InteracTiVoty: How Broadcast Television Can Avoid the Fate of Newspapers - Evan Young - MediaBizBlogger

As we look at the demise of newspapers and other printed publications it is worth noting how this trend may apply to the television industry Prior to the web newspapers used to be supported primarily by print advertising and user subscriptions Making content available on the web for free but supported by banner ads served to undercut the user subscription base as well as the eyeball count that could be used to justify printed ad rates But revenues from the banner ad model never replaced the revenues that were lost in the printed domainNow let39s look at television Prior to the web broadcast TV was and still is supported primarily by 30second spots and in the case of cable user subscriptions Since video is much more quotheavyweightquot on the web than text it39s taken a little while for webbased distribution of TV to catch up to print But now that it has what39s happeningEyeballs from the web whether legitimate or pirate are starting to cannibalize broadcast television audiences impacting ratings Ad revenues from webdistributed TV shows are experimental and not yet at high enough volume to replace lost broadcast TV ad revenues Sound familiar Even worse the cost basis for distributing shows on the web is much higher Web distribution is cheaper than print because there are no trees to cut down or delivery trucks to run but with video you39re paying to stream to every additional viewer instead of getting the benefits of broadcast distribution where the marginal cost of additional viewers is basically zeroAt some point every analogy breaks down and I don39t want to belabor this one But a major issue with print advertising is that it is only effectively measurable on a gross scale circulation count retained impressions etc Trackable calls to action eg printed coupons are merely a proxy when compared to the granularity of banner clickstream data where it can be known how many were served how many were clicked and how many sales were generated Save some massive reinvention of print distribution eg connected ereaders print ads will remain relatively quotflatquotNow the ads that support TV distributed on the web are all actionable Ads that support broadcast TV for the most part are not This is of course something we are working to change at TiVo Unlike print ads which don39t really have the capacity to change due to their specific medium broadcast TV ads can change because the medium of TV is being upgraded all the time Most TV viewers watch some form of digital television with a settop box with backchannel capability if not a DVR Many new TVs have Ethernet built in So there is no excuse for the ads that run on broadcast TV to remain quotflatquot This is a significant advantage that oldform broadcast TV has over oldform print mediaAt TiVo we pioneered DVRbased advertising with solutions that include interactive tagging videotovideo telescoping and the ability to broker direct contacts and lead generation between viewers and advertisers But we39ve taken it a step further in being able to broker direct product transactions off of broadcast programming Saw a book CD or DVD on TV that you want You can buy it from Amazoncom using your TiVo remote Feeling hungry Order a pizza using your TiVo remote Excited by the 30 spot for the new Star Trek movie Buy tickets on Fandango using your TiVo remote These are some of the ways in which broadcast TV advertising can stand to be enhanced if it is to compete or compare favorably with interactive ads for TV distributed on the webIt is no surprise that the revenue model for TV distributed on the web while innovative continues to evolve That it should challenge and in some ways threaten broadcast television distribution should not be a surprise either But that doesn39t mean that the broadcast television advertising model needs to stand still in the face of change it needs to change tooGone are the days when program ratings were all that mattered Ads need to be engaging relevant and actionable The potential for revitalizing broadcast TV advertising is there If we fail to capitalize on that potential then viewers will continue to skip ads or move to webdelivered TV where ads can be more effective for all concerned but at the cost of cannibalizing broadcast programming And for broadcast TV to go the direction print media is goingamp8230that39s something nobody wantsEvan Young is Director of Broadband Services at TiVo Inc

Become a Thought Leader.
Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership

InteracTiVoty: How Broadcast Television Can Avoid the Fate of Newspapers - Evan Young - MediaBizBlogger

Author

Publish date

Channel

Evan Young

"About That with Carl Mayer:" Alaina Donnellon (Episode 10: Political Spending) - By Carl Mayer

More Videos:

Become a Thought Leader. Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership

InteracTiVoty: How Broadcast Television Can Avoid the Fate of Newspapers - Evan Young - MediaBizBlogger

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Evan Young

"About That with Carl Mayer:" Alaina Donnellon (Episode 10: Political Spending) - By Carl Mayer

The payment was successful

Cookies

Become a Thought Leader.
Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership