News Corp.’s Fox network has signed a six-year agreement with its affiliates that will allow it to show reruns of its television programs on the Internet.
ABC, CBS and NBC are all making similar experiments, and iTunes has a number of television shows available for download. The space is evolving fast. For example, experiments are being considered that will stop people from fast forwarding through commercials (bad idea) after a new study was published that say people skip ads in recorded shows (surprise!).
This is an area that we are turning our attention to. Expect upcoming reviews of the current state of the market for tv shows and movies on the Internet. And we’ll be looking at these in light of the “free” if illegal services that people are already using.
If they disable fast forwarding, I’ll just stop watching. Viral marketing from within the content is one solution. I don’t like commercials because they’re repetitious.
(yawn) Wake me when they surpass the convenience and quality one can find with Bit-torrent.
Yawn….
If only the industries could make it better than streamwired or crafty…
So Tivo offers a service where you can download off your box onto your pc, but the service sucks. I’d really like whatever TV service comes out to interact with otehr tv services. Otherwise, the value add (for me) is diminished. Outside of sitting on a plane or bus, sitting in front of a TV is better than watching on a smaller screen.
What is the value prop. for creating high quality television if you can’t monetize them with ads? Would entertainment really be superior (or profitable) with so-called “viral marketing” inserted into the shows?
HBO has a pretty decent business built on high-quality programming without ads (Sopranos, Big Love, Rome, etc.), and millions of people do pay $15/month to receive it. The secret sauce is “high quality” plus exemption from FCC broadcast rules.
What about a twist on Fred Wilson’s Freemium model… they let you watch the first 5 or 6 episodes for free and then if you want the rest of the season you’ve got to pay a subsription? I think it would suck, but I bet it would be effective. Or maybe you do the same thing within an episode… the first half is free but the conclusion costs something. Yep that would really suck.
The “wow” effect from consumers following the launch term might also generate a substantial value for the broadcasters to tap on. For day 1 it might be more beneficial not to nag with evil drm or ads thingies, but to foster the communities.
I’m pretty sure that the “250 TV shows in your pocket” refers to the number of shows that can fit on the ipod with video, not the number of shows in the iTunes database.
ah, well, its a good picture anyway.
not letting users fast forward through commercials is a horrible idea.
i understand that they want their advertising dollars from tv shows, but they need to be more creative than 30 second waste-of-time’s thrown in the middle of a show.
ie, they can put more advertising *in* the show. have products used by teh cast. have billboards visible in car chases scenes, etc. or, just make the guy watch a commercial before the download begins. there are so many more options than forcing me to download your stupid commercial and be *forced* to watch it in the *middle* of my show.
until big media understands that digital tv is NOT the same as standard tv, then internet tv will never reach its full potential.
“put more advertising *in* the show”
This isn’t what will help TV. I would call a show a sell-out if they caved in their creativity for product placement in the show. I’m thinking of that scene in Wanye’s World where they’re holding up Lay’s chips, wearing Nike sneakers and such.
What I find ok is CSI where they zoom in on their Nikon cameras for a second or two at a crime scene. What Nikon needs to do is starting advertising that in mini breaks or something.
Cross promotion may be good, but not some scene on Desparate Housewives were a baby’s diaper is being changed and we see a big bag of Pampers. That’s just too obvious.
I guess though that’s where things are headed. Product placement and virtual ads like the ESPN/FOX ads behind homeplate and such.
“but not some scene on Desparate Housewives were a baby’s diaper is being changed and we see a big bag of Pampers. That’s just too obvious.”
I completely agree here, and I’m definately not hoping that all tv shows will morph into the Truman Show, but I think more can be done in this area, a la CSI and Nikon, than is being done currently.
For instance, since the video is being played on a computer, this gives an opportunity for the viewer to interact with the show. let the user click on the scenes during the show to bring up a storefront in their browser.
Clicking on Desperate Housewives scene would bring up a website where the user can buy the outfit the actress is wearing, etc.
My point is that computers can let the user interact with the video. we shouldn’t have to wait for 5 minutes in the middle of the show to watch something we might – but probably don’t – want to buy. Instead let the user see the products throught the show and essentially shop while they watch.
Include ads at the point of sale when they download. and include ads on the storefront webpage when they click on the scene. etc. just don’t try to wedge the old model of advertising into the new internet tv media.
they just have to make the commercials so short that it’s not worth it to skip them.
New ad units will arise- time shifted, more product placement, interactive user opt-in. Major studios will continue to experiment with various different models. Consider it A/B testing for now. The Internet is the ultimate market and will ultimately demonstrate which model(s) work. The ad dollars will figure out how to fit in.
Mike, your Flickr link to the television shows is simply useless. Is there any practical information available on this?
“they just have to make the commercials so short that it’s not worth it to skip them.”
Good idea. Or alternatively, make them so *good* you don’t want to skip them. Anyone remember the Indiana Jones Coke commercial that was on the VHS release of The Last Crusade? It was so cool, you’d rewind and watch it again.
In the future, ads will have to be entertaining enough to be watched for their own merits.
“make them so *good* you don’t want to skip them”. I totally agree with that. But we need a brand new géneration of marketeers. Because ads i see on belgian tv just sucks !
I don’t understand the need for ads at all if people are paying for the episodes the way they do on itunes. If I’m paying you for the service why should I be required to watch commercials on top of that?
They have now just announced Fox is putting 24 on myspace…but darned if I can find it!
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