[opendtv] TV Week: Why GoogleTV was being blocked
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2013 23:53:05 +0000
Interesting opinion. His main point being, GoogleTV made it too easy to get
Internet TV content onto real TV screens. And the ad revenues from the Internet
are not currently what they are from other media. I disagree with his main
point, but it could have been a factor. I find a much more compelling reason to
be, as I suggested before, that the congloms don't want to be beholden to the
good graces of Google alone, to have users find their stuff on the Internet.
The response to the author's stated reason for blocking content is, simply
enough, design your product to be stealthy. Use browsers that aren't unique to
smart TVs. There's no excuse for all CE manufacturers to jump to one solution,
or to offer just one browser for that matter. If smart TVs look like PCs or
tablets/smartphones to the congloms, as they should, does anyone expect the
congloms to take all of their content off the Internet?
His point about how ad breaks have been increasing in length is true. It was
obvious that this would happen, so it did. His point that ad-skipping software
would then emerge, when ads got out of hand, is equally predictable, but then
again, same happens with PVRs.
http://www.tvweek.com/news/2010/10/the_real_reason_the_networks_a.php
-----------------------------------
In Depth
The Real Reason the Networks Are Blocking Goggle TV: It's All About Ad Rates
and Protecting the Integrity of the Multiple Billion Dollar Ad Revenues the
Networks Get For Ads on TV
In this very insightful piece by Michael Learmonth, the Digital Editor at our
sibling publication, Advertising Age, we learn the very real business reason
that the networks are blocking Goggle TV.
A must-read.
By Michael Learmonth
Advertising Age
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, Oct. 22, 2010, that the nation's
big broadcast networks are blocking Google TV, triggering quite a bit of
speculation over why this might be the case.
These are the same networks, after all, distributing shows on the web and
through distributors like Hulu, right? Google is not, as Searchengineland
pointed out, "knocking down firewalls, eating small children nor sacrificing
animals." They're not stripping out the ads, after all, just packaging shows --
which are already being made available online -- in Google's handy TV interface.
But that's the problem. The networks aren't blocking Google TV because it's
Google.
They are blocking Google TV because it is putting a web TV show, with web TV
show economics, on a TV, which would be incredibly disruptive to their
business. The reason the networks are blocking Google TV and Boxee (and Hulu is
still PC-only) is about ad revenue: they don't get enough of it from the web.
And letting you watch "Glee" on your TV, but via the web and Google TV, means
substituting high broadcast revenue for lower digital revenue.
Let me explain: today all the broadcast networks and a good many cable networks
distribute shows and clips on the web. Those shows and clips have a fraction of
the advertising that they would have on television. Until recently, a typical
hour-long show on Hulu would have two minutes of advertising, compared to 12 to
14 minutes on TV.
While all the networks would like to raise that to parity, there are not enough
advertisers willing to pay for the comparatively small web audiences and the
networks are wary of turning off viewers who can easily click away.
Right now the web allows the networks to make those ads unskippable, but once
they become a burden, and the free content-for-ads trade-off goes out of
balance, ad-skipping software will proliferate.
Ultimately, the networks would like to either normalize the number of ads on
the web and TV or increase the revenue per viewer-minute on the web through
new, targeted or interactive ads. So far, networks like ABC, CBS and The CW
have been increasing ad loads slowly, as the market and viewers will support
it. Nielsen and others have systems in the works where the networks could
measure or sell audiences across both TV and the web -- if the ad loads were
the same. Once there is parity on the revenue per viewer per minute, then you
will see web shows on Google TV or Boxee, and Hulu on your TV set.
Until then, though, the networks will do everything in their power to keep TV
shows distributed on the web on PCs and TV shows sold for TV on the big screen.
No conspiracy of old media to stop technology or thwart user choice here; it's
a rational business strategy, pure and simple.#
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