Accenture Strategy’s Mike Chapman feels the next-gen ATSC 3.0 technology is rich in potential for broadcasters because it will allow them to participate fully in the new media world — creating ancillary platforms, transporting more data and developing new revenue streams from new services such as ad insertion.
Broadcasters who embrace the new ATSC 3.0 transmission standard stand a better chance of remaining relevant in a rapidly changing media world.
That was the message from Mike Chapman, managing director of media and entertainment and video strategy for Accenture Strategy, a media research and consulting firm, at a session held Thursday morning at TVNewsCheck’s TV2020 ATSC conference at the NAB Show New York.
In a talk titled “The TV Ecosystem,” Chapman gave a wide-ranging presentation on the state of TV today, encompassing all of the program delivery systems and platforms available to households and individuals that are drastically altering viewer behaviors and having various impacts on the broadcasting business.
Chapman feels the 3.0 technology is rich in potential for broadcasters because it will allow them to participate fully in the new media world — creating ancillary platforms, transporting more data and developing new revenue streams from new services such as ad insertion.
“The real question is how many of these capabilities are broadcasters willing to embrace,” Chapman said, “because there are divided opinions throughout the industry. I know some broadcasters think, Look, if it doesn’t add up to more than I’m getting in retrans today, why bother? It’s that simple.
“Others are thinking: This is our future. And if we want to be in this business in the future, we need to be doing this.
“Some are in between,” he said, noting that he himself is anything but neutral on the next-gen standard. “I am extremely bullish about 3.0,” he said. “I believe it is the future for broadcasting.”
In his presentation, Chapman explained how new digital-based methods of audience measurement — in which the reach of video content is measured across platforms and, at least in part, without regard to the parameters or borders of designated market areas — has the potential to transform the local TV advertising industry.
In the future, he said, “The DMA as a mechanism for defining markets is going to become less relevant over time.”
A slide he showed during his presentation put it even more pointedly. “Digital will further disrupt traditional TV viewer and advertising footprints, diminishing the relevance of the DMA for broadcasters over time,” the slide said.
The slide’s text and graphics went on to demonstrate how the measurement of program viewership will loosen the advertising industry’s traditional bond with so-called broadcast markets. In a mobile world, measurement will record the viewing and who’s doing it wherever the viewer’s mobile device takes them.
Chapman’s presentation raised a number of key issues and questions for broadcasters in the new media world. “The world of multiplatform viewing is going to increase over time,” Chapman said as a slide on-screen asked, “How do broadcasters stay relevant in an era of video disruption?”
To Chapman, one answer to that is adoption of ATSC 3.0 because, to him, the technology gives broadcasters the capability they need to “play” in the new TV ecosystem and “drive greater viewer engagement.”
In his presentation, Chapman listed the challenges facing broadcasters as they contend with the future and contemplate conversion to ATSC, including “the proliferation of primetime content beyond broadcasters,” “continued downward trending of live TV ratings,” and for smaller broadcasters, the challenge of achieving scale.
He also had some advice for the broadcasting industry, where the adoption of ATSC 3.0 is concerned. He presented a list of four “Key Imperatives for Broadcasters.”
“Think beyond ‘Towers & TV,” the first one was titled. “Develop a multiplatform broadcaster ecosystem as a defense play within the DMA and offensive play outside of it where appropriate,” he advised.
The second one was “Increase Relevance in Digital; Expand Content Offerings.” “Leverage local content assets and market presence,” imperative No. 2 said, “combined with selective catalog expansions, to increase relevance in digital.”
The third imperative, “Exploit TV’s Advertising Halo Advantages,” advised broadcasters to “utilize advantages of multiplatform TV content in the advertising marketplace to maximize MROI for advertisers.”
And the fourth imperative – “Build the Future of Broadcast TV Collectively: Don’t Go It Alone” – advised “developing broadcaster cooperatives that can build next-gen capabilities at scale while sharing deployment costs and risks.”
See all of TVNewsCheck’s TV2020 coverage here.
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