Why VOD is such good news for Channel 4

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    Programmes that are aimed at younger viewers are attracting VOD audiences as high as 38% of all viewing at Channel 4, the UK’s terrestrial broadcaster. This is the figure for the show ‘Made in Chelsea’ (a reality series about London 20-somethings), while the drama ‘Misfits’ achieves 30% VOD viewing and the outrageous comedy ‘The Inbetweeners’ hits 25%. With VOD accounting for around 5% of all viewing in the wider TV market, these figures are notable.

    Sarah Rose, Commercial & Business Development Director at Channel 4 highlighted the power of VOD for this type of content at the DTG Summit in London recently. She also provided this interesting insight: “Our programming might not win in the family battle for the prime time remote control but it works well for VOD.” This followed the assertion that niche interests drive loyalty if not huge viewing figures.

    It is an interesting idea that some broadcasters would miss out on viewers if people were fighting for a single chance to watch a show, as was the case in the old linear world, but can enjoy better viewing figures thanks to time-shifting.

    Rose provided a long list of insights about on-demand viewing on the 4oD service, which covers Channel 4 catch-up and archive content across a total of 13 platforms  including online (e.g. browser-based viewing on PC) and game consoles. One of these was that people are watching more TV at the expense of games.

    “VOD viewing is generally additive and is taking leisure time that was used for other things,” she explained, providing another reason why multiscreen and on-demand viewing has failed to hurt traditional TV viewing, as was originally anticipated by many commentators. “Game console viewing is significantly higher than we expected and game console time is now being used to watch television,” she revealed.

    She told the London audience that box-set viewing, where you find and watch multiple episodes of a show in quick succession (what some people are calling binge viewing) is becoming the norm. Catch-up is the big driver for 4oD consumption, accounting for 70% of all viewing, with archive shows making up the rest. For the broadcaster overall (looking beyond 4oD) linear viewing is rising.

    If something performs well for Channel 4 in the linear environment, it nearly always performs well on 4oD, the company has found, confirming that good content is good content wherever you put it. “Promotion and curation drives views,” Rose added. “ If you promote things properly and create play-lists and organize content as collections, people will watch more.”

    VOD has been profitable for Channel 4 for several years. As a free-to-air commercial broadcaster, the company monetizes its content through advertising. Rose has been watching other broadcasters introducing subscription models for on-demand content but made no indication that Channel 4 was interested in this approach (4oD began life as a paid service but quickly moved to a free model).

    She believes that more personalization will help drive and differentiate 4oD in future. The company is going to introduce the ability to personalize home pages soon. “As broadcasters with a direct-to-consumer service we want to make the user experience as sticky as possible,” she noted.

    In an effort to understand its audience better, 4oD has been offering viewers additional content if they register their name and gender on the service. The company is just starting to ask for a postcode as well. The broadcaster now has 7 million registered users and Rose said she can use this knowledge to improve the service and better cater for her audience.


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