US broadcast networks: Pocket change
- Article 1 of 3
- Total Content + Media, March 2007
US broadcasters plan to use the Internet to supplement other revenue streams, but so far the contribution is minimal
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The networks remain cagey about how much money they’re making from their online presence. According to Forrester Research analyst, James McQuivey, the reason is simple. “The number of streams is still small,” he says. “It’s only a fraction of the audience.”
Perhaps one reason broadcasters are not putting more investment into VOD is because advertisers are not embracing interactive opportunities. “Among the 10 advertisers we had for the first iteration of our online PVR, only one of them had an interactive advert,” said Shaw at ABC. “As an industry, we haven’t had an interactive model that we can base this on.”
The Holy Grail for the networks is to have their own versions of iTunes, offering video-on-demand access to every single programme ever aired. “I would love to be an aggregator,” said Shaw. “We wouldn’t have to produce more content, but it would give us a new place to sell ads.”
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