2004 sees recovery, say readers, with positive signs for year ahead

Our thanks go out again this year to the many readers who contributed to our year-end issue, wrapping up 2004 and looking forward to 2005. These organizations and companies uniformly see light on the horizon for the new media industry, which was the recipient of several body blows in 2003. Each is able to point to important projects that went forward, key corporate developments and optimism about the relationship between government and industry moving forward. The year ended on a positive note in its dying days with an announcement that the Tomorrow Starts Today program would be renewed, and the important efforts of a coalition of new media associations continues to score points in Ottawa. What will be key to see in 2005 is whether or not most companies will transition through the clear trend we saw in 2004 toward increased disintermediation between content and user. Successful companies in 2004 were those that gave users increasing control over their contentl; in gaming with user-defined outcomes and experiences, in wireless as peer-to-peer interaction was facilitated by brands such as MuchMusic, and, in the legal sphere, as courts continued to assert the power of ordinary citizens to use content in flexible ways. Across media types, successful companies are becoming more like application providers than traditional top-down producers. This disintermediation poses challenges, and 2005 is shaping up to be much like the late 90s as the industry again struggles to re-define itself. It will be a very interesting year. Snap Media 2004 seems to have been the year in which the media industries finally realized that people are quite happy indeed to pay for content over digital networks provided two simple facts hold true: 1) It is content they actually want and 2) It is easier to get it for money than it is to get it for free. Enter the growth of iTunes (it is actually fun to spend money here), Habbo Hotel, MMOGs, and everything wireless (where spending is as easy as getting your phone bill). My take is that media companies and rights holders recognizing this “oh-people-will-pay-for-content” trend has led them to loosen their grip on their injunctive relief rifles and to lessen the use of their super-charged power-imbalanced legislative lawyer attack move. This, in turn, has led them to spend more time on developing easy to access, easy to buy, compelling digital content (more often than not with outside partners). The trend has opened the floodgates and made 2004 a stellar year for so many flavours of new media company. For Snap Media, and our partner company QuickPlay Media, this shift in attitudes has prompted the pendulum to swing noticeably from working near or parallel to, to working with other media companies to develop interactive content and content-driven applications across TV, the web and wireless. It has also opened the door to investing more in being a rights holder ourselves. Heavens to Betsy we are actually making money! Thank you 2004, you rock. Oh, and thanks to the porn industry (again) for paving the way. Raja Khanna, President Ontario Media Development Corp. At OMDC Culture is our Business. And that includes the new media industry. OMDC has continued its support of this growing sector in 2004 by providing opportunities for companies to develop business and create content through a number of different programs and initiatives. A deadline for the third cycle of the Pioneering Content, OMDC’s catalyst for cross-sector collaboration and innovation, was held in 2004 bringing the total number of projects supported through this program up to sixteen. Of these projects, six were completed and delivered this year. These projects will be released into the markets in 2005 and 2006 and we look forward to some very impressive results. The new media industry has often taken the lead in accessing this program with a wide variety of cultural media companies benefiting from their participation. Some of the participants in 2004 include Decode Interactive, Digital Wizards, marblemedia and Snap Media. OMDC also worked with a number of partners to develop programs that provided business development opportunities for the new media sector. One of the highlights was our partnership with the Design Exchange and the New Media Business Alliance on "Business on the Move" at digifest 2004 which provided participants face time with senior business leaders from Canada’s leading wired distributors and content production companies. OMDC also worked with the McLuhan International Festival of the Future to provide an opportunity for participants to accelerate the development of their innovative project ideas through The Vortex, a two- day workshop with industry leaders. Two of the participants, Geoff Siskind of Tightrope Entertainment and Michael Gibson of Zap Dramatic received the first ever OMDC Vortex Awards including $2,500 worth of consulting to assist in the commercialization of their projects. We look forward to continuing to working with our new media partners and clients in 2005. Marcelle Lean, Chair Reeves Interactive The year 2004 for Reeves Interactive 2004 has been one of the best year of the past few years. Don’t get me wrong, there is still a lot of ground to cover to reach "stability" in new media. If my brother and I and our employees were not passionate about our business, we would have given up a long time ago. The more I think about it, the more I see ourselves as a technological version of a cultural organisation. After all, we research and write our own material, we draw from scratch, we invent, we create Canadian content, and we run after grants to survive and probably cannot criticize the hand that feeds us without bearing the consequences. In 2004, although we succeeded in 2003 in obtaining financial help for the production of www.grandeourse.tv that attracted over 100,000 unique visitors in 9 weeks with over a million pages viewed, we could not get these financial supporters (Telefilm and Bell Fund) to follow us for a sequel. We were "lucky" enough to find the Vidéotron Fund which decided to support us for year two of the project. I tell you, we are part of a cultural industry. We share the same angst in perpetual need of financing, we have to compete among ourselves, we have to attract an audience and even then, nothing is for granted (no pun intended). What would I like to see in the future? Licences for web content from broadcasters. More grants and subsidies. Recognition as producers of cultural content of another kind. Ottawa’s pre-qualification of official new media companies allowed to act as producers for content and allowed to have access to grants. The criteria should consider the number of years the company has been in business, its number of PERMANENT employees and its ability to create original content. Only then would we start seeing stability. Only then could we talk of a new media industry François Reeves, President Canadian Recording Industry Association 2005: more talk about the music 2004 was a tumultuous year for music. It was a year in which legal download services proliferated, CD prices dropped and great music abounded. In 2005 you can look forward to record labels and artists interacting even more innovatively with their audience. Expect more exclusive content, more value-adds and MORE selection. I think the music community has good reason to be optimistic about 2005. The federal government is moving to modernize our outdated copyright legislation. This legislation will provide the legal framework necessary to allow the online marketplace to flourish. It will bring Canadian law into line with the rest of the technologically sophisticated nations of the world. It will give labels and artists choice: it will mean the end of expropriation and the dawn of remuneration. A majority of Canadians know that unauthorized file sharing is wrong. Modernization of our law will bring it into line with values that Canadians hold dear: respect for private property and one’s right to get paid for one’s labour. But top of my wish list for 2005 is a world in which we talk more about the music that enthralls us and less about the business of music. For those of us in the music community, music is our life. Graham Henderson, President marblemedia 2004 was another year of growth, success, and fun at marblemedia. We welcomed a number of talented individuals to our team who came, saw, and conquered every challenge they faced. We were honoured to see deafplanet.com named Grand Finalist at the NHK Japan Prize, and garner nominations for both Best Interactive and Most Popular web site at the Gemini Awards, all while preparing a revamped look to the site for launch with ten new television episodes in January 5. This is Daniel Cook also saw great success after launching on TV, pulling in great number on air and online where thisisdanielcook.com is averaging nearly 23 minutes per visit. That kid is amazing! With these achievements in mind, we look forward to 2005 with great anticipation with the opportunity to launch Burnt Toast (television and interactive follow-ups to the award-winning Toothpaste), deafplanet.com Sports Village – another extension to the site in April, the educational dance DVD, A Pairing of SwanS, with Veronica Tennant which is currently in production, as well as preparing a This is Daniel Cook DVD collection for back-to-school and simultaneously developing a second season of adventures for Daniel. Our best wishes to the entire community for health, happiness, and success in ’05 – hope to see you at happy hour! Alliance numériQC The year 2004 has been very successful in all our areas of activity, more particularly in the games sector. Alliance numériQC successfully hosted the very first Montreal Game Summit, which was held on November 3 and 4, 2004. The event welcomed over 500 participants from Québec, Canada, the East Coast of the United States and Europe, when our objective for the first year was 400. The Summit allowed to increase the visibility of Québec businesses abroad, to enhance communications within our industry but, first and foremost, to foster the development of the expertise of designers, developers and producers. A second edition is being planned for November 2005. Allliance numériQC also played a key role in the development of other sectors of activity: We prepared an action plan with the purpose of developing e-learning in the province of Québec, which was presented to different government entities. We also took part in a mission in Toronto in the context of the Canadian Society for Training and Development (CSTD); Representation within Québec’s ministère de l’Éducation: interactive digital contents made a first breakthrough in the area of education since the ministry now recognizes them as part of academic curricula; We are now working towards the creation of a database that will include all Québec businesses that are involved in the area of Internet services and applications. Other databases are also available on our website, including a list of financial assistance programs and the multimedia Action-Exportation portal. A database on studies and references will be released by the end of 2004; and, We conducted marketing missions abroad (China, Los Angeles: Electronic Entertainment Expo Conference and Exhibition - E3, Lyon: Game Connection) to support business wishing to become visible on national and international markets. There is also a possibility that we will be participating in three other missions between now and March 2005. Furthermore, Alliance numériQC is pursuing its thought processes and continues to represent the industry with the Quebec government in regards to tax credits. In order to better represent Canadian businesses in the multimedia industry with the federal ministries, Alliance numériQC, along with other provincial associations, is actively participating in the creation of a national coalition of new media industries. Digital Wizards I found 2004 to be a year of focus and specialization. The industry is not so "new" anymore and as a result, established producers are expanding the reach of their products by using multiple media approaches, and are breaking new ground with cross-industry partnerships. OMDC’s Pioneering Content is an excellent and innovative program encouraging partnerships, and just enough incentives for other cultural industry players to experiment in partnership with new media companies. By including new media at the Canadian Forum on Cultural Enterprise in Paris, last January, the department of Canadian Heritage’s Trade Routes program recognized that our companies are versatile and expert and have much to offer beyond our cultural borders. I am encouraged by the emerging alliances among the various representative groups of new media across the country. It is essential to our industry to have a united lobby for our voice to be heard by the federal government in a critical year of review and renewal of funding programs For the first time this summer, I participated in Banff Centre’s Interactive Screen/Money And The Law and found it an opportunity to explore what others are doing around the world, to network with some old friends, make some new connections and to work with some great legal minds on the essentials of protecting and securing the innovations that are so frequently developed through a great deal of personal sacrifice on the part of individual producers. Disappointments...I have a few– another year has passed with no increase to the Ontario provincial digital media tax credit, there is still no federal digital media tax credit, and other, large, well established cultural industries such as broadcasting still enjoy far greater benefits from federal support programs as do manufacturers and technology companies through programs such as IRAP and SR&ED tax credits. How long will governments continue to prop up industries that are resistant to change? It is time for governments to recognize that individual independent producers by developing and innovating in this industry, are creating jobs for the graduates of the many college and degree programs – the jobs of the future. Our plans for 2005 - Keep innovating: ITV, wireless, publishing, television, education, and export ! Dianne Williamson, President Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund Good news from the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund in 2004 Having survived dramatic funding cuts followed by resounding industry support in 2003, the Bell Fund stuck to its game plan in 2004. Not only did it invest $5.5 million in 24 new media projects associated with television programs as well as 13 development projects with grants totaling nearly $500,000, but it also launched its professional support slate of activities. First came a training program for regional new media producers, Destination Digital, which brought producers from across the country to Toronto for an intensive week-long workshop with instruction from some of the country’s most experienced (and generous) producers. Next came research and a legal toolkit consisting of 12 of the most often requested templates for new media agreements that has been completed and will soon be an invaluable reference resource to the industry. An intensive analysis of projects funded by the Bell Fund is providing the fuel for new directions for funding in the future as well as a great new list of "Hot Tips" to add to our online business toolkit. And, 2005 will see 10 new media producers, broadcasters and funders head off on a mission to Australia with expectations of generating co-productions, licensing and new revenue sources for our convergent projects. While the Bell Fund’s reputation grows at home and abroad, so does the recognition for the outstanding projects it funds, with awards, international licensing, increasing traffic and lots of learning, experience and developing relationships for the producers who make them. Delvinia Interactive It has been a challenging and incredible learning experience staying afloat within the digital media industry over the past few years. Thank God that’s over! I think we can finally say that we are all back on course. We have experienced not only a recovery in 2004, but real growth. Revenues are up, profits are optimistic and we are, in fact, investing for the future – something we could not have said even a year ago. In fact, we’re seeing something we haven’t seen in a couple of years – expansion in the industry and increased client spending on digital marketing initiatives to build stronger brands and relationships with customers, employees and partners. Those who have chosen to remain in digital media can rest assured that 2005 (barring some unforeseen world calamity), will experience significant growth in 2005. The past year was all about plotting a route to weather the storm and fiscally managing business development while remaining "cautiously optimistic." For all of those who remained committed, congratulations! From our company’s point of view, 2005 will be a year of progression where employment, innovation and profits will all remain strong. There is a rainbow at the end of the storm, and from Delvinia’s perspective, the industry has caught a glimpse of it in 2004. All the best to everyone in 2005. Adam Froman, President Banff New Media Institute This was an important year for educational new media and related infrastructures in Canada. Alberta was a role model for future development in other provinces. For three years, the Alberta government has invested in SuperNet in partnership with companies such as Bell. By the summer of 2004, this network, connecting schools, colleges, universities, and some other public institutions such as hospitals across Alberta began its rollout. It provides rural as well as urban Albertans with access to skilled teachers and specialists through video conferencing, online curriculum and new media resources and is an attempt to realize equal access in education no matter where a student lives. It has provided a context for institutions such as The Banff Centre, with private and public sector partners (University of Alberta) to develop educational science games, Aboriginal cultural curriculum (RACOL Project) and recently math interactive modules that combine new media methods with on-line delivery. SuperNet can also augment medical resources, as urban specialists can consult with family doctors in small rural centers or Northern Aboriginal communities. Most would agree that this year saw a huge leap forward in the global and Canadian adoption of mobile devices, including cell phones as platforms for enhanced communication, social networking applications, individual and group games, educational and training applications and companions to broadcast content. Mobile Internet and phones are a leap over technology – providing communication means to countries without LAN infrastructure. Despite shifting platforms and standards, opportunities for partnerships exist for Canadian companies and institutions at the global level. Mobile content was a driving force of development for many multimedia companies in Canada. In recognition of this development, the Department of Canadian Heritage’s New Media Research Networks Fund funded three projects with mobile media, infrastructure and content at their core. These are the Am-I-Able Network, Mobile Digital Commons and MUSE. On a final note, this year saw Canadian Heritage again acknowledge the importance of new media research and development in Canada, firstly with its ongoing investment in the New Media Research Networks Fund and then in Tomorrow Starts Today. As well, www.horizonzero.ca was renewed for a final year of publication through 2004, bringing rich, original new media content to Canadian and international audiences. Sara Diamond, Executive Director

2004 sees recovery, say readers, with positive signs for year ahead

Broadcast | January 4, 2005

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