TO: Mark A. Cooblitz, Senior VP of Strategic Planning, Comcast
FROM: Nicholas Pulis, Strategic Planning Team
RE: Andrei Jezierski’s Television Everywhere
DATE: April 8, 2013
Television everywhere is receiving content that you want, where you want, when you want it. It is far from a new concept, but over the course of the last five years the idea has had media analyst extremely active. Andrei Jezierski’s book Television Everywhere: How Hollywood Can Take Back the Internet and Turn Digital Dimes into Dollars takes a look at television content and the transformation it has had away for it’s original platform. Specifically. Jezierski provides information on how television everywhere was developed, where it is today, what viewers want, and how Hollywood is everywhere.
According to Jezierski, the term television everywhere is the name for the latest version of an attempt to transform the medium. In late 1999 the merger Time-Warner and AOL provided the initial relationship between television and the Internet. From here strategic planners all over the television industry began to research to get a jump-start on this revolutionary idea. Everything from deal making on top, to technology innovations at the bottom, assisted the development of television everywhere. One of the first byproducts of television everywhere was TiVo. TiVo fulfilled the “when you want it” factor to perfection, allowing viewers to watch a recorded show at any time. Mergers and acquisitions for media companies were at an all time high. Companies from DirecTV to News Corp., to Comcast to Viacom, did everything they could to try and make sure they did not get left behind. Unfortunately for them media start-ups all over the country were growing faster than every, none faster than the soon to be media giant, Google.
Many could consider Jezierski’s thoughts on where we are in today’s day and age controversial. Media experts around the world are convinced the television is dead, however Jezierski believes otherwise. Numbers show that there are still a high percentage of content viewers that use television, regardless of how many of these viewers are using second sources of media. Another piece of evidence he uses is advertising, stating that ad industry revenues have continued to grow at a steady rate over the last decade. These pieces of data along with others keep Jezierski’s faith in television as a platform, however he does not fail to recognize the weaknesses.
Jezierski believes television has not been commoditizing of content. Studios throughout the country have complete control over their content, and how that content is distributed. If any network wishes to survive in this new television everywhere industry then internet-based distribution must fit in. Another problem derived by Jezierski is that television is diversified too much, giving too much “stuff,” and too many choices. The combination of these two factors cause for complicating effects by dividing content to a level that is uncomfortable for viewers. In recent years, it has been the challenge of planners to eliminate these problems by using internet-based technology; along with answering the question, what is it that viewers want?
When trying to determine what it is that viewers desire it is crucial to remain conscious of the idea that people like watching television. Jezierski brings up a great argument to how this “more and better” content is being exposed to viewers. It is not that viewers do not desire the content; it is that they do not know where to find it. This goes back to the preceding idea that easier is better. Another want of the television consumer is simpler electronic program guides, or EPGs. Jezierski describes today’s EGPs as a “complex interface in front of a fire hose of information against which it is very difficult for viewers to overlay their interest and preferences.” Solving this problem will eliminate people from going to a simpler interface, such as the Internet.
Jezierski explains television as an application. Over the last five years television has become an application due to the extensive process that has been developed by those who desire television content. Jezierski breaks it down into six steps. The first step is to “discover” by becoming aware of a program or series. The second step is to “find” by actually locating an airing of the program. The third step is to become engaged. There are two types of engagement. There is “minimal” engagement, which is simply watching the show, and there is “maximum” engagement, which could be anything from sharing with friends on Facebook, to calling in votes for a contest. Once a viewer is engaged the next step is to organize. Regardless of the medium or platform, content creators need to make it available to viewers to have control of everything. This will satisfy viewers on an ultimate level. The fifth step is to retain. Jezierski describes this step very interestingly. He states that all content is different, and ultimately whether or not the viewer is going to actually enjoy that content is up to them. In order to retain the viewer content creators can really do is be involved in occasional and creative communication to promote interest. The last step is to reward. Rewards could be anything from more content to fewer commercials. Content creators need to recognize that viewers appreciate rewards and will ultimately be drawn to them when offered. By preforming each and every one of these steps the viewers and content creators will be able to develop not only a functionally relationship, but a simpler relationship.
Jezierski believes Hollywood is everywhere. After analyzing Hollywood in its current state, Jezierski was able to develop a logical catalog of thoughts on where Hollywood is going. His first thought is that television and the Internet will fuse together creating a new medium and delivery technology. This idea is one that has been adopted by almost every analyst currently involved in this generation of digital media. His next notion is that in order for this new medium to progress in a healthy way media companies must “manage the tension between the economic constraints of a still growing industry with a viable business model.” The two economic concepts that Jezierski mentions that could deteriorate the current constraints are rights and pricing policies, and usage behavior and video delivery costs. The rights and pricing policies offer a solution to content revenues and how they are sequencing across various forms of distribution, while usage behavior and video delivery costs focuses more on the viewer and how they are viewing content. Together these plans could help create the new Hollywood-driven “cable bypass” video delivery model that could have great cost advantages. The two reasons for this are, as previously stated, lower costs of delivery over the open Internet, and the other being the likely substantial reduction in middleman distribution costs. These few ideas of Jezierski help us develop an idea of where Hollywood could be gravitating toward in the next five years.
The evolution of television is currently underway. Content is slowly shifting from linear, network owned content to Internet delivered, viewer centric content. User-generated content (UGC) is more desired by viewers making it the “center of gravity” of today’s television. The leading UGC distributor in the market is YouTube. With the ability for anybody to create their own channel, YouTube has dominated competitors who have tried to compete with their distribution strategies. Hulu is another company that has been able to develop this “viewer-centric” model, improving their overall well-being within the industry. Jezierski states that in order for cable distribution to survive it needs to bypass two barriers. The first being extension of exhibition rights to other platforms, and the second being complex legacy network architectures with Internet based viewer behavior and program delivery. In simpler terms Jerierski is saying if you cannot beat them, join them.
At this point you may be wondering how the preceding information affects the future of television, and Comcast as a company. I believe that Jezierski is able to summarize it quite efficiently in his predictions of where television will be in 2020. To begin, he believes smaller audience channels will be strictly for internet-based distribution. This is very important for Comcast to understand due to the fact they own many niche audience channels. Another speculation of Jezierski is that internet-based distribution becomes an integral part of syndication. This is a huge relief for all networks. Instead of worrying about how they will make any money when television makes the move to the internet they can be excited to shop their content. Jezierski moves on from this point and develops the idea that video providers like Hulu, and Netflix will continue to work with networks to build massive content libraries completely satisfying consumers desires for any content genre. I believe this is very important for Comcast to understand because there is a limited amount of time that the company has to take control of this market. Taking initiative by pairing up with an internet-based distributor(s) is vital to their future. Jezierski outlines a plan to take strategic control of futuristic theories. The five-step process involves making order from chaos, being in more places, creating derivative content, making windowing and availability more consistent and understanding one size does not fit all. By successfully understanding and working toward these steps Comcast will be able to get a jump-start in this fast evolving industry.
I believe Andrei Jezierski’s book Television Everywhere: How Hollywood Can Take Back the Internet and Turn Digital Dimes into Dollars successfully analyzes the current state of the industry. His thoughts on content distribution and where distribution is going is crucial for any network to understand. Comcast must understand these concepts, and then develop strategic plans implanting them using their original content. Jezierski’s tone throughout the book is rather optimistic, and I believe this shows that he truly believes that television content still has a chance to survive, but I believe it is up to Comcast to decide whether they are willing to ride this tide of conversion.
Jezierski, Andrei. Television everywhere: how hollywood can take back the internet and turn digital dimes into dollars.. S.l.: Iuniverse Inc., 2010. Print.