Broadcasters call for more coordinated promotional campaign for diginets

The public’s failure to embrace the new digital specialty television networks has led some in the industry to call for a more coordinated marketing campaign – one that would cut across ownership groups and see more cooperation between cable and satellite TV distributors. The launch of more than 50 new diginets this fall has occurred without much fanfare, leading some broadcasters to push for a new approach to marketing. "I think the actual launch got lost in the events of Sept. 11," notes Gerry Noble, president and CEO of Global Television Network Inc. The terrorist attacks in the U.S. diverted the attention of TV viewers away from the launch, which has led some distributors to extend free preview periods (CCR, Oct. 26/01). Although Global is "doing a lot to promote its new channels on its conventional network and its newspapers," Noble sees value in broadcasters banning together to advertise the diginets. "You can never have enough promotion," he tells CCR. "Promotion is what drives this industry. So does a cross-medium platform provide a lot? Yes. But I think there are still audiences – very tiny – that we don’t reach… So we have to continue to promote outside our own properties for the diginets. "You may well end up with genres – across companies – getting together to sell packaging concepts. That would be a logical development emerging out of all these new stations. (It could be) a natural progression in the industry." Shan Chandrasekar, president and CEO of the Asian Television Network, agrees that "everybody is going to benefit when people subscribe to a package, but we haven’t seen it (because of a lack of awareness of the channels on the part of consumers)." Chandrasekar believes the public hasn’t been properly informed about the new channels. "We get the feeling that people are not as excited as what they should be with the launch of the digital services," he says. "We feel that a lot of people still don’t have access to information about the different services." Chandrasekar is calling for an analog channel devoted to promoting all the new diginets. "I think there has to be greater promotion done by using the analog channels to promote all the (digital) channels," he says. Global Television is on board with this concept, having applied for licences for over-the-air all-Canadian stations in the Toronto, Hamilton and Kitchener markets that it would use to promote all of the new diginets (CCR, Oct. 11/01). Kaan Yigit, a partner with Solutions Research Group, who has closely watched the launch of specialty channels over the years, believes broadcasters will have to take a wider view to promotional efforts for the diginets to succeed. For example, CTV Inc. may have to do more than just promote its new women’s sports and hockey channels on its conventional network, its other specialty channels such as TSN, and in The Globe and Mail. It might have to band together with other digital sports channels such as Leafs TV, and other existing analog sports channels such as Headline Sports and Sportsnet, to bulk sell to advertisers and run a coordinated marketing campaign. Yigit tells CCR that broadcasters should take the lead from the radio industry, which has worked out arrangements to bulk sell advertising on stations owned by different ownership groups. John Cassaday, president and CEO of Corus Entertainment Inc., agrees that broadcasters have to come together. "We have to create unholy alliances to make this thing work, because we will all succeed or fail together on this one." He points out that there is no reason why broadcasters couldn’t promote each other’s channels as long as there is reciprocity. "What we need to do is reach people who don’t have digital boxes, and that means there has to be promotion on the analog channels. But that’s valuable air time that people are reluctant to give up." Not everyone subscribes to this view, however. Chum Television president Jay Switzer says Chum has enough channels and critical mass to make cross-promotion solely within its own properties work. "There is no problem that we’re trying to solve here," he tells CCR. "I can understand if you have a stand alone (channel). (Those broadcasters) have a problem. But we’ve designed our growth over the last 15 years to end up in this situation. It’s our advantage. "Our diginets are all extensions of businesses we’re already in, so it makes sense for us to support Fashion TV channel inside the fashion television show on CityTv, or Drive-in Classics as an extension of Space," he adds. "So we have natural crossovers and extensions. We don’t have any orphans. If other smaller broadcasters have a problem, they should figure out a way to solve their problem." David Errington, senior VP and general manager of PrideVision, a channel devoted to the lifestyles of the gay, lesbian and bisexual communities, says his company sees little value in cross-promotion across its channels. It’s difficult to promote PrideVision on Headline Sports, he notes. Instead, he says PrideVision’s strategy is to promote the channel in places where its niche audience is found, such as at gay pride parades.

Broadcasters call for more coordinated promotional campaign for diginets

Broadcast | November 9, 2001

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