Anne Sweeney: Television Has Been Unleashed

CANNES: Disney’s Anne Sweeney discussed the numerous new opportunities presented by digital technology, asserting that “television has been unleashed,” in her MIPCOM keynote today before sitting down for a Q&A with World Screen’s Anna Carugati.

Sweeney, co-chair of Disney Media Networks, and president of Disney/ABC Television Group, opened her speech noting that the “television business has always been forward looking: to the next episode, the next season, the next advance in technology that will change everything and take us to a new level.”

She referenced the revolutionary 2005 deal to get Disney-owned shows onto the iTunes store. Soon, ABC.com was streaming content online, with ads. “We have never looked back,” she said. “We’ve leveraged technology to create new ways to give viewers what they want while protecting our content from piracy and generating additional revenue.”

She noted that Disney/ABC Television Group was evolving into a content-creation engine and technology company, having invented some two dozen patents. “We’re doing things no one even imagined when I started in this industry…things none of us could imagine just a couple of years ago.”

Sweeney went on to talk about rolling ABC content out worldwide within hours of the U.S. debut; flexible distribution windows; and “creating feature-film quality content on a television budget and schedule…. What was impossible just a few years ago is now common practice thanks to digital technology that allows production teams to work seamlessly from multiple locations. “ For example, the upcoming show Missing was filmed on location in Europe.

Digital technology, Sweeney said, didn’t disrupt the TV business, it transformed it and unleashed it. Viewers will watch 140 million more hours of TV this year than last year, she said. Global viewing audiences will reach 3.7 billion by the end of this year. She cited a Deloitte study that concluded that “in today’s world, TV is the medium around which all others revolve.”

“Collectively we made that happen,” she said. “Our future is only limited by our commitment to keep the momentum going.”

With television now “set free from all constraints…what comes next?” she asked. “Today, television is the most powerful medium in the world. Tomorrow it will also be the most personal. There is no one future for television. It will be defined differently for everyone…. It may be impossible to predict what television will look like five or ten years from now. The odds are, it will look different to everybody.”

Most people, Sweeney asserted, will continue to watch television on the set at home, others will want to access content on all of their devices.

Sweeney went on to talk about how social media is reshaping the television experience and allowing for even greater personalization for viewers. “We’re focusing on social networks because that’s where our viewers are.”

She noted that ABC Family was the first “truly social network” in the U.S., “engaging viewers before, during and after our shows through social-media sites, and incorporating the technology into ABC Family story lines themselves.”

Sweeney also discussed the growth of the Disney kids’ channel portfolio and the rollout of the ABC TV On Demand service outside of the U.S.

Wrapping up her keynote, Sweeney noted, “Digital technology has unleashed our power to provide a great personal entertainment experience for every single viewer in the world…. The more personalized television gets, the less passive the experience will become.” TV is no longer something you just watch, “it’s something you do.”

“Television has been unleashed. We’ve taken TV out of the box, and set it free to be so much more…. We’ve created the opportunity to define our own destiny, and to build businesses that are…more profitable than we ever imagined. The future of television is unknown, because its potential is now unlimited.”