Online TV Advertising – A work in progress

Over 60% of all UK homes will have broadband connection by the end of 2008 and as a result online video viewing is on the increase. According to eMarketer (2008), in the first half of this year over one-half of UK adults with Internet access had watched TV online and many had used it to catch programmes they had missed.

It is therefore no surprise that with the wealth of on-demand content on the web, the video search engine Blinkx launched Blinkx Remote last month, a comprehensive catalogue of all online catch up programmes available from the main broadcasters. Its entrance has pipped the eagerly awaited ‘Kangaroo’ service to the post, the joint venture between BBC, Channel 4 & ITV which was expected earlier this year. The anti-trust investigation by the Competition Commission has delayed Kangaroo’s launch until at least early 2009.

With the introduction of all these new web TV ventures, and plans for many more it is evident that the potential for online TV viewing is huge. Whilst traditional TV business models have been blown out of the water as of yet broadcasters and advertisers have seen very little return on their online ventures. It therefore asks the question, are advertisers using this new channel effectively?

It is clear that consumers are divided on the issue of how to pay for TV content online. In the same eMarketer article it states 35% of UK respondents said they were interested in paying to download TV shows, but a similar percentage said they would rather watch ads than pay. The advertiser funded method for access to free content has certainly been successful for many ventures in the past, so I can’t see why it won’t work in this instance. However, advertisers must tread carefully with this one.

I was recently watching a programme within the ITV catch up service and found myself watching the same ad on more than 6 occasions within a 50 minute programme, often twice within the same ad break. Now considering these ad breaks last about a minute each this becomes rather irritating and unnecessary. Normally, repetition is not an issue with traditional TV as an audience is likely to be distracted by other tasks. However, attention is more concentrated during internet TV viewing. I personally don’t take too kindly to being bombarded with the same dull advert from one of the UK’s biggest retailers in such a short space of time – it certainly hasn’t endeared me to purchase from them.

This over exposure of online TV advertising provides evidence that greater consideration needs to be made when planning online TV campaigns. It is great audiences are willing to trade ad watching for free content but let’s not irritate them in the process and suffer negative reactions as a consequence. Remember, a traditional TV planner cannot replicate their trade online without better thought to how this medium is used and interacted with. In fact, the high frequency of ads being served can only have negative connotations for the brands involved. As audiences are delivered the high frequency, the impact of communications will be limited and the repetition could, like in my experience, become annoying to the viewer and thus detrimental to the brand.

For now I agree far more people watch TV offline than on, but the balance will soon shift. Since online channels can target adverts more efficiently than offline I’ve no doubt marketing budgets will shift accordingly. The challenge now is to plan appropriately, minimise wastage and not over expose your ads within the same programme!

Luckily, Thinkbox, the trade body for commercial TV, is about to embark on a study which will examine how and why people use online TV, its relationship to traditional TV and the advertising opportunities it affords. Unfortunately, until their findings are presented in late 2008/early 2009 I fear we’ll experience many more repetitive online ad breaks.

So, are advertisers doing enough to harness the power of online TV? I think you’ll agree that there is still plenty of work to be done…

By Kherrin

Web Television in Europe: An Expanding Scene. Karin Von Abrams. eMarketer, 2008

Blinkx launches online video portal Blinkx Remote

Thinkbox launches internet TV study