Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/100015
NEW MEDIA OUTLOOK BY M AR C L O F T US 38 ANYTIME, anywhere! Start a conversation about new media and it could quickly become a discussion about mobile devices. Smart phones ��� and tablets, too ��� are helping to drive content consumption and are opening up opportunities for traditional broadcasters and cable networks, as well as to independents and those who may not already have a footing in the entertainment space. While mobile devices are helping to create new opportunities, they also present challenges to those looking to ride the ���anytime, anywhere��� wave. HANS DEUTMEYER Vice President HBO Go & Max Go www.hbogo.com; www.maxgo.com New York HBO Go and its companion site Max Go allow HBO and Cinemax subscribers to watch their favorite programs on their portable devices. At press time, HBO Go had 1,700 titles available for viewing, with new content being added daily. This includes classic series such as Sex and the City and The Sopranos. New shows are added to the site at the same time they���re being broadcast. Currently, subscribers can view programming on their Android or iOS devices, as well as on various game platforms. STRENGTHS: ���It offers the user or subscriber a lot more in terms of choice. And it ultimately provides a much better consumer experience. From a television standpoint, searching for something to watch through your set-top box or ondemand platforms, there are a lot of limitations for many reasons. But with a lot of these new media platforms, like a game console or a tablet device or even the Web itself, it provides us the ability to offer a much better consumer experience. It allows them new and improved ways to watch, but also new ways to engage and discover content.��� WEAKNESSES: ���It���s not quality ��� we are offering a 1080p experience on some of our platforms, so the video experience has improved significantly over the years. I think one possible weakness is the number of platforms. You think about the fragmentation and divergence of all these platforms. Instead of offering a linear television feed and some on-demand content, we now have to offer these experiences to a wide range of platforms that range from a 3.5-inch mobile Post���������December���2012��� www.postmagazine.com phone screen to a very large, big-screen TV. When you think of all of the operating systems, it���s a very broad ecosystem. Designing an experience across all of these platforms, maintaining it, producing content for it day in and day out, that���s a challenge.��� OPPORTUNITIES: ���We are always looking at a road map. There will be more ways for consumers to experience HBO Go. That will naturally occur as we expand to more platforms. Beyond the platforms, which allow us to reach more consumers, we also ��� with the new platforms ��� have the opportunity to provide different experiences. So, how do we offer new and interactive content experiences? We started to touch on that with some of our bigger shows with interactive experiences on the iPad, and also through our Website. We���ll continue to do so more into next near and years to come. How do you enhance the viewing experience even further? Fans of these shows are looking for more and more content. How do we do that in conjunction with the video itself? Whether it���s second screen experiences or interactive experiences, there definitely is an opportunity to do more on the content side. We have done Web-focused shorts and Thanks to HBO Go, fans of Girls can watch the show at their convenience and on the go. digital shorts, so we are experimenting in that sense. And we���re looking at opportunities and trying to figure out what���s next?��� THREATS: ���The device proliferation is definitely a challenge, but on the flip side, there is an opportunity there. I think one of the threats is it���s getting harder and harder to stand out. There���s a cost