Ofcom Boss Warns Advertisers Of Digital Dangers
Advertisers must develop new ways of reaching consumers if they are to survive in the digital age, according to Ofcom chairman David Currie.
Delivering the Royal Television Society’s Annual Flemming Memorial Lecture, Currie warned that the growth of mutli-channel television, personal video recorders and high-speed broadband would change the way advertisers do business.
He said that in the near future the uptake of non-linear, content-on-demand technology would create an entirely new broadcast landscape where the viewer, rather than the broadcaster, will decide what type of media is consumed and how.
Currie claimed: “The growth of on-demand technology will turn peak time for the broadcaster into any time for the audience, so why pay the premium for a mid-evening adult audience? For the viewers with a PVR or similar, ad-avoidance will become even easier than now, so advertisers will need to develop new technologies for this world.”
The move away from a linear viewing and the demise of traditional scheduling will also have significant implications for broadcasters reliant on the advertiser-funded model. Over the next few years subscription and pay-per-view will become increasingly important as media owners seek alternative revenue streams.
Currie recognised this impending threat, saying: “I would say that most traditional television broadcasters are today standing about the equivalent of one mile from Mount St Helen. When it blows, frankly, that is too close and then it will be too late to run.”
He added: “The BBC, BSkyB and one or two others have adapted well, in a Darwinian sense, to today’s environment. But for the traditional broadcasters it is not a stable place. The current order is changing quickly and bringing with it an unprecedented challenge for traditional linear television broadcasting.”
Earlier this year research from PHD suggested that the increasing uptake of PVRs and on-demand programming would transform the media planning and buying process by 2006. The study predicted that the rise of these new technologies would lead to a shift away from conventional airtime spots, with new commercial opportunities arising in sponsorship, advertiser funded programming and a different style of commercial messaging (see PVRs Could Transform Media Planning Process).
Ofcom: 020 7981 3040 www.ofcom.org.uk
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