TV Channel Strategies on Internet

Television has always managed to hold its audience' s attention for much longer than other media, and this despite the major upheavals it has had to contend with in recent years, including image digitisation and the new prospects opened up by IP. Segmentation of the TV offer has made it possible to maintain consumption levels on the small screen, although generalist channels' prime time audience is shrinking.

TV channels are investing massively in the internet to be able to take advantage of ever-increasing online ad revenue, using a variety of strategies: a “second market” approach to maximise revenue generated by their programmes, control over distribution to viewers, diversification to high audience services in tandem with their ad management business. The challenge for the channels is to have a strong hand in the new forms of TV viewing, rather than being passive players, and to thus be able to act as central aggregators as they face competition from telcos and the top internet portals. This new positioning requires them to examine the specific role that television plays, re-focusing on what makes the broadcasting model distinctive.

Based on interviews with some of the TV industry' s leading players in the United States and Europe, IDATE offers a detailed analysis of TV channels' online distribution strategies, the main business models being used and the resulting diversification and vertical integration strategies.

• Has the mass media advertising model changed?
• Who will benefit from off the grid TV viewing?
• Can channels' programming expertise be exported to the web?
• Do channels need to become online operators and aggregators?
• Are B2B and B2C strategies mutually exclusive?
• Do programming schedules need to evolve?
• Is the vertical integration of production necessary?
• Is a new media chronology taking shape?

• Media groups/TV channels
  • Identifying the key issues in distributing TV content on the internet
  • Understanding how to take advantage of an online TV content distribution strategy
• Online content providers
  • Assessing the development outlook for broadcasting TV programmes on the web
  • Understanding the B2C, B2B and B2B2C business models of online content distribution platforms
• Internet companies
  • Identifying the major innovations in new services
  • Understanding traditional TV companies' positioning on the internet
• Telcos
  • Analysing the impact of IP network development on TV distribution
  • Planning possible partnerships with media and internet companies
• Investors and analysts
  • Assessing the economic potential of new online TV content distribution platforms
  • Analysing the new ecosystem created by TV channel distribution on the web