jeudi 26 juin 2014

TV américaine: Aereo, c'est fini


La Cour Suprême des Etats-Unis a tranché, par 6 voix contre 3 : Aereo est illégal. La Cour a considéré que Aereo n'était pas différent d'un réseau câblé (overwhelming likeness) et que le service viole la loi sur le droit d'auteur (Copyright Act de 1976). Texte de la décision de la Cour, ici.
Victoire des groupes médias traditionnels (networks) menés par Disney/ABC, défaite significative des groupes média nouveaux (dont Apple, Google, Roku, Samsung,...). Victoire, sans doute provisoire, de la télévision installée, fatalement conservatice, aux dépens des innovations technologiques issues du numérique.
Sur l'état des forces en présence : ici.

Pourtant des questions restent posées concernant l'utilisation de systèmes d'enregistrement recourant au cloud-storage et au network DVR des opérateurs du câble ; il faudra, pour y voir clair, attendre d'autres décisions de justice à ce sujet.
Aereo semble avoir peu de solutions immédiates : payer des droits de retransmission (retransmission fees) aux détenteurs de contenus (broadcasters), ou déposer le bilan ? Pour l'instant, le service est "suspendu", les abonnés seront remboursés.
En revanche, une entreprise comme Syncbak, qui collabore avec les networks pour la diffusion des chaînes sur le Web, peut espérer tirer profit du jugement de la Cour.
A terme, la modernisation de la législation sur le droit d'auteur et du Communication Act de 1934 semble nécessaire.

Sur Aereo, dans ce blog :
Aereo: TV numérique sans câble
Aereo insupporte les puissances télévisuelles américaines
Aereo et l'avenir du modèle économique de la TV amériaine
Aereo: coupure dans l'économie de la télévision américaine

Lettre du fondateur et P-DG de Aereo, publiée par Wall Street Journal le 28 juin 2014

mercredi 25 juin 2014

Netflix, chaîne TV comme les autres, ou pas ?


Des rediffusions aux séries originales, Netflix, poursuivant une stratégie d'innovation continue, passe un accord avec une animatrice de talk show. Rappelons les grandes étapes de cette évolution.

Première étape : Netflix commence comme service de location de DVD par courrier, aux Etats-Unis (marché domestique). Son succès, considérable, est alors fondé sur l'étendue de son offre (suite aux accords avec les studios de production), et sur la commodité de la location et de la distribution postale (secteur public). A ce mode de distribution (coût variable) succède le streaming, commode mais qui se heurte aux limites de la neutralité du net et qui pourrait faire replonger Netflix dans un modèle à coûts variables.

Deuxième étape : Netflix produit ses propres séries : "House of Cards", triomphe et inaugure un mode de distribution et de consommation qui se généralise : le "binge viewing". Avec des séries pour enfants ("Mako Mermaids" d'abord puis "Turbo F.A.S.T.", produit avec DreamWorks Animation pour les fêtes de fin d'année 2013), Netflix s'attaque au marché familial, segment stratégique (accord avec PBS, etc.).

Troisième étape : en 2016, commencera un talk show animé par Chelsea Handler. Cette diversification, annoncée en juin 2014, étonne : elle ne rentre pas dans ce que l'on croit être le modèle de Netflix. Ne manquent que l'information et le sport pour proposer une chaîne généraliste complète. Peut-être. Mais Netflix peut aussi tout simplement expérimenter à partir de l'analyse de la data fournie quotidiennement par ses millions d'abonnés.
Dans le cadre de la diversification de sa programmation, Netflix propose déjà des documentaire (non-fiction) et achetés, en 2014, les droits de "Virunga", consacré à un parc national en Afrique (Congo).

Résumons les caratéristiques essentielles du paradigme Netflix, tel que l'on peut l'observer :
  • Pas de publicité : un abonnement mensuel. Modèle économique rare (cf. HBO, Showtime, Starz...) tandis que Amazon semble tenté par un modèle publicitaire (cf. l'appli iOS pour Amazon Instant Video)
  • Consommation à la demande
  • Streaming (OTT)
  • Pas de programmation locale, en rupture avec le localisme qui est à la base du modèle économique des networks généralistes
  • Data et recommandations : algorithme, taggage et classification (altgenres, etc.) alimentent un nouvel outil de découverte et de sélection des programmes, mais aussi de prédiction des consommations
  • Extension internationale (industrie de coûts fixes)
Lire aussi, dans ce blog :

lundi 23 juin 2014

Tokyo Digital Subway: Holistic Communication and Mobility

"Refrain from making calls"

What strikes you when entering the subway in Tokyo, your first and lasting "impression", it is squeaky clean no matter what hour of the day: no graffiti, no trash on the ground, no papers on the seats... Your second "impression": people are polite; they do not jostle one another. They line up to enter the train, just as they line up to take the stairs or escalator (standing on the left to allow others to pass on the right).

DOOH close to the ticket gate
Silent smartphone usage
Then you notice that everyone is using a smartphone, whether while walking in the corridors or sitting in the train. They read, play and listen to music; nobody screams on the phone, loudly declaiming their personal or professional life... and bothering other passengers. You do not even hear a phone ring. There is a small poster in the cars warning against that.

DOOH and paper
There is video in the corridors of the stations as well as in the trains themselves (12 per car). And there are also traditional publications in paper: MetroWalker, quarterly magazine; Tokyo Metro News, monthly; a lot of posters and even vending machines selling "Metro's Books".

Machines and humans
Subway employees are everywhere, always ready to help. There are machines for buying or recharging your card. And there also humans giving directions for lost passengers.

e-money
Vending machine for books
Finally: a major subway card, the SUICA, a pre-paid money card. You put money on this rechargeable card to pay for subway trips (you check-in and out). The fare is automatically calculated when you leave the station (at the ticket gate). You can also use your card to pay at certain convenience stores, vending machines, Starbucks, coin lockers...

The subway plays a fundamental role in mobility and communication in the city. The Tokyo subway illustrates the modern age of the subway: cleanliness, politeness, security and digital. Holistic communication: face to face, paper and digital. A perfect communication cocktail. As often noted, a new media does not kill the former ones.
Obviously, the success of such transportation and of any advertising in it is based on a sort of social contract. This is the most important challenge, a political issue. After all, politeness is the art of living in the city, isn'it?

Video in a car: left screen for commercials and news (Train Information Channel), right scren for travel information

mercredi 11 juin 2014

Delayed TV viewing: from C3 to C7


Thanks to Digital Video Recorders (DVR, such as TiVo) TV audiences are shifting their viewing. Should advertising measurement take into account what is watched after the first broadcast?  How many days? 3 days, 7 days? 30 days? More? For the time being, C3 (live plus 3 days) is the standard, but GroupM (WPP) has agreed to use C7 to buy commercial time on TV networks (upfront market).
This difference in definition and metrics is important for TV channels. Fox did some transactions using C7 ratings for the upfront market in June 2014.

For a long time, the shifted audience (VCR) was not measured and therefore not paid for by advertisers; it consequently did not generate any revenue: it was like a bonus. Going 7 days would increase revenue for the networks (only for those with successful programs, mainly the big networks like CBS) and decrease the cost of TV advertising (lower CPM's), making some programs more competitive.
DVR penetration, according to Nielsen, is close to 50% of American TV households. In the long run, as DVR equipment and VOD become more important, a longer delay period could become significant. How long a delay?

TV is trying to recapture its unmeasured scattered audiences: out-of-home audiences, VOD, shifted, online, mobile, etc.: all in all, about a third of the total TV audience is not sold (see, for CBS: Les télévisions d'une émission).

See also, in French, on this blog:

jeudi 5 juin 2014

Work and home audiences: BYOD


CNBC, the American business TV channel, does not want to use Nielsen measurements to guarantee its daytime audience. Why?
Because its audience cannot be accurately measured during this daypart. In the daytime, the network is watched mainly at the office (trading floors, etc.); since there are no people meters in offices, the work TV audience is not measured. The Nielsen people meter panel includes only households ("Nielsen families"). CNBC audiences in the evening (prime time) will still be guaranteed but for daytime TV, CNBC prefers to use its own "internal metrics" (cf. Sam Thielman, in Adweek).

Measuring audiences in the workplace can be a challenge for some media. It can be done for the press and radio: readership surveys or PPM (Portable People Meter, Arbitron / Nielsen) take all kinds of audiences into account, whatever their locations.
What about the Internet? Site-centric measurements cover audiences in the workplace. But what about panels (user-centric measurements)? Nielsen and comScore claim to measure Internet at work and they recruit people using computers at the office. What kind of company or IT department agrees to install measurement software to monitor company computers? Moreover, can we separate work from home use? This is probably an illusion: nowadays people carry their own laptop to the office; they work at home for their company; they use their company computer for personal tasks (e-commerce, mail, etc.); they bring company computers back home... That is why the majority of companies are implementing BYOD policies (cf. Bring Your Own Device): the consumerization of IT seems inevitable. BYOD is also said to be good for employee satisfaction and productivity... but includes security pitfalls (cf. "Avoiding BYOD desasters").

Audiences are not found only in the home. But while out-of-home audiences can be very important for TV and the Web, they are difficult to measure and, of course, to sell. Think of sports audiences: how many GRPs are going to be lost in out-of-home audiences, bars, hotels, offices, transportation?