Starz Vice President John Penney shares his insights on what underpins the world’s largest global media players

John Penney is one of the US’s leading entertainment executives.  Currently the Executive Vice President, Strategy and Business Development for Starz, John has held executive positions with HBO, Foresee Entertainment, IMG, Viacom, ACTV and Scient.  John will share his depth of experience and knowledge about the world’s largest media players at XML: Global Media Ideas
 
Q.   What’s exciting about the mobile/digital media space right now?

Consumers' ability to access rich content and information wherever they are and whenever they want.  This, combined with social media, allows a heretofore unprecedented dialogue between consumers and content creators, packagers and marketers.
 
Q. What do you think will be the next big thing / game-changer in digital media/mobile?

The emergence of multiple scalable business models for digital and mobile that support current and new professional entertainment content creators.
 
Q. Best business decision you ever made or best advice given to you?

Best advice I've received: Keep an open mind; things aren’t usually what they seem to be.
 
Q. What is your view of the Australian market?

Australia is a vibrant media and technology market.  I look forward to learning more about the market and connecting with companies developing new premium content, and innovative ways to distribute it.
 
Q. What will your focus of your keynote presentation at Global Media Ideas be this year?

The increasing globalization of entertainment content creation.
 
Q. What experiences and skills will you be sharing with your ‘Lab’ mentoring projects at Global Media Ideas?

I hope to share an appreciation of the various product and business models that underpin the large global media players.  By understanding what can and can't be easily changed in these models, we can all work to more quickly implement new, innovative approaches to the creation and distribution of content and information.
 
Q. Favourite online or interactive experience that not enough people know about?

High touch interactive experience: using a desktop sheet-fed scanner and Evernote to free yourself from the tyranny of paper.