The problem with having any claim on knowledge of the media
industry is that you’re expected to have all the answers.
Not answers to easy questions, like can TV companies tell when you’re
taking a sneaky peak at satellite porn? No, the really tricky questions
people are lobbing at me lately have all been about digital TV. Despite
all the vox pops suggesting that some of the British public are still
blissfully unaware that a revolution has taken place, most people I’ve
talked to recently know something has changed.
They know there’s more TV choice available through this thing called
digital television and, thanks to heavy advertising, they’ve heard of
Sky Digital. As of last weekend, ONdigital is also dawning in the
nation’s consciousness. But the very different types of advertising used
by Sky Digital and ONdigital seem to have caused more confusion at the
same time as raising awareness. Knowing a brand name doesn’t equate to
understanding the product, and the differences between the various
options still floor many would-be subscribers.
Take my partner’s parents. They’ve got cable but find customer service
appalling, so they’re in the market for change and fancy a bit of
digital. Dad wants cricket and French channels, mum wants
German-language channels and they both want to keep the existing
terrestrial services. If they go for ONdigital, will they get Sky
cricket? And will they lose the foreign-language channels they enjoy on
cable? And what about Sky Digital? Will it provide everything they
want?
These are the sort of questions which, I suspect, are being asked on
couches across the land. And they’re undoubtedly questions borne out of
a confusion compounded by the BBC’s own digital TV advertising and,
slipping in at the 11th hour, digital TV advertising from ITV. There was
Trevor McDonald on ITV on Sunday evening telling the nation that ITV had
gone digital that very day. This was, of course, via ONdigital, because
as industry observers are well aware, ITV has refused to play with the
Sky Digital ball. But there was no mention of ONdigital in the ITV ads.
Confusing?
Was this yet another digital option to contend with? Would Corrie
disappear without it? I dread to think what will happen when ads for
ITV2 start popping up as well.
Having heard so many broadcasters (even Sky) boast about being ’platform
neutral’ in the digital age, the disparate and disjointed approach taken
to promoting the idea of digital TV seems farcical. Would it really have
been impossible for the various broadcasters to develop a more coherent
promotional strategy by getting across a common digital TV message? I
know there is a degree of co-operation between the different digital
channels, but while each is relentlessly pursuing its own digital
advertising strategy, the bemused viewing public is likely to sink into
dizzy apathy.
Have your say in CampaignLive’s Forum on channel 4 at
www.campaignlive.com.
