Commentary

Unified Marketing Could Make TV Everywhere Mainstream

It seems all that’s left to make TV Everywhere a viable growth engine for programmers is awareness. Somehow, networks need to make people exceedingly mindful that instead of checking email on a smartphone or playing “Words With Friends” on a tablet, they can easily tee up an episode of a favorite show. 

It won’t be easy. People who’ve never watched long-form programming on small screens may doubt their ability to follow it. Maybe they think the feed will be fuzzy and rife with buffering.

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But trial is the key. Netflix certainly does well with viewing on mobile devices. If networks could just get wide sampling, it’s not hard to imagine their TV Everywhere offerings becoming a venue for binge viewing.

The technology, which involves a process to verify a pay-TV subscription, seems to be fine-tuned. More and more networks are cutting deals with distributors to make programming available – either on-demand or through live feeds. And, an ad model is taking shape.  

The time is ripe for the industry – meaning programmers and distributors – to collectively invest in a unified marketing campaign introducing TV Everywhere nationally. It would seem one of the cable trade groups – the NCTA or Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau – could function as the overseer.

Beware, though, a singular focus on didactic, how-to messaging would seem misguided. So, it's good TV Everywhere is a product Madison Avenue agencies would compete heavily to promote. They’ve done well plugging products with far less appeal than opportunities to watch TV anywhere, anytime with ease.

So far, TV Everywhere marketing seems too balkanized. ESPN touts its WatchESPN option heavily. But how many non-sports fans are exposed to it? HBO Go has notable awareness, but how much beyond HBO subscribers? From an operator angle, Dish Network -- which is not a member of the cable trade groups -- has been spending liberally behind its Dish Anywhere offering.

Also, distributors have different ways of identifying their TV Everywhere platforms as shown by Dish’s brand. That would be a hurdle for an ad agency, but some creative firepower coupled with a willingness among distributors to go with unified branding that still allows room for their own flag-bearing would seem to be smart.

Money is waiting. Both distributors and programmers need to win some of consumers’ time spent on their beloved mobile devices as habits may still be forming. Young people, who may be likely to drop pay TV altogether, might stick around with the watch-everywhere option. And, networks can stop worrying that TV Everywhere deprives them of ad dollars.

In fact, there’s actually a chance they can overpower the DVR. When viewing takes place on TV Everywhere platforms, the fast-forward option can be disabled.

For some time, AMC has charged advertisers using an aggregated C3 rating that includes the live broadcast and viewing via TV Everywhere options over the ensuing three days. FX has said it will go with a similar initiative this fall. Now, NBCUniversal is bringing USA network into the movement. (The same ads need to run across screens to get the unified rating.)

Bloomberg reports episodes of series such as “Burn Notice” and “Royal Pains” are being made available on a TV Everywhere basis, where NBCU apparently will use an aggregated rating to charge a single price.

On the fourth day after an episode debuts, NBCU will insert different ads in streams. FX will similarly alter the ad structure.

Networks can encourage viewing in traditional fashion by making episodes digitally accessible the day after broadcast.

NBCU has deals with multiple distributors to offer a USA on-demand app and plans to offer more networks in a similar manner.

With a stroke of optimism on TV Everywhere, NBCU distribution executive Matt Bond told Bloomberg: “It’s finally coming together this year. We’re beginning to see widespread adoption in the industry and by viewers.”

He’s far more bullish than Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav. With the exception of a limited trial, Discovery has refused to give operators TV Everywhere distribution rights. The company doesn’t believe the market has been set to its liking.

So, perhaps a barometer on TV Everywhere’s progress -- from awareness to ad dollars -- should be how fast Discovery comes out from behind its self-imposed pay wall.  

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