So close, yet so far away.
I applauded Bob Iger for taking matters into his own hands and selling his content on ITunes. Brilliant. So why confuse things by streaming what turns out to be pretty much the exact same shows ?
Now i can understand the potential logic. If someone doesnt want to pay for Lost, et al, rather thangiving them a reason to steal this show,why not let them stream it for free and we get paid with advertising. Everyone is happy right ?
Yeah. That makes sense. But you missed the golden goose opportunity.
Now what Im going to suggest is not mutually exclusive. You can do both, but you know the way the media works. The first pass gets the press and thats what people remember. For a long time.
The first Disney streams should have been their soap operas. In real time.
Now Im sure there are probably licensing excuses somewhere in the chain, but lets set those aside and look at the opportunity.
The number one media device in the office? Not a TV. Not a radio. Its the PC. If you want to reach an audience during the day, you get them at the office.
Lets take a look at how ABC Soaps are performing. According to some recent reports, ratings for daytime soaps are down 19pct year over year and the network is looking at make goods for advertisers.
So why not stream the soaps into the office so viewers who like the shows can stay attached to them and check them out in realtime , or on demand at lunch time ? Same rules as youhave set now, but rather than having to find those make goods, you give them the spots in the stream runs. Nice, verifiable media that could have increased the number of viewers for your Soaps, helped with advertisers and reduced confusion about how best to acquire ABC programming offline.
Whats more, Fred Dressler of Time Warnerhit the nail on the head. If you give your best shows away for free on the net, how in the world can you charge distributors for them ?
Instead you could have made the argument that the toughest to reach audience for Soaps is at work and the net is the best way to reach them. Affiliates arent reaching them. Cable and Satellite arent reaching them. Only the net does.
No losers, only winners.
And for those who are going to argue about theimpact on productivity in the workplace…. get back to work