Ben Silverman
Microsoft (MSFT) is entering anew into this field by going with some proven Hollywood writers and producers, rather than going with the unknown. This from the beginning is hard to tell if it is a good move, as when you read about all of those that have been in television for years and their attempt to go online, they seem to all come up with the same way of doing it. We'll see if it works.
Their first step was to team up with Ben Silverman who is one of the chief movers of introducing the reality-show into the American marketplace. He also produced the shows "The Office" and "The Biggest Loser" for NBC. They are calling the project, MSN Originals.
The deal which will span the period of one year, will entail the creation of original 10 pilots created for MSN to be shown online.
To take advantage of the web's strengths, many of the offerings will include communities integrated with the show, products to buy and the opportunity to dig more into what the segments offer and for added information. Part of the monetization will be product placement within the segments which is one of the things that Silverman is experienced at.
One of the last aspects of the deal is the ability to take any of the Web offerings, if they are successful, and turn them into a television series through Silverman's company Reveille. Microsoft will also have a financial connection to any show that emerges from the Web segments. The segments themselves will be around two-and-a-half-minute long each.
The best thing about this deal is that it is bringing more competition to the marketplace and giving consumers the type of variety and availability when they want it. This can only be a good sign as the competition heats up.
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