Feature: Content-Rich Kangaroo Looks To Dominate VoD Market
The recent unveiling of Kangaroo – the joint on-demand video service from BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 – has stirred the ever-changing IPTV and VoD market.
With such a wealth of content available to the three broadcast behemoths, Kangaroo is likely to be highly successful, with many suggesting it will push the likes of Joost and Google to the sidelines.
“They will have a little role to play on the periphery, but I think what [the arrival of Kangaroo] has done has completely closed out any idea [that Joost and Google] had about having a foothold in the UK in this area,” said Pedro Avery, managing director at BLM Media.
Sky has now relaunched its Anytime service in response to Kangaroo’s launch, increasing functionality and content as it moves to become an aggregator of third party content. Enhanced content will be made available free to Sky subscribers and to non-subscribers for a fee.
Channel 4’s 4oD will cease as a stand alone platform when the broadcaster folds content into the new VoD offensive, which is to carry 10,000 hours of archived material from the three major players, as well as a 30-day catch up service.
The richness of content and the powerful ability to cross promote this destination hub are going to be key to its success, suggests Avery, but feels that some consumers will adopt the service immediately whilst others will be slower on take-up.
“Ultimately these things are going to be driven by premium content and they have a fantastic production line of programmes to do so,” he said.
The main uptake is likely to come from students in their late teens to early twenties, according to Avery, as this generation is already watching their favourite programmes on VoD services and this sort of platform will eventually become the norm for consumers.
A great user experience is key, however. “If the user experience is not differentiated from TV you will not bother switching off your TV and start watching it through this other service,” said Avery. “The user experience has got to be better and frankly in my world that means less advertising”
Kangaroo will be free and ad-funded, but with some paid-for ‘download to own’ content likely to cost. “It won’t make money for a long time,” suggested Avery.
He believes the measurement of the user experience is “absolutely critical”. He said: “How do you measure the value of what it is you are producing? What would be wrong for these broadcasters to do, probably right for us as advertisers and media buyers, is to commoditise it in the same way as TV viewing has been commoditised through BARB.
“The measurement of what this could bring is extraordinarily important to get off on the right foot, because if they don’t it will be bastardised and lowered.”
The ad-funded model is an “interesting development” in relation to BBC programmes being supported by ads, he added.
“What’s clever about this is that it isn’t overt. Maybe, just maybe this is a way of getting quicker, faster revenue for [BBC] content without it necessarily upsetting the licence fee.”
He continued: “Maybe there needs to be a moratorium that the BBC isn’t allowed to make money from a new TV episode for 30 days or 60 days.”
The rapid development of these IPTV services is something that marketers need to keep a keen eye on, urges Avery. “Advertisers need to pay quite a lot of attention to this right now because to a degree clever brands will find a way of making hay whilst others are sitting on the sidelines watching,” he said, adding that brands have to challenge their agencies to “continue to innovate, to come up with ideas, and to ensure the advertisers’ interests are best served.”
Some agencies are adopting a “head in the sand strategy”, suggests Avery. “They’ll play catch up because they’ve got enough money to throw at it.”
Rather than focusing on the one channel where programmes are viewed, the focus will need to shift to the programmes themselves and the multiple channels that specific programmes could appear on, he believes.
“Where advertisers have been slow, is understanding the value of a programme brand. They’ve commoditised TV into media agency deals – we spend a lot of money, we get all this stuff in return and it’s not very measurable. This stuff is starting to potentially look at it the other way around.
“As you identify your consumers, not only by basic demographics but by attitude [etc], we will now have much richer information. Hopefully there is going to be the opportunity to use the interface that broadband provides to get a richer engagement of consumers.”
Broadcast technology and consumer behaviour is changing rapidly, with new services and functions appearing apace. It’s clear that advertisers in particular must pay attention to new developments, as these platforms are unlikely to go away, and in fact they are gaining strength and a higher likelihood of success.
BLM Media: www.blmmedia.co.uk