“If the content is so good, why isn’t it on TV?” said David Bank, managing director of equity research for RBC Capital Markets, while moderating Wednesday’s NYC Television Week panel on “The New Power Dynamic.”

The panelists, Rob Barnett, founder of Omnivision Entertainment and My Damn Channel; Colin Decker, group operating officer of Discover Digital Networks; and Kathleen Grace, chief creative officer of New Form Digital, all seemed to agree that the answer is simple: as leaders of digital networks, they want to keep their content exactly where it is.

“We have a ton of content that could go on TV and we get asked to put it on the air all the time,” said Decker told the audience. “We don’t want it to go on TV, we want to keep the audience digital. TV audiences are aging and we speak to a lot of Millennials on our network. The crossover is not as seamless as just putting it on a television schedule.”

Grace, who told the group that she hasn’t owned a television set in ten years, agreed. “We see audiences growing online, not shrinking.”

The appeal of the Internet audience doesn’t end with sheer volume. “It’s an audience that doesn’t passively consume. They comment, they like, they share, they make GIFs and write fan fiction,” Grace said. “Speaking to an audience that loves you that much is creatively satisfying.”

This is the new power dynamic; a group of alternative platforms, multichannel and digital networks providing new and vastly diverse content to captive and highly coveted audience of 18-34 year old consumers.

It was clear that Bank is skeptical of the power of online video and it posing a real threat to traditional TV’s advertising revenue. However, the panelists didn’t seem phased by his line of questioning about how online content providers can secure ad dollars when his fourteen year-old daughter and her classmates have all downloaded ad-blockers.

All three panelists agreed that branded entertainment is the answer, and that advertisers are already aware of this.

“Day to day, brands are getting smarter about branded content and they want to be a part of the story in a way that doesn’t suck,” Barnett retorted. He described a social media campaign with Garnier that is creating branded content for the beauty company.

When Banks brought up the idea that advertisers still wanted to see Nielsen ratings before committing to advertising, the panelists seemed to laugh in the face of this old media idea. “Well, then they are looking for a wildly inaccurate ratings system,” Decker joked.

He said that media buying will become increasingly fluid, and that advertisers have to come up with new measurements for success on the Internet, something Barnett said many of those he’s worked with are already doing.

What’s the idea? Who’s the talent? It is interactive? These are the questions Barnett said he’s getting from advertisers with whom he’s worked, politely implying that they know the “difference between reaching billions and targeted millions.”

Caption: Rob Barnett, founder and CEO of Omnivision Entertainment & My Damn Channel and Colin Decker, group operating officer, Discover Digital Networks. Photo credit: Paige Albiniak

Tags:


  Save as PDF