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Changing consumer preferences for how they receive their entertainment—and how the industry should respond—dominated the discussion at Chicago GSB’s inaugural Chicago Conversations event, held on the Sony Pictures lot in Los Angeles on April 21.
“Pay attention to how consumers want to consume your product,” David Goldberg, ’95, executive vice president of Ticketmaster, advised an audience of more than 60 alumni, prospective and current students, and friends of the GSB. “The consumers always win.”
Adverse to losing control over the consumer experience, not to mention ad revenue, many players in the industry have been reluctant to deliver their content through popular third-party channels such as YouTube, but “finding consumers where they’re at is worth it,” Goldberg said. “If you try to drive them where you’re at, it’s an experience they’re not looking for. Ultimately, it’s a losing proposition.”
One sector that may have already lost is recorded music. “It’s done, essentially, and not because there isn’t value to it,” said Goldberg, noting that through iPods and its use in other media like film and video games, “music is more a part of people’s lives now than it ever has been. Yet the industry made critical errors that I think the rest of the entertainment industry can learn from.”
Whether that learning has occurred is still an open question, but with so much uncharted territory in the landscape ahead, hard business skills have become increasingly valuable in Hollywood. “Complexity is where this is all going, and one’s ability to bring some order and logic to it is going to increase success,” said Tim Bergin, ’94, senior vice president of global marketing for 20th Century Fox. “I’m seeing an emphasis on people who have that mindset, and on balancing the creativity, deal making, and relationship building—which has always been the touchdown in this industry—with a more analytic and strategic focus.”
Moderator John Calkins, executive vice president of business development at Sony Pictures, concurred. “We need to think of new ways to do things. The MBA guys are getting pulled into the discussions earlier and with more of a point of view being expected, rather than just documenting the deal. It’s a good time to be a business guy in Hollywood.”
The newly launched Chicago Conversations series brings GSB alumni and corporate partners together in timely discussions on industry-specific topics, held in the cities where those industries thrive. The media and entertainment panel, held in a Sony screening room, was followed by a robust Q&A and lively networking reception. A similar event on venture capital took place on Wednesday in the San Francisco Bay Area. Events on real estate, health care, and technology are in the works.
—Anthony Ruth