A TV consumer marketing strategy that blurs some lines? Might be a plan to get consumers to do what the big TV content and distribution companies want. After years of consumers controlling DVR
time-shifting, Comcast wants to see if they can be lured to more VOD services, something it has been pushing for several years.
One Comcast test delivers a VOD episode of “The Bridge”
immediately after the drama has completed its scheduled FX airing. Consumers have typically been waiting a full week to get the next VOD airing of an episode.
Comcast’s set-top box
X1 entertainment operating system recently upgraded its VOD library. “Blurring the lines between live, on-demand and the DVR content was a key strategy in the X1 development,” Matt
Strauss, Comcast senior vice president of video services, toldUSA
Today.
That might not sound too consumer-friendly. Perhaps a clearer marketing campaign would explain the benefits.
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The big problem for big media is how to transition
consumers from their DVR habits -- and their preponderance for fast-forwarding through TV commercials.
Consumers are also shifting more of their DVR storage to the cloud. Years ago,
cloud storage -- also called “network DVR” -- had content owners in a tizzy and ramping up litigation. They worried that pay distributors like Comcast could control programming.
Turns out that may be a benefit -- not for to the likes of Comcast, but for networks looking to get consumers to watch advertisers’ messaging.
It probably won’t end there.
My prediction: With more “native” and branded entertainment on the way, creeping into all programming on all digital platforms, expect the fast-forwarding buttons on TV/media remotes
to be removed completely, forcing us to watch all content.