BANFF – One in four Canadians is a 4 screen consumer; and Canada per capita is the number one user of Facebook. Close to 40% of us readily watch TV online and Millennial YouTube and iTunes stars are popping up everywhere, exploding the old definition of TV.
So these are unsettling times for conventional Banff World Media Fest summer camp types that remember the good old days of The Banff Park Lodge (and tube-TVs…)
But that needn't be the case.
Jennifer Dettman, executive director, studio and unscripted content for the CBC, tells us that the Mother Corp is on the cusp of great things. Take for example Canada's Smartest Person. This title, once a one-off, is now a full series this fall aimed to create a fresh collective viewing experience, complete with online applications for family and friends across Canada.
Plus "expect coming CBC dramas to NOT be family viewing,” she said. Dettman also reminded us that the CBC has been no slouch in this OTT era, being the first Canadian network in a drama deal (Heartland) with Netflix.
Corus isn't being outdone on this future stuff either. Jocelyn Hamilton, their VP programming and original productions, is even philosophical in asserting that "we are no longer audience-driven but fan-driven.” New programming will be participatory, accompanied by live events, with much shorter series length, she added.
Over at Bell Media, VP specialty channels and production, Catherine Macleod, says Space, Bravo and Comedy will be ever-more story driven with product such as Orphan Black – while Much will have to become a more interactive digital platform (even though its conditions of license say it has to play 12 hours of music videos every day).
The irrepressible David Purdy, SVP content at Rogers, is a bit grittier and hunting for channels that have binge viewing potential and wholly immersive experiences. Purdy is fixed on the 15-25 age demographic "litmus test" and enamoured of developments with Fox's original series approach.
Hot serialized drama hitting the sweet spot of 18-34 would be a coup too; as would be "dumping weak channels completely,” he said. Purdy is also honed in on the economic leverage of mega-hits like Game of Thrones and Walking Dead on AMC, adding "things are getting basically tribal."
Indeed, AMC had Purdy chewing Advil last year with the primal squeeze they put on him by scrolling the equivalent of "telephone that idiot Purdy" across their screen during negotiations.
He also gave a fun analogy to describe the impact of DVRs. "In the past, if you missed earlier episodes of a series, it was a lot like calculus in grade 8 or 9 – if you missed a class you needn't bother showing up to the next one – but now with PVRs and online you've got a library of options for catching up".
Shaw's steady Christine Shipton, SVP of original content, spoke the familiar language of tent-pole fare, citing History’s Vikings with its 1.2 million viewers on Canadian specialty along with Slice's good showing with Big Brother Canada.
What all of these Canadian leaders agreed on is that the future is likely to see more "10 and out series" with shorter episode runs – and far fewer repeats scheduled in prime time. This will be true across the board with even kids' fare seeing, newer, shorter and fresh approaches, more regularly.
And as Hamilton pointed out, this was inevitable "with the cornucopia of choices kids have today with games and social media.”
It went without saying, but we said it anyway, that the last two years have seen an irreversible change in audience habits due to technology – and a related renaissance of new drama opportunities with Netflix and other OTT players stepping up.
PVRs are in greater and greater use, especially in the factual and lifestyle space.
While at $7 million per episode, Game of Thrones has proven that young viewers don't care about channel brand loyalty – only the shows themselves count – and sports will probably continue to be the best water-cooler content.
"Nobody watches music videos on TV any more, but they're cemented into our Much license." – Catherine Macleod – Bell Media
That means Rogers is fast on the quest to reshape things like Blue Jays games to appeal to a younger (more attention deficit) audience.
But in business terms, Canadian players need to increasingly own the long-tail of our drama and other content. Currently we rent much of that fare, but owning in-season catch-up and previous season look-back rights will be critical… "Or we're screwed," as Purdy shared.
In the overall screen milieu, the industry is beginning to see far more presence at places like the L.A. Screenings from behemoths like Amazon, Google and Apple; some of which are scooping series.
And for traditional broadcasters, the message is "forget repeats", advertisers hate them as do viewers who have accelerating choice. Again, a reason that future development may see 6-8 episode runs become the new normal.
But what about the risk?
Well, there's always the option of circling-up in a huge national fetal position. Alternatively, not being derivative but bold is just the risk we have to take.
In three to five years, today's distinctions between linear and digital will not exist, there will be little if any platform differentiation, data will be highly personalized and customized and accompanying this shift will be pressure on regulators to permit more business flexibility within licensees' nature of service obligations.
A case in point being that "nobody watches music videos on TV any more, but they're cemented into our Much license," says Macleod.
Canadian broadcasters will be stressing that "ask" and the ability to move with the technology & with their consumer audiences. All this said, it may also be that the best way to deal with this future stuff is to invent it ourselves.
In 2010 in Vancouver there were no iPads and far fewer smartphones; but this year in Sochi, Canadians went mobile-tech crazy and we had possibly our best Olympic experience ever… and our resourceful and innovative CBC employees made that possible.
Food for thought.
Bill Roberts is in Banff covering the Banff World Media Festival for Cartt.ca.
