In terms of usability, awareness and the depth and breadth of content, TV everywhere has come a long way. But the journey to authenticated, multiscreen nirvana continues. NBCUniversal will rev up its marketing engine this month when it launches an ambitious TV Everywhere awareness campaign under the “Watch TV Without a TV” banner. Last week, Multichannel News technology editor Jeff Baumgartner spoke with Alison Moore, NBCU’s general manager and executive vice president, TV everywhere, to learn more about the campaign, set to run Dec. 26-Jan. 1, 2015.
Update: The on-air cross-channel component of the campaign will run through Jan. 1, 2015. Elements of the digital portion of the campaign will extend further into January, NBCU said.
MCN: Why is now the right time for this campaign?
Alison Moore: December is a loud, noisy month for a campaign, but … December is also a great time because everyone’s receiving their new phones and their game consoles. You’ll feel a real heat and energy around this campaign toward the end of this month across all of our brands. December really works for us.
MCN: Why is the campaign eschewing the use of the term “TV everywhere?”
AM: TV everywhere is kind of a funny moniker. Saying we have TV everywhere to a consumer doesn’t completely make sense. What they really want to know is, “Can I watch my shows where I want to watch them?”
“Watch TV Without the TV” [the campaign’s tagline] is a punchy, very bold, yet simple, concise and consumer- focused initiative and a way to inject some personality into this, and tap into what they [consumers] really want to do, and that is watch their shows online whenever they want to and whenever it happens to be convenient.
I think the CTAM work [with the TVE campaign] is important and I think it galvanizes the industry — programmers and MVPDs — across the board. Frankly, it gives a level of commonality on the way it’s communicated. I think that’s a good thing, but as it relates to a content company and the brands and the vibrant shows we have and the level of consumer engagement we have … we need to go a layer deeper and connect with the consumer on something that’s more relevant and personal.
MCN: What are the campaign’s goals?
AM: It’s about driving multiplatform KPIs [key performance indicators] — increased traffic to the sites, increased downloads, video views and TV everywhere authentications. It’s the entire funnel to drive awareness, engagement, usage … rinse and repeat.
MCN: What are the biggest friction points TVE still needs to overcome?
AM: I think some of it is being clear and concise about what it is. When digital companies launch, they have a single-minded focus on how to communicate to the consumer about what the product is and to get them there to engage.
With the authentication process … I think we need to continue to work on how we make that experience more seamless and natural to a consumer, and not mystify it with big words and terms.
It’s also about continuing the best-in-class consumer experience. … We all need to keep in mind that sometimes you only get one chance to prove it to the consumer.
