Week in Review: Everybody Hates Chairman Wheeler; Facebook Miscounted Video Views
1. Everybody Hates Chairman Wheeler
Predictably, just about everyone involved in the television industry has been pushing back against FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler this week. They’re explaining, in terms that ranged from measured to hysterical, why his proposal to require MVPDs to launch a range of OTT apps is The. Absolute. Worst. Decision. Ever. Made.
While the arguments are all couched in what appears to be sound business logic, it’s fairly clear that they are all just versions of Tom Sawyer explaining why he shouldn’t have to paint the fence.
It’s not that the MVPDs and the studios are wrong about the effects of governmental mandates, especially around tech, it’s just that if they would have actually gotten their acts together about cleaning up their interfaces and rolling our solid TVE apps a while ago, they would not find themselves in this position.
Now granted it is not 100% their fault. The networks don’t like TV Everywhere either, because until Nielsen TAM is fully rolled out, their shows won’t get counted. Which is why they’ve placed such restrictive rules around the if, when, where and how their content can be shown via an MVPD TVE interface.
Why It Matters
MVPD TV Everywhere apps are big new for consumers and so it’s likely that Wheeler’s proposal will get through. That’s not horrible news for the MVPDs, whose position is basically “I said I would do it! Stop hassling me about it, Dad!” [SFX: DOOR SLAM] —all this means it that they’ll be forced to come up with lots of new apps and some of those app will work out and be brilliant and others won’t, but nothing will be all that all that different than it was before, at least not from a business model perspective.
If anything, the apps may open up the addressable TV advertising market a bit, creating more places the MVPDs can deliver addressable ads. This is a plus for them, as addressable TV advertising promises to becomes a billion dollar plus market over the next few years.
What You Need To Do About It
If you’re an MVPD, prepare to resign yourself to your fate and learn how to make the best of it. If your apps are really kickass, they will get you some positive spin, something the MVPDs get precious little of, so here’s hoping they don’t half-ass it.
If you’re a brand or network, understand how addressable TV advertising works and then understand why you would or would not want to use it.
2.Facebook Miscounted Video Views. Ooops!!
Facebook announced (by slipping the news inside one of their regular postings) that they’ve been miscalculating average viewing times. By a lot actually. This is no mere rounding error.
Why It Matters
Facebook’s spent the first nine months of this year talking about what big deals they are in video and the trade press has been going along for the ride, taking them at their word and not even trying to create apples to apples comparison numbers. The information is not going to break Facebook or even weaken the ultimate value of their video play, but it does show that there’s been a lot of pressure on Facebook to come up with numbers that feel impressive.
What You Need To Do About It
Always maintain a healthy skepticism about things that appear too good to be true, like Facebook’s original engagement numbers. In other words, don’t let the push to get in on the ground floor of the new, new thing cloud your judgment. A view is still just a view.
TV[R]EV is written, curated and incubated by the BRaVe Ventures team. Find TV[R]EV on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter to stay up to date on the TV[R]EVOLUTION.
