MediaCom Blink #2 - The Future of TV by MediaCom Australia

BLINK #2

#2 Media Trends Consumer insights Published by

Sign up to be part of MediaComs The Insider at www.mediacom.com. Look in the “News & Insights” section. The remaining topics for 2011 are as follows: • BRIC countries and their implications in the marketing world • Beyond advertising and activation of Brands • Trends for 2012 For more information or download please visit www.mediacom.com

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The Insider is MediaCom’s quarterly briefing programme on the issues that matter for marketers. It is comprised of several elements including a newsletter, BLINK and a webcast with a prominent speaker housed at www.mediacom.com. After each webcast, an accompanying white paper summarises the issues raised and offers commentary and analysis from MediaCom’s experts.

The Future of TV

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Intro Ceo’s note

But what lies ahead and how can brands take advantage? We need to reassess the past in order to successfully predict the future. When I think back to how television was consumed ten or fifteen years ago, its limitations seem incredibly striking. In the late 1990s, as the digital revolution was dawning, our viewing habits were still very much restricted by the technology available. If we wanted to watch our favourite shows, we had to sit in front of our TVs at a certain time or rely on setting our faithful VCRs. Now, thanks to Video on Demand, IPTV and the burgeoning sales of smartphones, viewing habits have changed dramatically; we can watch whatever we want, whenever we want, wherever we want – and without the need for a dedicated TV set. Instead of having to rely on physical media to record shows, we can now programme the EPGs on our DVRs to record whole series – in high-definition – at the touch of button, or simply catch-up with old broadcasts on time-shifted programming services such as BBC iPlayer, Hulu and SeeSaw. Moreover, we can also edit and upload our favourite clips to YouTube, share them with friends on Facebook and stream content straight to our phones.

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Email: blink.magazine@mediacom.com Web: www.mediacom.com Editor-in-Chief: Signe Wandler, MediaCom signe.wandler@mediacom.dk Editorial team: Jonas Hemmingsen, MediaCom Ian Smith, MediaCom Design & layout: Propellant, www.propellant.dk Art Director, Martin Dahlbeck Cover illustration: Peter Grundy www.grundini.com Printed By: Vilhelm Jensen & Partnere

But what’s next? What does the future of TV look like?

ISSN: 1903-5375

In this latest edition of BLINK, we hear from experts around the globe for insights into how TV is changing in the digital age.

The opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors. Minor textual contents may be republished as long as the original author and publication are cited.

How have moving pictures and consumer trends evolved over the years and what new opportunities are there for advertisers? What does the future hold for channels such as Video on Demand? How do consumer behaviours differ in Asia and how can the Western world learn from them? You’ll find all these answers and more in this edition of BLINK. I hope you enjoy it. Stephen Allan CEO, MediaCom Worldwide

#2 April 2011

MEDIACOM | BLINK #2

Find BLINK in the “News & Insight” section at www.mediacom.com ILLUSTRATION kate banazi - The Jacky Winter Group

The digital revolution has changed the way we consume TV

#2 Content

MEDIA PLAN of the future

02 Intro 06 The Evolution of Moving Pictures 18 Trends in TV and Video on Demand 20 Marketing across Platforms - interview 24 6 new ways of viewing Television 28 Infographics 30 The Future of TV in Asia 34 MediaCom Case: Videology 36 MediaCom Case: Volkswagen and Super Bowl 38 The Future of the TV Experience 40 Media Plan of the Future 44 TV programmes watched around the World 46 Asia is digitally different

By Oliver Gertz By combining online and TV we can reach larger audiences, more effectively.

By Michele Skettino Q&A with Michael Kelly, President/CEO of The Weather Channel Companies.

The future of tv in asia

By Jeff MacFarland The future of TV in Asia may have little to do with the television set. 4

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Marketing across platforms

The EVOLUTION OF MOVING PICTURES

By Daniel Bischoff, Dennis Grzenia and Sven Wollner Moving pictures are ubiquitous in modern media. They are part of our culture, part of the way we communicate and have the power to linger long in our memories. BLINK #2 | MEDIACOM

Content Moving PICTURES

The evolution of moving pictures Moving pictures are ubiquitous in modern media. They are part of our culture, part of the way we communicate and have the power to linger long in our memories. But how have moving images evolved? And what lies ahead in the future? By Daniel Bischoff, Dennis Grzenia and Sven Wollner, MediaCom Germany Illustrations by Ciara Phelan

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Content MOVING PICTURES

The evolution of the moving picture is a global success story. Today, the world speaks about cinema, TV and video as the most natural of things. Big movies such as Tron Legacy excite audiences around the world. Commercials have become an inherent part of our (pop) culture. Computer games use sequences of moving pictures as a matter of course, and smartphones have turned into small TV sets.

material is uploaded to YouTube and the amount of new content on the site in 60 days outweighs the number of hours that the three largest US networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) have produced in 60 years. On top of that, YouTube itself is viewed more than two billion times a day.

In the 19th century, however, at the beginning of the evolution of the moving image, even the developers of this new technology were sceptical about its future and success:

These figures prove one thing: moving pictures/videos have become an integral part of our communication culture.

“The cinema is an invention without a future,” stated Louis Lumière, one of the earliest film makers. Like many predictions, Lumière’s was quickly proven to be inaccurate. Since the dawn of the first movie theatres, moving pictures have captivated and excited. From the movie theatres to living rooms, offices to smartphones, moving pictures can be found all around us.

More than we can ever see In the 21st century, the appeal of moving pictures has continued to increase. Every minute, 24 hours of new video

But as we travel on a journey into the universe of the moving picture, we need to consider the following questions: • What are the milestones in the evolution of the moving picture? • Why are consumers so fascinated by moving pictures? • What opportunities and challenges does video spots give brands and advertisers? • Where will the next steps of this evolution take us?

has only been around since 1840, with moving pictures evolving only over the last 130 years. For the first 125 years, moving pictures reached audiences in a similar way to radio broadcasts. As there were only a limited number of distributors/broadcasters, it was easier for them to reach large audiences with their messages. One of the first inventions to take advantage of these

Source: Scheier, C: Held, D (2007): Wie Werbung wirkt

Whilst the history of painting dates back many thousands of years, photography

Evolution landscape

6 Years of co-creation revolution prosumers World: Many to many

1880

1895

1928

1940

2005

Kaiserpanorama in Wien

Cinema

IFA Berlin: Premiere of the first TV set available to the public

First TV Advertising

User generated content upload on internet

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(Bulova Watches and Jewellery)

memory AWARENESS associations MINDSET emotions motivations

opportunities was the Kaiserpanorama, launched at the end of the 19th century. It was a popular mass medium, which allowed up to 25 people to see a stereoscopic series of images at the same time. The next step in the evolution came around 1895, when cinema brought photography to life. At this time, nobody could predict the evolution of television, which took moving pictures into billions of households. First presented at the radio show in Berlin in 1928, it wasn’t until the 1950s that TV became a successful mass medium. However, it was as early as 1940 that the first TV commercial aired in the US. Watch company Bulova paid US$9 for a 20-second spot which showed the picture of a watch on a map of the

What are the milestones in the evolution of the moving picture?

125 Years of Broadcasting Producers world: One to many

thinking facts reason language

(First youtube video “me at the zoo”)

VIDEO GOES MOBILE

Videos goes personal

It is decisive for the success of communication to reach the autopilot

US, accompanied by a voice over stating “America runs on Bulova time.” It was the beginning of a very unique and long success story that remained unparalleled until the dawn of the internet. In the last six years we have seen a new development in the evolution of moving pictures, with the launch of video portals such as YouTube. These portals allow consumers to produce, distribute and interact with videos in ways that have never been seen before. We are slowly beginning to understand the impact that this fundamental change in distribution structure has had.

Why are consumers so fascinated by moving pictures? Today’s consumers are bombarded with new brand messages every 15 seconds from more channels than ever before. The consumer’s brain can however only process a fraction of this information, so the goal for advertisers is to close the gap between information overload and

processing capacity in people’s brains.

Moving pictures address the autopilot

In most countries, the FMCG market is oversaturated, meaning brands have to work harder to ensure that they are anchored clearly in potential consumers’ minds. Nowadays, the product-related USP (Unique Selling Proposition) doesn’t help to differentiate a product in a particularly sustainable way as many products do not differ in their basic characteristics: all detergents wash clothes and all toothpastes clean teeth, for instance. What’s key for successful brands is the perceived brand value a consumer has: what makes this detergent unique in the consumer’s eyes? Promotional communications have to be able to answer this question and position the brand in a way that adds value in the world of the consumer. Often, a good 30-second spot can do more to reach that goal than other forms of advertising: the abstract brand values of emotional characteristics can only be explained via TV.

According to neuroscientists, our brain has two centres that are relevant for product communication: the so-called “pilot” and “autopilot”. For communications to speak to the consumer successfully, they have to reach the consumer’s autopilot. Rational thinking, the consideration of facts and usage of language happen in the conscious pilot, while the larger part of our brain, the autopilot, focuses on emotions, associations, memories, attitudes and basic motivations so that it can quickly act in a “correct” way. Many decisions are made unconsciously or “implicitly” in our brain’s autopilot. And it is that part of our brain that is responsible for 90% of all final decisions for or against a brand. The following exercise will help you discover the extent to which the autopilot and its implicit processes influence your actions.

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Content MOVING PICTURES

Reciprocation can make us thank the sender for a WELL-TOLD story - by buying the brand A spot for Canal+ which can be seen on YouTube http://bit.ly/storytold shows how the power of stories can be used. Or use this 2D barcode

Exercise:

Moving Pictures – telling stories

Look at the words in the table below. Say the colours of the word out loud, only the colour of the words (implicit) not the words themselves (explicit). What takes over the implicit autopilot or the explicit pilot?

What’s your favourite TV spot? Think about it… What makes the spot special? How can a 20-30 second movie get into your memory in a way that you not only makes you think about it, but makes you more likely to also tell your friends about it?

YELLOW

BLUE

YELLOW

GREEN

RED

YELLOW

GREEN

WHITE

YELLOW

BLUE

RED

BLACK

RED

YELLOW

BLUE

RED

BLUE

RED

GREEN

RED

Normally, the implicit and explicit system harmonise well with each other. This example shows how important the implicit system is and how it can overcome the explicit perception. Neuromarketing experts have identified four different codes that can be used to reach the autopilot: 1. Symbolic codes (protagonists of advertising, brand logos etc.) 2. Linguistic codes (characteristics of language in ads) 3. Sensory codes (colours, forms, sounds etc) 4. Episodic codes (the stories) These four different elements show the strength of advertising with moving pictures: unlike all other forms of advertising, video allows brands to connect all four codes. Moving pictures use all four codes to get the brand image into the autopilot.

symbol

speech

sensor

story

It’s very simple: it must have an impressive story. No matter if it is funny or sad, slow or quick, with lots of dialogue or just images with music. What’s important is the story behind it. Stories not only connect information and emotions in a unique way, they also reduce complexity. The phrase “a picture tells more than a thousand words” refers to the fact that (moving) pictures can activate our autopilot much faster than any other form of communication. The stories and their orchestration as a picture story provide a frame, which facilitates our interpretation of what’s happening, and that way provide us with a feeling of security.

What opportunities and challenges do video spots give brands and advertisers? It is natural for humans to feel good from things that are familiar and recognisable. German Marketing professor FranzRudolf Esch speaks of “Mental convenience against consumer confusion”. The apparent registration/understanding of a fact makes consumers take “advertising as information”, and therefore doesn’t feel any conflict when it comes to making a decision. If we easily understand the story of a commercial, the “advertising” (which we tend to resist) transforms into “product information” (which is readily taken in). Moving images are the easiest way to make a story understandable, because it can make use of episodic codes. Moving images can also create mental convenience and even make the receiver feel obligated to give a favour in return for the message. This effect, called reciprocation, can make us thank the sender for a well-told story – by buying the brand!

Mood Management: it’s all a question of mood Moving pictures also delivers what can be called ‘mood management’. Cinema is typically an escapism medium that takes the viewer on a two-hour journey away from their own lives. A 30-second TV spot shares this ability to take the audience into another world. Even online, a cleverly executed 10 second pre-roll or homepage takeover has the ability to tell a story that takes the audience into an exciting, entertaining world, if only for a very short time. By using moving pictures, it is possible to actively improve consumers’ moods. Depending on the content, two strong archaic user motives can be served: social downward and social upward comparison. If the consumer is presented with a world in which the protagonist is worse off – because they use the “wrong” brand, for example – the consumer is left feeling better because they don’t have to repeat that error. This is a theme often used by detergents, because the failure of using the wrong product can be clearly shown. If the audience is presented with a dream world - attainable or not - it is an “upward comparison”. It will still generate a positive mood because of the potential to be part of that dream world. This comparison is popular with FMCG luxury products such as chocolates or champagne and high involvement products such as cars.

CO-CREATION is king “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes“ – Andy Warhol What Andy Warhol anticipated in 1968 is more real now than ever before. The decisive game changer was the introduction and rapid expansion of the internet. Offerings such as video portal YouTube and other social networks such as Facebook have structurally changed how we consume moving pictures. On Facebook 46,2 years’ worth of video content is watched everyday. And this content does not have to be Oscar-worthy in order to become famous for a few minutes. What is still important, however, is the story and the authenticity. Alongside the web, which offers the infrastructure for sharing multimedia content, devices like flip cams and mobile phones with cameras allow for the uncomplicated production of videos that are still of a high quality. Today, everyone can be a producer, director and actor all in one. The YouTube channels with most subscribers are currently administered by private individuals. High quality and entertaining movies can be created relatively simply. Nigahiga, the publisher of the YouTube channel with most subscribers – more than three million – is a good example. What would – at the most - have been shown to friends on a Hi8 video 10 years ago has already reached more than 8 million people. In total, the contents of this page have been viewed over 660 million times!

The scientific basics of mood management, perceived value, mental convenience and implicit autopilot, all back up a very important finding: The brand that entertains wins (us as customers)! This principle has successfully evolved from a one-to-many into a many-to-many world in recent years. At the same time, this world also means new challenges for brands and their communications with their customers.

Nigahiga is a private YouTube channel with more than 3 million subscribers

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Content MOVING PICTURES

Making a quick escape into another world full of images is becoming a mainstream activity Personalized videos can create increased distribution

Since 2010, YouTube has become an integral part of online campaigns as the site offers much more than pre-rolls. Decisively, people are more inclined to believe messages when they are sent by friends as opposed to the brand itself. These messages are also considered more relevant as well. “People understand brand communication. But they really trust their friends’ brand experiences.”

Co-creation INCREASES credibility

page) - generating 6.7 million page views - and more than 30,000 smartphone users (iPhone and Android) used the free “voice app” which allowed people to record the song. Following the high reach teaser on TV, the website of Deutsche Telekom received 13,000 uploads from all over Germany. Afterwards, Thomas D compiled all of the recordings to produce a new remix of the song. Uploaded video material was used to produce more TV spots for the campaign – and made the participants famous for a few seconds, if not for 15 minutes.

A successful example of how consumer co-creation can help a brand’s message can be seen in a recent commercial for Deutsche Telekom. For the commercial, the German telecoms company recruited Thomas D, a well-known rapper from German band Die Fantastischen Vier, to help them create the largest online choir of all time. In the TV spot, the rap star reached out to the nation, encouraging viewers to log on to a special website and record a version of “7 Seconds“ by Youssou N’Dour and Neneh Cherry.

This example shows a mixture of broadcasting and co-creation. In the first phase, the critical mass was addressed via TV and then, in phase two, consumers were asked to participate online in Thomas D’s remix. The third phase involved using this user-generated content to create a new TV ad. This intelligent mixture of moving pictures in classic and digital media successfully promoted the brand’s message “Life is for sharing”.

As a result, 1.3 million people visited the online platforms (Facebook and landing

The Deutsche Telekom example shows how reach and involvement can be

SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN REUSE OF CONTENT IN TV To involve INTERESTED To integrate participants target group on a broadcasting platform

1.000.000,0 900.000,0 800.000,0 700.000,0 600.000,0 500.000,0 400.000,0 300.000,0 200.000,0 100.000,0 -

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Ideally, these will be people who, in return, will like the content and chose to distribute it themselves. These involved users can help brands deliver content to specific target group, easily and efficiently.

345%

Market research company Gartner estimates that the number of smartphone will increase by 325% by 2014. Sophisticated handsets ensure that video is a constant companion - 24 hours a day, seven days a week. New tablet devices will boost mobile consumption of video to yet new levels. In 2010, more than 17 million tablets were sold globally. Apple’s iPad was the pathfinder for this exciting development, with a market share of over 87%. The ubiquitous availability of moving images is more than just hype. Entertainment will always be available with mobile devices, be it as games, movies or short videos via platforms like YouTube. Even the traditional telephone call is now enriched by video. Apple’s Facetime application and cameras that are built into smartphones allow for the production and distribution of videos on the go.

be integrated into this intelligent form of dialog. Imagine a typical situation in a subway. You will probably see various people typing short messages on their mobile phones, maybe listening to music via their iPhones or watching vodcasts on their smartphones. The use of a mobile device in situations where you would traditionally have had to wait for something has become habitual. Making a quick escape into another world full of images is becoming a mainstream activity. On tablets and other mobile devices it’s not just ‘lean-back’ entertainment that people use. This is complemented by active ‘lean-forward’ entertainment. The usage of tablets builds on learned cultural techniques – such as print (turning pages instead of scrolling) – and enriches them with moving images. By using touchscreens, the recipient can engage with what’s happening in the video and can become part of the story.

Escape to an enhanced reality The best stories are those that involve us. By using a mobile phone camera and a software programme (such as Layar, Junaio, Wikitude etc.), augmented reality can enhance real environments with digital content and form new stories told. The contents of these services are completely geared to the location of the user and therefore offer not only locationbased services but also location-based advertising (delivery of ads right next to a POS). Location tracking helps guarantee that ads are delivered at timely moments in a user’s journey, at times when they might be truly receptive. Moreover, these ads might attract consumer interest by surprising them with moments of creativity, perhaps in the form of a short sequence of moving images. Ultimately, augmented reality can tap into one of the dominant character traits that we all share as human beings: curiosity.

The ad industry will have to understand how ad messages and brand benefits can

Other OS Windows Phone iOS RIM Android Symbrian

increase in smart phones

2009 12

The success of the concept lies in the fact that the publisher defines a frame with regards to content and form and the consumer is asked to contribute within this frame. By integrating his or her photo, name and peer group, the consumer becomes the co-director of the story and feels proud of his/her achievement as a publisher. This makes him communicate the results independently among friends, effectively distributing the brand message to more and more people.

Where will the evolution take us?

Forecast: Mobile Communications Device Open OS Sales to End Users by OS (Thousands of Units)

Deutsche Telekom - Co-creation used successfully in advertising

TV COPY To gain high reach

combined. New digital advertising material even takes the next step: by personalising video, consumers are encouraged to forward videos even more. Personalised videos have existed for a few years. The technology behind it is being improved constantly so that it is really easy today to integrate your own photos or those of your friends, (e.g. via Facebook Connect).

2010

2011

2014

Source: Gartner 2010

Even the traditional call is now enriched with video with Apple’s Facetime

Augmented reality can form new stories

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Content MOVING PICTURES

Pre-roll ads are most effective if they are 8-15 seconds long Wherever you are, there’s a story Brands have already started using these new possibilities. On one hand, they invite consumers into the brand world and to let them experience stories to exchange with their friends, on the other hand they help activate the consumer to show him the way to the product. Brand communications need to adapt to mobile phones as this medium offers unique challenges. Mobile is one of the few media channels that can be both intimate and public at the same time, allowing for private text messaging and live broadcasting. But as we are only just beginning to explore these new opportunities, we need to keep learning to ensure the continued growth of broadcasting, interaction and co-creation on the mobile device.

Outlook: Never-ending story or big hype?

ILLUSTRATION CIARA pHELAN

When we think about the future of moving images, we can be pretty sure that they will remain fascinating for another 130 years. Moving pictures are all around us and have entered landmark ad spaces in big cities, shop windows and on our mobile devices. They accompany us everywhere in our daily lives. The success of moving images and our cultural affection for ad spots tells us that video provides a powerful way of influencing consumers.

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The future of moving pictures can be looked at from three different perspectives: technology, consumer psychology and effectiveness research. 1) Technology Augmented Reality and mobile phones offer new technical opportunities for

moving pictures and provide unique story-telling techniques and ways to get consumers involved. Quite how moving pictures will succeed on these devices is as yet unclear, and will only be discovered by trial and error. To help, agencies and brands we need to create cases that demonstrate successful communication techniques. Another major trend is 3D: 3D technology has jumped into the lives of children with the launch of Nintendo’s 3DS console, although it still remains to be seen if the 3D technology will provide even better access to consumers’ autopilots for moving pictures. 2) Consumer psychology New technological developments mean new opportunities to involve consumers. However, it is important to consider how much active lean-forward engagement consumers can bear on a permanent basis before a longing for passive leanback engagement develops. Some brands have already had good experiences with co-creation offers (www.mymagnum. com placed the consumer as the protagonist of a Hollywood-like commercial) and paved the way for more user-generated video content. On the other hand, the success of Hulu and other platforms demonstrate that involvement still hinges around one thing: Video on Demand – content that users can receive whenever they want it. Brands should not over tighten the screw of interactivity. Instead it should be remembered that one of the biggest strengths of moving images is the ability to reduce complexity and increase the good feelings that consumers feel when someone else explains how the world is working.

3) Effectiveness research In the book The Shallows: What the internet Is Doing to Our Brains, Nicholas Carr critically challenges the influence of “new” media on our brains. Using internet-based media makes us faster at processing information but also more superficial when it comes to handling it. Studies on ads with moving images on the internet prove that pre-roll ads are most effective when they are 8-15 seconds long. Intelligent market research tools need to help make the creation and placements of these ads efficient. Research tools such as eye tracking help to measure the efficiency of ads with moving images and need to be involved in the earlier stages of creating ads.

Conclusion: Video is a silver bullet into the minds of consumers. Video take advantage of all four elements to reach people’s autopilots and to generate a mental convenience for the consumer. Wellexecuted video advertising is seen less as advertising and more as a rousing story. Innovative research tools will help us analyse the new opportunities from augmented reality to mobile video in order to deliver future ads with a maximum efficiency and effectiveness.

Bright prospects for brands lead to bright prospects for consumers. Lights! Camera! Action!

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Content MOVING PICTURES

MOVING PICTURES

QUICK READER What are the mile stones in the evolution of moving pictures? The evolution of moving images, which started 130 years ago, is happening faster than ever. Having started as an attraction in amusement parks, moving images soon found its way into cinemas and from there into our living rooms. With the launch of internet and the new opportunities of distribution, production and the interaction that followed, a new chapter was opened in the history of the moving image.

Why are the consumers fascinated by moving pictures? Every day, consumers are faced with lots of information and are forced to make lots of decisions. This information overload makes consumers use implicit knowledge when they need to make decisions. A perceived brand value is often more important than the USP of a product and can best be conveyed to consumers via video and the stories they tell.

What opportunities and challenges does VIDEO SPOTS give brands and advertisers? Moving images can manage moods: consumers’ moods can be influenced by communicating social downward and upward comparisons. New media offers the chance to actively involve consumers in the creation of video. This kind of co-creation increases the credibility of a brand’s message and potential for it to be forwarded. Brands can create a framework that increases consumer involvement and guides creativity in a preferred way.

Mobile will be a strong driver in the spread of moving images, as video will be available everywhere and at any time – on demand. At the same time, new opportunities for usage and control offer new opportunities to interact. While it is possible to generate eye-catching wow effects at the moment, one must not forget that mobile is the most intimate of all media and that advertisers must continue to communicate in an adequate way.

http://mashable.com/2010/12/09/innovative-viral-videos-2010/

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ILLUSTRATION CIARA pHELAN

Where will the evolution take us?

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content tv & Video on Demand

Trends in TV & Video on Demand Will Video on Demand really change the way we watch television? Or will the internet simply become an alternative way to deliver a classic TV experience? By Jonas Hemmingsen, CEO, MediaCom Nordic Over the last couple of years we have seen a boom in alternative TV platforms. Brands such as Hulu, Netflix, Apple’s iTV, Google TV and even Amazon are all trying to get a slice of what is still the largest chunk of media business. At the same time, we have also seen an increase in total TV viewing in the last two or three years across the world. This has happened despite a widespread belief that TV viewing had peaked and that increased time online would force us to cut back on our TV viewing. How can we explain this apparent conundrum? And what can we expect from the future? Here are a few personal thoughts.

We thought younger generations would swap TV for Internet. But this has not been the case in the Western world. • European studies show that TV is still the primary media for entertainment across all age groups. The only exception is with the 15-24s, who are now more inclined to see the internet as a provider of entertainment, much like the TV. For the older age groups the internet is still primarily used for seeking information about products and brands and the TV is used for entertainment. • The days will soon be over where we could label the internet a “lean-forward” media and TV a “lean-backward” media. Traditional TV is absolutely less engaging and demanding

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for interactivity but the increasing amount of content available online combined with the younger generation’s natural and untroubled use of iPads, computers, smartphones and other devices means that the divide between leaning forward and leaning backward will become increasingly blurred. • The younger generations shift easily between media, platforms and content. Their engagement is determined not by the media but by the content. • Due to the later development of TV consumption in Asian households, we see a different behaviour in Asia (see “The future of TV in Asia”).

Today’s media consumption is characterised by multitasking. Concurrent Media Exposure both distracts us and enhances our experience of TV.

Key TV trends 1 Video viewing online is growing in the teenage segment – but not as such reducing TV viewing

2 TV is becoming an even more passive activity because we are engaging in alternative activities when watching TV

• Multitasking is a well-established fact. This involves not just several media at the same time but also media consumption in combination with other activities.

The majority of consumers still prefer to watch the video on a TV screen and VOD has to be cheap and convenient

• A recent study by Ball University showed that TV, as a passive media, is under increased pressure. More than 20% of total TV viewing is regarded as a secondary activity. This highlights the need to communicate with our audiences on multiple platforms as well as the need to enhance the overall communication experience.

• Reading is an active activity that can very well be combined with passive media, but it leads to

Increased popularity of VOD and buying of content, enables profiling and behavioral targeting

more distraction rather than actually enhancing the overall media experience. • MP3 players/iPods and Instant Messaging (IM) are activities that are generally only consumed while doing something else. IM in particular is a medium where the users have the opportunity to enhance the experience of the other activities. For example, IM with friends while playing games. For new digital services like Groupon, interacting with your friends is actually necessary to create more value for your network. • Understanding how media multitasking affects receptivity is vital as it represents a real picture of consumer behaviour.

Will we become editors of our own • There is no doubt that “The Enemy Camp” as Business Week dubbed Netflix, Apple, Hulu and Amazon, has had great success in attracting users and viewers but there are some signs that the growth has mainly been driven by early adopters and that Hulu and Netflix are about to hit the ceiling. • US PC Mag reported in January 2011 that “Blu-ray movie players and Internet-connected set-top boxes from Sharp, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, and even Best Buy will be introducing a devoted Netflix button to their devices’ remote controls and menus, creating even easier access to the home video company’s ubiquitous streaming service”. • Netflix, which has successfully transformed from a DVD rentals firm to an online Video on Demand business, further growth has to come

from new sources and Video on Demand (VOD) has to become even more simple and accessible to attract new customers. • But even with multiple opportunities to select our own content via online and VOD services, scheduled TV and programming selected by broadcasters will remain the main driver for TV viewing, due to strong branding of the channels, unique content and not at least habitual behaviour.

Next steps: personalising video communication on individual and household level. • With the rapid development of behavioural targeting technologies, companies such as Hulu and Netflix are able to deliver targeted commercial video content based on household profiles and TV viewing behaviour. • Apples iAd solution enables advertisers to communicate directly with specific audiences on all Apple platforms. • Companies such as Visible World are already providing targeted television advertising within selected American TV networks. Visible World delivers both the creation of localised content and administration of delivery on “hub” or household level, again based on consumer profiles. Source: Admap, Jan. 2011 www.warc.com - Channel planning: Media mesh or media mash? Business Week, January 2011 Pcmag.com, Jan 2011

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interview MARKETING ACROSS PLATFORMS

Marketing across platforms Q&A with Michael Kelly, President/CEO of The Weather Channel Companies By Michele Skettino, MediaCom USA

For those who are unaware, TWCC is at the forefront of cross-platform marketing across television, the internet and mobile, and with properties including The Weather Channel, is one of the most widely distributed cable networks in the U.S. available in 100 million homes. Moreover, as owners of weather.com, the company is the third most visited news and information brand on the web, while another of its companies, The Weather Channel Mobile, is the number one content provider on the mobile web. Kelly, who started in his role President/CEO in 2010, has been at the forefront of the digital media revolution throughout the course of his 30-year career. Prior to joining TWCC, he was president of AOL Media Networks, where he pioneered the

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company’s media network strategy, and was previously president of Global Marketing at Time Warner, where he worked with all of its properties to bring cross-platform marketing solutions to major advertisers.

media pillars. This challenge is exacerbated by the fact that most media companies are focussed primarily on one platform. The good news is that there are a growing number of media brands that are getting adept at true cross-platform offerings.

During the course of our interview, it becomes abundantly clear that Kelly implicitly believes in the extremely close and somewhat blurred relationship between media providers and technology companies, and the tremendous opportunity that this convergence can bring to marketers.

One element of the cross-platform offering, online video, has received a lot of attention in our emerging digital ecosystem in the past few years due to the efforts of Hulu and others. There has been a lot of talk about the potential for online video to take an expanding portion of traditional TV budgets. Where do you see online video going in the next five years both in terms of revenue models as well as consumer adoption?

As television and cross-platform marketing evolves and matures along with digital technology, what are the primary challenges and opportunities facing marketers whose brands were originally established in traditional media? MK: For consumers, cross-platform media usage is a natural thing. For advertisers, however, the proliferation of digital media like the internet and mobile has fuelled a significant challenge due to increasing fragmentation. Now, the only way for marketers to generate the same level of scale against their target audience that they’ve traditionally been accustomed to is through crossplatform initiatives that stitch together multiple

ILLUSTRATION seif alhasani

When MediaCom’s Michele Skettino decided to explore the theme of “The Future of Television” from a media company’s perspective, she turned to Michael Kelly, President/CEO of The Weather Channel Companies (TWCC), for advice.

MK: Hulu changed the game on the level of scale. There seems to be real desire for sight, sound and motion online. The next evolution will likely be the concept of “TV Everywhere” where consumers will be able to view traditional TV content on all other screens. That’s where TV distributors are poised to get involved. I was just at CES (International Consumer Electronics Show, ed.) and tablet screens are yet another way where the viewing experience will

be enhanced. Again it goes back to the question of scale. The CPMs are attractive for online video, but the space lacks scale and distribution. The indie model of the recent past where venture capitalists invested dollars in new entities got a lot of attention but that’s a tough road. Currently, online video seems to work best as either an extension of the television media, which is the way networks have been packaging content like sitcoms and dramas to advertisers, or in an aggregation model like Hulu. You mention the “other screens” which leads nicely into the topic of mobile media. The emergence of mobile and other new-fangled technologies like augmented reality and its impact on real-time media consumption will likely have profound implications. How do you see media brands exporting and leveraging their content on these platforms? MK: Mobile has been an interesting and somewhat challenging ad medium because we’re dealing with among other issues, small screens. Advertisers have been experimenting, but smartphone apps are changing this and offering brands scale with consumers. Apps have to have clear, powerful benefits so people will use them frequently.

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interview MARKETING ACROSS PLATFORMS

Michael Kelly from TWCC. Weather is relevant to everyone.

Getting back to smartphones, the growing popularity of location-based services is what makes mobile a potentially explosive advertising medium. The gambit of sending coupons to people’s smartphones when they are walking past a brand’s retail location has thus far not been too successful. What has proven to have power is the usage of apps to provide geo-targeted information most relevant to a particular consumer and allowing advertisers to participate. One promise of digital media in general, whether we’re talking online video or mobile apps, is greater accountability, better targeting and less waste. Technology companies focussed on behavioural targeting and audience-based real-time-biddable media buying are getting a lot of attention from venture capitalists and beyond. What do you make of this trend and does the television marketplace feel compelled to generate a better offering in terms of targeting and accountability beyond what it has already achieved in recent years with commercial ratings and DVR viewing measurement? MK: At AOL, I put together an owned-and-operated

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third-party network. We were the first to get involved with real-time, biddable media buying and ad networks. With the fragmentation of media, ad networks play an important role as aggregators. Even big publishers have contributed inventory to ad networks. However, if you have scale online as we do, you can control your own destiny by creating a supply side network that regulates your exposure to real time bidding and allows you to balance your approach to the market. On the other hand, while TV is nowhere near as fragmented as digital media, even there addressable and targetable advertising is looming and this will make an important impact in terms of accountability. When set-top boxes become addressable, a certain part of our television inventory will be sold as it is online.

relevancy. When you want to access information in different ways, we’re there. We have to be. The key is to maintain consistency across platforms. The underlying strength of our iPhone app has to be just as strong as the underlying strength of our TV offering and other platforms. The converged media company that has relevance across every

“The key is to maintain consistency across platforms” platform is vital—and there are only a handful of them. That’s how you build large consumer franchises. Companies like ours are the big winners.

It’s hard to believe that a scant five years ago, there was no YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or smartphones. The world was a lot simpler, not to mention quieter. With such an echo chamber and clutter in our daily lives, how do media brands keep their edge and stay relevant? MK: There will be many different ways to approach the complexity of the marketplace depending on your brand. We’re lucky at the Weather Channel that we have a domain that is extraordinarily relevant to everyday life so we have done well on emerging platforms. It comes down to how well we execute against that

photography Ranjit Bosu

When that happens, it is a powerful consumer relationship. This dynamic is bleeding back to TV. Google, Dish, Comcast and others are now offering TV viewers the ability to browse and choose TV brands via apps.

Facebook users share more news stories from The Weather Channel than any other website

Speaking of building consumer franchises, with the transformational impact that Facebook and social media has made on our culture, it has forced media companies to re-evaluate how they communicate with and relate to their customers. What do you think thus far are the key learnings from the meteoric growth of Facebook from a media and advertising perspective?

users share more news stories from The Weather Channel than any other site. The reason being is that we have something obviously relevant to everyone—the weather. If you are a content creator, or a brand, you have to understand how to participate in someone’s social network in a relevant way. If you get it right, you can develop considerable scale through Facebook. It’s naturally tougher for some advertisers than it is for others. It depends on the social currency of the product categories involved. Now that you’ve been at your “new gig” for over a year now, what has been the biggest surprise? MK: From the outside looking in, it may appear that the Weather Channel is a legacy TV company with some nice digital properties. But in fact, we’re a leading technology media company in every way. In addition to a top web presence, we dominate in mobile and are out front with interactive TV, as well as HD. Secondly, the power of this brand is that we treat weather the way Google treats search. I was surprised at just how purposeful this company is about their domain. That’s our greatest strength. Weather is more than just a forecast. There’s more relevance for consumers than that, and we’re committed to plumbing that out in both content development and delivery.

MK: According to Hitwise’s research, Facebook

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Content 6 new ways of viewing Television

How will viewers respond?

6 new ways of viewing Television The availability of video on the internet has transformed the way TV is being watched. But while the majority of people use it to augment their traditional viewing habits, a few have discarded their television sets altogether. By MediaCom Italy powered by GroupM Technical evolution, new social models and new business models are creating an increased flow of video consumption away from traditional TV and towards new types of media experiences. If the original way of watching TV was ‘lean-back’, or ‘Sofa TV’, then new ways of watching TV via different platforms and multiple screens have added multiple ways of consuming video content This has had a major impact on the world of TV: the TV schedule is no longer the dominant structure that controls how and what we watch. Publishing and business models are rethought from inside the media industry and, as a consequence, the media chain has become longer. TV’s ‘tail’ – as defined by Chris Anderson – is getting longer, creating competition for share among

The way viewers consume and interact with programmes and platforms will change in six key ways: TV sets and television: catch-up TV is already here Catch-up TV is already mainstream: 91% of the internet population watch traditional TV during a 30-day period and 70% use some other source of video supply, such as video streaming, downloading, peer-to-peer, videos archived on computers or mobile devices.

The Internet doesn’t replace TV it integrates it

User video: popular culture drives creation and consumption Some years ago it was predicted that the internet would be invaded by user-generated content. This prediction needs to be revised. The circulation of user-generated material stems from (and chiefly depends on) the vast amount of content created by the established content providers, both in the form of clips recorded from the established productions, comments on the content, parodies, remixes and mash-ups.

Traditional TV consumption will never be totally replaced by audiovisual consumption on the internet or through other devices. About 64 % of people watching TV in a traditional ‘lean-back’ way or via some new consumption mechanism are in fact the same individuals. The different modes of consumption simply represent different moments in their everyday lives. Traditional TV consumption and new TV consumption are complementary and the combinations simply result in more active viewers: The consumers watch programmes for the first time and, then, watch them again online. Or the consumers might passively follow the TV schedule but comment actively online. The traditional Sofa TV viewers only represent 30% of the internet-enabled population. 64% of the population already consume both traditional ‘Sofa TV’ and Catch-Up TV. The remaining 5% don’t watch any kind of traditional TV anymore.

Truly alternative content is limited to ‘viral’ phenomena, which aspires to achieve five minutes of fame in established media titles with niches of highly evolved consumers.

new market players.

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Content 6 new ways of viewing Television

6 new ways of viewing Television It’s not about the platform: content drives consumption

New consumption styles: snack, revideo, premium Consumers are accessing new audiovisual platforms and content in three key ways:

Future conversations about media must be led by content not by the means of reception. Because consumers can satisfy their need for content and related information from so many sources, the content they seek has to be considered the driver in most cases. Nowadays, a viewer with an average level of digital competency can find video news on traditional TV, on online news sites, on news aggregators on the internet and even on their smartphone.

• “Snack” consumption: Representing an audiovisual diet integrating traditional TV and traditional content with material mainly coming via traditional TV but also retrieved and structurally dismantled through new platforms: YouTube, for example. • Revideo or catch-up consumption in its strictest meaning: Representing an audiovisual diet that is less impulsive and retrieves video materials from the established online platforms of publishers (not just TV broadcasters). The content consumed is related to the TV schedule – often only available for viewing for a limited time after the traditional broadcast – or is related to themes that attract a lot of public attention. • Premium consumption: Representing an audiovisual diet made up of high quality content, that can be accessed in a flexible manner thanks to a paid-for offer.

New generation viewers disappear from the sofa. More than 5% of the internet population are not watching traditional TV at all anymore. This is creating an emerging group that consumes video content solely from alternative sources, not from traditional TV.

Source: Catch-up TV, Italy 2010 26

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Content infographics

DRY FACTS ON TV WATCHING

ONE IN SEVEN PEOPLE WHO WERE WATCHING THE SUPERBOWL AND THE OLYMPICS CEREMONY IN 2010 WERE SURFING THE WEB AT THE SAME TIME. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/business/media/24cooler.html

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/ do-we-watch-the-web-the-same-way-we-watch-tv-not-really/

never watch online tv in groups (u.s.)

watching without thinking in uk i enjoy coming home and, without thinking about it, watching whatever is on television that evening.

Unique Viewers 3.1% Total Streams 31.5% Streams per Viewer 27.5% Time per Viewer (min.) 44.5%

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/ do-we-watch-the-web-the-same-way-we-watch-tv-not-really/ Source: The Nielsen Company

INTERNET USES WHO HAVE:

40% future foundation

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http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/january-2011-online-video-usage-up-45/

Ofcom, Communications report 2010

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content the future of tv in asia

The future of tv in asia The future of TV in Asia may have little to do with the television set. By Jeff McFarland While the more mature markets here such as Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore may show similarities with the developed West, the other couple of billion eyeballs in developing countries such as China, India and Indonesia have fundamentally different histories, cultures, demographics, and behaviours. Therefore, despite globalisation trends, we can expect their media habits to remain distinct for some time to come. One significant difference is platform or “device neutrality”. In many U.S. households, for example, the television was the only visual device for decades – perhaps from just after World War II until the personal computer became common in the 1980s and 90s. This long history has left Americans with the basic perception that moving images “belong” on the television device.

The Future of TV in Asia belongs to mobile and online

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photography avalokist

Video does not belong to TV in Asia However, the history of TV is much different in a developing market such as China. While sets were certainly known and available for many decades, it is only recently that the TV has become ubiquitous in China. It was not until 1990 that over half of urban Chinese households possessed a colour TV, and not until 2001 that rural areas caught up to this figure [1]. This timing overlaps with the introduction of personal computers, internet access and mobile devices. So from a developing

market perspective, video never inherently “belonged” to any particular platform. Westerners realise this rationally now, and may be well aware of device convergence from a technological standpoint, but many are still locked into antiquated mind-sets and holdover behaviours that are simply not at play in Asia. In a study by Parks Associates, one half of TV-owning customers in Asia said networked TV features such as PC-based online video were important, while only one quarter agreed in the United States. The study revealed, “Asian consumers are more comfortable than other people in the world in using a computer like a TV and a TV like a computer” [2]. More recently, our own research survey at Span Consulting dramatically revealed that 77% of PC owners in China considered their computer to be the primary entertainment centre in the home, whereas only 7% chose the TV [3]. So often we find that the contrasts and limitations in various markets are not only technological or economical – they are historical, cultural, demographic, and perceptual. And that’s the rich area of exploration we focus on at Span.

Computers connect and provide experiences Our qualitative in-home interviews in three Chinese cities uncovered further insights into these perceptual differences between East and West. In past generations in the West, the TV was the “window to the outside world” or the symbol of connection to something bigger, something modern. The moon landing or the fall of the Berlin Wall gave the West shared moments around the television set.

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content the future of tv in asia

span consulting Jeff McFarland is Managing Director of Span Consulting, a research, strategy, and innovation consultancy based in Singapore and Los Angeles helping brands traverse from “the way it IS” to “the way it COULD be”. Clients and projects include Samsung, LG, Korea Telecom, Telecom of Thailand, Acer/Wistron, Tourism Malaysia, Honda, Sony Asia Pacific, Banyan Tree, Marketing Institute of Singapore, Saatchi&Saatchi, and Ford. Jeff has been active in Asia since 1992. JEFF MCFARLAND holds a Master of Science degree in Integrated Marketing from Northwestern University, with coursework at the Medill and Kellogg

In China, it is the Personal Computer that connects and provides special experiences

Today in China, it is the Personal Computer that connects and provides special experiences. In some homes, we noticed consumers had just a basic or old TV, but sitting alongside was a shiny new PC; one that was always on. And in many cases, the PC was the most expensive thing in the home - by far. The computer in that dim corner is the window to a bigger world of entertainment, escape, friends, education, information and communication. There is symbolic power and hope in this device for Chinese families, beyond anything the TV can offer and beyond what most in the developed West can understand. The West might think of watching TV online and add up the negatives such as: •B rief, mostly unprofessional YouTube clips • Poor visual and audio quality • Slow download speeds What could the attraction be for Asians? The simple answers: •Y ouku.com, the popular Chinese video site, has no length restrictions on uploads (and limited copyright issues!) and therefore supports more satisfying and engrossing full-length TV and movie content

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•P oor quality is less relevant when the content is free and the device is not exactly a high-end home theatre system to begin with • Slow downloads are still prevalent in developing Asia, but places like Korea are setting the pace for the East with the fastest broadband speeds in the world

Video on mobile Of course mobile devices are also increasingly valid platforms for Asians to view content on. Mobile video is far more popular among the young [4] and the average age in the developing East is a full 10 years younger than the developed West [5]. Again, the technology for mobile video may be available in a place like Germany where the median age is about 44 years old, but the interest and comfort level in viewing and sharing TV on the go is much higher in a country like Malaysia, with a median age of only 26 We must also consider the smaller home spaces and high usage of public transport in Asian cities. Already, the internet is accessed more by phone than by PC in Asia, and in 2009, the region represented around 75% of all mobile TV viewing worldwide [6]. Online consumers in AsiaPacific are 45% more likely to use mobile video than the global average [7]. So where is the future of TV in Asia?

schools, and a Bachelor of Science in Design from Art Center College. www.spanconsulting.com

Mobile and online. We believe that recent statements from Nielsen Media Research such as “…the perfect environment for watching television is in the comfort of the home, during recreational time and on a big screen” are simply not relevant here [6].

OPPORTUNITIES FOR ADVERTISERS All this points to opportunities for advertisers who are able to mentally de-couple the idea of TV content from the traditional ideas of the TV device, the TV viewing environment, and the linear TV experience. The most basic and obvious adaptation of advertising to the online and mobile world has resulted in pop-up ads, banners, “sponsored by”, and surrounds for video content to supplant the interruptive 30 second spot. Check your integration of TV advertising and online and mobile advertising – remember, your audience is platform-agnostic. Perhaps more relevant is product placement where your “ad” is embedded directly into the content. Korean TV dramas like “Secret Garden” are taking advantage of recently relaxed regulations and building more clothing, beverage and technology products into their storylines [8]. A placement, of course, has the huge

advantage of not being edited out of the show when it is uploaded for online and mobile viewing on any of the myriad official – and importantly, “unofficial” – content sites. Do what you can to be included in these uncontrolled, unregulated, but eyeball-rich environments. Similarly, celebrity branding – ubiquitous in collectivist and hierarchical Asia – is a powerful tactic, allowing the potential to link products so closely to a celebrity that each view of the famous star becomes a product ad by default. Ads for luxury watch brands in Asia do this successfully, linking John Travolta with Breitling watches, Zhang Ziyi with Omega, and Nicolas Cage with Mont Blanc. However, beware of overexposure: Jackie Chan endorses over 20 brands, and therefore his image at this point may bring to mind a host of products… or none at all [9]! Sponsoring informational and cultural content, or creating edu-tainment, is another advertising direction that can be effective for brand building. Remember, the link between video and PC is strong in Asia. And since the PC is used for everything from job hunting to exposing the family to a world of knowledge, “how-to” content or advice is welcome by hungry audiences in this learning context. “Japan Hour,” a culture and travel show sharing information about Japan, has been airing in Singapore for nearly 2 decades. It is

of course sponsored by Sumitomo, NEC, Pilot, ANA, and other Japanese brands. It won’t be long before such content is more available on mobile phones and tablets, turning “lean back” home TV content into interactive travel guidebook advice.

SourceS: 1. China Statistical Yearbook, 2003. http://www.chinability.com/Durables.htm 2. The IPTV Conundrum in Asia, 2006. www.parksassociates.com

And the promise of targeted, measurable, location-based ads via such devices with GPS is impossible to ignore. It is one thing to communicate to a home viewing audience about a restaurant that is thousands of kilometres away – quite another to conclude a Japanese travel program video by showing a steaming bowl of ramen on a cold day as a mobile audience walks towards your café entrance! Finally, be aware that hundreds of millions of viewers in developing Asia will be seeing your traditional TV spots – if they see them at all – on a small display with potentially low image and sound quality. The subtlety and grandiosity that works on the Hollywood big-screen may need to be replaced by simplicity, clarity and contrast.

3. Private Research Study for Acer/Wistron, 2010. www.spanconsulting.com 4. Online video eroding TV viewing, 2006. BBC 5. C IA World Factbook, 2010. https://www. cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/fields/2177.html 6. Three-screen circus: redefining Asian TV viewing in a digital world, 2009. Admap 7. Is video becoming addictive?, 2010. http://whiteandwong.org/ how-people-watch-video/ 8. Product placement frustrates drama fans, 2011. Korea Joong Ang Daily 9. ‘ J ackie Jinx’ follows some of Chan’s endorsements, 2010. Los Angeles Times

So step into the Asian century – where TV content and advertising thrive, but TVs are optional!

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mediacom case: videology

Helping clients reach consumers THROUGH Video on Demand

Video on Demand (VOD) has emerged from the fringes of web behaviour to become one of the fastest growing media channels across Europe.

Videology CEO and Founder, Scott Ferber, has unrivalled pedigree in the development of proprietary mathematicallybased technology solutions that flawlessly match brands with the audiences that they truly wish to engage. Prior to setting up the company, he was a founder of Advertising.com, which was sold to AOL for US $500m in 2004.

The UK’s OFCOM Communications report of October 2010 home engages in VOD behaviour, and in some households the

‘Zero wastage’ audience targeted campaigns become possible

weight of VOD consumption now matches that of conventional

Videology’s unique technology solution is enabling MediaCom

linear broadcasts. Even the most pessimistic of research

clients, for the first time, to buy ‘zero-wastage’ audience

forecasts in this area indicate that VOD consumption, across

targeted campaigns. Via the application of their market-leading

virtually every demographic group, is moving centre-stream.

technology, we are gaining key insights into who is actually

Moreover, optimistic forecasters foresee that, for the UK

viewing video content, across the entire internet, and ensuring

market , VOD consumption will outstrip linear broadcasts

that we are serving the appropriate ads, in the appropriate

within the next five years. While these forecasts should not

content, at the appropriate points in time.

reveals that, without exception, every broadband-enabled

be taken as gospel, the trend that shows VOD is becoming an increasingly critical component of effective communications

Through the Videology process, MediaCom clients are now

plans cannot be disputed.

not only hitting the right target consumers in VOD, they have also been empowered with the ability to frequency cap across

MediaCom has been at the vanguard of VOD planning and

multiple publishers, and serve ads in the corrective narrative

buying since its early inception as a viable commercial channel

sequence to help push consumers down the purchase funnel.

back in 2004. We have a set of rigorous and validated planning processes, which have enabled us to develop what has been

Critically, the audience insights which are generated via the

to date a market leading investment strategy. However, at the

application of the Videdology technology allow MediaCom

heart of our investment strategy a conundrum exists which we

media buyers to remove the element of editorial and publisher

have struggled to adequately solve, despite repeated efforts.

subjectivity which has historically impacted on VOD investment decisions, as well as start to interrogate the hyperbole

Quite simply, the VOD media buying market is woefully light

that inevitably accompanies so many sales presentations.

on the delivery and interpretation of robust audience data. Most VOD publishers simply trade on ‘all adult’ impressions,

In the emerging world of VOD, our relationship with Videology

and those that claim a degree of audience targeting have based

has already enabled us to distinctively position our VOD

these claims on semi-reliable registration data, or on analogue

offering as market-defining.

analysis of their inventory (i.e. the audience for US dramas on VOD will be identical to the audience for that drama when it is

For further information on Videology, please contact either:

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ILLUSTRATION propellant

broadcast on TV). This lack of audience data has inhibited us from growing our investment in the market with the confi-

Jakob.nielsen@groupm.com

dence that every VOD impression we serve is 100% appropriate

Rhys.mclachlan@mediacom.com

for our clients’ target consumers. This is the challenge that we presented to Videology when GroupM entered a strategic alliance with the company at the tail end of 2010. BLINK #2 | MEDIACOM

mediacom case: Volkswagen and SUPER BOWL

VW - setting the stage for success VW had great creative in the Super Bowl. But as VW’s media agency, our job wasn’t about placing great creative; it was about setting the stage for success and tirelessly leveraging positive momentum as it unfolded. Based on consumer Super Bowl behavior, we established a strategy to capitalize on buzz preceding, during and after the game leveraging diverse rich media ad formats through search and contextual channels. We also used Volkswagen-owned social channels as an integral part of our digital activation, using Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for all brand-focused news, content and enthusiast dialogue

• Postgame: o Secured the homepage of YouTube the day after the Super Bowl to capitalize on the post-game buzz and ensure that VW was a big part of the chatter. o To further sustain the buzz the Super Bowl spots generated, additional video content (e.g., behind the scenes, bloopers, etc.) continue to be distributed following the Super Bowl game.

Some major highlights included: Results: • Pre Super Bowl: o MediaCom developed the concept of seeding teaser videos, and eventually the full spots, a week before Super Bowl. This effort received major buzz—to the tune of 13.7 million views prior to the game. o We also gained the opportunity for MSN and Yahoo! to feature the Passat spot and custom editorial on their homepages as value-add. Subsequently, over 120 additional blogs and media outlets mentioned the spots including, Perez Hilton, AdWeek, New York Times, MotorTrend, BrandWeek and Jalopnik to name a few. • On Super Bowl Sunday: o Beyond the spots themselves, we secured exclusive ownership of ESPN’s mobile site the day of the Super Bowl to be part of the conversation before, during and after the game. We then implemented a retargeting strategy against users that saw the spots via YouTube to serve them with additional consideration driving messages.

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• Our paid search campaign skyrocketed with a 480% increase the day of the game. Since then, daily visits to VW.com are up 127%. • From February 1st to February 7th (Super Bowl was Feb. 6th): o Daily Facebook interaction rates (likes and comments) were up 214%, and VW added over 12,000 fans to their Facebook community giving them a total of 683,790 fans. o On Twitter, the average click-through per tweet was 820, an increase of 925%. During this same time period VW added 500+ followers. • On YouTube, “The Force” commercial to date has received 23.9 million views and the “Black Beetle” received 2.9 million views.

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Content the future of the tv experience

The future of the TV experience

The future of TV is already here The future of the TV – which combines TV with the collaborative and connected technologies of the internet – is actually already here. TV viewers have been voting for years with their mobile phones and can easily switch focus between the television and the computer on their laps. The technology is already in place.

His opinion is based on the positive reactions to interactive platforms such as Google TV and social TV, collaborative content, parallel gameplay and simultaneous activities. As Kevin Slavin, Chief Creative Officer at Starling – a company that specialises in understanding the area between social TV and collaborative content (with a seminal amount of game mechanics to keep viewers and players enthusiastic and dedicated) – suggests: “If you were to turn on the TV and be given the opportunity to watch a random show

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Making the TV experience kinetic Slavin is the former chairman of the New York based gaming company Area/Code and is one of the thought leaders on the subject. Area/Code has vast experience in collaborative content and has worked on numerous programmes such as MTV Backchannel’s The Hills, which connected viewers through an online game/chatting application as the show aired. The company also helped advertise reruns of The Sopranos, which challenged viewers to photograph Soprano posters and boards around the city and sort them into chronological order online, based on the order the characters first appeared in the show. Viewers could then check their scores live on their laptops during the show’s broadcast time. These two examples provided innovative out-of-the-box thinking and set a high standard for other campaigns to follow. Whereas a lot of campaigns often fail to encourage viewer interaction, Area/ Code’s work really succeeded in getting people to chat and share content. Slavin suggests that for a collaborative campaign to work, it needs to address

the correct issues. The main challenge doesn’t come from getting people to meet and talk; they are already doing that. The main challenge is working how to make this activity kinetic.

Start-ups and big production companies are now moving into the scene and can see the enthusiasm that is out there. But it is important to realise that free riding on the wave of engagement that is happening on Facebook and Twitter does not just create a larger experience, it creates an additional one. The challenge is figuring out how to tap into it. The merger of internet and TV has taken a quantum leap in the last year. Hirshberg is standing right in the middle of it; and sees start-ups and ideas at an enormous speed. Kreiz offers a clear challenge:

Peter Hirshberg, a colleague of Slavin and CEO of RE:imagine Group, argues that a Twitter stream doesn’t really feel like media. It needs to be connected and weaved into content in order to become a part of a show’s storyline and offering. Starling is already doing this, and runs a collaborative component on MTV’s Skins programme.

If TV is at the centre of gravity, it can provide a broader experience But this is not just an area for explorative small start-ups. Ynon Kreiz, Chairman and CEO at the Endemol Group, the world’s largest independent TV production company, is challenging all of his creatives to think outside the TV screen, to view TV as the centre of gravity that not only brings people to the screen, but offers them a much broader experience. This has already been trialled with a show called The Money Drop, which allows viewers to play the game online at the same time it is being broadcast on TV. It has been a marked success.

would negate the professionalism of a show’s content, whose story and production values had been constructed by seasoned experts. However, it now seems that audience interaction does not affect the storyline directly, but can play out alongside it in order to enrich the overall experience.

and activities – at the same time. Even if some niche and big players are already well towards maturity in this segment, more or all content-producing companies will need to follow suit. They will need to put a stake through the popular and wrongful myths that connected technologies are merely distribution platforms – compared to Radio and TV that are storytelling mediums – and that the way to utilise online is to publish additional content to be enjoyed after or in between shows. Online is not just a storage facility, it is an activity that allows viewers to interact with their favourite content and collaborate. And what we need to do is embrace multitasking and design stories that activate people, not just entertain them. People multitasking is an opportunity, not a problem; the laptop is a multiplier, not a distraction; and TV with tightly directed and broadcasted events is the centre of gravity that provides centrifugal momentum for a whole host of experiences.

Online is an activity It all comes down to the wonders of multitasking. The solution is making laptop and mobile augmentations to the big screen and then merge stories across platforms

Read more from Helge Tennø: www.180360720.no @congbo

PHOTOGRAPHY Olga Aleksinkaya

In January 2011, while speaking at the DLD Conference, Brian Sullivan, CEO of SKY Deutschland, suggested that social media could help TV reclaim its place as a social unifier and reconnect us with the original TV experience. TV once had the power to create social and societal events, but in modern society, the experience has been fragmented and turned into an individual and contained occurrence by the frantic pace of our lifestyles. TV has become something that happens between eight and eleven in the evening and is no longer the social glue that sparks conversations and enthusiasm far outside the TV channels peak hours. But in Sullivan’s own words, “the internet is bringing TV back to the water cooler.”

or something your friends were watching, what would you choose?”

Previously, storytellers and producers would steer clear of audience involvement as they thought that such input

If you were to turn on the TV and given the opportunity to watch some random show or something your friends are watching, what would you choose?

Multitasking, once predicted as the last nail in the coffin of the TV industry, could now be the thing that reconnects TV with its most important player: the audience. By Helge Tennø

“Whoever figures out how people can be connected to their friends and family, and interact with them through the content on the TV – without having a four to five meter long arm stretching across the living room – will be the next Steve Jobs”.

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content MEDIA plan of the future

By combining online and TV we can reach larger audiences, more effectively. High demand means pre-roll and mid-roll ads are seller’s market so we must consider all formats in order to achieve the best Return on Investment (ROI). By Oliver Gertz, Managing Director Interaction Europe, Middle East & Africa, MediaCom

spots simply reach the same heavy viewers because TV has diminishing returns on investment.

mode by active viewers, generating a much higher impact than the normal TV spot within an ad break.

TV is still a very effective advertising tool. The power of video to tell stories and evoke emotions is unparalleled by any other push-media channel. Television sells and advertisers see the effect. So it was no surprise that the TV-advertising market was less affected by the recession and recovered faster than many other channels, notably print.

Therefore many advertisers look for online video to increase reach while maintaining the same budget. By shifting the budget for the last TV reach-points into online video, the overall reach can be increased without spending more money. Other advertisers look for the multiplying effect of cross-media contacts. Many research studies have shown that delivering the same message through two channels is more effective than delivering it twice in the same channel. And the

Advertisers do also face some challenges in this space, however. First of all, the reach of video-content is limited. Despite the enormous growth rates of video usage, most surfers still consume more traditional text-based web than video. The demand for video advertising is strong, leading to high CPMs, much higher than for traditional TV in most markets. So alternative web options should be considered.

However, TV is also suffering. The effectiveness is declining as spots get lost

photography Ali Tawfiq

The question of the day is “How to best combine TV with online?”

MEDIACOM | BLINK #2

in the clutter and consumers are increasingly multitasking, using the TV just as background noise in a similar way they used to consume radio. And younger audiences are moving online, consuming more video content online than ever before.

opportunity to interact and click onto the video to get more involved with the offer is an additional benefit. So ideally, the consumer sees the spot first on TV and then can click on the video ad if the product or offer is interesting.

The question that advertisers ask media agencies is no longer “TV or online?” The question of the day is “How to best combine TV with online?”

Delivering Reach in Online Video

To find the answer to that question, we must consider three things: Firstly, how do you plan TV and online reach? Secondly, how do you buy video-reach effectively? And thirdly, how do you measure effectiveness?

Planning for more reach or more engagement? TV campaigns build reach quickly. But with increasing reach, more and more

The obvious solution is to buy video ads with the same content as on TV. Pre-roll or mid-roll ads, that are shown before or during long-format TV content that is streamed on-demand on the internet. Many TV Stations are offering catch-up TV, allowing viewers to watch the shows they missed whenever and wherever they want. More production companies are also producing high-quality video content just for the web. Pre-and mid-rolls are usually singlespots, seen in an active lean-forward

One alternative is to use standard online ad-formats and stream the spot into them. The advantage is nearly unlimited reach as those ads are available on all websites. Advertisers also benefit from much lower CPMs as standard ads are traded in a buyer’s market where demand still is growing slower than the available ad impressions. Even though effectiveness research has shown that streamingads are not as impactful as pre-rolls or TV spots, they are much less expensive and therefore generate a higher ROI. An even more powerful alternative is a new ad format, the targ.ad TV VideoInterstitial, which GroupM is rolling out exclusively for our clients. A full-screen single spot that runs on multiple websites, combining the impact of a pre-roll with the reach and cost effectiveness of a regular online ad. The targ.ad TV format also offers social engagement functions, allowing consumers to comment, rate, send to a friend and share on social networks as well. No one could argue that a full-screen video ad is not what consumers want. However, targ.ad TV allows state-of-the art targeting on demographics, interests

BLINK #2 | MEDIACOM

~1200 MILLION INTERNET USERS GLOBALlY

HOURS SPENT ONLINE EXCEEDING THE GAP WITH TV

15-75% INTERNET PENETRATION

INTERNET USERS (MILLIONS)

INTERNET

and limits the exposure. That leads to high acceptance rates and rather low skip-rates by the consumer.

Targeting in high-reach media Today we buy media placements that have high reach and affinity in the defined target groups, thereby trying to minimise wastage of delivering the message to people we do not really plan to reach. While we want to reach people with our media placements we do media planning rather than audience planning. This is the same, whether we buy a TV spot, a print ad or place a banner on a website. In digital media, however, ads are delivered in real-time to each individual user. So far, the promise of one-to-onemarketing has not really been fulfilled, but new targeting technologies are changing that. While people surf through the web, anonymous user profiles are built with their interests and combined with aggregated registration data to get demographic information. Then, when a profile is recognised by the decision engine of the adserver, it is then decided which campaign and which message to show to the consumer. This is a fundamental change: it is not the placement of the user visits that defines which

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ad they see; instead it is the knowledge about the user’s profile and interests. Now, we can target very specific target segments with very specific messages and offers. We do no longer have to use generic ads, that have to appeal to a wide audience, but can give specific users specific messages. Advertisers no longer pay for advertising contacts with people they do not want

16%

07 13

81.2

30%

90.2

CLICKABLE LAYER WITH TEXT AND CALL TO ACTION

74%

191

14 12 12

60%

10 10 11 15 23 09 17 16

17%

325.6

content MEDIA plan of the future

MEDIA CONSUMPTION (HOURS/WK)

INTERNET PENETRATION %

477.2

LINKS TO · WEBSITE · MAIL-A-FRIEND · SOCIAL NETWORKS

*METROPOLITAN

Many publishers offer targeting but their offers are limited Today, targeting is a standard offer from many publishers and sales-houses. However, many of those offers have limitations. In the first place, they are media-owner specific, making it harder to iron out the weaknesses of each media owner’s portfolio. MSN, for example, delivers a lot of Hotmail impressions but offers more casual content around

We can reach more than 70% of the population with online video to reach, they do not have to overexpose users that are heavy media users to build reach with the infrequent users: frequency capping across publishers allows us to control the number of contact a user has with the campaign as well as the sequence of messages they see. That is the secret sauce behind the success of rather intrusive ad formats like targ.ad TV. If the ad is well targeted, relevant and shown only once, it will not be seen as disturbance by most users.

general-interest topics. So a potential car-buyer may go to special interest sites for their research – an activity that takes place outside MSN. The second weakness is that because media owners need to know advertisers’ targeting criteria to implement the campaign, the process involves handing over some very sensitive commercial insight and consumer profile information to each media partner. The third weakness is that because

different media owners define audiences in different ways, targeting across a single campaign is not as precise as it could be. As each publisher has their own targeting system, such campaigns can’t take into account total reach across the digital landscape. Publisher-specific frequency capping has limited effectiveness where over-exposure can be an issue.

Predictive Profile Targeting goes beyond reaching the same user again Behavioural targeting also restricts reach. While you are waiting for evidence of a specific behaviour, the potential audience is restricted. As a result media agencies and publishers have devised solutions to these targeting challenges. To extend the reach of behavioural and other forms of targeting, smart use of data is applied through predictive targeting. Predictive targeting allows advertisers to match the anonymous profiles of consumers who exhibit the requisite behaviour with those who are like them in every other key respect. This includes offline data such as psychographic profiles and purchase behaviour captured by research organisations or loyalty card companies, as well as anonymous profile information such as the search ads they have clicked on. The benefit of predictive targeting is that it extends the target audience, even for actions such as display retargeting.

Although it’s possible to retarget based purely on those who have visited your e-commerce site or filled out a contact form, for example, predictive targeting adds users with similar profiles to widen the message. Likewise, search-based targeting strategies can be extended beyond those who have clicked on a Google keyword by creating a group of those who have a similar profile.

How do we measure Effectiveness? Online video, especially when delivered through sophisticated cross-publisher targeting tools, can generate enormous efficiencies for advertisers. We can increase the overall reach of the TV-campaign, generate multiplying effects that drive direct response, or fill reach or frequency gaps in those segments that are harder to reach by TV, like younger segments or working women. But the question is does it really drive effectiveness? Do we get higher awareness, ad-recall and most importantly, purchase intent or measured sales? To answer that question, sophisticated analytics tools like econometric modelling can be applied, but such tools need continuous tracking of all relevant data points for a long time. Quick results can be generated with campaign specific tracking. MediaCom Germany, for example, developed a powerful and rather inexpensive approach

with TNS Infratest, which answers questions about the necessary advertising pressure for different objectives. What messages are mediated the best? Is the campaign linked to the brand (brand linkage)? And of course the key question from the TV-Online combined planning perspective: How do TV and online work within the mediamix?

COMBINED TV AND ONLINE VIDEO PLANNING IS THE FUTURE AND IT IS AVAILABLE TODAY TV is moving to digital channels and will eventually become accurately targetable, a service Sky is already offering in the UK. And the internet and TV are converging, giving consumers access to content on all screens, the TV in the living room, the laptop, tablets, mobile at home and on the go. This is the future. And it is here today. In many markets, we can reach more than 70% of the population with online video and we can increase the effectiveness of our combined TV-online campaigns. First planning tools exist, we can buy and optimise online video very well and can target specific consumer profiles with an accuracy that is unheard of in the broadcast world, and we can measure the effectiveness. Generating the specific learnings for each brand is a top priority for most of the TV and online advertisers that MediaCom works with and we are ready to deliver.

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festival talkshow satirical realityshow gameshow

Realityshows with celebs local tv shows sports drama/soap opera film/movie

Realityshows with celebs Realityshows with general audience Realityshows with general audience Realityshows with celebs Realityshows with general audience

reality reality drama-serial reality drama-serial

finland

entertainment news entertainment (intl format) sport news

news documentary drama film cookery shows

denmark

entertainment (intl format) sport weather music / song contest sport

drama films game show / quizzes tv shopping information

italy

USA

Case tv programmes watched

canada

australia

thailand

japan

TV programmes watched around the world Sport is a big uniting factor when it comes to watching TV and it collects huge ratings. 2010 was a year dominated by big sports events and that has had a significant effect on the resulting grid of the most watched TV shows around the world. In most countries, the audiences are so sports loving that the genre takes up the majority of their Top 5 most-watched TV programmes. To get a meaningful comparison of

columbia

drama /soap opera drama /soap opera drama reality shows with celebs drama /soap opera

reality shows with celebs local tv shows awards ceremony sports drama / soap opera film /movie

TV programmes watched around the world, all sporting events were removed for the

Argentina

US, Italy and Australia; in Canada we had to base it on at least 3 airings; in Argentina, Chile, Columbia and Mexico, the Soccer World Cup was so dominant that that event was removed as well. Japan, Thailand, Finland and Denmark have no restrictions placed on their answers; in Japan and Thailand, the results are based on viewers answering what they usually watch or prefer to watch; in Denmark the preferred sport to watch is

mexico

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drama/soap opera film/movie sports film/movie sports

reality shows with gen. audience drama sports realityshows with celebs. game show

handball and in Finland it is Ski jumping and ice hockey.

chile

Sport is definitely what pulls large audiences on TV â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and it is no good time-shifted. Note: The method for collecting data around the world is not standardised and there are wide variations in the methodologies used. The comparison across countries should therefore be considered with these aforementioned parameters in mind.

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content Asia is Digitally Different

DIGI TAL IN VO

RE LV EMENT SCO

Asia is Digitally Different

CREATORS

Until recently marketers in Asia had struggled to explain to their colleagues in the West how different their region was when it came to digital. While they all could appreciate the larger ‘quantity’ of usage, it was harder to relay the higher ‘quality’ of usage. However, the evidence is now becoming clearer. By Robert Fry, Head of Insights, MediaCom Asia Pacific

COLLECTORS

China has without question the biggest internet population in the world with 420 million people online. It has 180 million more users than the US, which has the second largest internet population. But Asia is not only significant because of its large population. The way Asia consumes digital content is also very different to the rest of the world and it shows a continent hungry for digital engagement. Compared to the Western world, Asians are far more involved with online content and is leading the way for both online and mobile video use.

Digital Involvement Scores: BIRD’S-EYE-VIEW

CREATORS CRITICS COLLECTORS JOINERS / SPECTATORS

A TYPICAL DEVELOPED MARKET PYRAMID

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A TYPICAL DEVELOPING MARKET PYRAMID

At MediaCom, we have developed the “Digital Involvement Score” to explain digital involvement in a simple way, market by market, audience by audience. It provides an easy to use but essential digital bird’s-eye-view of the market and of consumer groups. However, the framework also provides an excellent way to illustrate the higher digital engagement of most of Asia.

To derive the metrics, we separate the online population into levels resembling Forrester’s digital involvement ladder, from the less involved ‘joiners/spectators’ up to the ‘creators’; those uploading video and written material. In the illustrated “Digital Involvement Score” you can already see the difference in shape between developed and developing markets, with the latter producing a characteristic ‘inverted pyramid’ with most people being ‘Creators’ instead of ‘Joiners/Spectators’ opposed to the

Firstly, it is important to note that within all the regions and within markets, large differences in digital involvement can exist. In order to understand these differences Digital Involvement Scores and similar relative frameworks are important tools that will allow faster and clearer justification and guidance for allocation of digital budgets. Secondly, it is now an undeniable fact that Asia is the leading region in regards to digital involvement, led not by the developed markets like Japan,

Asians are far more involved with online content and is leading the way for both online and mobile video use pyramid shaped developed markets. In fact we found that generally, developed markets are less involved in digital (even Japan shows much lower scores). However, overall Asia showed the highest engagement levels of any region in the world.

but by the massive user base of China. Any company who fails to grasp this, presuming the Asian internet population to be like their domestic populations, or worse, less sophisticated, are likely to make costly mistakes. Sources:

For Brand owners there are two key learnings from this:

www.internetworldstats.com Global web index The Nielsen Company, Global Online Survey, March 2010

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