From TV Broadcasters to Multi-Channel-Casters ?

Alain Thys, Storyteller

March, 20/06 - AlwaysOn

There’s a perfect storm brewing in television land. Changing media consumption patterns mean people watch less TV. Advertisers shift money away from the screen to other media. And to make things really interesting, both Googlewood and the cable companies are gearing up to disintermediate the broadcasters. Time to pack up ? I don't think so.

Think Customer Centric rather than Media Centric Content. The majority of TV shows today still get produced, well ... as TV shows. Only when they hit the screen and become successful the web, mobile and other machinery starts working. This often leads to some innovative work like CSI’s interactive game yet even these are still a side show to the main event taking place on TV.

To compete tomorrow, TV stations need to become the consumers 360° media reference for their favourite content (be it online, in print, IRL or on their mobile phone). In this they can – still - use their bargaining power with major content suppliers to make multi-channel exclusive deals, which cut short online competitors before they can truly emerge (if Jobs can convince Hollywood to give him Desperate Housewives, TV stations should be able to do so to).

Think outside of the branded entertainment boxWhile I love the idea that in 24 the good guys use Apple, I wonder how that generates cash for the stations that air the show. Broadcasters need to reclaim the branded entertainment arena by remembering the roots of commercial television. Think back to the days of the soap when shows were produced together with advertisers, yet done in a way that people really want to watch.

Thanks to the infinite channel environment of today, it is even conceivable to leverage existing know-how in programming and production into new business opportunities by helping brands to become media in their own right. Audi in the UK already has its own TV station, courtesy of Sky Digital, so why shouldn’t Hasbro have it’s own Children channel or Amazon it's own Book TV.