THIS WILL PROBABLY COME AS NO surprise coming from someone who earns their living marketing television brands, but I completely disagree with several comments in your editorial "This is the new TV" (September 28, 2005).
It goes without saying that viewers watch TV for the content. And it’s the content that makes them stay with – or, heaven forbid, click away from – a channel.
But to suggest that brands will no longer play a role in a more fragmented TV universe is, frankly, naive.
In a 500-channel/on-demand/PVR universe, brands – network brands, VOD brands, other content aggregator brands – will likely play an even bigger role than they do today.
Brands play a huge role in our daily decision-making – particularly in competitive and complicated product categories. Brands simplify our lives by helping us wade through the myriad of choices we face each day, and help us decide everything from the cup of coffee we choose in the morning to the toothpaste we use every night.
TV is no different.
As more content becomes available through more delivery systems, consumers will turn to brands they know and trust to help them make viewing decisions. It’s no different than the way we all use the web – while news content is available on thousands of web sites, the vast majority of consumers get their fix at well-branded sites like CNN.com or Canada.com. That’s the power of a strong media brand – it helps consumers wade through the clutter.
Everyone seems to point to the changing viewing habits of today’s youth market, or the fact that PVRs are programmed by program title, as examples of how it’s becoming all show, no brands in the TV universe.
But as I watch my three small kids program our PVR (my 5-year-old is a whiz with the remote!), I see brands playing as big a role as ever. When choosing shows to record, my kids always start their search at the same place: Treehouse TV. And that should come as no surprise: Treehouse is a brand they know, a brand they understand, a brand they connect with. They know that Treehouse will have the shows they like. No different than a soccer fan who starts his surfing at Fox Sports World Canada or a homeowner who begins her channel surfing at HGTV.
Just because content may be delivered in new and different ways, the fundamentals of the TV business won’t change: strong TV brands delivering great content will win the day.
Walter Levitt
Senior Vice President, Marketing – Television & Radio
CanWest MediaWorks Inc.
