The current of explosion of subscription video on demand (SVOD) is reminiscent of the Wild West days of cable, when nobody knew what multi-channel content delivered by satellite would bring.

“We’re at a similar inflection point. The rules are changing and we still don’t quite know what they are yet,” brand strategist Lee Hunt said during the keynote session, “New Best Practices 2017” at PromaxBDA: The Conference.

“In 20 years, we’ve kind of come full circle in this industry.”

One of the rules that’s being rewritten is no longer about individual networks but more about navigation..

When millennials were asked to connect program brands to their respective networks, only one-third of respondents could correctly identify ABC, CBS and NBC shows. Fox fared better at 40 percent; Amazon came in at 20 percent. Hulu, owned by ABC, NBC, FOX and Time Warner came in at 15 percent.

Netflix, however, had a correlation of 65 percent.

“Netflix’s higher score can be attributed to their commitment to improving the user experience and their ability to consistently communicate brand value across key digital consumer touch points — from social media to SEO to digital advertising,” Hunt said.

Essentially, Netflix came out ahead because it puts user experience at the center of its marketing strategy.

Hunt also looked at which networks will lead on the linear side, saying the top 50 networks are basically owned by just eight media companies.

“Portfolio strategies are becoming as important, if not more important, than channel strategies,” he said.

Examples include an NBC spot that ran in Syfy’s zombie apocalypse show, Z Nation; NBC’s This is Us airing on USA; and USA’s Colony running on Syfy.

Meanwhile, he said Fox is doing the best job supporting its portfolio on-air, with about 21 percent of promo time going to cross channels, compared to the overall average of 13 percent for other networks.

“Unlike most portfolios that host an assortment of varied, disconnected channels, FX Networks is built holistically,” said Hunt. “First, the logos all come from the same design scheme. It looks like a family of networks. The positioning and tagline for the portfolio and all four networks is the same, Fearless. As in Fearless Storytelling. The one thing that connects them all.”

The company also treats its TV Everywhere service, Fox Now, as a channel of equal importance to its linear channels, rather than as an afterthought, and recently announced that the digital platform will contain content from Fox, FX Networks and Nat Geo TV, creating portfolios within portfolios.

“I think that’s the future, portfolio brands,” Hunt said. “But it seems to require one big general entertainment channel brand as an umbrella.”

Or does it?

Discovery Communications launched an aggregated app with nine Discovery networks available in one place with the idea it would expose content to audiences who might not otherwise be aware of it, but found there wasn’t a lot of cross-pollination among networks.

Viewers of hot-rod show Street Outlaws weren’t watching TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress, so Discovery went back to individual network apps.

And CBS All Access has found success in the digital world as a master brand without a portfolio. The streaming option takes all the attributes of a broadcast network and blends them with the opportunities of internet-delivered content for many benefits such as current-season episodes that are available the next day, an ad-free classic show library and exclusive content.

“Unlike Netflix, Hulu or Amazon, CBS controls every facet of the entertainment experience,” Hunt said. “Overall, CBS All Access has the ability to continually influence, measure and monetize viewer behavior. Something the rest of us struggle to do.”

Hunt also talked about the third dimension of television, using an example of his wife watching The Good Wife on the couple’s Amazon Fire, and being able to pause the program and click on the ‘XRay’ button for more information to learn about the cast in a scene, or even a song that was playing.

Now this was Amazon, so she should have been able to buy the music, he said. “But we’re not there yet. Or are we?”

This is just the tip of the iceberg, and, especially with a service like Amazon, eventually consumers will be able to point out anything on the screen and buy it.

“The time for transactional television,” he said, “is just about here.”

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