BROADCASTERS ANYWHERE IN the western world face similar challenges. Fragmentation. Multi-platform viewing. The decline of appointment TV. PVRs. You name it. There are multiple, growing hazards for traditional broadcasters to address.
On Monday, Corus Entertainment CEO John Cassaday took part in a session with international broadcasters at the Banff World Television Festival and shared his opinions on developing trends, potential opportunities and ways to hit back at threats.
After the session, he had a chat with Cartt.ca editor and publisher Greg O’Brien to expand on his thoughts during the session. What follows is an edited transcript.
Greg O’Brien: Did I hear you right during your session, that there has to be some way for the ad skipping function on PVRs to be disabled, or you wanted some sort of limiter?
John Cassaday: What I said was that over time, we can build into the PVR some kind of device that would limit the ability to zap through commercials – that the benefit would be able to see (programs) on demand, not to eliminate the means by which the shows are paid.”
GOB: Along the lines of how Time Warner and others are doing a networked DVR?
JC: I don’t know what, specifically they’re doing…
GOB: It basically deploys technology that limits the skipping of ads by users. I think Cox is going forward on something like this.
JC: Maybe you pay $500 for a DVR that allows zapping but has $300 in tax that goes to the producer. Or maybe there’s a $200 DVR that’s encrypted or has some technique or technology that would preclude you from zapping through commercials.”
I think until somebody comes up with an alternative model to pay for these programs – I was just in an earlier session where they talked about producing a two-hour pilot that’s not on the air for $13 million. How does this get paid for if the ad model goes asunder? There has to be an alternative.
GOB: But how do you convince the consumer that (not being able to skip the ads as they can now) is a good thing?
JC: The alternative is to not have access to those shows.
GOB: Can you turn to a subscription model and make that kind of money back on shows?
JC: I don’t think we can. What we need to do find ways of encouraging people to – look at it this way: If you go in and buy a car you pay cash, when you watch a television show you watch a commercial. That is the compensation that is required and I think we need to build that into the boxes.
GOB: What about making the commercials more compelling, like how (Kevin McLellan, president, Comcast Entertainment) was talking about (during the session)? Or, do you put some stock into what (Susanne Daniels, president Lifetime Entertainment) was saying about noticing the ads more than she used to because instead of leaving the room or channel surfing, she sees the ads, if only for a second or two, so maybe DVRs aren’t so bad?
JC: I think you have to make them more compelling, especially now that advertisers know that people watch this spot, but for that spot, they turn off. They have to go back to their agency and say “This advertising you told me was effective is clearly not, look at the numbers.”
GOB: Do you get that data as a broadcaster? When I’m zapping through the ads, there are some, like Apple’s PC-guy and Mac-guy ads, where I stop and watch them if they’re new ones because I find them entertaining. Do you get that kind of data?
JC: They know minute by minute by minute by minute what the retention of the audience is to both the show and the commercial breaks.
GOB: But would you be interested in getting that (commercial ratings) data to see what’s effective and what isn’t?
JC: At the end of the day, advertisers are demanding accountability. They want to know whether they’re getting what they paid for and I think whether we want to provide it or not, or the guy who’s saying “thank god it’s not available here,” the reality is that it is available in certain markets and will be available ubiquitously sooner rather than later.
GOB: How far away is Canada from offering commercial ratings as in the U.S.?
JC: I suspect they’re working on it right now. I’m not involved in that particular group, but I just can’t imagine they’re not interested in getting it today. Of course, there’s a price to pay for that degree of depth of research and our system is tripartite and all members of the system would have to agree to pony up to get the additional data and I think eventually we will.
I suspect today that they are factoring what they think the drop off is during commercials and taking that into account when they make their buys.
