MediaWeek reports on an IBM study showing that, of viewers of streaming television shows, 15% said that they watch “slightly less” television as a result and 36% said that they watch “significantly less” television as a result. Of 2,800 respondents in six countries, 76% said that they have viewed video online and 45% do so regularly. The good news for the TV networks is that the viewers don’t seem to mind commercials in their video (only 30% would prefer to pay for the content). This is problematic for the TV networks for the simple reason that they earn less money per viewer from online distribution than broadcast distribution. The reason: there is less commercial time per show when distributed online than on television (even though the online CPM is higher than the television CPM). Also, it is not clear that the networks are actually getting additional ad revenue from the online distribution (on their own sites) or if the online ad sales are being bundled with the television ad sales, that is, simply moving the total dollars from one column to another, i.e., television ad revenue v. online ad revenue. And, if the show is being distributed on another party’s site (Hulu, Fancast, Joost, etc.), then the online ad revenue has to be shared with the distributing partner.
November 17, 2008 at 1:18 pm
[...] as Hulu, MySpaceTV and Tremor are reporting CPMs as increasing. Given the implications of the IBM report below, this is at least some good news (for the time being at [...]
November 29, 2008 at 11:49 am
[...] might be made available to the end user without advertising. Still, given the public’s preference for ad supported Internet content over paid-for content (and, presumably, the same is true in the mobile world), this still puts [...]
November 29, 2008 at 11:50 am
[...] might be made available to the end user without advertising. Still, given the public’s preference for ad supported Internet content over paid-for content (and, presumably, the same is true in the mobile world), this still puts [...]