TV networks follow viewers
2007-09-21 14:47
New York - US television networks ABC and NBC plan to make their programmes more widely available on the internet, accelerating a strategy to court viewers wherever they spend time.
Walt Disney Co's ABC TV Group, the first of the major
networks to offer its top shows for free viewing on its own website last year, said its shows will now also be available for
the first time on a third-party web property, Time Warner Inc's AOL.
The move comes on the heels of General Electric's NBC-TV
network, which said it will make its top shows available for
downloading to view for free.
Taken together, these moves, including NBC and News Corp's
upcoming online video joint venture Hulu, appear to be an
acknowledgment that consumers - not networks - now have more
control over their programming schedules.
The big three US TV networks, including CBS Corp, have
been encouraged by early tests of making programmes available to
watch for free on their own websites.
These tests have helped boost viewership on traditional
television rather than witnessing chunks of their audience
being siphoned off, networks have said.
"They're overwhelmed to find out people still want to watch
their shows," Forrester analyst James McQuivey said of the TV
networks. Now, "they're crawling over each other to see where
else they can put their shows where people spend time."
McQuivey said the bump up in traditional viewership from
offering shows free on the web shortly after the initial airing
on TV, has been one of the first pieces of good news in the
last decade as the major networks have watched viewership erode
from a combination of forces - cable TV, internet and video
games.
Everywhere all the time
Networks have tweaked their strategies to address business
issues these new technologies have created.
ABC's initial plans last year stoked concerns among its
affiliate stations that the internet would hurt ad sales at the
stations.
Since then, special web video software players for ABC's
shows are now available on the television group's affiliate
stations and ABC.com, which display local ads based on where
the viewer logs in.
AOL will now carry a co-branded version of the same player,
which will carry local advertising alongside national
promotions.
Meanwhile, NBC, which said it did not plan to renew its
contract to sell TV shows on Apple Inc's iTunes, now plans to
make downloads of its shows available for free.
"With the creation of this new service, we are
acknowledging that now, more than ever, viewers want to be in
control of how, when and where they consume their favourite
entertainment," said Vivi Zigler, executive vice president of
NBC Digital Entertainment.
The shows will be advertising supported and last for seven
days. Options to purchase or rent programmes and download them to
portable devices may come next year.