• by John F. Collins , December 1, 2017

Television viewing is fracturing in front of our eyes each day.  It's increasingly difficult for content owners to distribute their programming to all of the distribution points at their disposal.  Even more frustrating, it’s impossible for content owners to monetize all of these distribution points -- and it is doubly impossible for anyone to accurately aggregate the viewing of specific content within these different environments.  

In short, it’s a mess.  

How about TV advertising?

"Mess" might not be a strong enough word. We might be venturing into "mayhem" territory here.

Between the business and technical rules that brands and agencies are required to follow, you may be able to capture 75% or 80% of  views.  The reason that number's so high is that legacy broadcast distribution still accounts for 70% of the views. 

That’s right, 70%. But how long can we count on that legacy business staying so robust?

Distribution shifts and disruption have accelerated at an exhausting pace in the last five years. If we don't get it under control, the economics of content creation, distribution, and advertising are going to be significantly harmed.

The distribution chaos happened quickly, quietly -- and, in many cases, right under the noses of the folks who will be harmed the most: the legacy businesses that bring us traditional TV content, distribution, and advertising. 

Most of the turmoil could have been averted if business owners had not allowed yesterday’s business rules to dictate today’s business.   Fear of change and the potential damages it can bring to legacy business won’t stop the inevitable, but instead could put shackles on a company’s ability to navigate a new landscape.

Need a real-world example? Here's a fun exercise: Call up a local broadcast TV sales rep and ask if you can buy any broadcast show in a specific market -- specifically, in on-demand.  They will sing chapter and verse about how many impressions they are generating from alternative distribution such as Hulu, network apps, virtual multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), and more. They will break their necks trying to sell you what they control, all while letting millions of impressions go underused. 

Why? Because doing otherwise could disrupt cable companies’ legacy ad sales business.

Doesn’t it make sense that, if you advertised locally in an episode of “The Good Doctor,” you’d like that advertising to be shown during the on-demand version of that show?  It seems pretty rudimentary to me.  Yet, because of old business rules, you can’t.  

These MVPD-supplied on-demand impressions are arguably the most valuable impressions available in media today.  We have to stop wasting these impressions.

MVPDs should get out of their own way and create an environment in which content owners can fully monetize impressions.  It may be a tad disruptive to their advertising business, but they will more than make up for it in improved customer retention.

Let’s be mindful that this is only one of many current examples. The hard truth is that if you want tomorrow’s dollars, you need to play by tomorrow’s rules.  
The next fight on business rules will be in providing access to addressable inventory. That will be true mayhem when that fight begins. We should get ready now.