The Inside Line: Project Kangaroo
This week’s edition of “The Inside Line” looks at the Competition Commission’s ruling on Project Kangaroo. Each week we will take a key media topic and ask the industry for their opinion.
This week’s question:
Andrew Allen – Innovation Director, Tradewind London
“The decision to block Project Kangaroo is a very disappointing one for the industry. It represented a new and potentially exciting opportunity for advertisers, and an interesting option in the digital planner’s tool kit.
It’s far from the death of VoD so we shouldn’t over react, but it’s a significant opportunity lost. Particular thought must go out to Fallon, who had gone through a long and highly competitive pitch process to be awarded the account. It’s cases such as this that send a shiver up the spine of suits across the industry.”
Alex North – Head of Commercial Operations, AGB Nielsen
“I’m not surprised Kangaroo was rejected given the dominance it would have had distributing UK content, but as a viewer it’s disappointing – you want a one-stop shop for your on-demand needs.
Broadcasters will now have to continue developing their own services with more content and enhanced functionality.
My concern is whether the absence of a regulated aggregator will play into the hands of pirate sites offering this service illegally.”
Paul Robinson – Managing Director, KidsCo Worldwide
“The decision by the Competition Commission to block project Kangaroo recognises in the near term that a consortium comprising the key free to air broadcasters including the BBC is likely to cause market distortion and limit opportunities for other players such as Sky and Virgin Media.
However, it misses the point that the non-linear market will benefit from a major impetus that Kangaroo could provide, growing the total universe for everyone.
I suspect that the real problem here in a recession is the guaranteed income of the BBC and the risk that as in on-line they will become excessively dominant rather than merely protect their reasonable desire to provide content access for licence fee payers.”
Give us your view – email news@mediatel.co.uk
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