There’s a lot of talk about the impending death of TV as we know it. Digital TV will rule the roost by 2013, pay TV is entering more Australian households every day, and online TV is exploding in a rainbow of forms that range from ridiculous, to subversive, to cerebral. It may be timely to ask: who “owns” TV?
“It seems an awful lot to me that FTA TV networks keep talking as if they ‘are’ TV and they own its future,” says MediaCom strategy director Philip Phelan. “Given everything emerging, maybe they need to be reminded that TV is a ‘format’ and they don’t own it. What they do own is a licence to broadcast in a prescribed spectrum of airtime. There’s some really interesting things happening on the fringes like ‘slowtv’ (via The Monthly), Moonlight TV, JoostTV, Freeview and Redbee, not to mention developments in subscription TV. All of these point to a different future for TV, but no less significant than its past.”
Subscription TV has been chipping away at the free-to-airs’ share of TV ad spend budgets for more than 10 years now, so the decline of FTA’s domination of TV as we know it is nothing new.
HD TV has been lauded as a potential saviour of the FTA networks, allowing them to diversify and extend their programming and increase visual quality. However, networks will need to ensure that HD adds more viewers to their current audiences, rather than cannibalising and further fragmenting them.
The real threat is most likely to come from the incredible growth of online TV and video. What was until recently relegated to a momentary escape from the dullness of the working day is rapidly transforming into a whole new TV format – and a potentially massively profitable one at that.
In the UK, internet advertising is predicted to overtake TV as the biggest advertising medium by the end of 2009. A report issued by the IAB, PwC and the World Advertising Research Centre attributed last year’s 38% online ad growth to the rising number of people online, the introduction of cheap laptops and the growing popularity of catch-up TV on the internet.
And when you look at the insane popularity of some YouTube videos – for instance, the spoof Sarah Silverman/ Matt Damon music video, “I’m F*$#ing Matt Damon”, has racked up well over 15 million views – it makes sense that Google (now proud owner of YouTube) has amped up its efforts to maximise online video advertising. Advertisers, very simply, want to be where audiences are. With recent Nielsen Online research showing Australians are spending more time online than watching TV, it shouldn’t be long before the big players figure out how to start spinning online video into advertising gold.
Nine this week launched its new series, Canal Road, on ninemsn prior to its TV debut. The HIRO system adds unskippable in-show commercials to content, allowing the owners and distributors to “effectively monetise video downloads while providing free entertainment for viewers”. Outgoing ninemsn director of marketing Tony Thomas said: “The HIRO technology reflects how people share files and consume content, and we will be watching the trial very closely to see how consumers respond to the format.”
It’s early days, but if FTA networks are willing to innovate in line with online developments, they may still stand a chance.<
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