24
Nov

Monaco Media Forum 2010: Extraordinary & Inspiring

“Welcome to the worlds most influential media forum”, said HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco at the beginning of the Monaco Media Forum 2010. Indeed the event is not only inspirational, but is also bringing together the a very influential group of people in the media business. During the almost three days, I met founders, entrepreneurs, investors but also executives of the big media companies. Here are some key trends reflected in my video interviews….

Publishing, especially the News Business, will never be the same anymore. Newspapers are struggling to understand the digital age and to re-structure their old-business into a thriving new-business. It seems that The Huffington Post found a way to be profitable and successful during these times of change. The Huffington Post is one of the most read Online Newspapers in USA and has an active community, with over one million comments made on the site each month. Eric Hippeau, CEO of The Huffington Post, said that “people have lost trust in general (government, toyota, tiger woods), now companies build trust via social media. 2/3 of #HuffPost is unique and self created content, 1/3 is curated & aggregated news. News wants to be free. You can’t put that genie back in the bottle”. He adds “…we will never charge for content…reason…there is a much bigger advertising market.”

Cloud Computing and the development of low cost netbooks aka cloudbooks is driving the global internet business. On the forefront of this development is Jolicloud, a startup developing a Cloud OS, founded and lead by Tariq Krim.

Mobile Gaming and Social Media together are creating new opportunities for App Developers, but also for Game Developers. Interview with Andrej Nabergoj, CEO of Outfit7, one of the leading Gaming Development Company.

Console Gaming gets a new dimension with X-Box 360 Kinect. Interview with Bella Acharya, Director Microsoft Advertising and responsible for XBox 360 Kinect.