“Engagement” is the term that is generating much of the heat in the media business these days, in part because raw viewing numbers online (or even in legacy media like television) only tell part of the story. Tens of millions of consumers are tethered to their mobile devices – smart phones and tablets, mainly.

Simple engagement measures such as tweets, Facebook “likes” and online comments are useful for programmers and marketers, but not as much as deeper engagement experiences by fans. Hence the extraordinary growth of fan-curation sites like Pinterest and fan-content sites like Instagram.

I believe the next frontier is fan-powered storytelling – a concept that merges the excitement of super-fans (think: Comic-Con) with software that enables deep, story-based interaction. My client Theatrics offers an approach to this new frontier in storytelling.

I’ll be in New York City next week for two talks on the topic of fan-powered stories. Please let me know if you’re attending, or if you’d like to chat while I’m in town.

FAN-POWERED MEDIA: Inviting your audience into the story with Theatrics.com

Theatrics.com is an interactive entertainment startup whose flagship product enables the creation of crowd-sourced online storytelling. The cloud-based system allows show creators to create and manage a story environment in which audience members can create characters, respond to story prompts, engage and share their content. Recent examples include the steampunk adventure Aurelia: Edge of Darkness; USA’s Psych Social Sector and “Wecome to Sanditon,” the sequel to the popular web series “Lizzie Bennet’s Diaries.” 

STORYCODE, September 17, 7pm at Ogilvy Headquarters – 636 11th Avenue (btw 46th and 47th St). Also presenting: Elaine McMillion, with interactive documentary “Hollow.”

CONTENT CREATORS’ ROUNDTABLE: MAKING GREAT CONTENT FOR DIGITAL PLATFORMS

It all starts with the content: the TV networks, the online video websites, the buzz on social media. This panel focuses on creating content that works on digital platforms.

Panelists
Rich Cusick, Vice President of Entertainment and Women’s Lifestyles, Yahoo!
Reid Genauer, Chief Marketing Officer, Magisto
Shane Rahmani, VP, Corporate Development, Electus
Nick DeMartino, Head of Business Development, Theatrics.com
Moderator: Paul Kontonis, General Manager, Magnet Media Originals and Chairman, International Academy of Web Television

DMW Future of Television Conference, September 18, 10am – 36 Battery Place,   Museum of Jewish Heritage