In just one generation, according to the article titled "The Future of TV," the U.S. television distribution system of three broadcast networks - ABC, NBC, and CBS - has mushroomed into "thousands of outlets including broadcast's own growing array of digital extensions, cable, satelite, telco, mobile and Web sites." More viewer splintering will occur and more players, specifically internet giants like Google and Microsoft, will move in this sphere and compete for viewers alongside traditional TV broadcasters. The viewer splintering will also impact the use by and business practices of the advertisers who use these media.
I chose this article because my professional goal is to be in the broadcast industry and I am exploring how my education, experience, and personality will fit into the broadcasting business which "expands, contracts, and mutates into different forms" (Eastman 218). This article provides important insight about issues facing the traditional TV broadcaster, cable stations, internet powerhouses" foray into TV, and how these issues impact the advertising business in light of the changing ecosystem.
I learned that the TV broadcast industry is responding to competitive forces with a cooperative start-up of six cable operators - Comcast, Time Warner, Bright House, Cablevision, Charter and Cox - in "Canoe Ventures." The goal of this joint venture is to create a "national platform to display advertising that is both addressable and interactive," keeping up with the current trends in viewer CONTROL over content. I was surprised that Google and Microsoft, two Internet heavy-weights, see their future in TV too, with Microsoft planning that a good portion of 25% of its projected revenue will eventuallybe derived from advertising on broadcst TV.
This unsettled and disrupted world in what was once a "relatively settled ecosystem is now undergoing massive disruptive change," according to one founder of Web ad networks. Consequently, these developments also pose special concerns for marketers like him who want to know their role in "the big picture of the small screen" especially in this ever-changing landscape. Marketers are motivated by profits, just like every business. TV viewership has eroded due to technology that lets viewers delete, skip-over, or otherwise ignore advertisements. So, they are concerned about how to measure performance, target and segement audiences.
Because the business model of TV is "dead" or "on life support" due to digital distribution, the article's authors predict more varied formats other than the "commercial-break model." These include overlay ads around content, interactive overlay ads, a type of search-based content with advertising offers, and longer-form brand programing. TV broadcast stations, both traditional and newcomers, are also doing experiments like the "choose-your sponsor model." And, more will come.
If people, via the newer digital technologies can delete or skip-over advertisements with more technologies to come which will allow viewer control over content, a huge issue will be: how will broadcasters sell "commercial time at America's more than one thousand commercial television stations"(204), especially during the most highly viewed TV shows and stay in business and make a profit? Another issue that looms is if the trend in TV continues to favor "running more commercials . . to meet short-term financial targets" (214) but viewers are not watching the traditional type of TV advertisements because they are, for example, using DVR's, what form will advertising take to survive as a revenue and profit maker?
One development that this article did not predict was the Apple iPad. Not only does it facilite information and entertainment, but it is a pretty comprehensive interactive telecommunications system. Another development is the eBook and its role in education. One school district in Pennsylvania now has "no books" - everything is on the Apple iPad. I believe that this piece of technology is the most important innovation that proves the article premise about an unsettled ecosystem true, although they did not predict the Apple iPad.
TV broadcasting is an unusual blend of "technology, creativity, and commerce." The best example of this is found in the Apple iPad. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTIJdzah9t0
So, TV broadcasting will not die because the traditional TVbroadcast commercial-break model is dead or dying; rather, the creativity of people and the spirit of entrepreneurship in the fields of technology and telecommunications even if it means cooperating with prior "enemies" - the competition, and the pursuit of profit and recognition will drive TV broadcasting into continual expansions, contractions and mutations into different forms.
http://athena.rider.edu:4066/us/lnacademic/frame.do?reloadEntirePage=true&rand=1272802
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