I’m just back from several days in Las Vegas for the NAB Show, and now that I’ve rehydrated from the parching desert air, some overall impressions on the state of broadcast TV/Web video convergence are coming into focus.  Thinking through the tone and content of the National Association of Broadcaster’s annual event, I came away with the sense that entertainment content providers are clearly becoming more receptive to making their programming Web-accessible.

Kelly Day

Kelly Day, Executive VP and COO, Discovery Communications Digital Media and Commerce

In session after session, senior executives from the major broadcast and cable networks talked more about the opportunities that come with Web/TV convergence than they did about any concerns regarding licensing, digital rights management and other “walled garden”-like approaches to their Web video inventory.  Granted, piracy concerns are still top-of-mind, but more and more, broadcasters seem to understand that broadband-delivered video expands audience and engages viewers in exciting new ways.  In fact, in a session titled “How Broadband and TV Can Survive Together,” Discovery Networks’ Digital Division Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Kelly Day declared that “Broadband is not killing TV.”

“Consumers are integrating content with social networks… interacting and engaging with content” in new and compelling ways that hold a lot of promise for content owners, according to Day.  She gave two examples of deeper interaction between networks and their viewers as a result of media convergence:

  1. Live audiences are discussing programming via social networks, resulting in a noticeable impact on ratings and viewing behavior.  The ability to discuss and share links to programming is at least part of the reason why consumers are actually watching more programming that ever.  Day cited the record-setting audiences of a number of recent live TV events such as the Academy Awards show.
  2. Audiences are interacting with producers before a show debuts, discussing what they want to see, what they like, and what they don’t.  This form of consumer influence is of growing importance to producers and their distributors. It allows producers to test and tune show ideas before they are scheduled for valuable and more limited network airtime.  And it creates more aware and engaged viewing audiences.

At least a part of what is often interpreted as the entertainment industry’s concerns about Internet TV has less to do with resistance to content availability and more to do with what convergence means for content delivery business models.  The business processes in place at the major networks are based on the old world of linear TV delivery, many of them in place since the first black and white TV sets were turned on in the 1940′s.  Overall, the major networks seemed to say that it’s not that they don’t want to move in a new direction–it’s just taking them awhile to turn the ship around.

Thomas Gewecke, president of Warner Brothers Digital Distribution, said as much in a separate session earlier in the show.  “We want to shape product offerings and business models to meet consumer demands,” Gewecke said. “Over time, consumers will expect to be able to get our content online.  As a business strategy, we want to accommodate that. Consumers are the drivers of the online experience.”

At Skitter, we couldn’t agree more.  That’s why we’re committed to working closely with content owners to ensure their programming is available, deeply monetized and fully protected within the Skitter.TV environment. Our hybrid linear TV/over-the-top video delivery platform is uniquely suited to bridge the gap between their traditional business processes and the converged media business models of the future.

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