I’ve been absolutely enamored with Britain’s Got Talent (BGT) 2009. Ever since I saw the Susan Boyle video I’ve been watching the new videos that ITV puts up each week. Because of that, I’m disappointed. I live in the U.S., and don’t get the station that BGT is aired on. My only way to get my fix is to watch their Youtube channel or to go to http://talent.itv.com/ to see the latest updates to the show.
The Susan Boyle phenomenon should of been a clue-in to the marketers of ITV that they needed to look at generating revenue online as well as during broadcast. Plenty of U.S. channels are attempting to cash in on the newest technologies like Hulu.com or Tv.com (CBS’s equivalent). People lead busier lives now than they did even 10 years ago. They are more on the go, and a normal primetime TV schedule doesn’t work for everyone. This is where the ability for someone to Tivo something (and skip out on commercials) or to watch it online at a later time. Personally, I prefer to watch most of the shows later at night than they are aired, because of this, Hulu is a major boon for me. I can catch up on all my shows and not be interrupted by 2 minutes of commercials. Sometimes I hit the jackpot and get the commercial free version of the show I’m watching.
Standard advertising needs to go away. It doesn’t work (except during the Super Bowl). People time things to happen during commercials; bathroom breaks, pop some popcorn, order pizza, smoke, etc. That’s a waste of money for the advertiser. Since there are no good stats out there that tell the broadcasters and advertisers how many people are sticking around during the commercials (or channel surfing), they aren’t hitting anywhere near the amount of audience that they paid for. I’m not an advertising expert by any means, but I don’t see how this makes sense. I humored myself years ago by suggesting to some advertising friends of mine that I wouldn’t mind seeing scrolling advertisements appear below the show I was watching. I obviously know why that wouldn’t work, but at the same time, some companies have tried to tie in watching the show and catching the commercials to get a promotional item or announce the release of some item. Hopefully someone smarter than me can figure out a way to get me to watch a show and a good majority of the advertisements. Hulu definitely has. Because of the short amount of time that the commercials last, there isn’t enough time for me to do something besides watch the commercial. Also, the ability to pause the show and do what I need to do without worrying about missing something is genius. This causes me to be a captive audience when the commercial does come on.
[smartads]
Back to the original purpose of this post: BGT success/failure online. They are a success because Susan Boyle’s audition went viral in a matter of a few days. All told those youtube videos have been viewed somewhere around 220million times. However, I did hear a report last night that ITV hasn’t been making a lot of money from online advertising. This is sad. The options are out there for them. They have advertisers in place for broadcast, why can’t they offer some airtime online? Pre-roll ads have been around for quite some time, started with the news networks websites, once they started offering video. I’ve rarely seen a good use of the pre-roll though. Usually it is just a station identification 15 second quip: Waste.
Another problem with BGT’s online presense is the lack of usability and extra content. You and I both know that they have video from each of those auditions that could be shown in full-online. Instead they have the quick reviews (Youtube, autoplay warning) of some acts. Some of them are pretty horrible (but could have become viral on their own), and some are spectacular. However, instead of offering an extended version of the show online (and therefore drive traffic to their sites, they have just taken the main acts from the show and put them up. I’m really supposed to believe that the show only has 7-8 acts per audition aired (bullshit).
Being that Simon Cowell is the producer of this show, I can compare BGT to American Idol (AI). American Idol has a very small online presence, but this is understandable. They monetize it directly by selling the songs and videos on iTunes. They have singer profiles online, but they don’t update the site until the next day for the winner. I’m sure they could find a temp that can push a button to update the site right after the show airs.
Yes, BGT is extremely popular, and they have got me watching this show, but they could have made a huge stride in online presence and gotten a lot more publicity and money.
Good luck Susan!
–dez
