New York -- Consumers are slowly but surely changing the way
they view video on demand, said Bill Livek, vice chairman and CEO of Rentrak.
While on-demand programming was once synonymous with pay per view -- a button
on the remote often avoided for that reason -- he said viewers now know they
can get a rich array of programming mostly free of charge.
"I'm seeing a sea change in terms of how the consumer
is starting to watch television," he said.
Fully monetizing the platform by getting agencies fully on board with on demand
advertising, he added, is another story.
Livek and colleague Cathy Hetzel, Rentrak corporate
president and president of its AMI Division, starred in the Measuring on Demand
Content in a Redefining Market panel in Manhattan. Jeff Baumgartner, technology
editor at Multichannel News,
moderated.
Hetzel said the networks are more on board with the notion
of on demand boosting their top shows' profiles, as opposed to siphoning off
linear viewing. "It's one of the huge differences I see in the
redefinition of the market," she said.
Livek noted that movies make up just 7% of on demand
transactions but the bulk of the revenue, and stressed the importance of
census based measurement on the platform. Hetzel is pushing for a more
transparent approach to on demand to make it more attractive to marketers.
"We need everyone in the room to be in
board for this to be a successful ad medium," she said. "We need a
transparent view for agencies to buy this more easily."
