Since the beginning of broadcasting our business model has been to push one way content into the household and build viewership through compelling programming interlaced with advertising. While the Internet is a trickle of ‘digital dimes’, ours to this day is still a fire hose of content unleashed in a one-way push into the living room.
If you are lucky enough to travel the country and go into broadcast facilities in all size markets you will find a common set of beliefs and assumptions that virtually the entire industry operates under. There are a handful of mavericks emerging at some broadcast groups ready to make digital television truly interactive. But for the most part, before that can happen in an industry changing way, we need to look at past experimentation and current industry norms and debunk them.
Cue Cat: There is a fear in some corners of the industry that everything will fail since the industry once aligned with ‘Cue Cat’. Barely a meeting can be had in the industry without a group of folks rolling their eyes to the memory of Cue Cat. The industry needs to shelf comparisons to Cue Cat and not let that hold up important work.
Cable Companies Hate Broadcasters: I have seen more than a few broadcasters lean back in their chairs proud that finally they were getting paid for content. Broadcasters should be proud since they deserve to be paid for their content; however, retransmission consent is just the key that opens the door to a new relationship with cable providers that can benefit both parties. Cable companies will soon have the pressure of a la carte at their doorstep, thus threatening to break up the digital tiers.
Broadcasters are in a unique position today to work with cable companies to figure out new business models that are driven by the return path communication from the cable set top box. I have yet to meet a cable company that does not want to partner with broadcasters for a new revenue source that can also beat back the advances of the Internet.
Our Ratings Will Drop: Deep down broadcasters actually think that any technology that will enable the consumer to interact with programming will ultimately prove that they have less viewers than the ratings services are currently reporting. This mindset that interactivity will somehow equate to lower ratings and lower advertising dollars is unfounded.
Scale Drives Adoption: Before scale drives technologies into mass acceptance, past the early adopters, the broadcasters need to look at technologies and make a judgment call on whether or not the technology can find mass appeal through all their age groups and audience characteristics. Scale can come once the broadcast groups understand the technology in question and sign off on their own project plan. Scale is not overnight.
TV Is Not a Dumb Pipe: For decades broadcasters have relied on paper diaries or reading comment cards from loyal viewers to figure out what programming would drive audience. Since the beginning of television broadcasters have been operating with one hand tied behind their backs in figuring out content choices. Through the power of digital television they can form new agreements to capture return path data from the cable set top box and open up their facilities to immediate feedback that will grow viewership.
Broadcasters have completed the digital transition. Yet at the end of the day besides some pretty pictures, and better sound quality, the digital transition has done nothing for the consumer. If broadcasters are to survive they need to set aside today’s business model and figure out a way to deliver a service that is two-way in nature to viewers. Today’s consumers are demanding customization through all products they buy, and time spent with television broadcasters is no different. It’s 2009, Cue Cat has long been dead, it’s time we retire some of our old ideas as a new digital world (and industry recovery) is within grasp.
Michael Kokernak is the CEO and President of Across Platforms, Inc. Across Platforms, Inc. is a multiscreen technologies consulting firm. Michael has also written about the emotional impact digital television has on consumers. Michael is also the founder, and past CEO, of Backchannelmedia. He can be reached at [email protected].
