ABC’s Albert Cheng: It’s Revenue Per *Episode*
Last week, while much of the New York media zigged over to Ad Week ongoings, we zagged to San Jose, California, for Streaming Media West. There, Disney-ABC digital media EVP Albert Cheng showed off ABC TV’s new Web-based video player and said that what seems like a “closed” strategy — forcing people to watch the network’s video in its window — was really very open, because it wants to give viewers video when where and how they want, while protecting the brand. (More on that front here.)
At the same time, Cheng gave a lesson in understanding digital media revenues. While he showed a chart with advertising rates of $40-50 CPMs (cost per thousand views), and said MySpace and its ilk are much lower, he also said you have to look more holistically and figure out how to make more per episode from the Internet than TV. At ABC, he said, the gap “isn’t all that huge, not dollars to pennies, more like comparing a full-grown adult to a teenager.” “We need to fully leverage the engagement and interactivity that online offers,” he said.
And, he said, the company is not only technologically agnostic but also, if we heard correctly, “economically agnostic,” meaning as long as they make money, they’re not going to fret over what the model is. “History has taught us that businesses that leverage their strength in one medium can prosper in others,” he said.
He also said something we often whisper and shout around here: that long-form video can and will hold sway. Cheng said long form will account for 69% of viewing in 2013 vs. a much smaller sliver today. Only we don’t think that’s necessarily reruns of “Desperate Housewives” or “Dancing With the Stars.” There’s room for it all.
Dorian Benkoil, the host of Naked Media, principal at Teeming Media, a digital media events, research and editorial business consultancy.
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