August 2009

We at the beginning of a radical change in the way television is perceived and used by both consumers and marketers. The end result will be the eventual merger of television and the internet.  It has already started with technological advances driving new consumer behavior.  A new study from the Pew Internet Project sheds light on some developments:

62% of adult Internet users have watched video on an online video sharing site.  This number jumps to 89% among 18-29 year old consumers.  Watching online video activity out ranks the use of social networking sites, podcasts and Twitter. 

35% of adult Internet users have watched TV shows and movies online on sites such as hulu.com.  For the 18-29 set the number jumps to 61%.  Among those adults who watch TV and movies online, 23% have connected their TV to their computer.

The lines between TV and online video are blurring, especially in the eyes of the younger generation.  Broadband is now in nearly two-thirds of all homes and 90% of all homes will have a flat panel TV by 2012.  With the infrastructure in place, the merging of platforms will happen quickly.  This opens the door for the proliferation of interactivity and user generated video content to flood the web.  The amount of content choices available to consumers will grow exponentially.

There is another less known but equally important technological development that will give consumers more choice, and more challenges for marketers.  The growth of remote video storage will have far reaching effects by increasing the ability to serve video on demand.  Companies like Netflix and On Demand are quickly adding content to their libraries to offer streaming on demand video to consumers.  Much like iTunes did in the music business it will take a chunk out of the DVD business.  I never really understood the desire to “own” a movie or TV series on a DVD, but the need may evaporate when you can get it on demand for a few dollars with a mouse click.

The other application enabled by remote video storage is network DVR service currently being offered by Cablevision.  This would enable any viewer to use the basic time shifting and commercial skipping power of the DVR without having the box in home.  The DVR services would be remote and handled in a central storage facility.  Currently DVR penetration is 28% in the US and it could grow dramatically with the roll out of network DVR service.

These trends are all crushing blows to the traditional revenue streams of the content providers.  DVD sales are very important to the movie studios and television lives on the traditional commercial.  Technology will enable to consumers to have limitless choices and the ability to skip by commercials.  On the flip side, video content providers now have the opportunity to put their material online and give marketers an actual measurable marketing venue.  The big question- will they fight the reality of the future like the music and newspaper business or will they embrace it? 

Booz and Company just released a smart new white paper entitled “The Promise of Private label Media” which is worth reading if you are charged with your companies sales and marketing strategy. 

Private label media or private media is one of the most important, if not most important marketing trend of the new media landscape.  Companies can create their own private media channel to communicate directly with customers and prospects with original content.  Essentially, the brand becomes the media. 

People are more comfortable than ever getting their content from multiple sources–a perfect environment for any business thinking about stepping in and becoming such a trusted source of information.  This is the general logic: when your company educates its current and prospective clients on its field of expertise instead of pitching them products or services, your company effectively becomes a reliable source of information and entertainment. In other words, your company becomes the media, and is now in a position to provide thought leadership and build customer affinity.  You’ve established your company as a trusted resource, and as a result, your customer feels more confident buying from you.  And you have increased your ability to measure results in terms of generating leads and creating incremental sales.

While traditional advertising will always serve a purpose in terms of general awareness, these private media channels encourage brand loyalty and affinity, and allow companies to speak directly to their customers and prospects in a controlled environment. Add a bit of good research to the equation and now brands are able to create content that resonates specifically with the needs of various audiences and existing customers, as well as content that supports permission-based marketing tactics that will woo their prospects.

Bottom line: when a company or brand becomes the media, it effectively creates a direct dialog with customers that lead to a pre-determined behavior and/or increased sales.  Creating your own media channel also increases accountability and measurability, which is critical in the current economic environment.

King Fish Media, in partnership with HubSpot, Junta42 and the Upshot Institute, is conducting a short survey among marketing executives—both on the brand and agency sides—to gauge the ever-changing opinions and activity regarding new media, advertising, marketing and measurement.

While I’m sure you receive a fair share of invitations to participate in various studies, I hope you will give special consideration to this one. In return for your time, we will offer participants exclusive access to the survey for one week prior to making it available to the general public and media. The results will be compiled into an e-book format and will be supplemented by an in-depth analysis. Our hope is that this research will help marketers better craft their new business pitches and offer brand marketers a better sense of the continually evolving trends they should be paying attention to and preparing for.

Please take just a few minutes to fill out this online survey to help us understand the needs and plans of senior marketers.  Click here to take the survey

You will be asked for your email address at the end of the survey, but your answers will be kept completely anonymous. This is purely so we can send you the research in advance of its official release.  Otherwise, the results will be available for free download at kingfishmedia.com no later than Sept. 15th. 

Thank you very much for your participation.  Got to the Survey Here