Analysts criticise Competition Commission’s Kangaroo ruling
Analysts at Screen Digest have criticised the Competition Commission (CC) after it ruled that online-video service Project Kangaroo will not have an effect on the UK online advertising market.
Earlier this week, the CC ruled that Project Kangaroo (the joint venture between BBC Worldwide ITV and Channel 4) “is likely to result in a substantial lessening of competition in the supply of UK TV VoD content”, however, it added that it did not expect it to lead to a lessening of competition in online advertising (see Competition Commission: Kangaroo “will restrict competition”).
Screen Digest said that it was concerned “that between ITV.com, Channel 4.com and Kangaroo’s core site there will be little space left in the nascent online TV advertising market for the likes of Five, BSkyB and MTV”.
It added: “Any ad-funded Kangaroo platform (in conjunction with the partners’ own services) is likely to mop up the vast majority of premium advertisers because it will dominate the monetisable online TV in the UK (YouTube and the BBC’s iPlayer will continue to attract viewers but not ad spend).
“This has the potential to stunt the online TV market at a key time in its development as third parties are likely to find it hard, if not impossible to find advertisers willing and able to buy high CMP in-stream advertising in sufficient volumes to cover the costs incurred by many services.”
Screen Digest: www.screendigest.com