[opendtv] Hulu, TV.com Getting Higher Ad Rates Than Their Network Counterparts
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:57:33 -0400
"'The reason people are paying such a high premium for these ads on the
Internet is they do have a captive audience,' David Poltrack, CBS' chief
research officer, told Bloomberg. 'You know you have eyes on the
screen.'"
Perhaps so, but that is MOSTLY because online you only watch one
30-second ad per ad break, and you're busy waiting for that "continue"
button to appear. If OTA also delivered only one 30-second ad per ad
break, you could bet a lot of money that you'd have a more captive
audience there as well. What's the difference? There's hardly enough
time to do any channel surfing in 30 seconds.
Whether or not the online show gives advertizers all sorts of
information about the viewer of the ad, I frankly don't know. I would be
surprised if information transmitted about viewers, without their
explicit consent, is not blocked now, and even more so in the future.
The argument that makes most sense to me is that the online ads are
worth more, simply because they are not each diffused by a zillion other
ads in that same ad break. People would very quickly lose interest in
online viewing if they had to submit themselves to 4 minutes of ads at
each ad break, and these were not even fast-forwardable. So I doubt that
ad revenues per TV episode are all that different between online and
broadcast TV.
Bert
-----------------------------------------
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-hulu-tv.com-getting-higher-ad-rates-t
han-their-network-counterparts/
Hulu, TV.com Getting Higher Ad Rates Than Their Network Counterparts
Tameka Kee
Jun 25, 2009 2:33 PM ET
Share Networks like A&E, Scripps, and possibly even CBS are ready to
test whether the much-hyped TV Everywhere concept will serve as a
lucrative business model for online video, but there is news that
premium video sites like Hulu and TV.com are finally starting to deliver
ad rates that are greater than what the networks would get for their
shows on air. Running an ad during The Simpsons on Hulu, for example,
costs about $60/CPM, Bloomberg reports; running the same ad during
prime-time on TV costs about $20-$40/CPM-or over 60 percent less in some
cases.
For some sites, garnering these higher CPMs is nothing new-and to be
clear, the quality of the content (and the site) determines whether they
get the higher rates. But the fact that prime-time staples like The
Simpsons and CSI are getting better CPMs online than on air is worth
looking into. Content providers (and advertisers themselves) have long
justified sky-high rates for prime-time TV ads, on the basis that such
ads deliver unparalleled reach and branding power. TV ads still beat
online video ads in terms of reach-just over 7.5 million unique viewers
live streamed CBS' NCAA championship game, for example, compared to the
17.6 million that tuned in on-air-but what about user engagement?
That's where the shift in perception-at least from an advertiser
standpoint-seems to be taking place. "The reason people are paying such
a high premium for these ads on the Internet is they do have a captive
audience," David Poltrack, CBS' chief research officer, told Bloomberg.
"You know you have eyes on the screen."
Sites like TV.com and Hulu also tend to show fewer commercials per
episode, which reduces ad clutter, but caps the amount of revenue
they're able to generate. So, plagued with less inventory (and smaller
audiences), content providers are still struggling with the overall
shift in viewership from TV to the web-since even with the higher CPMs,
the revenue they generate from online content isn't enough to replace
what they've traditionally brought in from TV.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:
- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at
FreeLists.org
- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word
unsubscribe in the subject line.
Other related posts:
