Hard Truths from Universal McCann’s David Cohen

The packed crowd inside the auditorium of the TimeLife Building certainly did I39m sure a fair amount of those attendees were still contemplating his comments long after Cohen departed the premises He didn39t waste time getting to the tough stuff A few minutes in Cohen declared that there39s no turning back on the exodus of viewers from broadcast and cable television to digital and onlinegenerated content whether that content is seen on the PC smartphones tablets smart TV sets or devices that make TVs smart unattached to multichannel operatorsquotThe proliferation of platforms data and partners make this scene complicatedquot he said quotThat39s why the proliferation of online viewing will continuequotSo what39s linear TV to do Get flexible in content formats production values advertising options and pricing That39s the formula giving networks their best shot at holding the audiences they have now and if lucky maybe expanding their base a bitquotThe sense is that there39s no mustbuy in TV todayquot Cohen observed quotMarketers have options I hope and pray for the day that pricing is no longer a concern anywhere in media Netflix Amazon Hulu and others are taking more meaningful chunks out of linear TV and that will acceleratequot He then turned wistful for a second quotPeople like Netflix because they don39t have to watch ads It is what it isquotAt the same time he said adsupported digital programmers still have work to do to win over a bigger share of advertising dollars from network and local TV spenders The latest twoweek round of Digital Content NewFronts this spring despite some drawbacks did shine a fair light on where the marketplace is headed on original innovative material However to really make waves this collective of content makers needs quotonetothree breakout hitsquot and to deeply quotcrack the talent marketplacequot to prove beyond anyone39s doubt quotthat this is a great avenuequot Cohen assertedOn a related point Cohen and yours truly part company When it comes to introducing new content at the NewFront events Cohen doesn39t believe it39s so important that these programmers say when their offerings will launch at least by season summerfallwinterspring as long as they deliver the info in private I beg to disagree If you39re going to announce something new in public it is important to know when it will reach the public Say nothing and you raise credibility issues about your ability to deliver the programs among sponsors and agency people who won39t have a private meet for reference If TV networks did this on a regular basis there would be a lot of angry voices raised in opposition Yet the majority of NewFront presenters did this with little or no industry reactionMaybe the lack of complete digital premiere news is one reason why there were tens of millions of search listings about the Upfronts but just under 300000 for the NewFronts as pointed out in a recent MediaVillage commentary by Jack MyersBefore his departure Cohen gave his audience and questioner Will Richmond from Videonuze one more nugget If smart TVs aren39t on your radar screen put them there quotSony Samsung Vizio and the rest of them they own the glassamp8221 he said amp8220This is the next category of innovation we have yet to break outquotShort TakesWhatever you think of CE Week amp8211 which ran from Tuesday through Thursday at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Manhattan39s swank Chelsea district one thing is clear It is utterly amazing that the Consumer Electronics Association which has nurtured this project from day one earlier this decade was out of the picture No presence no promotion among its membership or the public Please reconsider and here39s why There wasnamp8217t a single general session about arguably the most important impactful consumer electronics development of 2015 and perhaps this decade the apparent public adoption of smart TVs and devices such as Roku Chromecast Amazon Fire TV Computer Stick and Shield and a soupedup Apple TV sometime soon There was time for sessions on wearables the Internet of Things and smart homes but not smart TVs Moreover CE Week39s Your Next TV conference which could have tackled this indepth was hacked from a halfday event last June to just over two hours and the organizers waited until last week to include a panel involving TV set makers but concentrating on ultra HD Also Roku and company along with most of the TV makers were absent from the exhibit floor Itamp8217s time for the current organizers to understand that if they don39t transform their CE Week approach and give CEA some degree of input they may not be in business next JuneKeep an eye on Pitney Bowes and a new TV project they demonstrated at Pepcom39s Digital Experience showcase last week Guess where The Metropolitan Pavilion It39s a process Pitney calls Personalized Interactive Video and it39s an impressive personable way for people to pay their bills via the TV screen Right now it39s a businesstobusiness project with no timetable for reaching consumers Nevertheless multichannel operators and smart TV producers should take an interest in Pitney39s direction now They may have come up with the golden door of making video billing for any merchandise and perhaps home banking a universal TV necessity We39ll seeUntil the next time stay well and stay tunedThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage management or associated bloggers

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Hard Truths from Universal McCann’s David Cohen

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