There’s tons of talk about Hulu going paid or subscription of some sort.
Also, talk of how journalists are worried about how they’re going to get paid.
Well, it’s for a simple reason – it’s because, for instance, a Hulu viewer is worth $920 less than a broadcast viewer. Nevermind the ads could stick better, stand out from the flotsam, and can’t be easily skipped. There’s no financial choice to keep things the way they are – either programming or costs need to be cut drastically, or revenues increase. Either way, in a few years if trends continue, TV could be the next financial victim of the digital age.
The common saying is, “Trading traditional dollars for digital cents.” It’s so far proven mostly true – but why?
Perception.
I’ve learned, from personal experience, people are willing to pay more for a physical product even if the content is the same. I also know that ad buyers still “feel” like they don’t get as much benefit from online, and in some ways it’s because of the exact metrics they get (we only could guess if real TV metrics were rolled out how much damage that would do – yes, there’s Nielsen, but those ratings are nothing more than educated guesses and miss all kinds of niche audiences).
As long as ad buyers and media folks continually feel that digital is worth less than traditional, it will be. The real question is – how to change that perception? Why is digital so darn cheap, even though real numbers and even actions can be counted? Is the future in the affiliate marketing world, where there’s lots of folks making handy profits – of course, that limits you to certain kinds of products.
I know that in business, once you start out at a price, it’s easy to cut but very hard to increase – which is always a model that befuddled me. But that’s the past – what to do now to move the bar? If you buy media, what are the things you’re looking for that would warrant higher rates? Or, are we just going to have to adjust to this new reality that viewers or audience are only worth so much?
