NAB 2015: NBCUniversal Says Work Remains for TV Everywhere
"We have work to do here," Alison Moore admitted, citing the fact that NBCUniversal's TV Everywhere authentication rate was up only seven percent year-over-year.
Moore is the general manager and executive vice president of TV Everywhere for NBCUniversal, and she delivered an energetic NAB keynote address today on her company's TVE initiatives. The numbers showed that TVE awareness and usage is low, but rising.
NBCU saw TVE full episode starts grow by 22 percent in the last year, and linear starts jump by 146 percent. Linear's strength was due to NBC Sports presenters frequently pushing broadcast viewers online. NBCU's TVE app downloads were up 66 percent year-over-year.
Many hurdles remain in TVE's path, and Moore spoke in detail about NBCU's strategy. The first hurdle is letting people know what TV Everywhere is. NBCU is marketing the phrase "Watch TV without the TV," a tagline that Moore finds youthful and dynamic. It works across the NBCU portfolio, she said. NBCU pushed it with a modest marketing campaign starting in Q4 2014 and saw authenticated views grow by 14 percent.
"Television is no longer just a device; television is a state of content," Moore said.
Viewer behavior is changing, and NBCU needs to change with it, Moore noted. While viewing is still centered around the living room, mobile devices are growing in importance. NBCU is focused on creating a TVE system that lets viewers get their favorite content wherever they happen to be. "If you build it they will come, and we're in the middle of doing that now," she said.
To make that happen, NBCUniversal is focusing on three areas:
- Driving consumer awareness by making sure that viewers understand the connection between their subscription and online video offerings.
- Elevating the TV Everywhere consumer product to meet viewers' high expectations.
- Maximizing TVE's reach so that viewers can find NBCU content wherever they want, and NBCU can drive more business opportunities.
"This is a growing area of opportunity for monetization and engagement," Moore said.
The second and third quarters of 2015 will see more TVE rollouts from NBCU, although Moore couldn't name them yet. The company is focused on maximizing its reach, she said, thinking about where viewers and brands want NBCU to be.
"The launch of these products is not to be taken lightly," Moore said, explaining that many departments need to work together to launch TVE products and to keep them strong afterward. "It's never a launch-and-leave."
Looking to the remainder of 2015, Moore said she felt bullish on what her department is doing, and said TVE represents a sea change for viewers.
"We are exited and we're moving," Moore added.
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Alison Moore
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