Beth Comstock, President, Digital Media and Market Development, NBC Universal
Beth was named president of Digital Media and Market Development in December 2005. She's accountable for driving NBC Universal's digital strategy and leading the company's content and distribution efforts to capitalize on new and emerging digital platforms. Her responsibilities also include strategic marketing, research, communications, and advertising and promotion. She reports directly to Bob Wright, vice chairman of GE and chairman and CEO of NBC Universal.
Yesterday (9/5/06 RBR #172), Beth spoke about her partners in the digital space
What predictions do you have about traditional media and new media?
I think you're going to have a hard time telling them apart. Traditional and new media are heading to the same place if this industry is going to stay successful. There will be more choices. It will be a much more holistic experience. We're already seeing that. One of the things we're very proud of is an initiative we launched this year around Content 360, which is to take our programming and
from the beginning figure out how we create a holistic experience for the consumer and for the advertiser? We literally wrapped the content around the brand and the consumer so they can have totally different storylines online. They can also have a very different game experience, let's say in the office on their mobile phone. That is happening now and I think you're going to see much more of that. A very interactive, immersive experience around content-that's the future.
How is digital marketing different than traditional television?
Television has incredible power. There is nothing like television to drive awareness, to launch product, to build emotion about your brand. Television does that like no other medium. From a digital perspective, you can engage consumers with your brand in a different way. As a marketer, I'm a firm believer that you need TV as a starting point and you need the digital touch points in order to make that brand interact with your consumers.
How are you integrating with Keith Turner and Randy Falco on marketing digital media in the television upfront?
We were all part of a process with the TV 360 offerings that we teed up at our upfront. It was a great collaboration between the sales, marketing and digital media teams. We were able to get together, we had fun which was great, but it was a really excellent process to bring these groups together, rally around the market need, the advertiser and the consumer need. We came up with 100 ideas that we took to the marketplace...and I can tell you that that pipeline is filled with many more.
What can traditional media do more with content to capitalize on digital?
I think digital can't be an afterthought so I think from a traditional point of view you start right from the beginning saying "how rich can we make this?" This has got to be such an exciting time to be a creative person in this industry because you can come up with an idea, and think about the different avenues you have to bring this to life.
What digital really does, I believe passionately, is unleash creativity. It gives us more outlets to work with. I think that's what traditional media can do-really unleash itself. Think about how digital can extend the life, the viability of the creative idea and can take you places that you never thought possible. Again, a great proof point is the way "Lost" from ABC has been able to live and thrive and exist long beyond the television show. For us it's been things like "The Office."
It's been programs like "Deal or No Deal," where we're able to create different kinds of experiences. It's very exciting from a creative perspective.
How do you work with NBC affiliates to not cannibalize their traditional viewership?
I think we work together on that. One of the best proof points is what's happened with our affiliate futures committee, which is a sub-group of the affiliate body. We've come together and launched a couple of great collaborative efforts in the space, for example, "Weather Plus," which is a digital weather offering. The one we're very excited about came out of the affiliate meeting back in April or May. For now, we're calling it by its working title "The National Broadband Company," and it is basically an affiliate video syndication service where we will be able to offer affiliate videos to different websites across the Internet. That's a very exciting endeavor for us.
Tomorrow: GM Talkback
Hispanic media managers tell us about their ratings and audience trends.
