Video on What?

Cable World,  Feb 7, 2005  

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By Simon Applebaum

If 2004 was marked by "Only Cable Can" and loving cable more than puppies (among other things), then the upcoming year should see the industry developing a unified message for its video-on-demand programming.

That's one of the main goals for CTAM's On Demand Consortium, a 2-year- old advisory group of almost 50 operators, programmers and vendors looking to spread a truly cable-only VOD message to the masses.

But the consortium's path toward developing that message is expected to be bumpy. Just how it will be presented is certain to dominate the consortium's 2005 planning meeting, scheduled for later this month in New York City. Nobody's expecting the executives to reach an easy consensus from these discussions.

Already, several members of the consortium are agitating to develop a national VOD campaign, along the lines of the long-running "Get Milk" program subsidized by dairy concerns. "It's important to establish this as a national brand with a national definition, where people understand how to use it," says Charter corporate marketing director Robert Ladd.

The problem is that the consortium's leadership isn't ready to launch a universal VOD message just yet. With programmers, operators and vendors each pushing for a different way to market VOD, it's virtually impossible to develop one message that makes everyone happy. "Far be it for us to impose an identity on the public," says Scripps Networks emerging media SVP Channing Dawson, one of the consortium's co-chairs. "It can lead to great confusion if we're not careful."

Still, several consortium members are expecting to have a message in one form or another ready to go in the next few months, timed to coincide with the upfront season this spring. Their hope is that cable can put together a VOD- specific advertising event that benefits from the publicity of the upfronts. "There's a big benefit to this, but there needs to be a common understanding of what VOD ads can look like and how it separates from traditional TV messages," says Scott Higgins, product management director at nCube.

Despite Dawson's reservations, consortium members expect an ad campaign to be implemented this year. CTAM and the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau have been working together since last summer to develop the right message, though some consortium members, like Comcast's newly promoted VOD VP/GM Page Thompson, are unsure if the CAB partnership will speed things along.

"There's huge interest in accelerating VOD ad development, and it's a very complicated issue," says Tania Jones, CTAM's marketing VP.

Charter's Ladd agrees. "National advertisers have the scale, scope and interest to make VOD ads work in an entertaining way. We have to come up with something," he says.

Cost is a potential problem. It's much pricier to hire a big agency to execute a national anti-DBS, pro-VOD campaign. One executive put the price tag at close to $500,000 for such an ad campaign to have any effectiveness. That's well above what CTAM is accustomed to paying for its other campaigns, such as the one that promoted cable more than puppies.

The issue of how consortium members pay for a big campaign is sure to be a sticking point. Should Comcast pay the most because it's the biggest company with the most to gain? These issues still need to be hammered out.

The 2005 Agenda

The advertising thrust is one of four priorities topping the 2005 agenda. The others are: developing a national brand for subscription VOD; promoting DVR compatibility with VOD; developing a VOD ratings system; and rolling out ITV applications. The consortium also is planning to formalize a relationship with CableLabs to stay abreast of tech developments.

One of CTAM's boldest moves was to hire CKPR--the PR agency behind the Only Cable Can campaign--to expand the On Demand Consortium's media outreach in 2005. CKPR is getting the word out by setting up VOD presentations at trade and consumer events and making VOD demos available to reporters via laptop PCs.

But that's where a potential stumbling block exists. Some programmers still are lukewarm about participating in a cable-only message. Many were put off by the overtly anti-DBS nature of the Only Cable Can spots, with several refusing to donate time for those spots.

With DBS gaining more subs each quarter, programmers are becoming careful not to offend these important affiliate partners. Programming executives tell CableWORLD they will monitor the VOD message closely to make sure they are comfortable with it.

What's Up With the Consortium?

In a little more than two years of existence, the consortium has pursued two directions: raising awareness of VOD offerings through media outreach, and recommending industry adoption of uniform icons and practices to make VOD easier to use.

Executives involved in the On Demand Consortium feel the window for educating consumers about VOD may be closing. Already, DBS operators have had success marketing their DVR set-tops as having "on-demand" capabilities.