.
As it ever was. Those of us who produce programming take our platforms and audiences for granted âdid The Beatles or James Brown ever question that radio stations would exist to play their music?â but without the tech our creative products are trees falling alone in a forest.
In Channel Frederatorâs case, David Karp pointed out the âold schoolâ notions of my wanting to be like Channel 101/102, pushed us in the direction of portable devices, inadvertently echoing what Bob Pittman told me 35 years ago: Â âconvenience always wins.â Â
And when we add in the old school arts of data science (yes, itâs been around for as long as thereâs been electronic media, and itâs an art too) and programming thatâs the magic formula.
For the last ten years, anytime I discount the value of tech we come out short. But itâs also true, that every time a technology focus disregards the usefulness of the content, theyâre wrong. Â
Frederatorâs Mantra (at least, one of them)
Technology + Data Science + Content + Brand Building =
Technology is king? Yes. Content is king? Yes.
3. The declaration of independents.
Frederator started to support independent voices 16 years ago. Weâre not stopping now.
Every film festival we visited over the years introduced us to independent filmmakers âanimated and live actionâ from all corners of the earth, so I already knew there were a lot more world class creative people than Los Angeles and New York had to offer. When we started Channel Frederator we were overwhelmed when we received hundreds and hundreds of admissions inside of the first month.
But, since the Channel Frederator Network has already signed up more than 2000 independently produced and programmed channels, I have to say that I was unprepared for just how many people have something to say in animated video. I think weâve just scratched the surface and weâll be celebrating 5000 channels before you know it.
Itâs an astonishing time for filmmaking of all kinds. Big, grand productions, face-to-camera video blogging, and everything in between. New technology has made the world more hospitable to filmmakers, writers, artists, actors, and craft workers than ever before.
Thereâs a good reason we started calling Channel Frederator âThe Declaration of Cartoon Independents.â Â
4. TV networks look for viewers, in the internet we look for loyalty.
Iâve been saying this a lot lately because I think itâs at the core of why traditional media folks stumble a bit in this new medium. Itâs not easy to succeed at anything, particular television (or the movies), so Iâm not slagging anyone in the âoldâ media. Just pointing out that a lot of the skills that were developed over the past 65 years fall short in the world weâre living in today (and will be inhabiting even more as the years go on). Yes, making good content is hard, and thereâs no one better at many of the skills needed for filmmaking of any kind than the TV and movie folk. Writing, directing, etcetera, has always been valued in the world of filmmaking and the successful studios and networks are the best at it.
John Gregory Dunne explained at length in 1967, having expert skills is not at all the same as engaging an audience.
In TV as we know it, money, infrastructure, and political clout give incredible advantages. So, a network, once they feel they have something a mass audience will accept, can deploy all their arsenals for us to at least give their wares a chance once or twice. And, if the wares are good, we might stick around a little more, whether itâs just right, or at least right enough. Thatâs been the world where the average American household had an average of only two TV channels (1984) or even 189 (in 2013).
But, there are now millions of channels (especially if youâre under 25 and know where they are). And honestly, why would any of them want to watch a channel they didnât really love, when there are so many other choices for them?
Loyalty. Thatâs what itâs all about these days. I wouldnât have it any other way.
5. Media brands that donât interact with their audiences are toast.
I started my career in music radio, the most competitive form of media then known. In a world where the average American had two channels of television, a city like New York had over 70 radio stations fighting for their share of your ears.
Howâd the best ones win? Creating an identity that depended on their relationship to the audiences they served. The technology of the time was limited by radio waves and telephone lines (pretty amazing all on their own) but there was rarely a radio station that didnât take phone calls and requests from the listeners. And the listeners had an unspoken bond that the station would serve their needs.
Luckily, my entry to television was closely aligned with that ethos. MTV and Nickelodeon were built by radio savvy leaders and from the get we developed that close viewer relationship (not so much today, Iâm sad to say). They gave me a great leg up for the internet based media world.
We get to talk with our viewers everyday in dozens of ways. And based on their talkback, they really appreciate it. We listen to them and they know it. And once theyâve got that kind of relationship with us and our programming, they only turn us off when we stop talking. Thatâs the way of their world, and thatâs the way the world will be from now on.
Because, in todayâs environment, why would any viewer *not* want to directly interact with their favorite stuff and the people who make it?
Most of todayâs TV networks still havenât gotten that message, they think that their âcontent is kingâ and thatâs the end of their jobs.
6. Brands matter more than ever.
In the Internet 1.0 era and up until today there was a conventional wisdom to say that brands donât matter anymore. âRecognition isnât the same as relevanceâ some would say, or search engines make everything and everyone commodities.
Maybe thereâs some good points being made, and for sure âbrands have never been so fragile.â And maybe itâs because I made my bones building durable media brands, this idea that brands donât count rubs me the wrong way. But I have to say that my experience these last 10 years point me in just the opposite direction from this âwisdom.â
Brands matter more than ever.
Itâs a hyperactive world out there, and we consumers/viewers/readers/lurkers need more help than ever to figure out what to do with our time.
My definition of a brand is that itâs a product/service that shares my values, however ephemeral or fleeting that might seem. (When it comes the business meaning, a brand is something for which your consumers will pay a bit of a premium.) Once I find that connection, Iâm sticking with it.
From our first day, Channel Frederator found that connection. Just on a metrics basis, if you searched âFrederatorâ in Google during October 2005 you might have gotten a few hundred results. Soon after our iTunes launch it jumped to hundreds of thousands. All of a sudden, our brand promise was being fulfilled and people responded in droves and theyâve continued for the entire decade of our existence. (The Channel Frederator Network has over 500 million monthly video views).
For that loyalty, all of us constantly honored and thankful.
7. We really live in a global village.
35 some odd years ago, my mentor, Dale Pon, made me realize that even thinking of a local radio station in terms of its city was small minded thinking. I kicked that train of thought further when we launched MTV in 1981 by claiming us to be âthe worldâs first video music channel,â though we were barely in a million American homes.
Channel Frederator being distributed on the internet, through YouTube and other platforms, proves to me that weâve finally created a truly global media planet. We distribute channels located in over 77 different countries and on six different continents. And unless we have some kind of reason to shut down a territory, a video upload automatically has the instant potential to reach 1 billion viewers across the world. âThe worldâs firstâŠâ indeed.
This global reach has barely been commented on, and thereâs very little creative thinking as to what to do with it. But, itâs coming people, watch for it.
8. In the internet, nobody knows anything. (*With all apologies and credit to William Goldman.)
One of the things that originally propelled me towards creating for the internet is that I was sick of the know-it-alls in television and the movies (and I should be the first to mention that I was âand probably amâ one of those know-it-alls that others are sick of). Every meeting had become a battle of wills between those know-it-alls and us, obviously the know-nothings. Ugh. It was tiring.
So we set up Frederator/NY as an empty room talking about what was possible in the brave new world of internet distribution. There were plenty of people who thought they knew better (you should have been sitting with us in our first YouTube meeting in 2006) but, unlike the big money infrastructures that were required in TV and movies, which hovered over (under) the executives representing those media monoliths, we could leave any internet meeting and proclaim them wrong and ourselves right.
Of course, we were often wrong. But so were they. And in the new world we could try our ideas out without any gatekeepers to see what was what. Either way, we didnât have to whine about what âtheyâ did to us (âthey didnât put us in the right time slot,â âthey forced us to make the character younger/older/prettier/ dumber,â âthey didnât promote us enoughâ). We could look in the mirror and see who succeeded and who failed.
Not knowing anything was a complete relief. It continues to be today. Hopefully, weâll be just as ignorant from now on.
9. Networks have 10 years now.
Itâs Channel Frederatorâs 10th birthday. Are we in trouble? Not yet.
The analog era networks âradio, broadcast television, cable TVâ had a first half life of about 25-30 years. That is, their initial years of domination lasted about a quarter century. So over that period of about 75 years we all got used to that life span for media networks. Itâs not that after the first half life, things, crashed. CBS, NBC, ABC have made billions of dollars after that period of domination, and made lots of audiences happy. Itâs just that they did it in an increasingly eroding environment. Itâs whatâs been happening to cable TV over the past several years.
The digital age started a whole bunch of other ânetworks,â some media based, some socially based, some technological.
David Karp once casually pointed out in a meeting that he felt our new network half life cycle was closer to 10 years. It rang true to me as I thought about the dominant eras of the Aolâs and Microsoftâs of the world.
Whatâs all this mean to us? Just like the older media networks, we need to heed history and realize that our first era of experimentation is coming to a close. Frederator doesnât need to stop trying/failing/succeeding, we just need to understand the environment has changed a lot since we started in 2005, and adjust.
I feel comfortable that we havenât rested on any laurels. After all, we now distribute almost 2500 independent channels, with over a half billion views every 30 days. And growing fast; weâll be at one billion this next year.
Channel Frederator âeveryoneâ needs to keep fleet of foot, bringing in smarter, younger, savvier colleagues. Iâve been staying close to the youngâuns for 40 years, weâre not going to stop now.
10. Colleagues. I love the people I work with.Â
My last learning of the decade. Itâs not a unique insight, by any means, but it has really coalesced in my mind these past few years.
In many ways, I really look at any organization a bit like a rockânâroll band (in many ways, I am still a child of The Beatles, after all). The band is only as good as our bandmages, our colleagues. Iâve been unusually lucky to surround myself over the years with fun, smart, passionate, motivated people whoâve made my work life a joy. And no group has made me feel that way more than the past and current Frederators.
But thereâs another revelation Iâve had. One of my personal work mysteries goes back to the thought of why ânextâ has always been part of my lexicon. Why do people keep asking me how I âreinventâ myself when Iâve seen things as a pretty steady continuum. How did I start with a rock band and record producing, morph it into cable TV executing, pivot to animation production, and now into the internet delivery of video? It felt pretty seamless as it was happening.
Itâs the young people. Every few years, when I made the leap to ânextâ it was relatively solitary move. For whatever reason, decision to move on came upon me and Iâd set up an empty room and feel lonely for a new band. The energy of a young generation always perked me up so the vacant room would start to fill up with young folk who wanted to come along for the ride.
Those youngâuns would show up with their new fashions and haircuts and music and videogames and start telling me how my ideas were, um, OK, but did I ever think of⊠whatever. Weâd argue back and forth for a while, and before you knew it I was thinking a bit like them and they would be acting a bit like me (sorry!). And somehow or other, weâd invent something new. Or maybe new-ish. A lot of the new, tinged with smatterings of the old. Just enough to make it comfortable for our audiences, while keeping it fresh.
Iâd found the fountain of youth. Often! I kept doing and thinking about the things Iâd always thought about, but in a new way. Over and over and over again.
Now my work life is the greatest stew one could ever hope for. I still work with someone Iâve known for 60 years, âbandmatesâ from 40 years ago are in the office everyday, and there are a bunch of collaborators who were born the same years as my young sons.
It doesnât get better. Thanks everyone.
___________________________
* With all apologies and credit to Maria Popova at Brain Pickings
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