|
If direct response marketers attending the Response Expo 2013 are worried about their future, they’re not showing it. More than 3,000 direct response decision makers attending the San Diego conference are upbeat about the future. Some even predict that their products will find tens of thousands of customers on cable television and will be hugely successful, despite predictions that cable TV is dying and will be dead within five years. Where are these predictions coming from? Many industry analysts agree the television is about to undergo a fundamental technological change because of the internet, morphing into a more customized, personalized experience. A precursor of this metamorphosis is the Smart TV, a television or set-top box that allows viewers to access their home network and the internet, providing consumers with a myriad of entertainment options that extend beyond plain old cable. For now, Smart TV mostly takes advantage of a pre-set, on-demand cache of TV shows and movies. But the variety of entertainment currently available on the typical Smart TV may be the tip of the iceberg. “Cable is on a fast track to oblivion”, says Michael Wolff, founder of Newser and author of The Man Who Owns the News. “Lots of industries — cars, banks, music, newspapers — happily made money, until the day they went off a cliff, and now here’s cable programming, raking it in, but facing disruption and obsolescence as great as any”. Currently, cable operators pay media companies more and more to carry their cable channels. The cable operators then pass these costs on to customers in larger and larger bundled cable bills. And, then, cable channels get to sell advertising. However, the vast majority of television content, current and past, is increasingly available through the internet and other outlets that bypass cable. The Smart TV is a precursor of these sweeping changes as is Google’s plan to directly challenge cable. The search giant is rolling out a new infrastructure called Google Fiber, which will increase speeds by 100 times current standards. The first test is now being built in Kansas City. In addition, various reports indicate that both Apple and Microsoft are working on building their own, Internet-based TV subscription services. Steve Jobs’ iconic brainchild is even working on an Apple television that would feature its own Smart platform, and subscription service. But direct response marketing professionals attending this week’s Response Expo in San Diego balk at any suggestion that these trends are a death knell for cable television. “Direct response advertising continues to do well despite the fact that technology is creating new viewing opportunities every year,” says Scott Kowalchek, President of Direct Avenue, a short form media buying agency and a sponsor of Response Expo San Diego.. Kowalchek says the quality of well-produced and creativity television content will keep consumers watching cable networks for years. “Yes, there are more entertainment options because of the internet, but the most popular content will be content produced by cable TV and the networks,” said Kowalchek. In addition, cable TV advocates point out that there is no effective way to measure every single viewer on the internet, a reality that makes it more difficult to sell advertising, or to assess the viability of original internet programming. Because of the lasting attributes, eMarketer predicts that in 2016, TV will still own the biggest piece of the marketing pie at 36% of ad revenues. Online advertising will account for 31% and mobile will from 1% today to 5%. Despite the argument that cable and television networks will continue to generate the most entertaining programming and the most measurable audiences for advertisers, Kowalchek agrees that cable programmers need to change to accommodate the ever-expanding needs of viewers. “People watch TV with many different devices around them (Smart phones, iPads, etc.) and viewers must be engaged across all these platforms”, said Kowalchek. Many direct marketing executives agree – cable TV programmers and advertisers must embrace change if they want to remain in creative and financial control of an industry that will be redefined in the years ahead. http://www.DRTV-Media.com DirectAvenue 2701 Loker Avenue West, Suite 140, Carlsbad, CA 92010 (800) 675-4797 scott@directavenue.com http://www.youtube.com/edit?ns=1&video_id=2Fh5bqoYY9s http://www.DRTV-Media.com
Related Articles -
Direct Response Marketing, Response Expo 2013,
|
