CTAM: Making ‘TV Everywhere' Ubiquitous

Operators and program distributors have to work together to make service a more attractive and known viewing option for cable viewers

By R. Thomas Umstead, Multichannel News -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/15/2012 10:56:07 AM

Operators and program distributors have to work together to make TV Everywhere a more attractive and known viewing option for cable viewers, according to executives on a CTAM Summit panel.

Speaking at the "Marketing the Anytime, Anywhere Content Experience" panel late Sunday afternoon, NBCUniversal Digital Distribution executive vice president of digital distribution Ronald Lamprecht said the TV Everywhere platform would benefit if there were a uniform marketing message that could run across various platforms, but right now, technological challenges hamper those efforts.

Rogers Communications senior vice president of content David Purdy added that consumers should be able to choose the same library of content across all platforms. "Ubiquity of the offer across all platforms is critical," he said. "[The consumer] does not understand why some deals are different than others."

Purdy added the industry should not seek a quick return on investment, but rather allow the business to develop and mature before determining making decisions on how much content will be offered vis a vis other revenue-generating platforms such as Netflix.

But Mark Garner, the panel's moderator and A+E Networks senior vice president of distribution and business development, analytics and marketing, argued that it's reasonable for networks to expect a financial return, given their investment in programming.

"We're now being asked to remodel how we monetize that model, so it's a very reasonable conversation to figure out how we bring back the dollar that we spend by putting this content on additional [platforms]," he said.

With regards to advertising on the TV Everywhere platform, FreeWheel senior vice president of revenue and strategy Frans Vermeulen said many advertisers aren't even aware of TV Everywhere, but ad agencies are beginning to see it as a potential outlet.