Keeping Pace With Content Syndication. An Interview with Nordot’s Aya Uryu

The fragmentation of media has been a boon to content developers. There are many more opportunities to showcase content including global content syndicators. 

Aya Uryu, Co- Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Nordot, is in the center of this burgeoning media ecosystem. As she explained it, her company is, “a content syndication and sourcing platform for publishers that comes with delivery technology and monetization.”

The Global Content Ecosystem

Uryu notes that while her company has no direct competitors, Nordot is often compared with companies like SmartNews and NewsBreak and other aggregators that are consumer facing news media. However, “Nordot is an infrastructure that’s plugged into news publishers’ or aggregators’ backend to help them syndicate or source content. As a matter of fact, we’re a sourcing platform for these aggregators.” And while companies like Outbrain and Taboola, “offer a recommendation module on many publishers’ sites, mixed with sponsored content (ads) and editorial content,” she noted, “Publishers don’t have editorial control over these widgets and don’t get to host these stories on their domain as they function as “fillers.” On the other hand Nordot platform enables publishers to host other publisher’s stories on their domain and monetize, with a capability to select which story from which publisher.” Finally, Nordot is often compared with PubExchange which is similar to Outbrain and Taboola, “but they offer a widget and landing page where publishers exchange traffic by linking to one other.”

Opportunities and Challenges

Success for Nordot is measured in the success of their clients. For example, “DPA has been unlocking more revenue and market growth by using Nordot’s technology for New Publishers/Distribution channels, New Markets/Languages and New Delivery Types (full text/widget), while Sony News Suite Android App has introduced Nordot as the official content library to source top global content.” Other successes include work with EMG, MSN and NewsBreak.

As far as challenges are concerned, they focus more on the frenetic pace of the news cycle. “The news media space is filled with breaking news and emergencies. Since their primary focus is to ‘get the news out,’ at times it’s difficult to get their attention to the backend part of the business,” she explained and added, “Editorial is exciting, but backend is not, so it often gets deprioritized. But that’s exactly where we are trying to help. Our syndication and sourcing platform is there to help maximize the distribution of the stories they produce and sourcing of stories they don’t produce. Our service exists so that they can fully focus on their editorial, and we take care of the other tasks. “

Female Leadership

As a female entrepreneur, Uryu is in a unique position to assess the current landscape for women in media.  She noted that she’s been fortunate to be able to surround herself with progressive minded people when it came to founding and running Nordot USA. “I was born and raised in Japan, a country that is ranked one of the worst when it comes to gender gap (Japan is the 120th among 156 countries) where leadership, eagerness, and outspokenness in women tend to be seen negatively. I had to carry the stigma pretty much all my life and my previous career in Japanese companies up until I met Ryutaro Nakase, Founder and CEO of Nordot. He took me for who I was and allowed me to break free from the Japanese way of thinking when it comes to leadership. With his support, I was able to dream up a team in the US where I met Bhaargav Kosuri, with whom I founded Nordot USA. He’s a brilliant entrepreneur with no limiting beliefs and taught me how to be one too. Whether Ryutaro or Bhaargav, they give all women in a country like mine a hope - that women can be great leaders and destiny is in our hands.”

The Future

Growth is the operative word for the future of Nordot. But keeping on top of technological advancements in the publishing space will continue to be challenging. “I think it’s quite difficult when you’re not the New York Times or Washington Post,” she admitted. But the chance to share information should help many companies succeed. “What I always envision is for publishers to have a common infrastructure where they can share technology and resources based on other publishers' playbooks so that they’re automatically up to date. I feel that collective efforts and visibility are the key when it comes to publishers and technology in order to minimize the time on non-editorial tasks,” she stated.

And, as an entrepreneur, she advised that for someone who wants to start their own business, “The simpler the better - lay out the concept in one pager, financial model in excel sheet, and once they make sense, start pitching to the right people and secure support! You cannot go far alone but can with the right people by your side. Also, start conducting micro experiments to validate every step of the way.”

This article first appeared in www.Mediapost.com

Artwork by Charlene Weisler

Thinking Out of the Box in Syndication. Interview with Jodi Chisarick of 21st Century Fox

Jodi Chisarick, Senior Vice President and General Sales Manager, 21^st Century Fox, realized after changing her college major three times that communications was her forte. She started in the media business straight out of college at a small ad agency where she learned the national side of TV and advertising. From there she went to CBS Networks in planning and then to Fox in 1995 where she has been ever since. 

Such longevity is rare in media nowadays and she sometimes reflects on the road not taken. “Did I do the right thing for my career by staying in the same place for so long and in such a specific area?” she mused. “Maybe if I moved around I would have been exposed to things beyond syndication. But then I realize that I had the ability to raise my three children as well as run the department that I grew up in. And I love my job,” she concluded. 

Weisler: What is your definition of TV and where do you see the future of linear TV?

Chisarick: My definition of TV is watching a TV show on my TV set. I do watch on mobile and on the computer but it tends to be when I am traveling or commuting. If I am at home I would never choose to watch it on any other screen than my big TV screen. There has been a lot of conversation over the past couple of years about what is the future of linear TV. When you look at the quality of shows being produced – whether it is on Netflix or HBO or cable or broadcast, and you look at the amount of people you still reach through linear TV, you realize that it is not going anywhere any time soon. There will still be challenges and changes and we may see some of the long tail, third tier cable networks not surviving. There might be fallout but I still think that content is what it is all about. Without the right content there is nothing to watch no matter where you are trying to watch it. The most money is still being spent on linear TV content. 

Weisler: What are the opportunities and challenges going forward in syndication?

Chisarick: Over the past two upfronts we have definitely seen the opportunity for syndication. We are viewed live, have shorter pods and reach more people than a lot of broadcast television and a lot of cable TV. We are a more efficient vehicle and we have seen a tremendous increase in demand in syndication from last upfront and even heading into scatter for next year. People are retooling how they are using linear TV. One of our biggest challenges is that there are a lot of (younger) people out there who aren’t quite sure what syndication is and what bucket we fit into. We go into agencies and give a Syndication 101 presentation – what is it, how it is bought – and we try to make ourselves stand-out. We are told we are not sexy enough, we have too many repeats, we are only daytime so we have met with a lot of outside companies to come up with different opportunities to offer advertisers. Unless it is first run programming we can’t offer integration, sponsorships and branding in the off-net shows. We have come up with a couple of different ways to create custom content so advertisers can tie into to favorite off-net shows. But it is a slow go. We are doing these native-in-video ads that are digitally integrating a product into the content but the agencies don’t know where to fund it because there are no GRPs against it. It is not a commercial but it doesn’t come from digital. We want to be able to offer 360 and turnkey opportunities but also be able to execute them as well as get the agencies and clients to execute them. We need to think out of the box to make this happen.

Charlene Weisler: Did you always want to go into sales?

Jodi Chisarick: I studied advertising in college and I think I have the right personality for sales. Once I was in sales in CBS I just knew that this is what I wanted to do. What I always loved most about this business is that I could have an interesting conversation with anyone around a dining room table and talk about what I did. I love television. I am a big network TV watcher and I can go home and still be in my work world. 

Weisler: So how to you achieve life balance?

Chisarick: It is really hard, especially with a long commute. I do the best I can and I have always worked for very understanding management. So if I needed to leave early, it was not a problem. I am very lucky that I have three very independent children. My husband pitches in to help when he can and I always had help at home. Despite being tired all the time, I am happy that I did not take time off when having children so I could continue in my career. I think it would be hard to re-enter the workforce after a few years out of it. I am lucky too that I live in a town where everyone helps each other out. It does take a village.

Weisler: What advice would you give a college student today about a career in media?

Chisarick: Definitely get digital experience. TV is still King but having digital experience is good on your resume. Be patient, work hard, thank people for the opportunities that come your way and double-check your work. Be responsible for your work. It is a hard business. It is not what it used to be. Companies are running leaner than they were before. But it is still a great business. You will love it. 

And my advice to management is to bring the younger people into meetings so they can see how the process works and how decisions are being made.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

Q&A with Amy Carney

Amy Carney is President, Advertiser Sales, Strategy and Research for Sony Pictures Television (SPT) where she leads its worldwide research group across all of SPT's businesses.  She also oversees U.S. ad sales in SPT's first-run and off-network programs, including The Dr. Oz Show, Seinfeld, The King of Queens, Rules of Engagement and Community.

A media industry veteran, Carney began her career at TeleRep, followed by leadership roles at Univision Online, CitySearch and WTVR-TV. The combination of research and sales experience garnered throughout her career has given her a unique perspective on the industry and propelled her to her current role at SPT.

In this fascinating interview, Carney talks about her career path, her work at SPT, the impact of research, data and programmatic on the business, how her mentor shaped her career and how she achieves work-life balance.

CW: As a syndicator, who would you say is your competitive set?

AC: In syndication, I think our competitive set has become digital.  There is an assumption that the genre we are selling has gotten older, is a little less sophisticated, and that the data that is available to track those audiences is not up to the same level that is available to digital or others who can control their own distribution. And because of that, money has been diverted from syndication to other media platforms. I don’t see my competitors as being other syndicators. At some point we compete for those budgets, but they are probably my biggest allies in trying to get people to refocus on the importance of syndication, the lack of clutter in syndication and the fact that syndication is viewed live, which differentiates it from other emerging platforms and TV media outlets. So I look at competition a little differently these days.

CW: Earlier in your career you worked in research, and now you are the head of research and ad sales at SPT. How has research changed over the years? 

AC: When I started in the business, research wasn’t as much of a discipline as it is today.  The people that I have the great opportunity to work with at SPT in research are so knowledgeable and skilled, and they have to have one eye looking back and one eye looking forward at all times.  When I started out in research, we were only looking at a couple overnight reports, and there were three stations in a market.  It was just not as complicated as it is today; the research we did then was only for the purpose of supporting sales.  Now, the research we are doing at SPT is supporting every aspect of the business, from sales, marketing, distribution and programming, to the overall strategy of the company.  We are almost in some cases like the “canary in the mine,” trying to figure out what’s the right path going forward.  Because the media business is changing so fast, research has a real voice and a seat at the table that it didn’t have when I started out. 

CW: Can you talk about any data initiatives you are undertaking at SPT? 

One of the big challenges we are facing in the media business is to understand what “data” means: what it means to a studio, what it means to an ad sales group, what it means to a distribution team. It used to be that for every program, there was one set of “data” you would use to measure success.  Now, for every show that we have, there are countless data sources supplying us with information.  From Nielsen, to Rentrak, to our primary research, to the advanced analytics we now have, there are many different sources supplying us with information.  Managing the data, organizing it, and getting it out to the different business units so that they can best make use of it, is a very important initiative that we are very focused on.  The question of what’s important, what is noise, and what brings direct value back to the business and to our partners, is something we work on every day. 

CW: Amy, do you have an opinion on programmatic, and how that might have an impact on your business right now? 

Programmatic could be a good thing for the TV business if done right. The ability of fusing data with technology and content is an important next step for TV and TV advertising spend. I really believe it could help syndication if we can figure out how to get the data attached to the content, but there are some challenges with that.  When people do figure out programmatic, and it’s not just looked at as a remnant solution but as a solution that elevates the level of targeting and the amount of information you have about who a viewer is—and giving those tools to the buying community—it could really be a boon for TV advertising spend.

CW: Looking back over your career Amy, do you, or did you have, a mentor and if so, who was it?

AC: That would be my Dad, Don Carney. He was a producer and director of sports and special events.  He brought me to work with him from a very early age.  I was very fortunate to be able to be present at many different productions from The Officer Joe Bolton show, to Local News, to the St Patrick’s Day Parade, and countless NY Knicks and Yankee games, both home and away. Watching my Dad direct a ball game was something that you would never forget.  His preparation was so exhausting that he knew the strengths and weaknesses of each player and he could direct the camera position based on where he anticipated the ball would go.  He was a perfectionist who never missed a day, never compromised a standard, and required that from himself and from his control room. He was also a child of the depression, and a World War II vet. I can still hear his voice every day.

CW: How do you achieve work - life balance, if you do?

AC: I think I do, actually. It is something that I am proud of. My single greatest achievement is my family. I have been married for 30 years and I have two children – my son is 25 and my daughter is 21. I believe it was the CEO of Avon who at one time said, in order to have work life balance, you have to accept that one day you are going to be a really great mom and not so good a CEO, and one day you are going to be a really great CEO, and maybe not such a great mom, but at the end you hope that it balances out. There is some truth to that.  But every day, you wake up, and give it everything you have.

This article first appeared in www.MediaBizBloggers.com