I recently attended a presentation, via videoconference, by Christine Heckart, General Manager at Microsoft for their television division and most recently, their music division. She's a seasoned technologist with a big picture marketing bent and humility that is refreshing for someone in her position. (Slight tangent: Afterwards, I wondered if a man would ever display such humility, even an enlightened one. Would a man ever say he was new to a field, after studying and working in it for four years?)

The title of the talk was "The Future of Television and a Market Filled With Business Opportunities."

Key points from the talk:

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  We spend an awful lot of time consuming entertainment (9 hrs/day vs. 7 hrs spent on sleeping.) Heckart didn't say this explicitly but it was implied that this will increase over time.
• The world is increasingly becoming digitized. Today, there are 300 million people watching online video. In 2012, it's predicted that 1 billion people will be watching online video. Television is the last electronic island in the home. I could relate to Heckart's story that she takes away screen time from her kids as punishment instead of television time. My kids think something is wrong with my husband and I when we limit screen time to under 20 hours per week. Photo by striatic.
• Media is increasingly being fragmented to more channels and choices. Even more intriguing is fragmentation of attention. Kids today multi-task with an iPod, video games, and chat all going on at the same time.
• Advertising has not caught up. The dollars going to advertising on television vs. online are disproportionate to the consumption. 7% of the ad spend is online, while 20% of the consumption is online. Fewer television viewers, yet advertising is still putting their money there.
• The ME-WE phenomena, fueled by social networking, adds personalization into the landscape. I'm going to tell you all about me so we can connect. 
• Convergence used to mean voice and data together. Now it means everything I need for communications and entertainment, seemlessly delivered. Television plus Internet, enriching each other, is part of the future. Heckart warns that our infrastructure isn't ready for that and thus, there's a business opportunity. Consumer video is the driver for a new eco-system. 
• Be prepared for a re-distribution of dollars. (Sound vaguely familiar?) Current players in the television market (e.g. cable and satellite) have both the worst and the best of starting points. They have a captive audience and everything to lose as the old pie shrinks and a new pie emerges.

Quotable quotes:

• "When the Internet "rolls" over your industry, it fundamentally changes it."
• "If you can make things simple, you can make a lot of money. If you can't make the complex simple, it's a niche market. Dumbing down is the whole point."

How this relates to the path of a wisdom entrepreneur:

• In a fragmented world, crystallizing your ideas becomes even more important.
• The interactive nature of today's younger generation will be pervasive in no time at all. The last bastion, television, is coming to grips with this.  Digital immigrants need to be prepared to incorporate that into their strategy of turning an idea into a movement.
• Technology and culture are reinforcing the idea of attracting your tribe, by promoting personalization and connection to those who resonate with you. Interestingly enough, Heckart was asked in the Q+A for one piece of career advice. She first said, "Have great mentors." And then she hit upon these words: "Pure raw leadership. Identify opportunities and do something about it, exciting people enough to follow you."  While she was referring to a business setting, I think it applies in a large sense. I immediately thought of Seth Godin's book, Tribes, and how the essence of leadership is creating a community of kindred spirits, a movement, that changes the world in some way.

Heckart ended her talk with a marketer and technologist's vision of the future that elicited a knowing smile from the audience.  Michelle Obama was on The View last year, a women's talk show on television, and wore a dress that captivated the viewers. Reportedly, within hours, the off-the -rack dress was sold out across the country.

Imagine if that same event took place and all that was needed was a click of the button to purchase and start delivery.  Now that's making the complex simple. 

Photo by AlexJohnson