VIEQUES, PR – Although consumers may perceive video content as being no different than traditional linear television programming, programmers and providers should try to look at things across a comprehensive ecosystem. The key word is “try.”
This not to say that a common sales and measurement currency is in sight and, in fact, it seems that more pieces are constantly being added to the puzzle, according to Kristin Dolan, the CEO of data and analytics firm 605 and former longtime executive at MVPD giant Cablevision Systems.
“Coming from the business side of it, we still see there’s very specific differences between linear television versus a YouTube view,” Dolan says in this interview at the recent Beet.TV Executive Retreat titled Video Everywhere! The Transformation of Media & Advertising. “But as you watch children and the changing consumption habits of consumers, I don’t know that’s it’s as clearly defined anymore.”
This is because people watch all sorts of video content right alongside traditional serialized content or traditional sports and news. “So I think for the consumer it’s becoming more blurred, but for the industry we have to kind of get there and figure out who we are and what we do,” Dolan says in response to a question from Matt Spiegel of MediaLink.
What’s undisputed is the importance of being able to sell to and measure the impact on an audience at the household level as opposed to census level, “Because of the differences that are occurring in consumption of traditional television along with the insurgence of digital video,” she adds.
Dolan mentions new questions that arise about the potential valuation of things like earned media and sponsorships, where the visibility of an advertiser’s logo within the video stream also needs to be measured. “You have all the pieces but it’s sort of a mishegoss of different things it’s a bit of a mess but it’s all there,” says Dolan, invoking the Yiddish term for craziness.
She also touches on issues like how long cable and satellite TV operators will be able to continue to extract subscription fees from consumers in addition to revenue from affiliates and advertisers when network TV content is no longer as “exclusive” as it once was.
This video is part of a series produced at the Beet.TV Executive Retreat in Vieques. The event and series is presented by Videology and 605. For more videos from the series, please visit this page.
