Tinie payments; Dizzee Times

Last week I spent one evening in Magaluf at a Tinie Tempah gig. Yes, really. We were holidaying in Majorca; the kids were keen; and I went as driver and “guardian”. It cost me 35 quid per ticket to mix with Shagaluf’s holidaying finest (those that wore a shirt were mostly Liverpool or Newcastle fans for you researchers out there).

99% of those enjoying Tinie “doing his thing” were there on a package deal, staying at the venue, the Majorca Rocks Hotel (easily mistaken for a youth detention centre) with a couple of big nights like this bundled in (Dizzee Rascal was due two evenings later). A pretty good entertainment package… plus some sun and all the other holiday “entertainment” too clearly.

And my connection to the media world from this tale of a middle aged man who really should have been anywhere else… bundling content, readers.

I came back to see ITV’s announcement that the oft-previewed micropayments were now imminent for ITV Player. Not much detail yet, but clearly going to happen, so ITV Player follows (in some form) the iTunes business model, whereby music is now bought far more selectively than it was when we all paid for a CD at HMV and were very happy to do so. It’s going to be really interesting to see both the total and relative values ITV attributes to particular programmes.

Of course Sky sits handily in both camps (plus ad revenue) whilst taking most of its income from subscription packages – but you can’t see Sky letting us select just a few of the packaged channels to reduce our monthly fees – even though we all watch a very small percentage of channels available. Sky Go takes the package notion to platforms too.

It’s an interesting thought as to how many would buy a Sky (or Virgin) package that was purely catch up TV – no live viewing at all, which might well suit a few lifestyles. Maybe a deal where it’s topped up by paying for occasional live sports events would make it more attractive?

In print, I have a Times subscription, which gets me access across all their platforms, including old fashioned newsprint. NI proudly trumpeted progress with 100,000 Times paywall subscriptions achieved just last month.

And then there’s the BBC of course – where we all have to buy a “subscription”.

It would be surprising if we didn’t see a whole bundle of other payment versions coming along over the next 12 months. Digital has well and truly scuppered the old models. This suits consumers better, but many media companies are still welcoming this new world through clenched teeth… while experimenting like blazes.