Interview: Behind The Scenes With 15 Gigs, Fox’s Stealthy Digital Content Incubator

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The days of big media companies pumping money into their own hyped-up video incubators seem to be over, but that doesn’t mean they’ve stopped investing in original digital content altogether. Fox, for example, has 15 Gigs, an incubator that’s been creating web and mobile series on a budget without much fanfare.

15 Gigs has the requisite Hulu and YouTube channels, but When Ninjas Attack, one of its original comedic series, is now slated for a possible TV run. So I spoke with the execs who head it up: Gabe Marano, VP of programming at Fox Television Studios, and Ilsa Berg, director of programming, about the low-budget development process. They wouldn’t disclose how much Fox had invested in 15 Gigs overall, but did shed light on how keeping costs low removed some of the pressure to monetize the content — and when, if ever, would be a good time to start charging people to watch original series online.

Tameka Kee: So, you’re working on bringing When Ninjas Attack from the web to TV. How do you make it work? *NBC* tried and failed with quarterlife.

Ilsa Berg: I think I’m one of the few people that really liked quarterlife, but you have to make sure that the content you’re trying to adapt is still just as good when you make the necessary changes from web to TV. When Ninjas Attack as a web series has the same attributes you’d expect from a TV show — there’s comedy, action and competition. But it doesn’t translate to TV in its current format, so we’re developing it into a reality TV-style competition. And not every one of our series will be, or needs to be moved to TV. Some of it is designed to live only on the web or as a mobile app.

When do you start to think about whether a show would work as a vehicle for branded content or product placement?

Gabe Marano: If there’s a project we like that wouldn’t fall into the low-budget category, we think of bringing in sponsors. But we don’t have to go to brands — we can also go to international buyers that just want to invest — without having to make the format changes to a show that a brand might want. We see the inclusion of brands and ads as a supplement to an international co-production model for digital.

Can you get people to pay to watch original digital content?

Marano: Yes, under certain circumstances. I think it depends on the distribution channel first — they’ll pay for it on the iPhone, for example, but maybe not on their desktop — and then the nature of the content. It also depends on whether you’ve built an audience for the show. Asking someone to try something new with you — a new show, new directors, new talent — is not the best time to implement a pay-per-view or per-download model.

So why is Fox willing to invest in 15 Gigs, if your team isn’t necessarily thinking about monetizing the content it creates from the onset?

Marano: We’re at a company that has a portfolio of assets, so 15 Gigs doesn’t have to be the core business. As long as we can keep costs scaled down, we can continue to discover new talent, new ideas and new content formats that could ultimately evolve into something profitable. And a studio needs a constant stream of fresh ideas. We have to be financially responsible — but the overriding questions we ask about a project from the start are whether it’s good and fun, and whether people will want to watch it — not how are we going to make money from this.

Berg: I think many of the content studios didn’t allow themselves enough time to experiment, partly because they were spending so much money up front on shows, that they had to depend on the ad community to fund them. Then came the recession. We’re definitely keeping costs low, but Fox also understands that TV had time to grow into its business model; so they’re fine with letting digital try to grow into its own, as well.

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