NATPE stands for the National Association of Television Program Executives, an organization dedicated to providing information, marketing and meeting opportunities in television programming. For those of you interested in television, whether it is broadcast journalism, producing TV shows, becoming a news anchor, NATPE is definitely the place to go.
This year the conference & exhibition was held at the Fountainebleau Hotel & Resort in Miami Beach from January 24th til January 26th. Lucky me, I won tickets for the conference through the SXSW Festival Twitter account. As much as I love the entertainment business, I was excited to attend NATPE to learn about new trends in programming and distribution of television content.
Here are some of the highlights of the conferences that I got to experience during the convention.
- Unlocking New Opportunities for Content Partners on YouTube
Panelists talked about different ways in which one can become a partner with YouTube depending on the quality of the content we upload and the amount of subscribers we have. Let’s say we start uploading videos about how to apply make-up online and we gain a lot of subscribers, then YouTube will partner with us (aka pay us) for uploading videos on a regular basis so then we also call advertisers attention. They also talked about the LifeInADay videos that were recorded worldwide by amateur film makers around the globe on July 24th 2010. Some of the clips uploaded will be featured in a 90 min movie that will be released at Sundance Festival and is premiering TONIGHT at 8pm EST on YouTube. Re-airing tomorrow night at 7 pm EST. They also talked about how much people spend time on YouTube nowadays more than in TV.
– Lesson learned: I’ll be uploading videos of me teaching something on YouTube soon! LOL - Developing The Next Digital Hit
Panelists talked about different ways in which a TV show could be come the “It” show just by creating awareness of the brand, getting people to talk about it on social media. They discussed about new series on the market such as “Hollywood Is Like High School With Money” (in which I recognized Mr. Fitz from Pretty Little Liars) and to promote it the producer decided to do massive advertising on social media, universities, etc places where the target audience of 17-21 year old girls would see. They also discussed about the upcoming LeBron James animated series which will be solely online. And also BBC’s “The Lonely Planet” approach to broadcasting traveling guides and tips to internet and mobile content. As well as the company DECA, an online website that provides the largely popular “momversation” blogs.
– Lesson learned: Viral activity is the content vehicle for differentiation.
- In Conversation With Jillian Michaels & Giancarlo Chersich: Becoming the Brand
This one was actually one of my favorites. Both Jillian and her partner Giancarlo explained the audience the steps of making a brand out of your name. Things like asking yourself if the product you have to offer has an audience and will people demand it and also things like rather performing a good job on a product no matter the deadlines, because the ultimate goal is to offer the public good content. Important things: reach audience, keep good image, trust instincts and be innovative
– Lesson learned: Get ready for the Lucyinthesky Smoothies! LOL. Here’s a picture of me and Jillian :)
- One-on-One With Gale Anne Hurd, from THE WALKING DEAD
The excitement! Gale Anne Hurd, the executive producer of the succesful TV show, The Walking Dead, was talking about the show’s first steps before becoming this global phenomenon. Gale talked about the number of people trying to go into the show as zombie extras, how society has always feared the apocalypse and how zombies become part of that “end of the world” we sometimes picture in our heads. As well was making the 1 hour shows more like mini-movies and the upcoming release date of season 2 around Halloween this year.
Check out Q&A videos of Gale answering fans questions at NATPE on our YouTube channel –> http://www.youtube.com/TYFofficial
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These were just some of the panels, if you want to check out more pictures, go to our Facebook page and check our our NATPE album! Click here to see the album.
I really hope I can attend next year! It was a wonderful learning experience and you get to know the new innovations in television! If you have a chance to attend please make sure you go! You get to meet people in the TV industry and to network with them.
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