Oxygen: Lipstick and recipes or a media revolution?
By Courtney Macavinta
Staff Writer, CNET NEWS.COM
NEW YORK--Entertainment industry maverick Gerry Laybourne guides her ventures by what she calls Mother's Little Management Manifesto, a simple list topped with "know the audience" and "honor creative people."
But it's No. 6 that embodies her: Think big.
With her new cable-TV and Internet network for women, Oxygen Media, Laybourne is doing just that.
After 16 years pioneering children's programming at Nickelodeon, which she followed by heading Disney/ABC Cable Networks, the former elementary school
teacher is taking on the daunting task of erecting a media empire based on the growing convergence of television and the Net.
"It's the right time," Laybourne said in an interview. "My feeling is that it's going to be much tougher for the big media companies to really move their battleships to get this right."
From the time Laybourne was a little girl, she has felt the need to build things, from complex backyard forts to her dad's portfolio.
Noticing her resolve, Laybourne's stockbroker father brought her to the
office to advise on investments; it's no surprise that at the ripe age of eight, she picked some winners. And it was her mother, a former radio soap opera star, who nurtured her imagination by turning off the television in the middle of a program and making Laybourne and her sisters finish the story at the dinner table.
Oxygen is now the focus of her determination.
The company unveiled its new Web site today, primarily a portal for properties it bought from one of its first investors, America Online. The site is expected to change dramatically when Oxygen's television network goes live in February with seven hours of original programming, from a comedy block to a talk show starring Candice Bergen and two hours of after-school content for teenagers. (See related story)
Although it isn't easy to get picked up by entrenched cable companies or to stand out among the "pink" Web sites already saturating the market, it's even harder to find anyone who will snicker at Laybourne's lofty goal. There are several reasons.
First there are Oxygen's top-billed partners, as well as Laybourne's track record for spotting untapped genres. Then there is the target audience. That's a no-brainer. Women watch more television than men, according to Nielsen Media Research's latest report, and they surf the Net from home during the day more often than men. Women also hold the wallet in most households. Advertisers love that part.
And Laybourne's convergence strategy is a dream that many expect to come true. The same May 1999 report by Nielsen stated that "with convergence knocking on the door, it may soon be commonplace for people to move seamlessly from one medium to another on the same delivery platform--TVs or PCs."
A usual suspect on media lists of the most influential people in business, entertainment, and the country, Laybourne also is building her team across platforms.
She has lured Hollywood untouchables such as Oprah Winfrey, along with Marcy Carsey, Tom Werner, and Caryn Mandabach, the masterminds behind TV hits such as the Cosby Show and Roseanne. New economy players are on board too, such as Oxygen's vice chairman, Silicon Valley consultant Lawrence Wilkinson. In addition, Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures infused Oxygen with a $100 million investment, and Laybourne's husband, Kit, an animation trailblazer in his own right, is Oxygen's chief creative director.
But Laybourne's greatest advantage seems to be that Oxygen's employees and backers are intoxicated by what she is trying to start: a media revolution. That claim is blasted across a banner as one enters Oxygen's headquarters, which takes up three floors in a brick building that used to house a Nabisco cookie factory and is modestly tucked between Bowery Kitchen Supply and the Manhattan Fruit Exchange in New York's Chelsea District.
It's clear after talking to her employees that Laybourne is respected but not feared. She is known for enjoying a good mistake and not blowing up. She has a self-deprecating air about her but won't let the so-called glass ceiling trap anyone she works with.
She is troubled by another phenomenon she calls the "glass floor," however, in which chief executives are isolated by middle management, pacified instead of engaged. To combat this at Nickelodeon, she moved out of her corner office and planted herself right behind the receptionist so she could stay in the thick of things. Ironically, at Oxygen her office will be mostly enclosed by glass, but that is so she "can see everything."
Rejecting descriptions of Oxygen as a sorority or religious movement, people at the company do say their mission is to "do the right thing." That is why they're convinced they will prevail.
That said, Oxygen is under tremendous pressure to get off the ground.
A studio dominating the top floor of Oxygen, where live segments from news broadcasts to band performances will be filmed, is still being built with less than four months to go before the network is launched.
Then there is the product. The company's online and TV program producers, who in the spirit of convergence share offices, are still hammering out ideas, poring over proposals, and kick-starting production. Amid all this, Oxygen is fighting homogeneity. It doesn't want to be just another source about boys and beauty for affluent white women.
Laybourne, for one, is confident that she will flick the switches on time, and that critics and the audience will be waiting.
One hectic day last month in between her meetings with potential content partners and hungry producers, CNET News.com interviewed Laybourne to discuss management lessons from the industry and motherhood, how she got players like Oprah to pump Oxygen, and how the company plans to change the world.
News.com: For starters, "Oxygen"--what does it mean?
Laybourne: It's about giving breathing room to creative people and to the audience. It's that simple. Americans are pushed and pressured in such amazing ways that they deserve to have a place where they can take a deep breath. I think women consumers are hoping for a breath of fresh air.
AOL has slightly more women than men as subscribers. Right now
the ratio is about 50-50 overall on the Internet. Why do you think women find the Internet such a great home?
It's made for them; it thinks like they do. If you think about the Internet, it's the most wonderfully collaborative democratic institution in the media that we've ever seen. It's no longer Father Knows Best hierarchical media that gets pushed down--it's a co-created media that everybody gets involved in.
Women love community first and foremost. You take the fact that women love community and then you take the fact that women have all these multiple jobs. We're the chief purchasing agent, we're the chief maintenance worker, we're the chief child development experts. We either need to buy, to learn, or to communicate. So what better than [to use] the Internet?
What's surprising is that it has taken women so long to understand it's their medium. In 1994 only 5 percent of Internet users were women. So we've seen a dramatic change. Women are able to buy automobiles online without paying the 20 percent premium that they often pay when they go into the showroom. So there are huge advantages to the lack of gender bias.
Your whole strategy is based on TV-Net convergence, but we haven't seen many breakthroughs in this entertainment arena. How are you going to integrate your online and television properties?
The Internet is the thing I've always waited for. Even when I went into television to begin with, I wanted it to be more interactive and more responsive. The great thing about the Internet is it's a fabulous research tool because every day, every second, you know what women are asking, what they want to know, and you can turn that back into programming and content.
We see the Internet as a giant casting agent for issues, stories, and personalities. We will take that and turn that into television. Our Internet producers and our television producers sit in the same room. It isn't about an adjunct. Neither one of them is in a secondary position--they're both getting created together. We think that's the smart way to go.
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