A recent survey of broadcasters and television and new media producers indicated a common theme: less is sometimes more when it comes to interactive content associated with television programs. “Some of the most successful, revenue-generating digital properties today are produced on small budgets in tight timeframes,” said FanTrust President Catherine Warren, a longstanding member of the Bell Fund Board and Communications Chair. “This special funding program comes at a critical time in the industry when nimble and simple are the new keys to interactive prosperity.”

The average budget for Bell Fund interactive projects has been approximately $400,000. This new pilot program will encourage the production of relevant, high quality, modestly budgeted interactive projects and determine the longer-term feasibility of the program. It may also help develop viable business models with content that is more accessible to international markets – a lesson learned from the Bell Fund bliki “How to make money with multi-platform digital media”.

Read the full Bell Fund press release.

Even better, digital media fundamentals appear stronger than ever. A recent study reports that people would rather keep Internet, video and voice services in their budgets than any other type of expense, including personal care products, gym memberships and apparel. Bad news for hygiene, but great news for digital media, which environmentally at least, and porn aside, is a pretty clean industry.

In an era of user-generated content and web-only content, what remains unique about BellFunded content is its embedded connection to broadcast and all that television embodies: outstanding productions, unrivalled promotions and unbeatable reach. Couple all of this with TV’s mature business model, high-tech’s entrepreneurial spirit and wrap it all up in the glamour-bubble of entertainment, and there could be no better formula for success. Of course digital media is still in its infancy – with perhaps a century of success ahead before we’d even be considered for a multi-billion dollar bail-out – so, we’re entitled to tweak our formula along the way.

Canada may actually be the true calm in the storm. With our stable equity market and our sound economic policies, we recently ranked as the number one place to build a business, leading as the top country for entrepreneurs and the top ranked for entrepreneurial access to capital. (Unfortunately, the study was helmed by deposed junk bond king Michael Milken.)

Not only is there more money here for entrepreneurs, there is more money for digital media specifically. The Bell Fund’s contribution as Canada’s largest private fund for interactive broadcasting remains unrivalled anywhere in the world. Cable and satellite distributors continue to thrive, subscribers are up and profits are growing, which is good for the convergence kitty. Add to this the new $100M Vanedge Capital fund earmarked for video games and digital entertainment, and there is no doubt that the formidable talent and acumen in our sector will keep us at the top of the heap for years to come.

As consumers of all this digital entrepreneurship, we have also benefited from on-demand-everything and online-all-the-time. Blame it on YouTube, but by 2012 our insatiable appetite for bandwidth might even outstrip corporate greed, our demand exceeding cyberspace’s supply as the Internet unleashes random brownouts and our lifeline is reduced to what the Sunday Times of London calls “an unreliable toy.” So, not only do we have the challenge of defining a credible business model, we are faced with spearheading a conservation agenda, like a developing nation that must contend with the inconvenient truth. Ideally, next-gen digital producers will tackle these two issues in tandem and take us all to the next level.

Over the years we’ve seen digital properties get creatively lush, increasingly rich and fun to play. And we’ve seen the big awards like the Digital Emmy swoop in to acknowledge that new media has finally arrived. New storefronts like iTunes and the rise of virtual goods have opened new gateways to revenues. CNN seems as eager to Tweet as to broadcast, and no doubt monetize the results. New media syndication and licensing now results in real dollars.

After a classic relationship involving playground flirtations (NYT/Amazon), awkward prom dates (BBC/Microsoft), early arranged marriages (AOL/Time Warner) and legal separations (YouTube/Viacom), media and technology seem intent on working things out. And like any couple starting over while still arguing about money they’ll be seeking help.

There is no better bridge across this divide than content producers and rights-holders, each of whom are poised to capitalize on multiple revenue channels and propel new media models forward. It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it.

Excerpted from “The Last Word” by Catherine Warren, published in How to Make Money with Multi-platform Digital Media, Bell Fund, 2009, also available in French.

Read the Bell Fund press release on the bliki launch

You can view the full Bell Fund 2008 annual report, including the funded new media productions, online.

“The Awards were highly competitive this year,” said FanTrust Entertainment Strategies President Catherine Warren. “We are pleased but not surprised that a number of our distinguished clients were acknowledged by a jury of industry peers.”

Production powerhouse marblemedia swept two key awards, winning for both Company of the Year and Producer of the Year for partner Mark Bishop. Vancouver/Beijing-based Next Level Games won Excellence in Gaming for Mario Strikers Charged.  And the National Film Board of Canada-supported Homeless Nation won for Excellence in Social Media.

As a partner and co-founder of marblemedia, Mark Bishop plays a key role in developing television and interactive projects that tell unique stories that entertain and engage audiences across all platforms, including marblemedia’s This is Daniel Cook and This is Emily Yeung series. Current marble initiatives include The Adrenaline Project and Taste Buds; upcoming projects include the animated comedy The Dating Guy, now in production with Teletoon for debut in 2009.

Mario Strikers Charged is a hall of fame sequel to the high-energy soccer game Super Mario Strikers, for the Nintendo Wii. With this game, Next Level brings Mario Strikers, and its publisher Nintendo, into the online arena, allowing players to compete online via the Wi-Fi Connection.

Homeless Nation is an online forum where Canada’s homeless community share their stories – through blogs and audio visual content – as an on-going dialogue for social awareness and positive change. The project, executive produced by Daniel Cross, was co-produced by National Film Board of Canada.

In addition to FanTrust clients cited for their outstanding contributions to digital media, six awards went to Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund related ventures and individuals.

OddJobJack.com, which won for Excellence in Cross Platform, allows viewers to experience first-hand the on-the-job misadventures of the perpetually unemployed Jack Ryder, a 25-year old Sociology grad, through the sites casual games and contests.

Excellence in News/ Information winner Diamond Road Online brings the technologies of collaborative filtering, tagging and personal recommendations – techniques behind popular sites like Flickr and Amazon.com – into the world of documentary storytelling.

Designer of the Year was awarded to Daniel Riley of Life Capture Interactive; the company was recently received Bell Fund support to develop CBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? website.

Sheridan Scott, instrumental in founding the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund, received Special Recognition for her long-standing commitment to Canada’s new media industry.

Producer Mark Bishop and marblemedia most recently received funding for TheAdrenalineProject.com, where users play and compete in a tournament style game online with Boomer, the over-the-top cheerleader and drill sergeant who serves as a guide and mentor throughout.

“The Bell Fund continues to play a major part in cultivating digital media leaders and innovation, positioning Canada at the global center of excellence in this industry,” said Catherine, who has also served on the Bell Fund Board for close to a decade.

###