To fight piracy, the Australian broadcaster allows you to download an episode 5 days before it actually airs.
The Australian TV broadcaster Network TEN has decided on a new plan for combating piracy and courting new online viewers.
No doubt spurred on by a recent research study conducted by University of Sydney honors student Adam Zuchetti, which reported that 53% of respondents regularly download TV shows from the internet, most of them illegally using the BitTorrent file-sharing program, the network has decided that it must try a different approach.
People increasingly wish to view video content on their own terms, at a time and a place of THEIR choosing, and not the networks.
Broadcasters are starting to heed this call as their TV audience steadily decreases and they look for innovative methods to attract new viewers.
Online viewing is a critical new part of their overall formula to perform this task.
“Online video, including downloads of full episodes of first-run content, is a core part of our strategy,” said TEN’s general manager, Damian Smith. “We expect to launch additional download and streaming products over the coming months.”
This strategy goes hand in hand with a recent study by CBS Research that found that over half of the people who streamed CBS shows over the internet had never seen the shows before on TV. These people usually then go on to become big fans of the show. Watching an episode online is perceived as a way of “time-shifting” ones sampling of a TV series.
David Poltrack, Chief Research Officer for CBS Corporation and President of CBS Vision, noted:
Consumers who embrace the new media are the heaviest viewers of the top network primetime programs, and this sector of the audience is growing. By offering them new ways to connect to their favorite shows — whether it’s websites, podcasts, ringtones or other mobile features — we’ve been able to deepen the bond these fully connected viewers have with our programming.
It seems as though Network TEN has taken a page from CBS’s playbook.
Beginning January 11th, Network TEN will offer 2 initial episodes of “Supernatural” for download which may be watched on a PC “…within 48 hours of download.”
Further episodes will be available at midnight on the night of broadcast
What this “within 48 hours of download means” has apparently been left to ones imagination but, I’m assuming it means that is the window you have available to view it before it becomes deactivated. I don’t think they’d put perfect copies of shows out there and risk them winding up on BitTorrent or other P2P networks.
It has apparently tried this tactic before with the comedy series “Thank God You’re Here” with much success.
Last June Network TEN claimed 20,000 downloads for the final episode of the show’s first season.
Then, much to their sup rise, the shows return in October garnered more than 150,000 streaming viewers, and more than 50,000 downloads.
“Our experience with programs as diverse as Thank God You’re Here, Australian Idol and Big Brother tells us that viewers embrace online video and the additional opportunity to engage with their favorite programs,” Mr Smith said.
“We’re harnessing the tremendous power of Ten’s broadcast platform to drive traffic to our program websites,” he said.
I firmly believe that the future of TV broadcasting will be decided online, and its nice to see networks realizing that it must compete with all the other forms and types of media that are available.
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