Through someone else's eyes....

Please note that the following post is written from the viewpoint of the Corporate Broadcasting Executive.  The reports and survey data included below are valid and those organizations providing the data are industry leaders. Readers in the IS/IT and Entertainment fields should recognize the names Forrester, Gartner, and Magid Media Labs.   To boil it down to brass tacks: these are the three companies that act as benchmarks for everything you would require a benchmark for.  Consider them the Ph strip in your Litmus test. While the righteous wrath of disaffected viewers is well placed and these corporations continue to drive apathy where they should be driving enthusiasm there is no magic bullet that is going to cause a behavior changing shift in the corporate culture.  This week’s post is to provide some perspective to those who have had their shows cancelled as well as those who rant about the internet taking away from television. This is what we are up against folks, so pay attention to the data.  Let’s begin. -Begin Corporate Viewpoint Post- The Big Four{& CW} are not going to fold due to show cancellations.  Nor are they going to suffer significant impact from fans ‘switching off’. Let’s discuss why the reporting organizations mentioned above are important to the perception that broadcast networks are not ‘feeling the pain’ as fans wish they would. Leading with Forrester:  April 2007 report: Social Technographics Link 1 and Link 2. Published fifteen months ago, the message is still sound as of this writing.  The first two sentences in the executive summary say everything the casual reader need know: “Many companies approach social computing as a list of technologies to be deployed as needed – a blog here, a podcast there – to achieve a marketing goal.  But a more coherent approach is to start with your target audience and determine what kind of relationship you want to build with them, based on what they are ready for. “ Major corporations don’t understand how to look beyond the immediate need of today and as such limit their ability to provide a viable product.  Airing twelve episodes partnered with ‘the official fan forum’ webpage and a few email blasts does not an immersive experience make.  Then the show is cancelled due to lack of performance driving viewer apathy. Following with Gartner: April 2008 report: Dataquest Insight: Consumers' Value Perception of the Internet Link1 and Link2 This report focuses on use statistics and confirms that ‘most’ people only use the internet for email.  Let me quantify that very generalized statement. Per the Marketing Vox report released on July 03, 2008, 55% of US Adults Have Home Broadband, 10% Use Dialup.  The average age of users is middle age (37-40) or older. The idea that the Net is used primarily by young teenagers or young people is a gross misconception that has been around almost since the start of the Internet. Additional research from the Gartner Group found the average U.S. Internet user is 37.5 years old with an income of $65,000. According to another study Internet users in the United States from age 9 to 18 number 25.5 million while U.S. Internet users age 19 and over number 110.7 million--the younger group is outnumbered by almost five to one by the adults. The bulk majority of adults use the internet for business purposes or to keep in touch via email with family members, hence the ‘most’ people only use the internet for email generalization above. The interesting data relates to younger people, who use the web for a much more immersive experience. "However, Gartner found that there is one demographic group that is bucking the trend, with 13- to 18-year-olds enjoying the most divergent Internet interests, ranging from downloading music and playing games online to blogging and social networks. “Rather than being considered as contrarians, this group should be regarded as the precursors of what is to come,” said Elroy Jopling, research director at Gartner. “The Internet has become a utility for most consumers, who use it for communicating, gathering information and performing financial transactions. However, a new ‘trickle down’ phenomenon, where teenagers lead the evolution of consumer Internet applications, heralds a new era where Internet applications will mimic life — communicating, entertaining, socializing, informing, transactional, either in a fixed location or on the move.” While we know that, in-general, adults make up the substantial portion of both television and internet viewers/users and are the driving demographic behind the consumer dollar (the television advertisers bread and butter), this Gartner study reports the ‘why’ behind my premise for this post: Broadcasting corporations are not motivated to change their current practices since the majority of their viewers have been conditioned to accept the corporation’s behavior as the status quo. As the baby-boom generation ages becomes less of a marketing factor and the current generation of 13-18 year olds become adult consumers, a monumental shift in the way the Big Four {CW} model their business will have to occur: however, for the foreseeable future no shift will occur. Finishing with the MML report just provided to CBS Media and officially released on Monday of this week:  Web streaming doesn't hurt TV viewing. “According to a new report issued by CBS Interactive, less than half of the network's online audience (46%) primarily views their favorite shows online, and most say that the wide availability of these shows across the Internet does not impact their TV viewing. In fact, 35% of the nearly 50,000 streamers surveyed by researcher Magid Media Labs on behalf of CBS reported that they are more likely to view shows on the network as a result of having been exposed to content on the Web.” This report is interesting in that it relates directly to the use of online content driving the use of broadcast content.  As a specific survey, it is the most likely to have skewed data. For example, the statement of, “35% of the nearly 50,000 streamers surveyed by researcher Magid Media Labs on behalf of CBS reported that they are more likely to view shows on the network as a result of having been exposed to content on the Web.” As someone who utilizes a business FiOS connection I have never had a speed issue.  I can download anything in seconds.  Sitting through the choppy, pause ridden episodes on Jericho as they streamed from the CBS website last year is enough to drive me to be a member of that 35%.  Why would I waste the time with chop and bad streaming when I can just plan to watch the show on TV from the comfort of my couch. With that being said, that’s not how the executives at CBS are reading the report.  What they see and have been crowing about on the AP is that the study proves that internet viewers will return to their TVs. This is a misconception, but a legitimate one on their part as they do not understand their customer.  It also demonstrates that while there are some corporate culture concerns about viewer loss due to the internet and schedule changes they aren’t feeling the pain that we (the viewer) would like them to. These research reports do not support a change in corporate culture, especially illustrated in the CBS specific study performed by MML.  If anything, these three reports, spread out over almost three years, confirm the behavior of Television Executives.  Activities Among Those Individuals Online We should continue to see increasing use of the internet for media consumption with a meaningful increase in online advertising budgeting and planning. However, Federal Census Bureau reporting validates Corporate Broadcasting thinking: while internet use has increased, the types of use haven’t  changed all that much since 1997.  [If you read the report with a certain viewpoint already in mind] Looking more specifically at Internet users, e-mail easily outdistances all other online activity (Figure 3-2).  Online users are also connecting to the Internet in large numbers to search for information, whether it is product/services, health, or government services. The Internet is also a source for news and sports for many online users.  To the extent that product/service purchases, online trading, and online banking represent consumers engaged in e-commerce, that activity is fairly strong and growing. Figure 3-2:  Activities of Individuals Online, 2001 As a Percentage of Internet Users, Persons Age 3 + *These online activities surveyed individuals age 15 and over only. **This activity was asked of all respondents. If the response was restricted to individuals enrolled in school, the percentage of Internet users completing school assignments would increase to 77.5 percent. Source: NTIA and ESA, U.S. Department of Commerce, using U.S. Census Bureau Current Population Survey Supplements Whether an Internet user engages in a certain activity varies by some, but not all, demographic factors.  For example, geography has little impact on the selection of activity.  The proportions of Internet users engaged in specific online activities varies little across regions, and was similar regardless of whether the Internet user lived in a rural, urban, or central city area. Household type also showed little, if any, differences.  Gender, age, race, and income, however, do have some relationship with Internet users’ selection of online activities, as discussed below.  Comparing income levels and online activities reveals a general pattern that shows broader use as income increases.  The proportion of Internet users in the highest income level (households earning more than $75,000 a year) exceeds all other income groups in eight of the 16 online categories surveyed.  As demonstrated in Table 3-1, these individuals were more likely to use the Internet to:  search for health services or product information; search for government services or agency information; purchase products or services; search for products and services; bank, trade, or e-mail; or search for news, sports, or weather. Online Activities of Internet Users by Household Family Income, 2007 Percent of Internet Users Age 3 + *Source: NTIA and ESA, U.S. Department of Commerce, using U.S. Census Bureau Current Population Survey Supplements While there have been percentage increases across the board, online viewing of tv/movies hasn't changed significantly.  Even playing online games has only increased 2+%...but those figures really depend on the number of people polled total between 2001 and 2007.  There was a substantial increase in internet users during that six year period, though the percentages didn't vary all that much.  This is the driving heart of my post....even with all that we (the technically savvy internet user) believe occurs online, the last six years show that it just isn't happening.  84% for email only in 2001, 81% for email only in 2007, while TV viewing went from 18.8% in 2001 to 19.1% in 2007. You may be wondering how this post relates to our previous questions of: Do cancellations of a favorite show hurt TV viewing among invested viewers? Will broadcast networks adapt or lose the market? Why must networks change?  Is it simply because we want them too? You’ll have to wait until my next post to see those questions addressed; we needed to talk about the basics first, the 'why' behind the corporate culture driving these show cancellations and the lack of integration with alternate media sources such as the internet and mobile devices.  Now that we have the basics about how Broadcasting see us using the internet we can focus on the questions above to drive change.