What Happened
This past week has been a particularly awful one for the TV industry. Over $35 billion was lost in market value across seven major media companies, whose weak earnings results this week highlighted the seismic change from linear TV towards on-demand viewing. For example, Viacom Inc., the owner of youth-oriented channels like Nickelodeon and MTV, reported a sharp 9% quarterly decline in its domestic advertising revenue, and its market share resultingly plummeted 21% in two days. Losing its tight grip on the advertising dollars, it seems safe to say that the TV industry has reached a tipping point.
What Brands Can Do
As the audience, especially younger generations, continues to migrate from the ad-supported traditional platform towards OTT on-demand platforms that have little to no ads, marketers and brands will have to follow the eyeballs. This also means that brands need to develop a more comprehensive digital strategy and campaign approaches. As for those in the traditional TV industry, launching an on-demand platform to cater to the changing viewer behaviors should be a top priority. Moreover, differentiation through unique, quality content would be key for survival.
Source:Wall Street Journal
