Newsmaker: 'V' is for online video, as Eisner sees it

Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner unveiled on Monday his latest project: Vuguru, an independent production company devoted to online video.

Eisner is a major stakeholder in online video start-up Veoh, but he envisions Vuguru as a cross-platform phenomenon that will spread from browsers to mobile phones to televisions. The first Vuguru production, a serial mystery for teens called Prom Queen that was created in conjunction with online video company Big Fantastic, premieres April 2.

Eisner spoke with CNET News.com shortly after the announcement about Vuguru, officially a project of his investment firm, The Tornante Co., to elaborate on his vision for online video.

Q: This ties in very nicely to the most recent Wired magazine cover, about what it calls "snack culture," or entertainment in smaller portions. Obviously, Prom Queen with its 90-second clips, is an example of that. Do Vuguru's interests go beyond this short, serialized content?
Eisner: Yeah. Actually, the next show that we're doing after that will be either five- or seven-minute pieces. It's another story-driven show with characters, comedy, drama, and so forth, professionally produced. The right length of time for that (production) is more like five to seven minutes. And we have some in development that will be more like 15 minutes. It is what the story dictates it should be.

Do you think Vuguru will eventually do anything with live broadcasts, specifically of collegiate and professional sports? Obviously, there's a lot of advertising revenue there.
Eisner: Who knows what it will actually do. This is the beginning of our commitment to original production, so the basic thrust here is not simply user-generated or live sports or specials or anything like that. The overall strategy is that the time has come for the Internet to be a distribution platform for what used to be called filmed entertainment.

The inaugural series, Prom Queen, is geared toward a female teenage audience. Are there any other demographics that Vuguru is specifically targeting in the near future?
Eisner: I've never done that in my career. No matter what division I was running at ABC or Paramount or Disney, you come up with what you think is a good idea that interests you, and you put it out there. If it happens to be more targeted for men or women or teenagers or young adults, so be it. As far as Prom Queen is concerned, an interesting idea was presented to me from these guys at Big Fantastic, who had done Sam Has 7 Friends, and it happens to be that our first effort in this space is younger people, high school, et cetera.

I'd like you to think there was an overall strategy, but I've never had an overall strategy. It's simply what sounds good or funny or emotional or sad or mysterious.

I'd like you to think there was an overall strategy, but I've never had an overall strategy. It's simply what sounds good or funny or emotional or sad or mysterious. That's what I'm interested in. The platform is so gigantic, the Internet is so gigantic, that very much like broadcast television was 40 years ago, they don't have to be targeted. Yes, young people are early adopters, but that doesn't mean today--as the Internet's becoming more and more established--that more groups, more age demographics are not committed. And Veoh has the capability--and will over time--to move what's coming in on broadband to the television set or any other device you may have.

With regard to the migration of broadband video to other devices like mobile phones or living room TVs, are there currently any partnerships in the works for Vuguru?
Eisner: We're definitely going to be distributing promptly on a mobile partner, and that will be probably announced this week or next week. We will distribute every possible way we can. Veoh has the capability to transpose or transfix or whatever "trans" you want to talk about, from your computer right to your television screen. This is for earlier-than-early adopters, but eventually it will be easy and simple, and that will be just another way to watch television at home. It'll just be a different distribution platform.

More Newsmakers

[Al E. Gator]

Eisner only cares about Eisner

This Guy will be the end of a non profit internet... if he can squeeze
a dime out of it he will. when it comes to bullsh*t... just look
between the quotation marks...

[Eric Turk]

Vuguru - too funny!! You guys at CNET are so silly!

Eisner and his company are not even close to achieving what
needs to be accomplished and his new company wouldn?t be in
any of my top ten choices to use or invest in. Pay attention to a
small company called UVU (pronounced you view - note the
name of Eisner's venture, Vuguru, they ?liked the way it
sounded? Hogwash, it?s got branding all over it. Here?s how it
should be pronounced "former major corporate executive
seeking to leverage his name and relationships in the hope of
creating a new asset play).

Pay attention - UVU is the company to watch ? hands down, and
for a multitude of reasons, especially their understanding of
technology, infrastructure and the consumer?s desires. Eisner
and his comments are about as meaningful as those of a 1st
grader attempting to discuss the long-term issues related to
geo-political chess.

Vugurus biggest problem is going to be management and
arrogance ? and there?s a tremendous difference between
running an existing business that?s been developed by other
people?s successes and failures in the marketplace and building
an entirely new venture that utilizes a variety of combinations
and elements from a mature industry and an immature
marketplace filled with variables as opposed to line items and
then mixes them with an evolving set of variables such as
technology and those that govern the spirit of creativity.

I found it interesting to see that Eisner genuinely believes that
because he ran the mouse house (and the successes and failures
that came along with it) that doing such translates to the ability
to do the same in a new and evolving, young, creatively driven,
technology based segment of the entertainment industry. Do
you really believe that he and his ?staff? understand the
relationship of the consumer and technology? If there?s an
offering, I?ll look to short the company. Like they say in the
South, ?this dog won?t hunt?.

Unfortunately, Eisner may also be viewed as somewhat of a
pariah these days. I?m sure more than a few deals will get done,
but a funny thing happens after years of squeezing and
mistreating people ? most doors only appear to be open.
Sometimes wounds and resentments run very deep and no one
in broadcast is really forgiving.

[Hardrada]

Eisner gets it. You don't.

It's about content, not technology. What is UVU going to bring to the table?

[cybergremlyn]

hmmm

He's had facelift is all I can say...

[rapieress]

Eisner

facinates me.

It will either be a brilliant success or die a huge failure.

and we sill never be the same

Catherine, the redhead
www.aweekinthelifofaredhead.com

[rapieress]

laugh

that's what I get for typing and talking on the phone at the same time - should be *will - not sill.
Catherine, the bad typing redhead
www.aweekinthelifeofaredhead.com