Latest / Genuin Connections / Genuin Connections: Episode 12 -- Andy Wilson, EVP Business Development and Commerce

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Genuin Connections: Episode 12 -- Andy Wilson, EVP Business Development and Commerce · Genuin Connections

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  This is genuine connections featuring
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  collaborative conversations about
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  community, content, creativity,
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  commerce, and the convergence of media
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  and marketing.
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  >> So Andy Wilson is our great partner from
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  Mlache. Welcome. Thank you for joining.
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  You got in today.
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  >> Yeah. Thanks for having me.
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  >> Uh, anyone else get in today? You still
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  jetlagged? Yeah. So, we're day two at
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  CES. Um, and some themes have already
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  emerged. Some things that we've been
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  talking about for months, for in certain
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  cases years.
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  >> You're someone who has worked in this
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  space for
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  >> I won't
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  >> Yeah. Don't don't say the total number
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  of years.
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  >> We'll we'll count we we'll count them in
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  decades, not years. How about that? Um,
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  but as someone who has been in the
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  publishing space for, you know, really
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  seen the evolution of it from purely
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  print to digital to now the next
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  generation of technology-led content and
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  experiences. Where do you define and
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  where do you see us at this moment in
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  time? I mean, it's a challenging
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  environment, but it all we've gone
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  through these many times and
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  staying customer focused and making sure
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  you're getting and garnering that
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  engagement and being true to the
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  customer is how we'll find our way to
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  the next stage. Now, video is not
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  something that early on any publisher
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  thought about. It was not something that
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  they could think about unless you were a
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  TV network or right you know worked in
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  in film but the publishing industry in
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  terms of magazines and newspap
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  newspapers which is what mlache has been
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  built on and grown in through mergers
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  and acquisitions as well as just through
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  good oldfashioned hard work and
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  investigative journalism and reporting.
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  At what point did video become a
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  priority or something that you saw as a
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  monetizable opportunity? It's been a few
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  years we've been in video, but in the
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  horizontal video space, it it's the
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  engagement is not as strong. We're not
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  building those 16 to 18 minute sessions
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  that you showed there in the video. Um,
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  what we're doing now is getting our
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  editors to be front-facing and really
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  building that engagement with the
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  community and producing a lot more
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  content than what we were in the
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  horizontal realm.
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  You're someone who strikes me as curious
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  and passionate about learning. And as
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  I've gotten to know you over the last
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  couple of years, you know, you're you're
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  a sponge for a lot of information. How
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  do larger legacy organizations, some of
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  some of us work at some of these types
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  of um big slower moving institutions,
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  how are you embracing how do you find
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  change and champions within those types
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  of structures? At Mcclache, it's been
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  great because it starts at the top and
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  we have a CEO who embraces change and is
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  really about going out there trying new
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  things, not doing the same things we've
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  been doing for the past decade. We have
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  to be embracing AI,
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  >> looking at what's next and engaging the
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  consumer as the number one thing that we
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  do. And so we have the freedom to fail
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  and to try new things and to really get
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  out there. and part of what we're doing
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  in vertical video. We've been doing this
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  for about a year. We just signed on with
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  you and we're looking forward to really
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  building that vertical video experience
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  as a front-facing and really the primary
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  focus of our sites
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  >> across some of or most of the properties
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  with whom you are working. Where does
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  the creator or the affiliate or the
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  influencer-led whether it's content
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  generation or commerce driving
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  experience, where does that fall in sort
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  of your purview or your list of
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  priorities that we need to kind of move
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  to the top? We strongly believe that
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  we're not going to be the ones creating
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  all the content that's going into the
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  vertical video engine for the for our
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  shorts experience that's on our own and
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  operated sites or in our apps. We
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  believe that we will partner with
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  creators, influencers to help us build
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  that engagement. So, we'll find ones
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  that are tied to our brands or talking
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  about areas where our brands play and
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  we'll add that into the experience as
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  well as community-led and having
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  community be a big piece of that. So, it
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  will be our own editors, front-facing
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  content.
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  >> Yeah. It will be influencers and
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  creators and it will be community and
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  all of that together will create the
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  experience that I think the consumers
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  want.
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  >> You hit one of my buzz words, right?
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  Community, which is something that's
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  been at the at the foundational core of
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  what we're building, right? From a
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  technology perspective, giving users,
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  consumers, um, passionate fans of music
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  and sports an opportunity to connect. I
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  think personally that's where social
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  channels may have
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  kind of missed the boat in terms of
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  connecting each other. How do you think
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  community can like what does that mean
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  for mlache to actually lead with
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  community? If you take a look at there
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  are passion points within all of our
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  brands. Uh let's take US Weekly for
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  example, Dancing with the Stars.
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  Everybody's wanting to talk about who
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  got voted out, who's going to get voted
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  out, what
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  >> Yeah. what the dances were and having
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  them to be able to participate and have
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  back and forth with our editors who are
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  talking about what they feel and adding
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  that in. I I think that's going to be a
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  really big step forward for us. Does
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  giving some element of control or
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  surrendering some of that to
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  >> the gen pop
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  >> make you nervous at all?
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  >> I think it I wouldn't say nervous, I'd
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  say uncomfortable, right? It's not
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  something that we have done recently,
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  right? But if you go back in time, there
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  was a time where community was a much
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  larger portion of I mean way way back in
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  the day, there were message boards on
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  almost every media site if you can
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  remember back then.
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  >> I sure yes, of course. There was a lot
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  more back and forth with the community
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  and the media brands and that's kind of
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  gotten lost and I think this is a way to
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  bring it back. How are you thinking
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  about I mean we're all here to learn
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  about AI as well right? You guys are
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  leading the way in a lot of cases from
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  generative content which we've seen to
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  now bringing in some moderation and AIEL
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  curation which for me makes it a little
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  bit more palatable as someone who is a
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  parent of teenagers who isn't fully
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  comfortable with what's happening in
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  social.
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  >> Yes. How are you embracing and
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  understanding where and how to
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  prioritize
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  real life applications? Right? I I think
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  brain safety is first and foremost for
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  us with our our brains which are even
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  older than I am. Um so we really are
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  leaning on AI to really do a lot of the
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  heavy lifting there and then with a
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  human element on top to make sure we're
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  getting it right and then retraining to
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  make sure that's happening. But we're
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  utilizing AI across the company and
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  every single person is is utilizing AI
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  to make themselves faster, to make
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  themselves better, to be able to take
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  our sites forward.
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  >> So, generation,
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  operation, optimization, orchestration,
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  a lot of big words. Yeah.
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  >> Um, but really is making it simpler.
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  >> Yeah. We have for the past two years
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  really been focused on having AI make
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  every employee better.
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  >> Yeah.
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  >> Right. It's not just about the tech
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  group using AI. It's not just about a
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  select few utilizing AI and then
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  everybody else goes to them to learn it.
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  It's really about every employee
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  finding out how to make themselves
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  better utilizing AI. Now, one of the
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  things that when we first started
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  talking and planning and working
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  together on was how you envision this
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  becoming a monetization engine. I
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  >> Yeah.
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  >> Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's part
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  of your remitt is helping the company
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  make more money, right?
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  >> Yes.
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  >> So, how does bringing a video solution
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  like ours um but really more as a
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  consumer experience um how does that
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  help? I think having a better video
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  engagement experience where the consumer
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  is engaged, spending a lot of time, is
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  interested
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  is what our advertising partners want.
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  And what we're seeing in vertical video
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  is a much more engaged consumer, not
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  just with our content, but also with our
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  advertisers content that is in there.
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  And it also allows them to be a little
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  more creative. they're they're creating
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  these vertical video assets already for
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  the social media channels and allows
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  them to bring them into the open web
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  which has not had a good place for
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  vertical video to date.
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  >> So that was going to be the the last
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  question that I wanted to end on as
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  we've been building out our relationship
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  and the growth of the genuine media
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  network is is is continuing to expand.
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  How do you envision working with and
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  across not only your partners but other
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  partners? I think that's still to be
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  seen, but I think the opportunity is
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  substantial as we look as as you build
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  your platform and there's more ways to
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  intermix the content, as you identify
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  the likes, as the algorithm gets better
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  and we create a brand safety
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  environment. How can we bring
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  >> It's interesting because you guys have
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  the national big publications. You have
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  very large newspapers and you have more
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  I would say as a New Yorker second tier
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  city publications. No offense to anyone
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  who lives in
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  >> Miami disagree with you.
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  >> I wouldn't say they're second class. I
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  didn't say second class. I said
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  populationwise. Um but does the strategy
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  change at all in terms of how that
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  network
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  grows?
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  >> I think it does. Yeah, I think as you
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  look at those communities,
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  there's going to be different things
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  that are of interest in the smaller
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  communities than some of the larger
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  ones, but I do think at the core of it
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  is community and they'll find topics of
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  interest that they want to talk about.
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  And I think that goes across our
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  national brands and it goes across our
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  local brands.
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  >> Andy, thank you for being here. I
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  appreciate it. We made a genuine
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  connection again once again. Um, and
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  thank you guys for being here as well,
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  for indulging us, for helping us
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  participate and make some content. Um,
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  and look forward to working with more
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  and all of you as we depart and leave
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  happily and uh, smarter from Las Vegas.
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  Thank you. and gets