Riviera Life Business Feature - Monaco Media Forum 2011

Visit the Monaco Media Forum YouTube Channel to see the roundtables, debates and conferences from this years event and click on the logo to the left to visit the official web-site. We have selected the most important news and videos from this years Monaco Media Forum below.

Bahrainian blogger wins Monaco media prize  huffingtonpost.com 11 Nov 11 Bahrainian blogger Esra’a Al Shafei, a key figure in the social media activity around the Arab Spring, has been awarded the Monaco Media Prize by Prince Albert II of Monaco. The award was presented by the Prince at a gala dinner here tonight. The ceremony was part of the three-day Monaco Media Forum. Al Shafei founded Mideast Youth in 2006 with the goal of harnessing digital communication and social media tools to promote freedom of speech to work against repression, persecution and intolerance in the Middle East. She has played a central role in creating Crowd Voice, an influential news curation site for developments around the Arab Spring. Ms. Al Shafei asked that her image not be shown. We taped her in silhouette from a hotel balcony overlooking the Mediterranean where a full moon provided extraordinary back light. Andy Plesser.

Video Video Ad Choice Doubles Impact  beet.tv 11 Nov 11 Giving online video viewers the option to select an ad improves the impact by 200 percent, says Tracey Scheppach, EVP & Innovations Director at VivaKi/Starcom MediaVest. Scheppach is a principal in an industy standard around video choice know as ASq.  She leads The Pool, the VivaKi inititative around these standards. We spoke with her on Wednesday about progress with the Pool and the collaboration of the industry. Andy Plesser.

Video Ushahidi founder wins Monaco Media Prize  beet.tv 15 Nov 10 Ushahidi, the crowd-sourced mapping platform that got attention this year for its mapping of the floods in Pakistan and the earthquake in Haiti, is now in seven languages and is becoming a commercial venture, founder Ory Okolloh told Beet.TV. The Nairobi-based start-up, which provides its program for free, has launched a services business for organizations. Okolloh, the Harvard Law School-trained attorrney, gives an update on Ushadidi and her thoughts about emerging technology in Africa.  She was the recipient of this year's Monaco Media Prize awarded Thursday evening at a gala hosted by Prince Albert.  Andy Plesser.

Video MySpace surrenders to Facebook in battle of social networks  telegraph.co.uk 14 Nov 10 MySpace has finished being a social network and a direct rival to Facebook, according to its chief executive, Mike Jones. Talking The Telegraph at the Monaco Media Forum, Jones said the bold statement: “MySpace is a not a social network anymore. It is now a social entertainment destination.” The troubled site, which saw its UK audience halve to 3.3 million monthly visitors in July earlier this year, is pinning its hopes of renewed success with a return to its music and content roots. Two weeks ago, the redesigned MySpace, which focuses a lot more around content, rather than social networking, launched in the US and will go live in the UK in mid November. Everything has been changed; right down to the logo – which is now the word 'My' and an extended underscore to represent the ‘Space’. Emma Barnett.

Video Monaco Media Forum 11-12 Nov 09 Now in its fourth year, MMF brings together leaders of new and old media for two and a half days of high-level discussions about the future of online, broadcast and print communications. Hosted by HSH Prince Albert II, the invitation-only event focuses on emerging opportunities in technology, distribution and content, along with related developments in marketing and finance.

Monaco Media Forum: Springer CEO Clashes With Huffington  Business Week 12 Nov 09 Mathias Döpfner, CEO of German publisher Axel Springer, and Arianna Huffington, co-founder of the Huffington Post politics and news blog site, made sure the Monaco Media Forum isn’t just a digital media lovefest. Döpfner, whose empire includes Bild, Europe’s largest newspaper, debated with Huffington whether journalism published online should be free. The discussion before a media industry audience at a seaside Monaco hotel on Nov. 12 quickly got loud. Jack Ewing.

Rupert Murdoch to remove News Corp's content from Google 'in months' Telegraph.co.uk 13 Nov 09 Jonathan Miller, News Corp's chief digital officer, said the media mogul was ready to block Google's access to his sites soon and that the company would lead the media industry in this direction. He also said that News Corporation, which owns The Times and The Sun newspapers in Britain, could survive both economically and audience-wise without the search giant driving traffic to its sites. Emma Barnett.

Hyper-Local Online Video and the Future of TV  Seekingalpha.com 01 Dec 09 Broadcasters are about to experience the equivalent of the Big Bang, warns Akamai Technologies CEO Paul Sagan, a broadcast and cable veteran whose company facilitates more than one-fifth of the world's Web traffic. The ability to match high-definition TV picture quality with Internet interactivity is creating a sea change for online video that will begin rippling through the television industry in 2010. Only TV station owners that leap to the new arena, playing the strength of their hyper-local connections, will survive. In his keynote address to the Monaco Media Forum earlier this month, Sagan said local broadcasters, content providers and advertisers are not embracing interactivity to better connect with consumers and derive new value. These points also were made during a panel on targeting I moderated also at the Monaco Media Forum. Diane Mermigas.

The stars come out for MIPCOM Cannes 2010

MIPCOM took place in Cannes 4-8 Oct 10. Buyers and sellers of video content from around the world gathered to trade TV content, and more and more content for Internet based TV. To support programme sales stars from many of the programmes attended including Mad Men's Jon Hamm and Elisabeth Moss (pictured), Robert Redford, Oliver Stone, Sarah Jessica Parker, Stephen Fry, Matt Lucas, David Walliams and many more. Check out news & video from the event here.

Star Power at MIPCOM TV Market Cannes 5-9 Oct 09

The 25th anniversary MIPCOM, Cannes 5-9 Oct 09, was a star studded event. Content producers pulled out the big guns to sell their programmes in a reviving but transforming market. The Simpsons creator Matt Groening and Producer Al Jean, Jerry Seinfeld, Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe from Friends), John Nettles star of UK drama Midsomer Murders and Joan Rivers were in town.  Watch our celeb packed video report on the world's major TV market.

MIP TV 2009

Television executives from around the world gathered in Cannes 30 March - 3 April 09 for one of the major markets for buying and selling programmes, MIP TV. The content being traded however is no longer destined just for 'the box.' Increasingly content is being shared, and created exclusively, for the Internet and mobile devices such as i-phones. RivieraLife.tv's Susan Hickey reports from this years MIP-TV.

Cannes Lions Shows Ethical Face of Ad Industry

Its a wrap! This years 56th Cannes Lions Ad Fest ended with a web movie beating the usual TV commercial for the Grand Prix prize. Check out the winning vid for Philips Carousel and all the news that matters in our Cannes Lions News Archive. The Obama For America campaign won the Titanium & Integrated Grand Prix prize picked up by campaign manager David Plouffe, who was one of many significant keynote speakers at this years ad bash.