next on "kqed newsroom" --.úq ♪ the future of entertainment. from sports to the symphony. >> they think they're going to come in here and they have to be quiet and it's stuffy and everyone's you know, wearing a tuxedo. ♪ good evening. welcome to "kqed newsroom." i'm scott shafer. we're going to start with some breaking news. the verdict in a high-profile gender discrimination case. a case very closely watched in silicon valley. this afternoon a jury ruled that venture capital firm kleiner perkins did not discriminate against ellen pao. pao had sued the firm claiming it did not promote her because of her gender. the case has focused attention

on the lack of diversity in the tech industry. joining me now to discuss the verdict's impact is fran meyer, the founder of match.com and trustee. fran meyer thanks for joining us. >> thanks so much for having me. >> first of all the obvious question. what's your reaction to this verdict? >> somewhat surprised although i think everybody knew that discrimination cases like this could be complex and ellen was complex herself. but i think disappointed. >> as a woman or as someone in the tech industry? why were you disappointed? >> from my point of view as a woman. i think it took a lot of courage to bring this case. i think it exposed a lot of issues that have been somewhat endemic not just to venture capital but with technology firms. and most women i know were really watching this because it was sort of our time in court. that being said, this has had the benefit of making us all talk about the issues. >> well of course kleiner perkins dodged a bullet in a way. they did prevail. but i'm wondering if you think

in spite of that that there's been some kind of a tarnishing of their reputation. >> well i think when you have to expose all the sexual harassment that apparently did actually happen and some of the practices, i'm sure that they took a hit. i think venture capital firms are so important to the whole valley and sort of set the tone, that hopefully this hit that they took, that they got, which isn't as big as the big hit, in any case will drive some change. at least some internal looking at what's working and what's not for women in these companies. >> as you said it's no secret if you look at the numbers. silicon valley is very male. there are a lot of stories. some of them came out in this trial. about the way women are treated. why do you think that wasn't enough to convince the jury? >> i think the legal standard is really hard. i think also for jurors we're talking about people who are making a half million, million dollars, maybe that is outside their experience. i'm looking forward to seeing what they're saying. but again, the important thing is we start to have a conversation. and i think the spotlight on

silicon valley. silicon valley companies we think we're changing the world for the better and sometimes we are. but that righteousness, this has tarnished that too. >> so what needs to change? even in spite of the fact kleiner perkins prevailed, it's not a green light to continue business as usual. >> well i think for companies what they have to do is recommend look at how treating the women. are they really not having biases? are they including women on the golf trip, ski trip, what have you? and really take some action. i think for women we've got to stand even tall erer and step up and don't give up. help each other. start our own companies. take the talents we have where they might be most appreciated. >> could this be a little dispiriting, though, in that regard? >> right. so that's why i'm saying don't give up. it is dispiriting, as you say, but the important thing is let's remember that women-led

companies outperform. male-led companies, substantially both in terms of investment and revenue. so it's good business to invest in women. it's good business to have women as part of your management team because they obviously represent not only their own skills, which can be very strong, but also half the population. it's bad business not to have women in the executive suite. >> well fran meyer, thanks so much for coming in. >> it was a pleasure. thank you. and you may have read about the ellen pao verdict on your cell phone or caught snippets of the trial on social media. the internet has generated more competition for your attention than ever before. now entertainers, businesses and yes even journalists are experimenting with ways to keep you engaged. tonight we're going to look at some of those experiments. we'll start with one of the more traditional arts institutions, the san francisco symphony. it has created sound vox to attract a different crowd.

sy musicer takes us inside. ♪ >> many who come here tonight may not know a lot about classical music, but that's part of the experiment. >> soundbox is designed to appeal to people, many of them younger people, who never have attended many classical concerts before or perhaps have attended them and weren't quite sure about how they should react to the experience. ♪ >> this is a laboratory for the san francisco symphony and music director michael tilson-thomas, who are looking for ways to create new musical experiences and entice new audiences. >> since the 1970s i've been really interested in how the installation of music can change

the audience's perception of it. of course for musicians it's all enveloping, it's all around us, it is a kind of separate world. but how to bring people who are listening to the music more inside the world that we the performers are experiencing. i thought how could this be achieved with lighting with different configurations, of seating with projections. >> by day the space is a cavernous rehearsal hall. but by showtime lighting a bar, and custom acoustics designed for the event completely transform the space. the musicians are members of the same orchestra that performs on the main stage of davy symphony hall, where they've honed their skills playing classical symphony. but in this venue there are multiple stages and opportunities to broaden the repertoire. >> playing in soundbox is a completely different experience. musically we do get to do different things in soundbox.

the piece that i played was kind of a very angular, loud rambunctious piece. >> each set lasts 20 to 30 minutes with ample intermissions to mingle and buy drinks. and at $25 the price of entry here is a fraction of the higher-tier symphony seats. >> it's a more relaxed atmosphere, and i think that is the first thing that kind of turns younger, maybe less exposed people off to the whole symphony experience. they think they're going to come in here and they have to be quiet and it's stuffy and everyone's, you know wearing a tuxedo or a ball gown and you can't talk and you can't move and you don't know when to clap. >> the free-flowing atmosphere is targeting a younger, more diverse audience. but the goal is to hook them into serious music. the march concert a string quartet performed a piece by san francisco composer nathaniel stuckey. >> it is very challenging music. i usually tend to want to go

out go to more kind of rock-oriented shows or hip-hop shows or kind of more modern shows. but i found that this has been an incredible experience. >> the experience of seeing it makes me really want to see more and experience more. >> the series is just four months old, and the symphony has made some unusual marketing choices. like not putting a link to soundbox on its home page says classical music critic joshua cotton. >> it's almost like it's a crazy cousin they don't want to be associated with. so it's just sort of an anti-marketing strategy, right? where you kind of make sure not to give too much information that will bring in the regulars and squeeze out the newcomers and the adventurers. >> he says symphonies need to justify their existence in a landscape crowded with entertainment options. the san francisco symphony board president takuraku fisher argues

that soundbox is about more than selling tickets, it's about staying relevant. >> it's not a business. it is part of the necessity of the human heart. it's a part of what mikes a vibrant community. and as long as we think that's important i think that we'll -- sure, would we like it to be more like a business? who wouldn't? it's not. i accept that. let's move forward then. >> if the current run of sold-out performances means anything, soundbox may be the prototype for the next era in classical music. >> and joining us now to talk about finding new audiences and keeping those audiences engaged are matt dipietro, vice president of marketing for the livestreaming site twitch. youtube star nick pitera. and kenny lauer, vice president of digital and marketing for the warriors. thank you all for being here today. kenny, let's begin with you -- well, first of all, congratulations. the warriors just clinched a playoff berth. >> yeah. >> that's awesome. >> we're really enjoying it.

>> there's a lot going on at warriors games. not just the basketball, which is phenomenal these days. and we have a video of some of what goes on. let's watch for just a moment. >> warriors! let's go time! ♪ make some noise! >> well there you go. there's some serious noise. >> yeah, make some noise. >> how has your organizationing approach to entertainment changed? >> well a lot of it comes with ownership. our ownership is heavily steeped, peter guber in entertainment. and what we do, we really look at ourselves more in the experience creation business. people are going to come to a game, and it's live entertainment. they want to be entertained. they want to have fun. and they have expectations of that. our goal is to use technology

use what we know about entertainment and use the fact that our team is doing really well to create an unbelievable overall experience from the minute they come into the gate to the minute they leave. >> besides the change in ownership, how much of what you're doing now is driven by the way the digital era has transformed everything? there's so much competition now for people's attention. >> yeah. i mean, the -- it's unbelievable. technology -- if you're in the experience creation business, as we are, technology and what you can do with that is -- i refer to it as harry potter's bag of spells. but we still remember that technology is just an enabler. you have to start with what do you want the experience to be? what do you want the behavior? what is going to make a fan and allow a fan to have a memorable experience so that they will share, it will be remarkable,

something emotional so they will come back? >> how much of that is to get them in the door and how much it is to create an atmosphere that's tough for the visiting team? >> yeah, well i think it's both. i think it's important that their experience as they move through the different stages from coming into the arena into the concourse and actually experiencing the game is something that is memorable and is incredible. but let's face it. when you have an opening sequence similar to what you saw it gets the fans engaged that creates that momentum and that energy, yes, that's why our home court advantage is so powerful. >> matt, let's talk about twitch. >> sure. >> because you have 100 million unique visitors a month. amazon just paid about a billion dollars to buy it. and yet a lot of people don't even know what it is. so we're going to watch a little bit of a clip here. tell us what we're watching. >> great. absolutely.

so you're seeing -- what you're essentially seeing is one of our broadcasters, the screen is a little far away so i can't tell which in particular. but what she's doing is playing through a game. and just talking with her audience through the game on the right side of the screen you see the chat experience which is very crucial to the experience. so the audience that is watching while she's playing is chatting with each other in the chat room and also chatting with her so she can respond to the audience. so it's a very sort of social experience. >> and they're watching and playing video games. >> yes. video games. >> almost exclusively video games, right? >> what is the appeal of that? am i just not the right generation? >> yeah. >> are you saying i'm old? >> i would never say such a thing. i think really what it comes down to, the thing that twitch brings to the audience is a social experience that has been missing from games for the last 20 years. when you think back on the origin of games, your first atari in the living room with your brothers or your friends or

whatever, it was a very social experience. or the arcade experience where you know, you've got the guy in the arcade who has the high score at pac man and everybody wants to be him. or the fun why guy or what have you. it's really bringing that sort of social experience back to the gaming community in a way that i think they've just been missing for a long time. >> in that clip we saw that was a woman that was hosting that show? >> mm-hmm. >> how unusual is it to have a woman involved in this? because you think of it as being very much a male-oriented thing. >> sure. it's really not unusual at all. gaming as an an industry i think leans toward male for sure, but female broadcasters female gamers are not, you know, out of the ordinary in any sense. >> and is that in part to draw the young male players? what is that? >> it certainly doesn't hurt, but it works the other way too. we have all kinds of different broadcasters. you can be just simply entertaining.

you can be funny. you can be really good at your game. you can be really bad at your game. we have people that just -- their thing is to play the weirdest games they can get their hands on and talk through them and just have fun with them. >> so your thing is live-streaming. but what nick pitera does on youtube is kind of different. you're a singer but you don't do live-streaming. you do produced videos. >> yes. >> and in fact we have a clip from one of those. so let's just listen for a moment. ♪ doo, doo, doo ♪ ♪ pow, pow, pow, pow ♪ ♪ pow, pow, pow, pow ♪ ♪ this is that ice cold ♪ ♪ michelle pfeiffer ♪ ♪ that white gold ♪ >> "uptown funk." you're looking pretty cool there. >> trying to. >> why did you decide to launch your career on youtube? >> for me it was accidental. because i sort of started when youtube was still a new thing and people weren't necessarily

seeking out attention on youtube or to go viral. and so it was -- i put up a video for a contest because it was the requirement for the contest to sing a song, put it online, and that was your entry. and it got a little bit of exposure, more than i intended. nothing crazy. and then my friend convinced me to put another video up and that kind of went all over the place and suddenly i had, you know, a million people twachg and i had an audience and an outlet to pursue music. it kind of provided me this opportunity to pursue something i didn't have an opportunity to do before. >> how much time do you spend making these sxwroids what have you learned about what you need to do as a youtube performer to keep an audience engaged and get new viewers? >> it depends on what video i'm doing. sometimes i'll alternate between something that's very heavily produced and something that is maybe a little bit more simple from a visual standpoint. and i think some of what helps as far as maintaining an audience or gaining a new one like i mentioned is the song choice. like i'll usually listen to what

my audience is asking me to sing or, you know sometimes -- i try not to rely on this too heavily because i want to be choosing songs for the reasons of me liking them or feeling like i can add something to them. but if it's relevant you can get more exposure. >> so interaction with your audience. >> yeah. >> do you interact with them primarily through the youtube platform or social media -- >> a lot of other social media like twitter and i use patreon which is another sf company. and i interact with my viewers there as well. >> kenny, i'm wondering, as you're listening to them, what do you see as the overlap between what they're doing and what you're trying to do with the warriors? >> yeah, it's fascinating because obviously with twitch live is an essential component. and what we do in the arena is live content. some of the reactions and the following you're having when things are happening live are exactly what happens in the

arena, which is why going to a sporting event is so unique because it's happening at that moment. you're there to experience it. and whether you're physically there or you experience it through a stream is incredibly popular. we're all talking about content. how is content now being used as a way to engage? and how are we using all of the technologies available to be able to do that and then to create unique content that works really well on that platform? >> when you're talking -- you keep going back to technology. okay. so let's take for example levi's stadium. it is now probably the most high-tech stadium in the world arguably arguably. you can go now, you can have an app that tells you where the closest bathroom is. you can order drinks and food to your seat. you can watch replays like as if you were home watching things on tv. so you're going to have a new

stadium in san francisco, arena for the warriors. will it be just as high-tech? what can we expect to see that will create that fan experience as you put it? >> yes. we are just in the process of really understanding and focusing very deliberately on what that experience is going to be. and our experience for the new arena will extend past the arena. it will be what happens in the arena as well as the plaza and the other parts of our complex. we're watching all the the other technologies that's happening both domestically and internationally in arenas, in stadiums. certainly we're following what's happening at levi's down there -- >> what's catching your eye? can you give us a few tidbits here? >> yeah, i think that we -- the beauty about what we're doing is that we have been given by our ownership not only the opportunity but really the responsibility to test to use our current arena as a petri

dish to try different technologies, which is really the only way you're going to understand how it affects a fan. so beacon technology, for example, or proximity messaging is something that we have had a lot of success with. we find it very powerful in being able to recognize where someone is and delivering a message or creating a behavior that wouldn't normally happen. and we find that that sort of thing can stretch and be embedded throughout a larger space to really provide for contextual messaging. >> part of what the warriors are doing is trying to grow an audience. you have a large audience already. but as you think ahead are you also trying to expand the numbers and the kinds of people that are using your service? >> potentially. what we try to do is create a platform that is flexible first. we want to create a platform that is flexible enough for our broadcasters to use it however they like. you know, whether you are sort

of an individual broadcaster who's using twitch in more of a social media type of a way user-generated content kind of a way with 5 or 10 or 50 viewers or if you are for example, the ultra music festival which is live right now on twitch, for example, which has -- i think it has 200,000 concurrent viewers on it right now. so you can be -- you can be a large media organization. you can be an individual broadcaster as well. >> is it oversimplified it to say this is kind of youtube but live? >> youtube but live is fair. it's a little more complicated than that. but that's fair as an introduction absolutely. the thing that i think is interesting is i'm sort of between these two guys because on the one hand i think going to a basketball game, for example is people crave that kind of experience because in this world where we are all sort of binge watching netflix in isolation people crave a live experience with a group of people and that's what twitch provides.

it's a live experience, and if you don't do it right now it's never going to happen again. >> there's no archive. >> well, right. >> so the magnitude of the gaming industry just blows me away. globally it's so huge. and just even here in this country i was just reading this report. the league of legends, the video game, 1 1/2 years ago roughly when the championship happened, 32 million people were doing this on streaming services including twitch. that was more than the audience for the finale of "the sopranos," "24," and "breaking bad" combined. i mean i had no idea it was so big. >> it sounds really astonishing, particularly to the uninitiated, to folks that aren't necessarily gamers. but yeah the audiences for those kinds of events meets and often exceeds cable-sized broadcast television sized audiences. it's really kind of astonishing. and the thing i think is interesting for someone like nick, for example, is it's

really the democratization of media. it's the continuing trend of the democratization of media. twitter, facebook et cetera youtube, twitch, it all provides a platform for just about anybody to get an audience if you have a talent and the will to do it. >> well, and part of that democratization is anybody can make comments online. nick, i'm wondering how do you deal with that in terms of people can be pretty nasty. >> yeah. the internet can be mean. i'm okay with it because i sort of view it as -- well, that's a view. so i'll take it. i also feel like you can't -- it's very easy and safe to say negative things like from a distance on a computer. i've never -- it's never necessarily gotten to me but i know people who are very sensitive. >> would you ever perform live? >> i do perform quite a bit live because of youtube. exactly. i haven't done streaming live things. i've just been physically doing shows. >> maybe halftime at an upcoming warriors game. >> yeah. >> it's really nice because i'm so used to my audience being

digital. so it's really great to go and see people face to face. like i performed at -- there are certain youtube and social media-based conventions like vidcon which is a big thing in anaheim. that's sort of youtube in real life. it's very surreal to see it and meet other creators that i have either worked with cross-country and see them live there and perform with them and to see your audience in person. it's sort of a really great thing. >> ken, your new arena 2018 you're moving to san francisco. you have such a loyal fan base in the east bay where you're based now. do you worry about losing that fan base when you cross the bay? and what will you do to try to keep that audience and keep them engaged? >> well, in my role i worry about losing a fan every day. in the off-season. but i'm not worried -- in fact, we are actually considered more the bay's team. i mean, if you look at the fact

that there's two baseball teams two football teams, we really are the only basketball team. and you know, we came to san francisco, we played nine years as the san francisco warriors. one year in san jose. and a whole bunch of years in oakland. so we really have been in multiple areas in the bay area. >> you've been in this job a couple years. what were you told by the ownership about trying new things, keeping it fresh? because it's great to have success and as the team is winning it's great to get people in the doors but if they have a bad season then what you do really matters right? >> yeah absolutely. in fact, one of my first, very first conversations with peter after i joined was -- peter guber, who's one of our owners from the entertainment industry, basically gave me the edict. he said you have to be brave. you have to be bold. and you have to try things that make mistakes. because if you don't we don't need you because we're already not doing that.

so the responsibility really was and the opportunity is to continue to try. in fact, we would -- my team was held more accountable for not trying things, for not failing for possibly being creatively lazy than anything else. and believe me, coming from tech, which is where i came from, to be on a sports team here and to have that kind of latitude to be able to -- to be almost like an incubator to try things is what really is going to ultimately give us the advantage in delivering the kind of experience for our fans that they deserve. >> well, we wish you luck with all of that. >> thank you. come see us. >> i will. good luck with the playoffs. >> thank you very much. >> are you nervous? >> no. very confident. >> keep doing what you're doing. >> you're doing something right here. >> all right. great. >> thanks to all of you. kenny lauer with the warriors, nick pitera with youtube, and matt dipietro with twitch. >> thanks very much.

>> thanks very much. >> and that is all we have for tonight. for all of kqed's news coverage please go to kqednews.org. >> i'm scott shafer. thanks for joining us. >> and i'm thuy vu. have a good night. ♪ >> funding for kqed arts is provided by the william and flora hewlett foundation and the california arts council, and by diane b. woolsey.

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