Hearst is Transforming Online Video and Itself with Smart Investing in MobiTV, Slingbox, Brightcove and the NewsMarket

Michael Dunn, Vice President, Hearst Interactive Media

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Michael Dunn: My interest dates way back pre-blogging, just from an online, rich media perspective. The thing that really resonated with me is when RSS2.0 with enclosures became capable, and then publicized through Adam Curry and Dave Winer and blossomed into early stage podcasting.

I created my blog, which is nomadicaudio.com, within a few days of hearing the first – what weren’t even called podcasts at that point.

Andy Plesser: So, Michael, there’s a lot of emerging forms of video blogging coming up. What do you think is the best form to you? Is there one form? How should video be distributed?

Michael Dunn: I think you need to put it out in every format. If you look at what Andrew’s doing at Rocketboom; he makes sure he puts out everything from HD to just view it on his website in flash.

Andy Plesser: Hurst is both a very old media company and a new media company. How does – how does the company evolve and where might it be going, and what’s happening on the division level?

Michael Dunn: Sure. Hurst is made up of a newspaper division, magazine division, broadcast division – that’s Hurst-Argyle – it’s a public company, and business media division, digital media, focused; probably the earliest group that was focused on digital media because their asset was digital, and entertainment, as you mentioned, so ownership and ESPN, AME and so on.

Each of our core divisions has been looking at digital media strategies for a while, and so each of them is entering into it. Newspapers has a very big initiative underway; so does magazines, and from a venture side, which is a group I work in; I work in a venture and technology group that’s at a corporate level.

We look to make investments in companies that can do two things, provide economic return on the investment and also provide new knowledge that we bring into the company, so by investing in an innovative startup company like a Brightcove, we’re going to hopefully both gain economically, but also gain from a perspective of understanding.

Andy Plesser: How do you figure out what to invest in, and what kind of companies are you investing in now?

Michael Dunn: They tend to be companies that don’t fit into one of our traditional divisions, so we’re not gonna get involved in buying a new newspaper or a new TV station or acquisition of a magazine property. We already have businesses that do that naturally.

We look at areas that are on the edge of those divisions, so they’re media-related. We look at them for two basic reasons; financial return to the company and key learning from being involved with those companies, especially early companies as they’re looking at emerging business models.

Andy Plesser: Yeah, why don’t you give us a little bit of rundown on some of the portfolio companies and who they are?

Michael Dunn: Gather is a social network site. Sphere is a blogsphere servicing company. The NewsMarket is a video services company. MobiTV is a mobile TV offering. Brightcove is a digital or Internet TV offering. Sling Media is a different way to consume TV through the network. Pandora’s an online music-sharing site, and Light Orbit is a broadcasting industry services company.

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Hearst Interactive Media, Micheal Dunn, Wireless Video, Mobile Video, Online Video