Hot Topic: internet TV
- Published: 04 June 2008 14:10
- Last Updated: 04 June 2008 14:10
Cosmo Lush on how to make the most of the web-TV revolution.
We saw more good news for the BBC iPlayer recently - the online catch-up TV service has now received 75 million requests to view shows since its launch, and 21 million in April alone. Not bad for a service that only launched at Christmas, and only includes programmes broadcast in the past seven days.
The numbers are even more impressive when you calculate the proportion of BBC viewing they reflect. For the 2.8 million of us who "iPlayered" last month, we watched, on average, 7.5 shows each which, at half an hour per show, makes for nearly four hours of viewing. That's more than 3% of the average viewer's total TV consumption in a month and, assuming the BBC accounts for roughly one third of the total, more than 10% of their BBC viewing. That ought to be enough for BBC controllers to sit up and take note.
The iPlayer's impact has been much broader than just the BBC. At C4 we have seen unprecedented growth in usage of our online TV service 4oD since the iPlayer's launch and this year we have consistently registered more than 5 million views per month. In its recent results ITV announced that in April it had delivered nearly 10 million video views in total on itv.com, of which we can assume about half would have been views of full episode TV shows.
This success raises questions across the TV industry. Is the usage additional to existing TV viewing or simply a replacement of it? Are these services increasing viewers' loyalty to traditional TV brands or encouraging a drift away? How can we ensure we create new value from online TV? To get it right requires smart thinking and an appetite for risk. Here are some pointers for the key players:
Broadcasters
Test out new cross-platform formats (eg Five's recent deal with Bebo to broadcast Sofia's Diary), new links with e-commerce distributors (the three main UK PSBs have deals to sell TV shows on iTunes) and new promotional windows (online pre-releases of major titles in the US like Jackass 2.5 have driven on-air ratings).
Treat this as a brand extension exercise: clever use of brands in an online environment will increase engagement and loyalty among online audiences and drive value.
Start to track the impact of online viewing on traditional businesses - linear ratings, ad yields and DVD sales.
Advertisers
Make sure online TV is an easy advertising product to buy and sell. Publishers and agencies must work together to standardise formats and audience metrics as quickly as possible.
Pitch online video as much as a TV sale as a digital one. For buyers, this offers the opportunity to mix the traditional brand engagement of TV spots with the direct response performance of online. For sellers it opens up much bigger budgets.
Experiment with new cross-platform advertising formats. Look to extend existing on-air sponsorship deals across multiple online platforms.
Programme-makers
Look for new cross-platform formats and funding models.
Push broadcasters to innovate. You may have a better sense of what works online than they do.
This is a critical moment in the development of online TV. Usage is growing fast, but is not yet on a scale to threaten traditional revenues. Now is the time to experiment and learn, so we can get things right when the tap really turns on.
Cosmo Lush is C4 head of commercial strategy, VoD. He is speaking about programme-making for the download generation at Broadcast's Digital Channels Conference. See www.digital-channels.co.uk
