If you follow the comings and going of the TV and movie industry, you just knew that one day the concrete dam behind which Hollywood protects it movie and TV properties would start showing cracks and eventually break, releasing a flood of its products over the Internet. The first crack came last week, as we informed you in this blog, when Hollywood allowed many of its newest films to be available by download (no matter how badly this was executed, as we also pointed out).
The next crack has now appeared...and its a big one. Disney Studios, owners of ABC Television, has announced that it is going to make many of its hottest shows available for viewing for free via the Net. Beginning April 30, ABC shows like "Desperate Housewives," "Commander In Chief" and "Lost" will be available for viewing online. The programs, which will be available the morning after they air on ABC stations, can be rewound, fast-forwarded and paused, but will include advertisements that cannot be avoided, or fast-forwarded.
Now, here is the really interesting part. At the beginning of show, you will be asked to choose which advertiser or product you wish to view during the show. In addition, you are asked whether you want to watch a traditional commercial or an interactive game commercial. After selecting it, the show begins...but instead of five commercial breaks per hour show, there will only be three, and each one will be from the advertiser you chose in the beginning. Each commercial break is only one minute long.
Features like this will no doubt present an interesting value proposition to advertising planners, who are fast losing confidence in the effectiveness of traditional ads and looking for new ways to reach potential customers. Indeed, AT&T, Ford, Procter & Gamble and Toyota are all participating in the trial. If it's a success, we'll undoubtedly see other networks following suit.
All this brings serious implications for the cable industry, which could see its on-demand services challenged before they're ever rolled out, especially as the connection between the Net and the living room entertainment center get easier. Also, local TV stations could suffer as their advertising revenues drop considerably as people may prefer to watch their TV's via the new kind of home entertainment servers which are showing up in the home and are connected to the Internet.
The times...they are a changin'.
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