The changing world of television
A few years ago I went to a one day conference held at Murdoch University, there were 7 or 8 speakers throughout the day. So today I'm tidying my office and came across the notes from the sessions. I didn't blog them at the time, but it's interesting to reflect back on the discussions of the day.
THE NOTES
Professor Duane Varan from Murdoch gave a great presentation where he started talking about our changing viewer habits. He showcased a selection of antique remote controls that sparked the audiences attention. You might think that remote controls are not antiques but they have been around longer than most of us think. Varan displayed a remote control that was the size of a house brick and had gigantic dials and switches. I remember our family video in the 1980's had a remote, it was a switch that could do two things, 'record' and 'stop'. It was joined to the machine by a cord that you plugged in.
Today, it's hard imagine television without the remotes.
When TV arrived in the 1950's people though it would kill the radio industry, it didn't radio just changed and so will television as it tackles the challenge of PVR's that time shift viewing, multi-challenging, the internet and computer games.
The biggest effect of time shifted viewing is that the audience for advertisements, which is the income stream for commercial broadcasters is reduced. Some types of programming are still likely to bring in a 'live' TV audience, content that is event TV such as sport can still be a draw card, the prediction is that there will be a growing interest in live TV in coming years.
Clever television programmers may be able to undermine international big budget series played by their competitors by scheduling live content opposite.
The biggest challenge the fragmentation and time shifting of audiences present to a commercial broadcaster is the loss of audience flow, with up to 50% of a programs audience being made up of the people who didn't switch channels or turn off at the end of the last program - moves towards a viewer driven model of program delivery have a serious financial impact for commercial broadcasters.
One way to counteract the loss of audience flow is to program along themes, an evening of similar programs that will retain an audience.
New business models are also appearing, the watching of series on DVD is growing and this provides a different way for the creators of content to gain an income for their product.
The big changes in business are the movement from economies of scale to economies of scope, an example being the decline in viewer ship of the Nightly News, while audiences engage with 24 hour news networks such as CNN and FOX.
In the advertising world the paradigm is also changing, advertisements no longer work because of their exposure, now they work because of their engagement. Duane Varan highlights that interactivity is the key which will increase the engagement factor of advertisements.
In the UK interactive television has been a big success, but it's still not a slam dunk long term success, Varan cautiously highlights that teletext was also really big in the UK, but has declined in recent years and never really took of in Australia.
NOTES END
REFLECTIONS
In Australia we have seen some decisive action by commercial broadcasters to counter effect the use of PVR's and audience flow, Channel 10 this year began putting the credits for productions online, so as to reduce the amount of time between programs. Local production companies have begun talking increasingly about live television program options, but this is more a reaction to opportunities presented by multi-channelling.
The introduction of PVR's to Australia though has been slow with the TIVO only arriving in the last few months. Maybe like the world of tele-text, VCD, Laser Disc and Interactive television, it'll be a boat that Australia just doesn't get on.
We have however really embraced the idea of watching TV series on DVD, if you doubt this just look at the size of this area in a JB Hi Fi store. This business model works mainly for the content creators which sees broadcasters getting more involved in production again. Here in Australia there has been a sudden increase in the number of local drama series from Sea Patrol, to City Homicide and Underbelly, and the upcomming Rush and The Strip.
The trend in news has increased, SKY NEWS in Australia has had considerable growth but the Nightly News has adjusted finding it's strength in providing the local news that people care about.
Interactive TV has not arrived though, a few months before Duane Varan's presentation Gary Hayes from the Laboratory of Advanced Media Production (LAMP) at AFTRS gave a breakfast presentation at the Small Screen Big Picture Conference, Hayes showed a bunch of clips from the UK where presenters urged viewers to 'press the red button'. Today the phrase 'red button, red herring' is often heard.
Have advertisements become more engaging through interactivity? Certainly there are more cross platform advertisements, more viral advertisements, more user generated content in advertising. Some of the best advertisements we come across are certainly interactive, and increasingly in niche areas - but has the practice gone mainstream yet?
The one thing that does come true though is massive change, I think everyone can agree that they'll be more of that to come.
THE NOTES
Professor Duane Varan from Murdoch gave a great presentation where he started talking about our changing viewer habits. He showcased a selection of antique remote controls that sparked the audiences attention. You might think that remote controls are not antiques but they have been around longer than most of us think. Varan displayed a remote control that was the size of a house brick and had gigantic dials and switches. I remember our family video in the 1980's had a remote, it was a switch that could do two things, 'record' and 'stop'. It was joined to the machine by a cord that you plugged in.
Today, it's hard imagine television without the remotes.
When TV arrived in the 1950's people though it would kill the radio industry, it didn't radio just changed and so will television as it tackles the challenge of PVR's that time shift viewing, multi-challenging, the internet and computer games.
The biggest effect of time shifted viewing is that the audience for advertisements, which is the income stream for commercial broadcasters is reduced. Some types of programming are still likely to bring in a 'live' TV audience, content that is event TV such as sport can still be a draw card, the prediction is that there will be a growing interest in live TV in coming years.
Clever television programmers may be able to undermine international big budget series played by their competitors by scheduling live content opposite.
The biggest challenge the fragmentation and time shifting of audiences present to a commercial broadcaster is the loss of audience flow, with up to 50% of a programs audience being made up of the people who didn't switch channels or turn off at the end of the last program - moves towards a viewer driven model of program delivery have a serious financial impact for commercial broadcasters.
One way to counteract the loss of audience flow is to program along themes, an evening of similar programs that will retain an audience.
New business models are also appearing, the watching of series on DVD is growing and this provides a different way for the creators of content to gain an income for their product.
The big changes in business are the movement from economies of scale to economies of scope, an example being the decline in viewer ship of the Nightly News, while audiences engage with 24 hour news networks such as CNN and FOX.
In the advertising world the paradigm is also changing, advertisements no longer work because of their exposure, now they work because of their engagement. Duane Varan highlights that interactivity is the key which will increase the engagement factor of advertisements.
In the UK interactive television has been a big success, but it's still not a slam dunk long term success, Varan cautiously highlights that teletext was also really big in the UK, but has declined in recent years and never really took of in Australia.
NOTES END
REFLECTIONS
In Australia we have seen some decisive action by commercial broadcasters to counter effect the use of PVR's and audience flow, Channel 10 this year began putting the credits for productions online, so as to reduce the amount of time between programs. Local production companies have begun talking increasingly about live television program options, but this is more a reaction to opportunities presented by multi-channelling.
The introduction of PVR's to Australia though has been slow with the TIVO only arriving in the last few months. Maybe like the world of tele-text, VCD, Laser Disc and Interactive television, it'll be a boat that Australia just doesn't get on.
We have however really embraced the idea of watching TV series on DVD, if you doubt this just look at the size of this area in a JB Hi Fi store. This business model works mainly for the content creators which sees broadcasters getting more involved in production again. Here in Australia there has been a sudden increase in the number of local drama series from Sea Patrol, to City Homicide and Underbelly, and the upcomming Rush and The Strip.
The trend in news has increased, SKY NEWS in Australia has had considerable growth but the Nightly News has adjusted finding it's strength in providing the local news that people care about.
Interactive TV has not arrived though, a few months before Duane Varan's presentation Gary Hayes from the Laboratory of Advanced Media Production (LAMP) at AFTRS gave a breakfast presentation at the Small Screen Big Picture Conference, Hayes showed a bunch of clips from the UK where presenters urged viewers to 'press the red button'. Today the phrase 'red button, red herring' is often heard.
Have advertisements become more engaging through interactivity? Certainly there are more cross platform advertisements, more viral advertisements, more user generated content in advertising. Some of the best advertisements we come across are certainly interactive, and increasingly in niche areas - but has the practice gone mainstream yet?
The one thing that does come true though is massive change, I think everyone can agree that they'll be more of that to come.
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