The Future of Television

Edit: TL:DRI participated on a panel discussing key concepts related to the future of television. Content and understanding your audience is key, monetization via ads and subscriptions will continue into digital.

Quick Overall Summary - Notes Taken from the Panel Discussed on Jan 16, 2014:

Social, Mobile, Global and Local were all key concepts (as expected). Cable companies still dominate the market, but YouTube, Netflix (approx 4.5 billion/year each) and other channels are growing. The channel doesn't really matter, but viewers need to be paying for content directly or via advertisements. Content is king and each of the channels are investing in quality content. Understanding and respecting  your audience will be critical to future success. The discovery of new content via recommended content or subscribed content is critical. It will be interesting to see how much thought individuals put into how they spend their viewing time. It will also be interesting to see the medium in which it is viewed (ie. wear-ables, mobile, big screen, etc).

Through the questions and related topics, we hit on pretty much every concept to do with television, the only one that I thought was left out was the power of word of mouth.

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EY Media & Technology Breakfast series
Future of TV: What’s the next episode?             

January 16, 2014

I ended up being invited to be a part of a panel on a neat topic: The Future of Television. I thought the Topliners crew might enjoy. Despite the panel and audience consisting of very few marketers, I thought there was some definite overlap in the discussion so keep an eye for the relevant points!

Panel consisted of:

Ian Hutchinson, Video marketing specialist of Vidyard (Digital Video Marketing)

Scott Dyer, CTO of Corus Entertainment (Traditional Broadcast)

David Offierski, President of Konrad Group (Mobile Development)

John Young, President of Temple Street Productions (Producer of content for traditional broadcast and web)

Audience Consisted of:

150 individuals in the finance district of Toronto that are somehow connected to E&Y and interested in the future of television!

Ian summarized the notes from the panel in red. Bolded answers were voted most popular by the audience.

Opening audience polling questions

What is your primary method of consuming TV media?

1. a.     Cable TV / Satellite TV
2. Over-the-air TV
3. Free online streaming (e.g. CBC.ca, ctv.ca, Youtube, other sites)
4. Subscription based streaming (e.g. Netflix, Hulu)
5. Pay-per-view / purchased downloads (e.g. iTunes, Google Play)
6. Other

Twice as many had cable to Netflix but many had both. I attribute this to the audience, but it is worth noting that Cable is still the norm.

Do you have a Cable TV / Satellite TV subscription at home (e.g. with Rogers or Bell)

1. Yes, and plan to keep it for next 2 years
2. b.     Yes, but may cancel in next 2 years
3. No, I don’t

Split was 40/41/20. 61% was the total of b and c.

Have you or your family “binge-watched” TV? (bingeing = consuming several hours of the same show back-to-back in a single sitting)

1. a.     Yes, within the past year
2. Yes, but more than a year ago
3. Never

Duh, Breaking Bad

Panel Questions

In a 2006 survey by Association of National Advertisers (ANA), 70% of advertisers believed that “DVRs and video-on-demand will reduce or destroy the effectiveness of traditional 30-second commercials”. In hindsight,

1. The prediction was true and right-on.
2. b.     The prediction was somewhat true. 
3. The prediction was completely off and over-exaggerated.
4. Other / don’t know

Had an effect, but you can still consider live events, shows, people that don’t effectively use PVR and YouTube as alternative venues.

Some discussion of the right message to the right person at the right time… a shift from spray and pray to focused advertising.

Netflix has produced several original programs in the last few years – e.g. House of Cards, Arrested Development, etc, shifting production from traditional programming. Amazon studios has also followed suit. This trend will:

1. a.     Increase / become more popular
2. Stabilize / stay the same
3. Decrease / not stick around
4. Don’t know / other

It’s all about good stories, everyone is investing in content. The medium doesn’t matter but some channels definitely help.

In the TV industry of the future, which of the following revenue streams would be the most significant?

1. Advertising
2. Pay-per-view fees
3. c.     Direct monthly subscriptions
4. Subscriber fees from cable companies
5. Other

Keeping it easy to access the content is key. Just like ITunes people will pay if it is available, organized and recommended. Lots of talk on organizing and discovering good content (Netflix categories, YouTube channels, etc…)

In 3 years, the “collective viewing experience” (e.g. gathering around the TV to watch the season finale or big game) will:

1. Be similar to today
2. Be enhanced by secondary devices / concurrent media usage
3. Will not be broadcast through cable / satellite.
4. d.     Decrease significantly / be replaced by something else.

They changed this question significantly for the live event. The question was more centered around where the screens will be. Mobile was a focus as was Tweeting during the event.

What should advertisers focus on in reaching out to consumers?

1. Being present on as many platforms as possible (e.g. broadcast TV, streaming media, etc)
2. Be event focused (e.g. sports game)
3. Developing the one popular “viral” video to be shared via social networks
4. Providing a secondary social media experience alongside their primary source of advertising
5. e.     All of the above
6. f.      Other

Scott Dyer agreed with me in that it is all about the right message at the right time to the right person. Respect and understand your audience. Option ‘c’ was the least popular among the audience.

When children/teenagers today become young adults tomorrow, what would be their most preferred method of consuming TV media?

1. Broadcast TV
2. Online video rentals / video downloads (e.g. iTunes)
3. Streaming media (subscription based) (e.g. Netflix)
4. d.     Streaming media (advertisement driven) (e.g. YouTube, websites)
5. Other

Children are used to getting content for free now which is scary (parents pay subscriptions and YouTube is free). Good content needs to be paid for. Watching an 8 million dollar Game of Thrones episode is relatively cheap for the masses. About 2% of the audience had a favorite YouTube channel.

Which one of these TV content viewing technologies would be most prevalent for content in 3 years?

1. 4K resolution / ultra HDTV
2. Curved TV / 3D TV
3. c.     Handheld / mobile devices
4. Wearable devices
5. Integration with social media and other devices for concurrent media usage
6. Other

I voted on 4k just because I think people will still love baller screens. Scott didn’t think the infrastructure was there for it.