OTT Exec Podcast S4 E7: Kevin Kurtz, CEO of Bold Baking Network

1) Kevin's background at Lucasfilm, Electronic Arts, Walt Disney Pictures, and Zynga; 2) Learning about merchandising, gaming, and communities when launching the Pokémon franchise to the USA; 3) Why EA (Sims franchise) and Zynga (Words with Friends) highlighted the powerful combination of content, gaming, and communities; 4) Genesis of Bold Baking Network; 5) How "baking" is different from "cooking"-- it's about joy and love; 6) 500 million video views and 8 million monthly unique viewers; 7) What does it mean to build a content "universe"; 8) How Star Wars created a "cross-generational" community; 9) Role of mobile for building out your community; 10) Bold Baking Network's plans for a new FAST channel; 11) Working with SpaceMob for OTT platform and distribution; 12) Viewer acquisition strategy; 13) Importance of including live content for the baking audience; 14) Gamification of the UX; 15) Kevin's passion for cinema.

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1) Scott's career background starting with device drivers at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC); 2) Current role leading SeaChange's advertising team; 3) SeaChange's end-to-end streaming platform; 4) Advertising solutions including pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll and creating custom FAST channels on the fly; 5) Innovations such as side-by-side advertising, clickable events, and QR codes; 6) Trade-offs of server side vs. client side advertising solutions (or both); 7) Role of big data to match ad inventory to user behavior; 8) Scott's 22-year support of the Pan-Mass Challenge (192 mile bike ride) to benefit cancer research. PMC this year will hit the milestone of $1 billion raised for cancer research.

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1) Steve's career background- "Silicon Valley meets Hollywood"; 2) The problem to solve-- universal search within the OTT operating system; 3) How is it possible your title doesn't show up in search even if it's in your library? 4) Why/how the search algorithm optimizes the platform's monetization-- not the apps; 5) Search vs. CTV/platform marketing- what has better ROI? 6) How Steve's team works to index/optimize your content library; 7) In an ideal world, who's job is it to optimize search results to maximize UX, engagement, monetization? 8) "The search engines and CTV OS wars are obfuscated and secret..."; 9) How to optimize your title names/tags for search; 10) Sometimes it's better to negotiate a bad deal so the streaming platform optimizes your content in their search algorithm; 11) Why you might need a search partner to get access to CTV/OS engineering teams; 12) ROI = 500% to 1000% increase in app downloads and titles watched.

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1) Evan's 2023 wrap up; 2) The media universe "death stars" getting bigger; 3) Consolidation of advertising market under Google, Meta, and Amazon (60%); 4) Why are the media giants getting into sports in a huge way? 5) "We left the last era of media four years ago when Disney went to DTC.... chasing Netflix towards a business model that doesn't work."; 6) Good churn vs. bad churn; 7) The paradox of consumers wanting choice-- AND bundles; 8) 2024 M&A predictions-- Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox, Disney; 9) Data/identity will trump content in 2024; 10) Additive role of Gen AI in 2024; 11) 2024 investment best bets- Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Alphabet, NVIDIA-- be careful of AI bubble.

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1) Keith's background in theater and film; 2) Moving into digital media and then streaming media; 3) Space Mob's focus on creating FAST channels and creating series; 4) FAST market under pressure as platforms are cutting back channels; 5) Focus on entertainment sports streaming such as pickle ball; 6) Minimum viable FAST channel needs 150 hours to start; 7) Revenue share model with content partners; 8) Merchandising opportunities; 9) Smaller production companies will likely exit the business; 10) Keith supporting his kids' Pokémon passion. 

Also watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ottexecutive

1) Katherine's pre-Vizio career background; 2) First job at Vizio 11 years ago; 3) Current role; 4) Vizio as full-service media company including hardware, content, data, advertising, distribution, mobile; 5) Vizio content vetting process; 6) Higher bar for content partnerships, but still lots of new "white space"; 7) Elements of a good content deal; 8) Vizio's key UX metrics; 9) Role of voice in search and navigation; 10) FAST and other industry trends; 11) Katherine's love of fitness

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1) Rachel's career background; 2) Rachel and husband met in kindergarten? I forgot the follow up question about this! 3) Recognizing the wedding video opportunity; 4) Getting started building a large social community; 5) Anatomy of a content licensing deal; 6) Advertising strategy and lack of data visibility; 7) Partnering/competing with CTV and distribution platforms; 8) Why Rachel doesn't worry about content and distribution saturation; 9) Content curation strategy; 10) "Content discovery" vs. "search"; 11) The easy CTV distribution era is over; 12) Building communities around video content; 13) Rachel's love of precision skating.

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1) Natalie's current role; 2) Career background from JP Morgan to ESPN; 3) Vevo's global operations-- streaming across 34 distribution platforms including YouTubeTV, Samsung TV+, Pluto, Roku, and Amazon FireTV-- over 800,000 pieces of content; 4) Launching FAST channels; 5) Embracing a data-driven environment; 6) The promise vs. the reality of addressable advertising; 7) The process of data and advertising experimentation; 8) When will measurement become standardized and reliable?; 9) Future of FAST and role of CTV; 10) Personalization of the "long tail"; 11) Natalie's renewed love of horse-back riding.

Also watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ottexecutive

1) Stephen's role and background on Robosoft Technologies; 2) Marquee customers including Discovery+, Magnolia, Global Cycling Network, Food Network, and ESPN; 3) Creating "communities" to enhance engagement and monetization; 4) Engineering and software development outsourcing vs. staff augmentation vs. innovation centers of excellence; 5) Cross device/platform brand integration; 6) 25 year history including first customer Apple; 7) Creating emotional engagement via human-centric design; 8) UX best practices; 9) Stephen's love of travel.

Also watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ottexecutive

1) Background on Imagicomm and INSP "5th ranked cable channel in the U.S."; 2) Media conglomerate including cable, original content distribution, and 13 broadcast networks; 3) "Lunge-free" family/friendly content including "The Cowboy Way", "Legal Action", and Christmas movies; 4) Charlotte-based studios/distribution; 5) Tell family stories without being preachy; 6) Jonathan's background including MGM and Walt Disney Studios; 7) From directing to producing/business side; 8) Advice for college grads trying to break into media & entertainment industry; 9) Status of industry right now during tough economy; 10) AVOD vs. FAST business; 11) Future challenge for niche streaming services vs. bundled content; 12) Moving beyond just content libraries to building a community; 13) How to improve tune-in rates and watch times; 14) Jonathan's "Southern" kids- "Y'all see that yella cat?" 

Also watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ottexecutive