What Is the Future of Pay TV?

What do we really mean when we say “pay TV”? To some, it means programming or networks that are commercial-free, available on any platform, and require the viewer to pay a fee. To others, it includes ad-supported TV channels offered through a multi-channel video program distributor (MVPD). It might also include newer innovations like video-on-demand (VOD) and streaming video-on-demand (SVOD) programming as part of a subscription service.

In sum, pay TV is evolving into an amalgam of networks and services that are typically supported by ads or subscriptions, and its definition keeps changing as technology and access to content expands. The generally accepted definition, however, comes from the Television Bureau of Advertising: “Home television programming for which the viewer pays by the program or by the month. Pay television includes both over-the-air transmission (with scrambled signals) and cable transmission (pay cable).”

A Downward Trend

Read the full article on the Videa blog.

Proven: Turner Has Larger and More Engaged Audiences with VOD

Turner has recently released the results of their new VOD study which proves, through Nielsen VOD Content Ratings, that VOD programming attracts a more desirable and highly engaged audience over the span of time. This should not come as a surprise – when people can choose the optimal time to view their content, they pay more attention.   

As a recent press release noted, Turner has been “aggressively experimenting with content strategies and ad formats that focus on mutual benefits for viewers and advertising partners.” Increasingly, they are focusing on measurement to evaluate these strategies.

Turner’s work with Nielsen resulted in a case study on the program Good Behavior, which examined how

Cable VOD compared to other TV set + set-top box viewing methods (live TV and DVR). In Good Behavior, VOD was the preferred viewing platform, driving viewing beyond the 3-day window. The percentage of total viewers from VOD grew from 5% at 3 days to almost 50% after 90 days.

This research study comes at a pivotal time. Cross-screen inventory (including VOD) will be offered as part of Turner’s OpenAP inventory by the end of this year.

I sat down with Sandy Padula, SVP Research, TBS-TNT Research and Consumer Insight, to get the details:

Charlene Weisler: How did the idea to do this study start?

Sandy Padula: A few years ago, I started noticing that we had a significant amount of viewing for our original series happening in the VOD space beyond the seven day window. I also heard this from other networks in the industry. When we started looking specifically at this issue with our new content - and our historical content as we deepened our library - we were seeing that upwards of half of the viewing for original series was occurring in VOD 8 day plus. It was not only substantial audience, but also very desirable. They were younger, more affluent and they looked like the DVR audience. They were also more engaged and were watching more of the episodes. We learned that as the C7 ratings continued to decline, our current measurement offered less and less of a good picture of the total viewership that was happening.

Weisler: I see rating was used as one of the metrics. What other metrics did you use to measure?

Padula: Engagement is also an important metric. We see that the completion rate and time spent viewing in VOD is really high - Higher than in c3 and c7. We are looking for more opportunities to test and learn with advertisers on engagement. In the couple of studies that we have done, we have seen that recall of advertisers in the pod and the affinity of the advertisers in the pod, increase when viewed in VOD.

Weisler: How did the results look for other programming genres?

Padula: What we found for Good Behavior was also true for other programming genres across the board. The exception was for genres like live events or news and sometimes topical late night where VOD doesn’t really factor as much. But generally speaking, show to show to show, our VOD audiences are more desirable, more affluent and the consumption across all of our VOD is growing substantially.  Both TBS and TNT VOD had record performances last year because the depth of our library is important and growing, and the consumption of VOD is increasing.

Weisler: What are your next steps in examining VOD?

Padula: I am hoping that we will get to a point where our advertisers and are partners understand that we can forecast on video content ratings the same way we can post ratings in linear. We are getting impressions from ad servers like Canoe and Freewheel and are getting demographics from Nielsen. We are able to post and forecast the same way we do in linear. Two years ago we had a less complete picture of linear viewing and two years from now it will be even less complete. We are seeing our consumers watch our shows later and later from the original air date. Our deep library is also becoming more important. So much so that we are seeing our VOD more like SVOD. It is giving viewers more choice that is related to our network.

Weisler: What has the reaction been from agencies and advertisers?

Padula: We have had positive feedback from advertisers in the VOD space because they know that the audience is younger and more engaged. It is a better viewing experience for the fans. And the advertiser / advertising experience is better too. We’ve had good sell-out with our available VOD inventory. We are increasing our DAI and are now in 60 million homes.

Weisler: What do you see as the impact of VOD in the future?

Padula: We will have more impressions to sell. The whole concept of VOD is fascinating and it is low hanging fruit for the industry. It is where people are making a choice to view content on their own time. The amount of original content we are creating on TBS and TNT and putting into our library is driving a lot of viewing to our shows that we just weren’t capturing before. We have the ability to stack our shows and give people the ability to watch more and more episodes and bringing them into the VOD space which can introduce them to more of our content. It is valuable to the advertiser and is what the consumer is looking for.

 This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

Managing the Metadata. Q&A With Greg Varhely.

Greg Varhely has over 20 years in the television media industry concentrating a majority of his time in the advanced platforms and digital R&D sectors. His expertise in video on demand has led to more ideas on complex applications, cross platform packaging and advanced usability apps. In this interview, Greg talks about the future of video on demand, metadata challenges in asset identification and content flow across platforms. He also offers some interesting predictions on what will happen to the IP, to networks of various sizes and of the smart TV roll out.

The six videos of the interview are as follows:

Subject                                                Length (in minutes)

Background                                                   (3:51)

DAI, Addressable Advertising, EBIF          (5:16)

Cross Platform, Content Flow                     (5:44)

Metadata, IDER, Asset ID                             (6:38)

Predictions – IP Next Generation              (5:59)

Predictions- Networks, SmartTV               (6:35)


Charlene Weisler interviews Greg Varhely who discusses his background in this 3:51 minute video:

What are the opportunities with Dynamic Ad Insertion and Addressable Advertising? Greg Varhely talks to Charlene Weisler about these topics in this 5:16 minute video:

Greg Varhely talks to Charlene Weisler about cross platform and content flow in this 5:44 minute video:

Metadata, its challenges for identification and its uses are discussed by Greg Varhely in this 6:38 minute video:

Greg Varhely offers his predictions to Charlene Weisler int he next two videos. The first is on the IP (5:59 minutes) and the second is regarding television (6:35 minutes):

 

Is On Demand Ready For Primetime Anytime?

We appear to be tantalizingly close to a more comprehensive business, delivery and measurement strategy for On Demand. But perhaps not close enough to create an industry standard just yet. The recent B&C On Demand Summit offered insights into what is being done well, what we can do better and what still needs to be accomplished in the On Demand arena.

There is a lot of good news according to experts in the industry. The number of enabled platforms is increasing, the cost of distribution is declining and the window for dynamic ad insertion is shortening.  Brands are beginning to integrate with content to offer a seamless viewing experience. Research companies are energetically examining second by second return path data that is being matched to IP data and there is greater flexibility than ever in content creation, delivery and access.

As the conference progressed it became clear that there are some important actions that need to be taken sooner than later - those areas where the On Demand business needs to focus to get to an industry standard. A short video that captures some of these topics is linked to here. 

Here are my top ten On Demand issues and next step: Please comment.

Cannibalization – Cannibalization is not inevitable according to Jim Packer from Lionsgate. But there needs to be a careful balancing act for content providers so that content that is available on demand and across platforms does not cannibalize the primary source of the main business, whether linear or in theater, for example.

DAI – The technology is not there yet for more real time insertion. There are still some structural issues to get it closer to almost real time. Thankfully Canoe is focusing all of its energies on addressing DAI.

Transparency – This is primarily a data access issue that is being addressed by Rentrak in partnership with MediaOcean. Agencies will be able to view a transparent transaction report of 60 networks free of charge.

Data merging and measurement – Even though agency software company MediaOcean is beginning to integrate new datasets into its systems (an important step), On Demand data and measurement in general continue to be an area in need of more development. Improvements in data standardization and metrics are being spearheaded via the IAB and the MRC is starting to accredit certain services and methodologies. We need to keep pursuing measurement solutions as a top priority. And let’s not forget the importance of asset identification to facilitate cross platform measurement trackage. 

Scale – How do you get to scale with VOD? It seems that issues like content rights and measurement need to be addressed to help create scale. 

Agency silos – Some agencies are stratified when it comes to media purchasing so broadcast and cable are separate buying departments from digital. Silo’ing is not an efficient way to maximize the purchase value of VOD. Many agencies, realizing this challenge, are being to break down these silos but there is still work to be done in this area.

Valuation- How do you value VOD? Some think of it as an extension of cable. Agency budgets need to migrate and the disparity of CPMs across platforms needs to be addressed. Mike Bologna of GroupM suggested defining hyper target segments so VOD is not just “more cable inventory”.

Educating clients beyond age and gender – VOD enables hyper niche marketing but clients may still gravitate to the simpler age gender categories. Nick Troiano of BlackArrow noted that from a business perspective CPMs for A18-49 offers a higher CPM but hyper-targeting is more efficient. 

Content rights – Let’s face it, rights are expensive. Especially when the content is new and performance is unknown. But without taking the chance of acquiring all the content rights for a program, there is a marketing challenge (brands cannot fully integrate) and a data challenge (the landscape of VOD becomes incomplete for full measurement). 

Rate of change – The rate of change seems to be accelerating. Conference s such as those offered by Mediapost and MultiChannel/B&C continue to bring new and innovative ideas to the industry and help executives keep up to date.