EXCLUSIVE
Conde Nast's new president of entertainment Dawn Ostroff saw the potential in cable TV before many of her peers. Nowadays, she's excited about the digital future.
In an interview with TheWrap, the former CW chief stressed the need for content to be accessible.
“If you’re not there with them, they’re going to go elsewhere,” she said.
Also read: Conde Nast Taps Dawn Ostroff to Launch Entertainment Division
Ostroff told TheWrap that she was attracted to the opportunity to build Conde Nast's business at a time when people within the company are open to exploring new options.
"That," she said, "and the idea that the digital frontier is really wide open right now."
Also read: Ostroff Says Goodbye to Advertisers, Hello to New York
You’re arriving at the company with a broad mandate to extend its reach in show business but especially digitally: With things like the New Yorker’s commitment to he iPad, maybe this is evolutionary rather than revolutionary?
They’re doing it beautifully. It’s been impressive within the business. Even the company’s recent announcement of being a partner with Amazon speaks volumes about how progressive they are.
And yet across a broad array of magazines, there’s so much left to be exploited for the first time on various platforms.
Everybody has have been saying for years that content is king, and there are many different forms of that. These magazines are the highest level of content that there is, and to take that brand of content that now is in magazine form and adapt it to other types -- be it television shows or feature films or digital channels and again across the different platforms -- means there are going to be many types of opportunities depending on the magazines and what their goals are.
Still, it’s a business founded on print: How do you work through whatever institutional reluctance, perhaps from fear of diluting that legacy, still exists?
There might be opportunities in traditional media as well. We’re just going to explore everything, and there have been a lot of things that have come up over the past year for Conde Nast. For me, it’s about first understanding what everybody’s goals are internally, and putting together my strategic plan, and putting together my team -- which is what I’m going to be doing for the next few months
There’s a glamour to feature film and TV adaptation, but I get the sense you see the digital space as the real target.
It’s across all platforms, but I’m excited about digital content, certainly. You’re looking at Netflix and YouTube and Amazon, all the different companies that are looking for digital content, and Conde Nast, in many regards, is first on their list.
I think if we can figure out what makes sense for the magazines, digital content is as exciting to the company as any other medium.
