Viewers win when broadcasters accept advertising-funded programming

Stanley Edwards with mockups of Dzines – another medium for advertiser-funded content.

More and more people are hooking up their iPods - and not only to their hi-fis but in the car, while doing gym and even while working. In the iPod revolution, radio must be the biggest looser.

Spreading trend

The trend is spreading to TV where an on-demand world is not very far away. I've read opinions from leaders in British media that say that the future of TV channels lies in offering your entire catalogue as downloads for your customers to watch when and where they want. In fact just recently, Universal Music in the US and Canada announced that they are making their entire music and video catalogue available for free, via an advertiser-funded website - this is a significant shift in thinking.

The result of this trend for companies, who traditionally have reached their target markets through TV and radio ads, is that they have to find new ways. Unless advertisers offer something of intrinsic value, they will be bypassed.

Pushing creativity

This idea really excites us at Platypus as we feel that this ultimately pushes brand communicators' creativity. This can only be the best news for the industry as a whole. Take BMW's recent "ad campaign": it commissioned nine well-known authors to write short stories for them under the collective title "The Beautiful Ride." These are available as free downloads from BMW's website, read by the authors. They are all about 45 minutes long, calculated by BMW as the average length of a car journey and, of course, resulting in almost seven hours less radio listening time.

For this kind of "branded entertainment" to take off in the way that we see it has the potential to, bringing with it the creative and financial boost we envision, broadcasters should take it seriously as well. Most viewers sit down in front of a TV to be entertained but being pressured into accepting branded entertainment of sub-standard quality is not what we're mooting.

Remain true to standards

Remaining true to their content standards and realising that this new trend could actually mean that they could be offered exciting content produced by great people, for free, is what we mean.

This is common in the US where broadcasters will gladly accept conforming branded entertainment and even offer the marketer some free ad spots, as recently done by Kahlua and Condé Nast Traveler's 'Bring Home the Exotic' travel series where the ads supported the content, making it more relevant.

In the case of the giant beer manufacturers Budweiser, it has simply launched its own web-based television channel called BudTV, spending over U$30 million at start up which is being redirected from the budget for cable and late-night TV ads. At the moment this is possible because of its size but the idea is becoming more of a reality for smaller players.

Branded entertainment

Technology like the Internet, video iPods, portable media players and TV-enabled mobile phones are becoming increasingly common place, making the idea of branded entertainment a reality and more feasible. We envision a time when broadcasters work with production houses and their clients to the benefit of everyone involved, including the consumers and viewers.

All the players in the industry have to come to terms with the fact that to have any kind of impact, adverts have to carry something useful for the consumer or be screened out. At Platypus, we think that, contrary to how it first appears, i.e. ads don't get watched, therefore companies don't pay for advertising space, therefore broadcasters can't buy good content, therefore companies are even less inclined to buy advertising space etc, it actually offers an opportunity for broadcasters to redefine their role and at the same time bring better products to their consumers.