iTV for Governor

iTV for Governor

October, 2003 Issue

The whole topic of iTV (interactive television) was an underlying theme of the Digital Hollywood conference. Although there may be some revenue producing opportunities, churn reduction seems to be the main motivation today, although this could change as advertisers are convinced of the value of iTV applications. Even if a telco is not planning on adding video or doesn’t have iTV in its sights, the marketing techniques served up by the many panelists heard over the course of several days would still be of great value.

Several of the panelists stated that iTV applications will be successful when they just become part of the television viewing experience. That is, the successful applications of iTV are those where the iTV element enhances the television experience.

Programs that lend themselves to such enhancement include:

• Sporting shows
• Reality dating
• Gameshows
• Gambling (particularly state lotteries)

It was suggested by several that England is at the forefront of successful iTV and that their experience is an indicator of what may occur in the United States over the next few years. It was also suggested that Rupert Murdoch will bring his successful iTV applications from England to the United States and apply them to Directv. It is felt that this competitive threat will spur the cable operators to increase their emphasis on integrating iTV into their offering.

In the United States, the Emmy-award winning, NASCAR IN CAR was cited as a successful application of iTV, as it allows the viewer to choose the view they see from among seven different cameras. Viewers also are able to listen to the racing team audio and receive real-time data regarding the race.

The panel, “TV Networks and Interactivity: Evolving Content and Business Models”, discussed different ways that the Game Show Network, Cartoon Network, Tech TV and TV Guide are using iTV to increase the value of their products. These entities look at iTV as a way to increase the value of their brand. It simply becomes another tool in their marketing tool box to build awareness, drive viewership and, ultimately, sell higher priced 30 second advertising spots.

They are doing some clever things without necessarily spending gobs of money. For instance, Paul Condolora, VP/General Manager of Cartoon Network New Media, described how they used product packaging and the web to enhance their programming. For instance, they use on-line gaming tied to their television programming to increase “stickiness”. They project that 1.25 billion (yes, billion) games will be played on their site this year. Their web site has been as high as 16th in the world in terms of total time spent on it by consumers.

One way they are reaching out to the “older” television viewers is through a category called “adult swim”. “Adult swim”consists of cartoons and programs targeted at the 18 to 34 year old crowd. They use very simple messaging delivered as white text on a black background. No fancy graphics, but it does standout. The intent of some of their messaging is to drive people to their web-based chat board.

The message board became quite popular, such that they repurposed some of the comments to create a top-ten list that they aired on television, effectively creating new programming. One of the more unintelligible messages from that top-ten list was actually turned into a message on a tee-shirt. Thousands of these tee-shirts were then sold on the Cartoon Network’s web site. The amazing thing is that all of the aforementioned activities occurred in about a two month timeframe.

TechTV provided a convincing reason why free on-demand makes sense, especially for a network trying to rise above the noise floor. John Gilles, Director of Interactive Television for TechTV, demonstrated their on-demand service that has launched at Cablevision and will be launching with several other cable operators. Their main motivation is to increase brand awareness, obtain higher ratings and drive sales for their “30 second commercials”.

Surprisingly, I have never been too excited about TechTV. The on-demand interface, however, caused me to change my mind. I noticed some programs that I never even knew were available and that interested me. These were short-form, how-to programs which are perfect for an on-demand environment. There are other nifty features associated with their on-demand service, including persistent audio, whereby the audio continues to play even while the viewer scrolls through the user interface. TechTV realizes the importance of making this feel like another channel in the line-up, so the on-demand offering has been assigned a channel number.

Finally, like TechTV, the Game Show Network [GSN] has found success with iTV. They are offering 84 hours of iTV programming a week and have been lauded as an industry success story. And on that note, it seems entirely appropriate to end this issue by mentioning one timely iTV program GSN recently produced, Who wants to be Governor of California.

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