asiCast 196: Broadcasters and streaming platforms – an uneasy partnership?

With many broadcasters looking to make their content widely available across many platforms, how are they monetising their programmes and ensuring the true value of their inventory is assured when this hyper-distribution strategy is adopted? In this asiCast, John McCarthy discusses with Guy Bisson, Director and co-founder of Ampere Analysis, the evolving relationship between traditional broadcasters and dedicated streaming platforms.

Hyper-distribution has certainly gained the headlines, but it’s not universally accepted as the way forward everywhere. Some public service broadcasters argue that distributing their content in this way is against their charter commitments. The incremental reach obtained when distributing content on digital-first platforms – especially among the younger demographics – is an obvious temptation. But this will usually yield revenue at a much lower rate than the rates secured within the broadcaster’s owned and operated environments. As a consequence, the wider audience for a high-cost drama production may be delivered easily, but the funds to commission the next series might be more difficult to secure. Is it nevertheless essential for broadcasters to prioritise the transition of audiences to streaming?

A short while ago one of the Ampere trackers which monitor ad load by platforms in the US reported a huge rise in ad load served on one streaming platform, going up four-fold in a single six-month period. John asks Guy about how the situation has developed over the last year and the implications for revenue and assessing the relative value to the advertiser of different ad load strategies.

Guy Bisson talks with John McCarthy:

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