i3 - January/February 2018 - 58

What are some big unknowns you're excited to find out?
What happens when the new living room is a vehicle, as with automated cars?
What happens when VR and AR hit critical mass - does storytelling leave
a rectangular-shaped screen for an immersive setting? Those are questions
that I'm sure many people at CES say they know the answers to, but I think
the real answers are going to rock everyone's worlds.

DAVID
LEVY
PRESIDENT
OF TURNER,
A TIME
WARNER
COMPANY
AT TURNER, TRADITIONAL TV
EMBRACES THE DIGITAL FUTURE
David Levy is president of Turner, a Time Warner company. Founded in 1970,
the media giant owns and operates a highly diversified brand portfolio that
includes recognizable names like CNN, HLN, TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network,
Adult Swim, Boomerang, ELEAGUE, truTV and Turner Classic Movies (TCM).
How does Turner navigate a shapeshifting media marketplace?
There's tons of disruption going on, but disruption means opportunity.
We're focused on creating the best experiences across our portfolio. Everything
we do centers around engagement, forming an emotional connection
between our brands, content and fans.
TV is still popular, but it's not all being consumed live. You should
have strong brands, strong properties and figure out a viewer experience
that moves forward, whether it's limited commercials, or it's branded
entertainment or branded content, or it's exposing content across
different platforms - mobile, digital, over-the-top or through the distributor.
I call them omni-experiences.
Past advertisers might have used the same 30-second creative across all
platforms. Today, through technology and data, they produce advertising for
specific platforms like 30-second TV commercials or 10-second mobile spots.
Where is the significant overlap between TV and the digital sphere?
Who ultimately prevails?
Big media companies want technology and the big technology platforms
want creative capabilities. What makes digital appealing to advertisers is
the data, audience-based targeting and analytics. What makes television
attractive is the quality premium content and its scale. Each wants what the
other has, so you see this race towards the middle. The winner is going to be
the large media companies, like Turner, with the reach and the quality,
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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

premium programming. We're leading the
charge to modernize advertising by combining the best of television with the best
of digital.
With multi-channel millennials as large
sections of your audience, what says
you're headed in the right direction
with them?
With platform expansion, shifting viewer
patterns and tons of available content in
various forms and lengths, success is no
longer going to be measured solely by an
outdated ratings system. Millennials are
mobile-dominant, so we need to think
about content that fits that device.
Research shows that a third of video viewing is mobile for plurals and millennials.
They're multiplatform natives. They're
the most diverse generation I've ever seen.
They have no fear of technology. In fact, they
embrace it and immerse themselves in content. They create their own content when
they can. They like to discover and share.
It's not just taking what worked on
television and slapping it on a phone. It's
about developing specific content for
that environment and experience. It's
about the length of content. It's about
the quality. Data will give us a better
understanding as we create deeper and
more integrated experiences for our fans
across platforms.
As we develop new intellectual properties, we should make sure that we're on digital, that we have a gaming strategy, a mobile
strategy and a consumption strategy. Maybe
open access to use our IP in non-traditional
ways. They love choice and they love control. We leverage this through tailored content on Cartoon Network, Super Deluxe,
Adult Swim and Bleacher Report.
What role will future technology play in
how Turner tells original stories?
We're tinkering now with content on
Super Deluxe where we can change the
story as it moves along, allowing viewers
to participate in or take control of the
program. We do this through proprietary
technology that allows us to synthesize
audience metrics and sentiment in real
time. It's a truly immersive and community-driven experience.
Real-time information can help shape
the way storytelling goes in the future.
I T I S I N N O VAT I O N

Levy: Courtesy of Turner Broadcasting System

opportunity, I would call it a creative imperative, to move beyond them.
The creative outlets and the palette available on Hulu is vast. Considering
that two of our major video-on-demand competitors are commercial free,
I feel like it is a real opportunity for us to lead the way and help marketers
understand exactly where this is all going.

i3 - January/February 2018

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