Ken Greenberg, Edge Communications Inc., 818/719-9292 or
[email protected]
Tamairah Woodward, USWeb/CKS, 310/664-5100 or
[email protected]
USWeb/CKS Report Explores The Future Of Entertainment Online; Industry Executives Weigh In
Industry Outlook Examines Evolving Business Models, Digital Distribution, E-Commerce Impact
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - April 21, 1999 - Challenging the online and entertainment communities to identify the Internet's unique role as an entertainment medium, the Entertainment and Media Practice of USWeb/CKS (Nasdaq:USWB), a leader in strategic Internet and marketing communications services, has unveiled an Industry Outlook report entitled, "Charting the Future of the Online Entertainment."
The report includes insight from top entertainment and media industry executives and explores the Internet's evolving role as a unique entertainment medium - identifying areas of optimism, opportunity and concern.
The report was released during Spring Internet World at the "Second Annual Toast to the Digital Coast: The Next Hollywood: The Biz, The Buzz, The Bucks," an event co-sponsored by USWeb/CKS and Lawnmower, the Los Angeles New Media Roundtable.
"With more than 700 new media companies in Silicon Valley, Southern California's Digital Coast and in New York's Silicon Alley, no one yet has found the unique 'entertainment proposition' the Internet offers - one that leverages the medium's special qualities, and delivers compelling content, community and interactivity," said Nick Rothenberg, partner, USWeb/CKS, and head of the firm's Entertainment & Media Practice. "We prepared this report to simultaneously look back and look ahead, to see how we might achieve the right formula for entertaining consumers online."
Insight from Industry Insiders
In developing the Industry Outlook, USWeb/CKS interviewed senior executives from major entertainment and media organization, including 20th Century Fox, Atomic Pop, FX Networks, Hard Rock Cafe, The Hollywood Reporter, Motion Picture Association of America, NBC, Sony Pictures and UBL.com. The firm also relied on its experience as the Internet strategy partner to a host of leading companies in music, film, broadcast and publishing.
"Like other global industries, entertainment has spent the last five years on a steep learning curve," Rothenberg said. "Now, as network bandwidth expands and e-commerce becomes a reality, the Entertainment Industry is poised to tackle the really big questions: 'How will consumers be entertained five years from now? And how will companies build viable entertainment businesses online?'"
"This much is clear: for Internet users to be entertained, they must feel involved," he added. "They want to manipulate the programming and entertain themselves. They demand to participate; they want to be the show."
Five Principles for the Future
The USWeb/CKS Industry Outlook identifies five principles that will shape the future of entertainment on the Internet:
� The user's experience will become the "product"
� "Creative" will leverage the Internet's interactivity
� Personalized digital delivery will replace mass distribution
� Commerce will become the primary revenue generator
� The major players will remain the major players
"We're all learning that the Internet really does operate by different rules," said Steve Rennie, president, UBL.com. "Traditional marketing and selling paradigms don't apply, nor do the usual business models. Entertainment and media companies must make a cultural shift to both operate on 'Internet time' and accept a technological way of doing business. But everybody better get used to it, because technology will be integrated into everything we do from now on."
Among the report's other conclusions:
� Entertainment & Media companies will increasingly be capable of either selling the product or serving up an experience (or both) while entertaining.
� Technological advances will drive user experiences to an even greater level of intimacy, and in varied aspects of daily life.
� Entertainment & Media companies will begin to replace traditional mass marketing with niche marketing efforts capable of leveraging the Internet's interactive potential.
� The largest Entertainment & Media companies will use their information assets to act as "infomediaries" - keepers of critical consumer data for sale to smaller players, or which can serve to fuel entirely new lines of business.
For a copy of the USWeb/CKS Industry Outlook, visit uswebcks.com.
About The USWeb/CKS Entertainment & Media Practice
The USWeb/CKS Entertainment & Media Practice offers expertise in all aspects of Internet technologies, strategic consulting, site design and development, content creation, online marketing and merchandising and sophisticated Internet systems integration. The Practice is committed to helping clients use the Internet strategically to develop additional revenue streams and boost ROI, through such activities as building brands, transacting commerce, creating community, improving customer service and supporting employees.
With headquarters in Los Angeles, the Entertainment & Media Practice serves organizations in music, film, broadcasting and publishing, from the company's offices worldwide. Leveraging the creativity and technical skills of the firm's more than 2,000 employees, the Entertainment & Media Practice of USWeb/CKS works with a diversity of marquee clients managed by a core team of Internet professionals with unsurpassed experience and expertise.
In Entertainment & Media, the USWeb/CKS client base includes music companies such as Atlantic, Atomic Pop, Elektra, EMI, Epic, Interscope, Mercury, Polygram, Sony and Virgin; broadcasters NBC, ABC, CBS, FX Network and the BBC; and such diverse entities as The Academy Awards, America Online, Go Network, Pixar, Starwave, Columbia TriStar, DirecTV, Hard Rock Cafe, Paramount Pictures, SFX Entertainment, Radio City Music Hall, Times Mirror, Twentieth Century Fox, UBL.com, Universal Studios, Warner Bros. and Warner Chappell.
About USWeb/CKS
USWeb/CKS (Nasdaq:USWB) is a professional services firm that works with clients to define strategies and implement innovative ways to build their businesses through the combination of expertise in strategy, Internet technology and marketing communications. USWeb/CKS helps clients differentiate their products and services, strengthen customer relationships, leverage human capital, and improve business efficiency in the digital economy. With more than 2,300 professionals, USWeb/CKS has helped hundreds of businesses advance their marketing communications programs as well as their traditional IT and Internet systems. The Company provides a broad selection of services from brand development and advertising to business process automation and e-commerce solutions. The Company headquarters are in Santa Clara, California. Additional information about USWeb/CKS is available by calling 408-987-3200.
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" (as defined under securities law) regarding the future of the Internet as an entertainment medium. USWeb/CKS's industry insight and future predictions discussed in this release may change over time due to future industry developments and various market factors. There can be no assurance that the predictions relating to the Internet as an entertainment medium will materialize. For additional information about factors that could affect the USWeb/CKS Entertainment and Media Practice's Industry Outlook, see the documents filed by USWeb and CKS Group with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Press contact: