Lloyd Braun talks about his move from ABC Entertainment Television Group to head of Yahoo! Media, and how he hopes to find the net's Big Hit.

Max Robins, Editor in Chief at Broadcasting & Cable, interviewed Lloyd Braun on the opening day of February's iMedia Brand Summit in Coconut Point, Florida. Read the first third of that conversation here, and part two here. The conclusion:

Max Robins: Earlier, when we were watching a little reality show that Rick [Parkhill] put on, I said to you, “Hey, at least, you may not have to listen to all the wacky pitches anymore.” And you turned to me and you went, “Eh, you think they were wacky at ABC, you should hear the things I’m hearing now.”

Lloyd Braun: Well, because, I mean the volume of pitches, but quite honestly, I haven’t really been taking any pitches yet, because I’m not ready to take pitches, because I haven’t learned enough, yet. And, it’s important that, not just me but the people who are going to form this core group really understand how this business works, really understands all the different devices. I mean, I’m still trying to figure out how I turn the ringer off of this (holds up his cell phone). But, you really do have to understand a lot of basic principles of this before you start throwing stuff up there and seeing what sticks. I don’t want us to do it that way. I want us to have a really defined, clear strategy, and then take these pitches, think about this content, think up our own ideas, and always look at it through the prism of: What is it we should be doing right now? 

Also, the town needs to be educated. They don’t know yet what it is that we’re going to be doing, because there really aren’t any examples of it. So, that needs to happen. And, I’m going to be doing that. I’m going to be going on a bit of a road show to the agencies, and again trying to walk them through how they should look at our business, and how broad the term “content” really is, because agents hear the word “content,” they immediately think, “Oh, it’s a television show or a movie.” They’re not thinking games; they’re not thinking education; they’re not thinking health; they’re not thinking finance; they’re not thinking of the whole information world and how important and compelling that can be, and how content can be packaged and presented in an entertaining way in those arenas, too. 

And, that is a huge priority for us, to be able to present whatever it is we’re presenting in terms of content in a really entertaining, distinctive, unique way, and make it simple. Simple, simple, simple. Because all of this is way too complicated still in my view. I mean, I go on the computer, and this includes on some of Yahoo!’s sites, and I see, you know RSS, XTML, duh, duh, duh … all of this other stuff, and I’m like, “Why do I have to be seeing these words?” (laughter) What do they mean to me? I want the stuff! That’s it. Do I want to see how the plane was built on “Lost,” the boats, and this and that? That we cut up a plane and shipped it down and reassembled it on the beach? No. I want to get "Lost," and I’m just in it, and I want to think the plane is just on the beach. I don’t want to see how the stuff gets there. I don’t want to see how the stuff’s getting to me. All I want to do is -- I want it, click. And, that, again, seems simple, but … and, I think we’re better at it than anybody else and, I think we’ll get a heck of a lot better at it in the months ahead.

Robins: Let’s talk a little bit about brand and branding, in a sense. I mean, your experience with Brillstein-Grey, one of the top management companies. You are working with people like Larry David, David Chase, wonderful creators of content. At ABC, you worked with some of the best people around the content for that medium. How important is that going to be, those kinds of brand names, those brand name creators, that brand name talent, and how’s that going to translate to the Yahoo! space?

Braun: Well, I think that it’s ultimately going to be a mosaic. Certainly, my hope is that we will tap into some of that really gifted A-level talent, in a smart way, but we’re also going to end up, my hope is, creating our own new stars in this arena. And, it’s like anything else. I think the ultimate picture is going to be, as I said before, a mosaic of … there’s going to be original content. There’s going to be content that we get through alliances and partnerships with third parties. There’s going to be content from A-list players, from the JibJabs of the world. There’s going to be user-generated content -- that’s going to be a huge business, because users are now going to be able to create their own content. That’s what we’re seeing in the blogging world. And, my hope is you're going to see Yahoo! be a significant part of that business, providing the ability not just to create original content, but also to find it. See, that’s where these different pillars of Yahoo! are so compelling -- to use search to find it, to be able to use our community with Yahoo! Messenger to share it. It’s an incredible set of tools to be able to use. So, I think you are going to see all of that framed together.

Robins: We’ve got a little more time here. You said that when Terry Semel brought you in he said, “Take awhile. Don’t make any decisions, just take awhile to take stock in the place.” And, you said before you got there, you knew this was big, but you had no idea the depth and breadth of what you were getting involved with. Talk maybe, if you could, about some of the things that have kind of surprised you in this new world that you entered.

Braun: Well, when I first thought of Yahoo!, before I met Terry, I thought of it mostly as a portal. And, I knew of a couple of the sites that they had. I knew about Launch, and that there were music videos. I had used Yahoo! News. But, I had absolutely no idea of the breadth of the businesses Yahoo! was in, and the breadth of content that Yahoo! offered. Which, by the way, is telling because what that said to me is (and this is all great news for me, because it falls into this category of all of this low-hanging fruit that I think that we have not yet picked), there is a whole education we still need to give to the consumer, as to what you can get right now, that I really believe, most people don’t know, because they just haven’t really fully experienced the internet yet, or they haven’t fully experienced Yahoo!, yet. Or, if they’re using the internet, they’re using it for email and maybe they’re going to one or two other places. So, once I saw the breadth, my breath was taken away by literally what there is now. And, my guess is that most people are going to react the same way. 

And then once I got in there and really understood what this search business really was --Jeff Weiner has done an unbelievable job building up Yahoo!’s search business in the last year -- I mean it’s just incredible. And, what personalization really is. I mean I always thought of personalization as, you know, like MyYahoo!, where I say I want some things and then it all comes in. Well, then I learned that’s not personalization, that’s customization. Oh. What’s personalization? Personalization is that … Yahoo! learns enough about what I want; they’re going to start feeding me what they know I want, personalized to me. Well, that’s pretty incredible. 

And, then when you extrapolate what all that can mean, it’s unbelievable. And then, as I start to learn what this Advertising world can be here and what Wenda Harris Millard (Chief Sales Officer, Yahoo! Inc.)  and Beth and everyone have been doing in terms of educating this community about that, and how we’re able to target in a way. I’ll tell you, if I -- I said this to Wenda when I was in New York about a month ago, getting a sort of Clockwork Orange session for about four hours on how this all worked (and let me just say for the record, I am scared of Wenda) (laughter). So, it’s, I could not believe what the potential of this is. And, I remember saying to Wenda, “If I only knew at ABC what I know now, I would have taken half of my paid media budget and just plunked it here, because …”

Robins: You just said something. That’s huge what you just said.

Braun: But, I’m telling you, I really believe that because, I kept feeling like I was banging my head up against the wall whether … were people seeing our on-air promos? Were they really listening to the radio spots? Because between the clutter, TiVo and everything else, you just don’t know. And, I had dabbled in the internet, but I hadn’t done more than that. And, the only times I’d dabble were a couple of times where Mike Benson, who does a wonderful job running marketing, would come in with a couple of shows that really made sense to do an internet buy and we’d do it. But, I didn’t focus on it. I just didn’t. And, I really now wish I had. But, the cat’s going to be out of the bag. Mike, I promise you is going to focus on it in the future, as all the other networks are going to do, and as all the studios are going to do because they’re going to start seeing tangible results. I mean, ultimately, it’s all about that, isn’t it? I mean, they’re going to see tangible results. And then when you look at the tangible results that you can get from this medium and you compare it to any other place you can put your money it’s hard for me to see how we don’t win.

Robins: One last question, and this kind of goes to that … at ABC you watched a show like “Lost,” a show like “Desperate Housewives,” become a break-out number one hit number. Twenty years ago it would have just cracked into the top twenty. Advertisers, a lot of people who are here, they have that need to get that mass audience in a timely fashion. Do you see the internet, whether it’s Yahoo! or somewhere else, providing that opportunity to give them that kind of huge water cooler experience, where whether it’s somebody who has to open a film, or somebody who has to sell a lot of cars on a weekend can go there and do it?

Braun: Well, I certainly hope so. And, do I believe so? Yes, I do. And, you know those aren’t things you can predict. Anyone who says they’re not surprised, ultimately, when any of these shows become monster hits, I think they’re being disingenuous. It’s always a surprise, because, no matter … I have this saying at ABC all the time that if you did enough things right, you have increased your chance to get lucky. And, I do believe that. I mean, ultimately, you need a little bit of luck with these things. And, you know, Susan and I got our luck literally as we were like …. at the last five minutes. But, I do believe that. And, there are a lot of ideas circulating around about what that might be, that we are going to see the equivalent of break-out hits in the future in this world. But, it’s going to be different. It’s going to be a different kind of hit. 

That’s not to say there isn’t always going to be a place for television -- there is. I mean, what television does, television does very, very well. But, it’s going to live side by side with this medium. Maybe right now the balance is still heavily with television in terms of the advertising market. I think that’s largely a function of education and evolution. So, my hope is that we can play our small role in helping to accelerate that education process and evolution and keep Yahoo! as the pioneer in that.

Robins: Well, listen, thank you so much, I see we’ve run a little bit over, but thank Lloyd Braun. (Applause.)

Parkhill: Hey, guys, that was great. Thank you, thank you. Thanks very much. Lloyd, can you come back when you can talk about your first big hit?