We often hear from media industry executives that not only
is change occurring in across the industry, the rate of change is accelerating.
This year’s On Screen Media Summit which took place last week in New York parsed
the areas of change across the on screen landscape both in and out of home.
There are no sacred cows; all points of media are being
impacted from retransmission, digital distribution, measurement, metrics, content
recognition, addressable advertising, bundling and even a shifting of target
consumer valuation. Where will it all lead? Here are a few opinions from the
conference:
Increased Importance of Revised Measurement
Does the
current C3 television measurement need to evolve? According to CBS’ Les Moonves,
"The world is changing rapidly and this year is the tipping point. The viewer can now get content in all sorts of
different ways. …We need to expand measurement and need to get paid for all of
it... We also need measurement beyond three days. We want to get paid
properly.” But as cross platform distribution expands, the lack of a
standardized platform agnostic measurement capability hampers the full
valuation of content. John Pascarelli of Mediacom sees potential in creating
applications on the set top box that can help in measurement.
Updating the Target Demo … Or Not?
Les Moonves questioned the continued use of 18-49 as a sales
delivery target. “One of the greatest bullsh*t numbers is 18-49. Writers say ‘it
is the only demo that advertisers care about’ but it is a lazy way to look at
the world and it is giving advertisers adults 50 plus for free.” His opinion is
that it is time that 50 year olds get recognized because they have more buying
power than 18-49 year olds. His suggestion is to shift the target demo slightly
upward to 25-54 and, citing the continued success of 60 Minutes, target different
age groups for different shows. Taking a different view was GroupM’s Irwin
Gotlieb who supports the 18-49 status quo. He spoke of the psychology of
demographic targeting which he referred to an “aspirational age group” where a 12
year old aspires to be like a 17 year
old and a 65 year old aspires to be a 40 year old. In this way, 18-49 captures
the psychological essence of the viewer, no matter how old they chronologically
are.
Technology Rules
Tom Rogers of TIVO gave an update on the advancements of the
TIVO box including an Over The Top integrated solution from any device in the
home including iPads. TIVO has also
developed a program audience research data business compiling STB data that
measures not only what they are watching for programs but also for commercials.
Jeremy Helfand from Adobe noted that the
days of forgoing content delivery because it couldn't be monetized are over. He credits dynamic ad insertion as one of the
most significant technology developments today.
Content Continues to be King
Breaking Bad Executive Producer Mark
Johnson spoke about the importance of scripted series in network brand
development. Breaking Bad helped classic
movie network, AMC, achieve greater recognition and industry cache. And great
long form content such as feature films can be packaged in ways that offer viewers greater choice. Susan
Cartsonis of Storefront Pictures spoke of the flexibility of content delivery explaining
how a film company can release their films in two ways - by dividing the film into segments so
commuters can view in shorter, smaller installments and also releasing it to
theaters in its original, complete long form. Compelling quality content
continues to be a pivotal component of success. Some things never change. But
the way it is delivered to the consumer is evolving.
Consumers Are Driving Advancements and
Creativity
As viewers
can consumer video on many different platforms and both in and out of home, it
is clear that, as Jeremy Helfand said, “The living-room-on-the-go is the new
reality.” So how can we monetize these new platforms and add value to the
viewing experience? Peter Low of EnSequence suggests that there are three ways
to add value 1. Overlay content and create opportunities for advanced
advertising, 2. Increase time spent viewing and 3. Create ratings with greater
measurability and ROI.
Advanced Advertising is Coming into its Own
As the
industry focuses more on advanced advertising, Frank Foster of Comcast
Spotlight noted that there are four data sets used in advance advertising –
identifiers, transactional data,
optimization components and the reporting capabilities. Comcast, he says, is
rolling out advanced advertising in five cities based on their new audience-based
technology. Irwin Gotlieb concludes that “TV will be far more effective once it
is addressable…. It will reduce waste and increase effectiveness... And the
potential revenue form addressable is astounding.”
