Warner adds Facebook feature to BD Live

[jw]

DIGITAL: Blu-ray titles to interact with social networking site

By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 6/5/2009

JUNE 5 | DIGITAL: Warner Home Video hopes to boost the fledgling BD Live technology by connecting its major Blu-ray Disc releases to Facebook’s 200 million active users.
Starting with Watchmen, all Warner Blu-ray titles with BD Live will allow users to interact with their Facebook friend network while they watch the movies. Warner typically adds BD Live to its new release theatricals and high-profile catalog titles.
People also can import their Facebook friends list into the BD Live environment, in order to facilitate community Blu-ray screenings with buddies who own compatible players.
The studio hopes to expand its Facebook integration, including a potential feature that allows BD Live users to enjoy the social network’s hundreds of available quizzes, games and other applications.
There is no hard data on the number of Blu-ray households that regularly tap into BD Live offerings, but it’s considered to be a tiny fraction of the people who frequent such social networks as Facebook.
“Facebook adds credibility to BD Live,” said Kris Brown, VP of worldwide high-definition at Warner. “You can social network beyond those using BD Live already.”
This Facebook enhancement is just one of many improvements Warner wants to make for BD Live. Studios acknowledge that they have so far rolled out just a handful of meaningful BD Live features, despite its promising premise of opening up the physical Blu-ray Disc to expanded Web content.
One problem is how to balance required development costs with today’s small base of BD Live users. Additionally, the decision to create separate, walled-in BD Live networks for each studio may seem limiting for those who are used to the expansive Internet.
“There’s the chicken or the egg problem, where studios don’t want to put all the infrastructure in if they don’t know if people will use it,” said Van Ling, who has worked on such BD Live titles as Lionsgate’s May 19 release Terminator 2: Judgement Day Skynet Edition. “And people’s first impression is that [BD Live] is a less useable version of the Internet.”
However, Warner has discovered through recent research key consumer requirements for BD Live: community (where Facebook applies), immersion, exclusivity and customization.
With immersion, consumers tell Warner that they want to completely engross themselves in all aspects of a movie. Brown gave the example of someone accessing a service such as popular movie database IMDb.com in order to look up details about starring actors.
“This is like when people are watching a movie, and they can’t remember where they saw that guy last,” said Brown. “Now they can find out immediately from their couch.”
In exclusivity, consumers want BD Live to offer opportunities they can’t get anywhere else. This might mean letting users access a Warner rewards program through BD Live titles to earn points toward coveted products.
Customization involves BD Live titles regularly including a recommendation function that would suggest movies that are similar to the ones people are currently viewing.
With community checked off, Warner is now analyzing how to integrate consumers’ other BD Live requirements. But the studio hasn’t officially greenlit anything yet.
Other studios have moved toward some of these goals. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment have launched Blu-ray rewards programs available through BD Live. Lionsgate’s Terminator 2 included a BD Live database to look up additional information about the movie.
Studios also hope to improve their filmmaker community screenings—one of the more popular BD Live creations thus far—with voice. To date, filmmakers have communicated to audiences solely through text.
“This space is still largely untapped,” said another studio executive. “That does provide the opportunity to further build upon these innovations by creatively combining original concepts and cutting-edge technology.”