Media is a Platform. Discuss.

A Panel of Media Experts

Web 2.0
45 minutes, 20.9mb, recorded 2004-10-07
Under Web 1.0, eyeballs were king and old media was dead. But as the Web 2.0 era unfolds, we're learning that things are a bit more complicated, and media is evolving, slowly but surely, into new forms and formats. How can powerful brands like the New York Times thrive in an age where content is understood to be free? What happens when the web is capable of distributing massive video files effortlessly and without significant economic impact? What are the new publishing models emerging on the web, and how can media be used as a platform to leverage them?

The panel includes:

  • John Battelle, Program Chair, Web 2.0 Conference, Battelle Media
  • Shelby Bonnie, Chairman & CEO, CNET Networks
  • George Conrades, Chairman and CEO, Akamai Technologies, Inc.
  • Martin Nisenholtz, CEO, New York Times Digital
  • Mike Ramsay, CEO, Tivo

John Battelle is an entrepreneur, journalist, professor, and author who has founded or co-founded businesses, magazines, and websites. Currently on leave from Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, Battelle, 38, is also a founder and Executive Producer of conferences in the media, technology, communications, and entertainment industries and "band manager" with BoingBoing.net. Previously, Battelle was founder, Chairman, and CEO of Standard Media International (SMI), publisher of The Industry Standard and TheStandard.com. Prior to founding The Standard, Battelle was a co-founding editor of Wired magazine and Wired Ventures. Battelle was named a "Global Leader for Tomorrow" by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and a finalist in the "Entrepreneur of the year" competition by Ernst & Young. He holds a bachelor's and a master's degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Shelby Bonnie co-founded CNET Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq: CNET) in 1993, and in 2000 assumed the post of Chairman and CEO. He led the business through the volatile early days of the Internet with unwavering focus on the potential of interactive content and online marketing. Today, CNET Networks is widely viewed as a premier global provider of interactive content that informs, entertains, and connects large, engaged audiences in the personal technology, games and entertainment, and business technology categories. CNET Networks’ leading brands include CNET.com, Download.com, News.com, ZDNet, TechRepublic, GameSpot and recent additions MP3.com and Webshots.

Prior to his current position, Bonnie served -- in order from most recent -- as CNET Networks' CEO, Vice Chairman, and the combined role of Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. In his role as Chairman of the Interactive Advertising Bureau from 2001 to 2003, and the bureau’s current Chairman Emeritus and executive committee member, Bonnie has been a leading proponent and evangelist for interactive advertising. CNET Networks is a recognized leader in advertising innovation and has developed three of the ad units in the IAB Universal Ad Package. From 1990 to 1993, prior to co-founding CNET Networks, Bonnie was a Managing Director at Tiger Management and before that worked at Morgan Stanley & Co.

In 2003, Bonnie was honored as a recipient of The New York Ten Awards, an annual selection of ten individuals who have, through their innovation, significantly impacted their organization and industry. He currently serves on the Board of Edmunds.com, a premier online resource for automotive information. He also serves as a Trustee of Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and is on the Board of Environmental Defense, a national environmental group known as a leading innovator of environmental policy. Bonnie earned a B.S. degree from the University of Virginia, and an M.B.A. from Harvard University. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and three children.

George Conrades was named chairman and chief executive officer of Akamai in April 1999, bringing a broad range of business experience in the computing, Internet, telecommunications, and media industries. Before joining Akamai, Conrades was executive vice president and president of GTE Internetworking following the firm's acquisition of BBN Corporation in 1997. At GTE, he was responsible for creating GTE Internetworking and leading GTE's rapid growth in the data and Internet business, including integrated telecommunications services.

From 1994 until GTE's acquisition of BBN, Conrades served as CEO of BBN, where he built the company into one of the industry's top-tier ISPs. BBN helped build the ARPANET, the forerunner to today's modern Internet. Prior to BBN, Conrades was an IBM senior vice president and member of IBM's Corporate Management Board. There, he ran many of its key businesses including IBM United States, IBM Asia/Pacific, and two manufacturing and development groups.

Conrades serves on the Board of Directors for Harley-Davidson and Cardinal Health. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Scripps Research Institute and Ohio Wesleyan University. Conrades is also a Fellow for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In addition, Conrades serves as a venture partner at Polaris Venture Partners, an early stage investment company.

Conrades is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University with majors in physics and mathematics. He holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

Martin Nisenholtz was named chief executive officer of New York Times Digital in June 1999 after having served as president of The New York Times Electronic Media Company since June 1995. During that time, Nisenholtz was responsible for the development and delivery of electronic products centered around the content of the newspaper. In October 1998, he was given the additional corporate responsibility of leading the Company's new media activities.

Prior to joining The Times, Nisenholtz was director of content strategy for Ameritech Corporation, where he was responsible for guiding development of new video programming opportunities and interactive information and advertising services.. From 1983 to 1994, he worked at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide. In 1983, he founded the Interactive Marketing Group (IMG), the first creative development unit at a major U.S. advertising agency devoted specifically to interactive communication. Upon his departure, he was a senior vice president and a member of the operating committee. Nisenholtz began his career in 1979 as an assistant professor and research scientist at New York University, where he participated on the founding faculty of the Interactive Telecommunications Program and worked on pioneering interactive media efforts in the areas of education, healthcare and public information.

In June 2001, Nisenholtz founded the Online Publishers Association (OPA), an industry trade organization that represents the interests of high-quality online publishers. He serves on the board of directors for the Ad Council, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Center for Communications. He is also an advisory board member for Tacoda Systems.

Nisenholtz received a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1977 and a master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania Annenberg School of Communication in 1979.

Mike Ramsay is TiVo's fearless leader. He oversees the operations of the company, with special attention to our charting out and executing against TiVo's strategy, vision, and key business development initiatives.

Before he had the inspiration for TiVo along with co-founder Jim Barton, he was Senior Vice President of the Silicon Desktop Group for Silicon Graphics Inc. There he was responsible for engineering, marketing and business development for all desktop products, with P/L responsibility for approximately half the company's revenue. Prior to joining this group, he was President of Silicon Studio, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Silicon Graphics focused on enabling applications development for merging interactive digital media markets.

Before joining Silicon Studio, Ramsay was Senior Vice President and General Manager of the company's Visual Systems Group. He also held positions of Director in the Advanced Systems Group. Prior to joining Silicon Graphics, Ramsay held R&D and engineering management positions at Hewlett-Packard and Convergent Technologies. He earned a first-class B.S.E.E. from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

This is a presentation delivered at the Web 2.0 Conference held in San Francisco, CA, October 5-7, 2004. Our thanks go to MediaLive International and O'Reilly Media, the producers of Web 2.0, for permission to bring you this session, one of many from Web 2.0 here on IT Conversations.


This free podcast is from our Web 2.0 Conference series.