Q&A:Catching up with Claude Galipeau

As a leading member of Canada’s new media community, Claude Galipeau needs no introduction for most readers. At the end of March he left the CBC, where he had been spearheading their digital content initiatives, and rejoined Alliance Atlantis, where he had served as VP of broadcasting until 2002. Now senior VP of digital media at the Toronto firm, Galipeau works with the firm’s specialty channels and reports to executive VP of content Norm Bolen. Canadian NEW MEDIA asked Galipeau for his thoughts on the evolution of digital content and his return to the private sector. Canadian NEW MEDIA: A while ago you referred to traditional media as "a bullhorn" that could be used to drive new media. How does that work? Claude Galipeau: Broadcasters and media companies, those who own traditional media properties, whether it be magazine, print, radio or television, are using digital media – first it was the Internet and now it’s mobile – to own the ‘in-betweens’: in between shows and day parts, because people are consuming media at work, during lunchtime, while commuting, while waiting in line, et cetera. So it’s the in-betweens when media is consumed by audiences throughout the day, and in various locations, that’s important for digital platforms. This is because audiences are on the move and media has become increasingly portable. It’s also increasingly consumed in offices, during daytime, especially lunchtime on the PC. So, it’s tethered and untethered activities we are focusing on. The new digital platforms are instrumental in keeping people within brands and services that traditional media companies have built. CNM: At the CBC you were tasked with syndication of content through third-party networks like iTunes. Are you looking to do the same at Alliance Atlantis? CG: Our first focus will be our own platforms, and growing those platforms around our brands and our channel offerings, for sure. We’re going to especially grow online and in mobile. I think there are really great opportunities for companies that have really strong niche audiences and communities, and brands and pop entertainment. I think that really describes Alliance Atlantis – it has very strong brands in specialty television: in food, in home and gardening, in lifestyle, in factual programming, but also is very much invested in popular entertainment through the Showcase brand. Altogether, Alliance Atlantis is a great investor in Canadian content, and it’s going to be Canadian content that’s going to be essential for us moving into these new digital networks. That is what is going to distinguish our offerings and grab audiences, especially local ones. CNM: It’s been said there’s a shortage of Canadian content in digital and interactive media. CG: Correct. I would say it’s undersupplied, and therefore I think there’s a demand that’s not being met since Canadians are big broadband users. So there’s lots of opportunities to provide compelling Canadian content on these new platforms. CNM: With mobile video being covered by the New Media Exemption Order of 1999, that paves the way for a lot of it. CG: Well, I think with that you’re seeing basically the same thing as the Internet – an unregulated space. The challenge for independent producers and broadcasters is how to finance and create content that is both compelling and adequate for those platforms, so that it’s not just basically "shovelware." That means developing new skills and new understandings of user behavior beyond the linear telecast. Everyone in the industry is really on that path: I think the industry understands that it needs to meet consumers on their own terms. They are increasingly their own programmers and producers – how do we engage those users? That is, I think, the next big challenge. Again, just to repeat myself, those companies that have strong brands and strong presences and are already commissioning and creating Canadian content, I think will be able to build good audiences in these new digital networks, which are interactive, on-demand, basically more open to consumers, their choices, and what they are producing and sharing themselves. I think it’s quite an exciting opportunity, but it’s essential for the industry to really focus on these new platforms. But, given that they’re unregulated, and predominantly US-programmed and controlled, the imperative for Canadian-operated media companies is to rise up to the challenge of providing content and networks and places – digital communities – for Canadians to consume and interact and relate with our brands and shows. CNM: Norm Bolen has also opined that what users do with your content will shape how that content is delivered in future… CG: I think that’s true, and you’re seeing that kind of engagement increasingly. It’s especially happening in the advertising field, where consumers are being given content to mash up and play with. It’s not just consumers basically telling us what they want to see, it’s also consumers actively producing with us. CNM: Raising the question of rights… CG: Well, I think the industry in Canada needs to be very mindful of what is happening in other legal regimes. In the United States, rights are being cleared and content is being distributed in Canada in an unregulated fashion. Therefore, strategically, we need to move fast to clear rights, otherwise we’re just going to be rolled over by foreign content. At the moment, the entire field of digital media is, I’d have to say, gripped and consumed by how to clear rights and how to develop new rights-clearance regimes. We’re a decade old on the Internet, and we still don’t have efficient rights-clearance rules. We cannot wait another 10 years before we tackle both the Internet and mobile. CNM: Discussion of how best to transition from pushing content to people to having users pull content down to themselves has also been at the forefront… CG: I describe the Internet as the ultimate channel-surfing environment, where the consumer is centrally in control. All of the content on the Internet is on-demand. So, for media companies that have traditionally been programmers of linear formats, it’s a new thing to get into the on-demand world, but it’s not something that is completely impossible to grasp. Everyone is moving into this space, and there are quite a number of successes. I think it’s quite possible to grow into these media. You just have to understand the differences, and learn from past failures and successes. Whether it’s distributors, programmers or so on, we must be respectful not only of consumer tastes, but actually understand their behavior and meet them on their own terms. I think my colleagues would say they are audience-centric. They all read the "overnights" and alter television schedules accordingly, change development slates and commissions. You just have to be audience-centric on new platforms, with new behaviours and new metrics, that’s all. CNM: What’s the biggest difference you’ve noticed between the CBC and Alliance Atlantis? CG: They’re both major players. The CBC is principally a conventional broadcaster in radio and television, although it has some specialty properties, Newsworld being the biggest one. Alliance Atlantis, in the specialty world, has different demographics, and is commercially focused for the benefit of its shareholders. But how different is that from the CBC, that needs to be accountable to its shareholders, who are the taxpayers? I don’t view it as that dramatically different, but certainly the stakeholders and shareholders in Alliance Atlantis are not as plentiful as the taxpayers of Canada.

Q&A:Catching up with Claude Galipeau

Broadcast | May 15, 2006

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