Good News - More Couch Potatoes
I found the data in a study just released by the Convergence Consulting Group titled “The Battle for the North American Couch Potato” to be very interesting. They estimate that 9% of all full-episode TV viewing was done online in 2007, a 3% increase from 2006. Convergence forecasts these numbers will grow to 14% in 2008, 19% in 2009 and 23% by 2010. These are compelling numbers when you consider they only account for broadcast and cable TV shows viewed online and not the shorter clips that are currently the most popular videos to watch online. In fact, as Convergence points out, five times as many viewers watch clips of shows as those who watch full episodes.
With all the viewership moving online, this begs the question, are ad dollars soon to follow? We think so at YuMe, but as we saw in the banner space, this move does not take place overnight and the shift will probably not occur as fast as we and others would like.
Isn’t a PC couch potato just as valuable as a TV couch potato? We think so, but the issue is that advertisers have not fully realized how different and complex buying video is from buying traditional TV, banner and text advertising. For banner ad buys, buying inventory by site makes sense, but for video this model doesn’t fit, especially as content producers are syndicating content to multiple destination sites and platforms like mobile. And, for buyers who are accustom to the reach achieved by a TV network buy, they find achieving comparable reach online next to impossible. This is why we at YuMe strongly believe that online video should not be bought by site, but instead by audience, content genre/channel (sports, lifestyle, entertainment) or by show. This will help advertisers achieve their desired reach by making available to them premium and professionally produced “mid-tier” content that does not come from a traditional TV or cable network, but yet delivers the same audience. Our goal at the end of the day is to educate advertisers that our couch potato is just as valuable as the one in front of the living room tube.
- Molly Glover Gallatin