The End of the Beginning? Ready to call the bottom on pay TV
Seven years back I suggested that streaming would disrupt and reshape the business model of TV along genre-specific lines. Sports, News, and Entertainment would have to evolve differently as time marched on. I introduced the idea at a cross-genre panel curated for NAB and tried to promote the awkward buzzword “genre-fication,” which I also wrote about in 2022.
This past quarter saw DIRECTV make not one but two massive changes to their bundles which now they describe as genre-based. Given their dominance in pay TV’s heyday, those headlines for me were essentially notices of the death of the old TV bundle. And also last quarter? Peacock secured the rights to stream some powerful NBC Sports RSNs—including my favorite, NBCS Bay Area which will be available without a legacy linear bundle. At the same time, Fubo hit record subscribers and is set with one of the top premium streaming apps, Hulu + Live TV.
(See the Top Tells section of the report for more Q1 headlines.)
And while this was happening, I was glued to March Madness on YouTube TV’s multi-view, which explains why the subject was my title inspiration for this quarter’s #FutureOfTV survey.
Here were my key findings, followed by other highlights from the report.
Multi-view: An Under-appreciated Opportunity
While multi-view isn't new, the way YouTube TV has executed it is. And it’s cool! It’s a great way to watch sports and I’ve used it for news and weather too, at least during periods of intense activity.
25% stated they were familiar and used this feature. Only 13% were aware of it and didn’t use it. In a follow-up, 49% of respondents agreed that multi-view adds value to their TV viewing experience, with 18% strongly agreeing. Note that Peacock has multi-view but hasn’t yet started streaming the above-mentioned NBC RSNs. Fubo and Directv also have multi-view but I don’t think Hulu + Live TV or Sling do.
Notable Free and Paid CTV App Rankings
As usual, I include a few charts reflecting the most popular free and paid TV services apps. (This is a low sample poll, inquire about the unlock provided for larger samples.)
In the free section CNN, CBS News and The Weather Channel stood out as notable. LocalNow also hit an impressive 9%, much better than NewsON, Scripps News, Haystack and especially Zeam, who famously purchased an ad during the Super Bowl. Kudos to LocalNow.
And on the paid side, Hulu, Disney+ and Paramount+ all showed up to play ball in these latest rankings. I’ve never mixed Virtual MVPDs with Paid Streaming services in this type of survey and while Netflix didn’t surprise me, I was shocked by their relative lead. Again, take these polls with a grain of salt, but they are indeed census adjusted for age and gender and in the case of these paid apps, I expected the Netflix lead to be much greater than it is.
What Value Privacy?
Perhaps the most surprising finding was about viewer attitudes toward privacy. An interview with a Telly executive that described the very high-end TV they offer for free got me thinking about just exactly how much we value our privacy. The conventional wisdom is that we don't, but my data—and their business models—suggest otherwise.
Only 27% of respondents indicated they would share their data for free. A substantial 55% selected payment thresholds ranging from $25 to $100 per month as necessary compensation for giving up personal data for tailored TV advertisements. If that "data" is the gold of the CTV revolution, how much will it cost to mine? This finding raises serious questions about the realizable market promise of targeted TV advertising.
Tips for FAST Monetization Strategists & Ad Sales Teams
Finally, I probed a couple of interesting questions about selling ads. Namely, given that people aren’t likely to give up their privacy for targeted ads, what ad categories are they most likely to be receptive to? And how should publishers think about engagement and attribution methods? I asked directly and fielded a couple of surprise responses.
First, grocery retail topped the list of ad categories which was a surprise to me. 44% of respondents selected it, followed by travel and tourism (32%), beauty and personal care (24%), pet products (23%), and wireless services (21%). The strength of grocery retail advertising was particularly surprising to me but may well match the excitement in retail media more generally. Other top categories like travel, beauty, and pet products were more expected.
One More Teaser: If CTV Engagement is Key, What Does It Mean?
When it comes to engagement methods, I got one final surprise. We asked respondents what their preferred method was to engage with a brand after seeing a commercial that inspired them to take some action. The old-fashioned website remains king. 50% of respondents chose "Visit a Website," far outpacing the next option. On second thought, this seems like a compelling insight for all publishers and advertisers that might be over-thinking the idea of CTV engagement and attribution in a programmatic context. Simplicity at its finest.
Enjoy the full report and much more for free right here. Or get it automatically when you register for my #FutureOfTV.Live Zoomcast on May 1st featuring Laura Martin, Colin Dixon, David Bloom and Adam Davies.
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