Product category:
Public relations
News Release from: StrategyEye Digital Media | Subject: video-on-demand
Edited by the Marketingservicestalk Editorial
Team on 03 December 2007
How well will Kangaroo do?
Aleksandra Bosnjak, lead analysts at StrategyEye Digital Media, warns that there is a natural limit to how well the new BBC, ITV and Channel Four video-on-demand venture will succeed.
Aleksandra Bosnjak says it's no surprise to see the consolidation of the channels' video-on-demand offerings, but warns that internet service providers may be the weak link in the ambitions to provide more than 10,000 hours of programming to stream, rent or buy "For the broadcasters, the ultimate aim of 'Project Kangaroo' is to embrace broadband content delivery and push their content direct to TVs, and, in the long-term, across different platforms as well," said Bosnjak
"It's no surprise to see traditional media repositioning and taking a more 'consolidated' broadband video strategy in light of emerging web TV entrants such as Joost and Babelgum, which promise unlimited content streaming and are financially backed by CBS and Viacom".
While the quality of the Joost or Babelgum TV service is still not a threat, there is a need for a 'defensive' approach and there are two major reasons why Kangaroo is happening.
First, it allows broadcasters not only to deliver content via broadband, but also to link broadband traffic with 'new' digital audiences and deploy targeted digital advertising - if successful, this strategy will bring in new ad revenues.
Secondly, it enables experimentation and use of different business models.
However, it remains to be seen if a mixed business model (free, pay-per-view, rental) will succeed in terms of revenues, especially when it comes to 'tracking' them or sharing them with various stakeholders involved in this deal.
It will also be tricky to monitor the performance of free vs pay-per-view vs rental models.
This is certainly a step forward for broadcasters, and many other traditional media players will be looking for a 'get together' approach as a potential tool to outgrow the 'scheduled' broadcasting business.
Why? Because the broadband video space is so crowded with so many new and potentially disruptive entrants that only a consolidated broadband approach can provide something that is a well-known challenge to broadband service providers: scale.
A joint video-on-demand strategy will provide a greater opportunity to learn more about how digital audiences behave by monitoring broadband video content traffic.
But there are many challenges ahead associated with the UK broadband market.
For example, UK ISPs will continue to cap download speeds at peak times when consumers can actually sit down and watch or download on-demand TV programming.
With so many pressures on the UK internet pipes, there is a natural limit as to how effective broadcasters' VoD offers can be.
And that is before other broadband content services are taken into account such as games, music, personal content uploading, and the like.
As a partnership move, this is a good move, but it would be interesting to see more details on ISPs' reactions and revenue-sharing structures between all parties involved.
• StrategyEye Digital Media: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Marketingservicestalk email newsletter
• Marketingservicestalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
