Operators and program distributors have to work together to
make TV Everywhere a more attractive and known viewing option for cable
viewers, according to executives on a CTAM Summit panel.
Speaking at the "Marketing the Anytime, Anywhere Content
Experience" panel late Sunday afternoon, NBCUniversal Digital Distribution
executive vice president of digital distribution Ronald Lamprecht said the TV Everywhere
platform would benefit if there were a uniform marketing message that could run
across various platforms, but right now, technological challenges hamper those
efforts.
Rogers Communications senior vice president of content David
Purdy added that consumers should be able to choose the same library of content
across all platforms. "Ubiquity of the offer across all platforms is critical,"
he said. "[The consumer] does not understand why some deals are different than
others."
Purdy added the industry should not seek a quick return on
investment, but rather allow the business to develop and mature before
determining making decisions on how much content will be offered vis a vis
other revenue-generating platforms such as Netflix.
But Mark Garner, the panel's moderator and A+E Networks
senior vice president of distribution and business development, analytics and
marketing, argued that it's reasonable for networks to expect a financial
return, given their investment in programming.
"We're now being asked to remodel how we monetize that
model, so it's a very reasonable conversation to figure out how we bring back
the dollar that we spend by putting this content on additional [platforms]," he
said.
With regards to advertising on the TV Everywhere platform,
FreeWheel senior vice president of revenue and strategy Frans Vermeulen said
many advertisers aren't even aware of TV Everywhere, but ad agencies are
beginning to see it as a potential outlet.
