« The New Stakeholder Society | Main | Change Will Do You Good »
August 21, 2009
Canoe: The Cable Empire Strikes Back
Canoe Ventures is cable television’s answer to migration of audience to the personal computer and smartphones. The appeal of what you want when you want it is compelling, particularly for a younger demographic less bothered by screen size. In order to change the nature of the TV viewing experience, the six largest US cable TV companies have agreed on a standard for interactive television, with the catchy name Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), allowing set-top boxes to be updated each night with new content. The consortium hired media planning guru David Verklin of Carat as CEO, with ambitious plans to ramp up 25 million of the 60 million total cable TV households by the end of 2010. I had lunch with Verklin today to better understand the opportunity for PR in the new world of Canoe. Here are highlights from our discussion:
1) Cable is the dominant force in broadcasting, with 66% of total TV households in the US (33% are connected via satellite, 1% by phone company). Cable programs are watched by 60% of homes during prime time, leaving networks at 40% and declining.
2) The concept behind EBIF is akin to Windows on the PC. “We want to create a new eco-system for interactive applications on the TV. Why not have a fantasy football statistical package super-imposed on the NFL Game of the Week instead of having to run back and forth from TV to PC?” he said.
3) There is a constraint on the ability of cable programmers to provide content for PC and handheld devices. No more than 10% of Discovery or ESPN content can appear on these other screens without jeopardizing the all-important carriage fees paid by the cable companies--Comcast pays ESPN more than $1 billion per year to broadcast ESPN content.
4) The key to retention of the present mass television audience is to give them “a voice and value,” he said. Canoe is launching four applications in the next year. The first is for lead generation, whereby a viewer can respond to a crawl at the bottom of the screen during an advertisement, triggering receipt of a coupon or brochure. The second is a voting and polling option for shows ranging from American Idol to Top Chef, with the host able to pose a single question to the audience and generate immediate results. Third is the insertion of dynamic video on demand, so that ads can be served overnight instead of 45 days in advance as at present. Fourth is the launch of addressable advertising, with names harvested from overlay of Acxiom or other customer lists. It is interesting to note that this type of technology has been available in the UK for the past five years from BskyB, and has slowed the migration of audience to the PC while limiting the use of DVRs.
As I walked back from lunch, it occurred to me that we are going to have to improve:
1. Measurement and targeting: Our clients will be expecting us to reach specific groups or even individuals. Can we rely upon the power of influencers and amplifiers to make the content so alluring that the average person will pull it in? Or will we have to push material to them based on our knowledge of their specific interests and purchase behaviors (who owns a pet, etc). We have to provide both paths to our clients, and we must have far better research/data to justify our recommendation.
2. Content creators: Cable will not cannibalize its own revenue by allowing programmers to distribute their latest content on web or mobile platforms because it vitiates the impact of advertising. But consumers want useful and self-generated content. We need to help clients become genuine media companies--creating original, compelling content that reaches people wherever and whenever they want it. J&J’s babycenter.com is a good example. PR needs to broaden its abilities and reputation from communicators to content creators.
Posted by Edelman at August 21, 2009 11:45 AM |
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.edelman.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/916
Comments
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Betty
Posted by: Betty at September 9, 2009 8:03 AM