As we've been talking about in recent posts: online video is not only the wave of the future, it is the now of the business.
One of the great fears that Hollywood and others have had is that if they offer their show online that it would take away or cannibalize their existing products. One of the things that ABC has learned is that offering online content hasn't taken away from ratings of their hit shows at all.
Albert Cheng, executive vice president of digital media for the Disney-ABC television group said recently that "We've only increased overall media consumption for some of our hit shows and some of the shows we're trying to promote."
I think what he is trying to say there is that people go online to check out all of these shows and things related to shows, and that has increased the interest among the fans and viewers of these shows. This would make sense as this is what has happened in a lot of different media offerings.
With a lot of people it isn't either/or but rather more and more. If they like a show they try to get all the information and insights they can in looking for things about it.
Another analyst mentioned that if digital helps to drive sales of movies and DVDs or help television shows be more successful, then revenues from the digital side should be considered a secondary consideration rather than the primary.
Again, I think that some are starting to get it. They don't really necessarily compete with one another but rather are beginning to complement one another.
Another part of the mix with the reason why ratings haven't been hurt by these offerings is because there are certain people that are too busy to be able to arrange their schedules for static offerings. So the Internet is a way for them to connect when they want. Tivo isn't always the answer as many say that they can have problems where their show isn't taped or mechanical failure can cause them to miss what they attempt to record.
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