Use on-demand strategically: Prime Time panel

At the Canadian Film and Television Production Association’s Prime Time conference in Ottawa last month, a panel session titled "Conventional & Specialty Broadcasting: Still Viable in an On-Demand World?" explored whether on-demand video services are competitive with or complementary to linear broadcasting.For many, on-demand means disintermediation, a thought that was clearly on the mind of moderator and Breakthrough Films & Television Inc. executive producer and partner Ira Levy. "Does this mean I won’t have to come to you guys sooner or later?" he asked the panel of broadcast executives. However, most in the television world – and others besides – believe that conventional broadcast television will remain the cornerstone of distribution and audience share for some time to come. CanWest MediaWorks Inc.’s VP of original programming, Christine Shipton, noted that on-demand content usually still needs that "hit" from mainstream television to drive traffic to it, while Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. executive VP of content Norm Bolen employed a favourite metaphor: linear television as the "bullhorn" that first captures viewer attention for a property and serves as a gateway to other content.But CBC executive director of network programming Kirstine Layfield said on-demand platforms are the best option for some forms of content, trumping even a timeslot on broadcast television. She added that the public broadcaster has moved some of its fare targeting the ‘tween demographic – content traditionally aired on Saturday mornings – onto the Internet "because we know older kids won’t sit down and watch TV on a Saturday morning."And on-demand viewing has also aided in building audiences for new untested shows, said Domenic Vivolo, senior VP of marketing and sales at Astral Television Networks, who noted that G-Spot and Stargate: Atlantis have fared better on on-demand services and platforms. "These series, when they’re on the linear service, don’t perform as well," he said.Projects that successfully meld conventional/linear and on-demand distribution have several things in common, said Scott Dyer, VP of kids at Corus Entertainment Inc. To start, they emphasize the importance of niches by catering to a specific slice of a demographic. For instance, "what used to be one playschool niche is now four or five niches," he said, adding that if producers and broadcasters find the right niche and address it, they can build a community around their content.Dyer also said that Corus is looking for content "that connects and defines and moves" between television, mobile devices and broadband. When asked by Levy whether Corus is prepared to pay additional licence fees for productions that incorporate elements for those extra venues, Dyer replied: "If broadcasters want multiplatform content that can build audiences and communities, they need to find ways to fund that production." He admitted that revenue-sharing is the most common business model for doing so at the moment, but "only because no one really knows which model will work."And while the various iterations of television – conventional, specialty, pay, pay-per-view, VOD, et cetera – might at time compete with each other, they have so far proved varied and novel enough to keep audiences in front of the large screen in their homes and lead to a rise in viewing hours last year. In its most recent Broadcast Policy Monitoring Report, the CRTC found that increased viewing to pay and specialty services (both analog and digital) and pay television compensated for a slight decline in private conventional TV audiences.Nevertheless, the threat posed by unregulated content looms, according to Bolen. For instance, eight million unique Canadian visitors browsed YouTube in December 2006, each spending an average of 102 minutes on the site. "There are strong signs that we shouldn’t be complacent that television is holding its own," he said.

Use on-demand strategically: Prime Time panel

Broadcast | March 16, 2007

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