Offers, business models, new professions

Faced with a slowing growth rate of ad revenue for the small screen and the rising popularity of off-the-grid viewing, TV channel operators are working to forge themselves a position on the web to take advantage of the huge increase in advertising investments in this medium. Capitalising on the strength of their media brands, broadcasters are offering new TV services online. This “new media” strategy, which is being deployed by TV channels across the board in North America and Europe, is forcing changes in media chronology, new business models and a change in the TV broadcaster and aggregator businesses – moving from the delivery of a push type TV service to the distribution of programmes in pull mode, while working to create a more personalised and interactive relationship with viewers (The TV channels’ strategies).

TV channels need to adapt to new media consumption patterns created by the advent of alternative platforms.
The traditional TV advertising market is reaching maturity, although prime time is still a very valuable slot for advertisers.
TV channels are driving a change in the current media chronology as they open up new windows on the web to maximise the distribution of their programmes during the period covered by their broadcasting rights, a trend which runs the risk of undermining the economy of the secondary and video markets. TV channels are looking for complementary revenue sources on the internet, generated by ad spaces sold on high-traffic sites or by paid online services. TV airtime nevertheless remains channel operators’ most powerful and most central asset, and one that is crucial to maintaining the strength of their media brand and the appeal of reruns on new media.
The challenge for channels is to strengthen ties with viewers by migrating from broadcast/push mode to a personalised and interactive rapport with viewers in pull mode.

Television still the dominant medium, but having to contend with new consumption patterns
Although TV still manages to hold users’ attention for longer periods every day than any other medium, it has been facing major upheavals over the past several years, a great many of which have been spurred by the digitisation of the image. The new outlook for the IP universe embodies the second wave of change. Among the shifts that have taken place in the TV market, of particular note is the segmentation of the TV offer which has made it possible to maintain viewing figures overall, but is cutting into the leading channels’ audience numbers. Prime time nevertheless remains a key time slot. The incomparable power of the television medium indeed lies in its ability to attract a huge number of viewers every day at a set time.

On-demand and time-shifted viewing on the rise
Broadcasters need to formulate a response to the range of alternative, timeshifted and personalised media consumption solutions.

• VOD allows viewers to watch individual programmes during windows that generally precede those reserved for recently released films (on premium or free-to air services).
• Piracy of TV programmes and their distribution in peer-to-peer mode is undermining the broadcast of stock programmes, particularly North American ones on European TV channels.
• The PVR lets viewers record large volumes of TV programmes and, more significantly, gives them control over what they watch and when they watch it, thanks to advanced electronic programme guide features. The PVR is becoming an EPG with ever-increasing storage capacity, while the fast forward button allows viewers to skip commercials.

Media market revenue: fundamentals remain stable, for now
The traditional TV advertising market is nearing maturity. Soft growth of TV ad revenue is being maintained thanks to specialty channels (particularly in the United States), but the leading generalist channels still enjoy the highest ad revenue and audience figures, particularly in prime time. Commercials aired in prime time are still a premium commodity (price proportionately higher to audience levels) – a phenomenon due to the high value that advertisers place on exposure during that time slot, as their audience is being fragmented and the number of available distribution platforms is increasing. General interest channels are nevertheless facing a price squeeze between ad revenue that is threatening to stagnate or even decline and a programme schedule whose costs have increased substantially in recent years.
This is why commercial generalist TV channels have for the most part begun a strategy of controlling the costs of their programming, and all them are working to achieve greater on-air profits. A case in point is one of Europe’s leaders, Mediaset, which anticipated the stagnation of its TV ad revenue in Europe and so introduced a cost-control policy for its line-up back in 2002, which allowed the company to maintain an average 2.1% rate of increase over the period, with a target of achieving a 0% increase in 2007.

The IDATE report:  http://www.reports-research.com/market-surveys/channels%C2%92-internet-p-17690.html