NEXT Credit Squeezing and other annoyances thread

For discussion of credit squeezing and NEXT ON TV FORUM other annoyances since there doesn't seem to be a suitable thread for such things yet.

Anyway, here's a thing that might be of interest...

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/BroadcastnowBlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=129

There probably is, but so what.

Interestingly, The Simpsons Movie parodied the increasing trend of plugging programmes using slugs and tickers in the middle of other programmes. Halfway through the film, a ticker appeared saying "Watch The OC every Wednesday on FOX. Yes, we do advertise programmes during movies now."

I believe it was "The OC". Sky One tried to copy this as well, not as good.

And Sky One have been parodied that. During most episode of The Simpsons a blue ticker pops up saying "'Are You Smarter then a 10 Year old' coming soon to Sky One. Yes we did nick this joke from The Simpsons Movie"

It was actually made up show "Are you smarter than a Celebrity" in the movie

The German channel ProSieben (Pro 7) does this as well. As they also feature the german dubbed version of The Simpsons halfway they have a rather distracting animation of Bart & Lisa rolling the text onto the screen and shouting as well displaying what time the new Die Simpsons will be on. It's rather pestering but then again german television is rather different to over here.

Article about why broadcasters squeeze credits... (reposted)

Credit ratings interview with Lee Hunt

The only people who watch TV credits are crew members' mothers. Which is why they are increasingly squeezed to places only mothers would look. Janine Stein asked brand strategist Lee Hunt about life after credits in the endless bid to retain audiences.

What do credits mean to you?

Credits are a stop light, a signal for people to go and see what else is on.

Why squeeze credits?

Because when a commercial break comes on, viewership drops from 5-30%.

What's the latest squeeze credit trick? (!!)

People have begun putting credits in the lower third of a screen telling viewers what's on next. That's a significant change in the US that will infect the rest of the world.

Why bother with credits at all?

The interesting thing is that [industry] people get very upset when you eliminate, squeeze or do anything with the credits. As a promo producer, I work just as hard, and I don't get my credits at the end of the promo. Buildings don't get the credits of the architect anywhere. The idea that credits are sacrosanct is a limited world view. The reality is that no one watches credits except someone's mom... They can make a tape and mail it to her. My view is that credits will eventually go away.

What's the worst that can happen - or has happened - if you try to make credits disappear?

About a year and a half ago, Discovery did an experiment where they chopped off the credits. There was a five-second ID to say go to the website to see the credits, and then the next show ran. These were Credits on Steroid. You could click through and get resumes, bios, credits from all other shows... Super credits. Discovery increased flow by 30%, they took 30% more audience than they took before. The Academy of Arts and Sciences went ballistic - and Discovery backed off.

When is simply squeezing credits not enough?

When they don't accelerate audience flow. Squeeze credits does not necessarily equal accelerated flow. If you capture the audience and create psychological time (where time seems to pass quicker than it really does), people don't have a chance to hit the button on the remote control because they are entranced by the content. If content on the squeeze is not compelling, audiences won't be pulled along. If you have all the guests on the show milling around shaking hands, it's a waste - a signal to the audience that the show is over.

Why would anyone say no to squeeze credits?

They are labour intensive and costly.

Why would they say yes?

At the end of the day, if you look at the audience you are able to retain and the return on investment, networks are saying they make more money spending money on squeeze credits. Off-air marketing budgets are shrinking and becoming more ineffective - there are so many choices. Stations need to hang onto their audience and never let them go... That's what vertical flow is all about.

What are promos biggest beef?

They are the least understood and poorly utilised marketing tool. It's ironic because they are the most powerful tool that we have. Think of it, if you add up all the promo time on all the channels, it would be worth zillions of dollars. You are talking to a predisposed audience, selling them TV entertainment. That's what they turned their TV sets on for - TV entertainment.

What's your #1 promo rule?

Making sure you are targeting the right audience to the right show, which we do instinctively -promos need the same.

If it's instinct, do we need a rule?

A lot of the time, promos are run-of-schedule. You end up promoting to the wrong audience. In scheduling promos, my suggestion would be to develop an understanding of how often you should run that promo and in what shows, in what period of time before the show airs.

What's the most frequently made promo mistake? (!!)

The reality is that most networks make more promos than they need, with the wrong links and at the wrong time. If you begin to analyse the numbers, you find that people over-promote their first priorities and under-promote everything else. What happens is that audiences are driven crazy. There is a point of burnout. It happens in the commercial world and in the promo world. We spend so much effort creating these shows, that we tell the promo department to promote the hell out of it - and you turn the audience off.

What makes a promo different from a commercial? (!!)

Promos are incredibly short lived, with a shelf life of three days to a week. Second is that the audience is predisposed to the channel; they're tuned in already. You are selling affinity and proximity - talking to the audience right at the point of decision making.

What differences are the on-demand TV environment going to make?

PVRs [personal video recorders] change everything. In any on-demand world, I don't have to watch credits or breaks. All I have to watch is what I want to - except for one thing: whoever controls the navigation screen controls the real estate and the only vehicle to promote. In a cable and satellite environment, the operators own the navigation screens - the recognition of that is going to be a seachange. The real estate went from being a huge city with skyscrapers to being the size of the phone booth. The person who owns the phone booth controls the viewers.

In the on-demand world, television by remote control is giving way to TV by EPG... Reseach in the US in digitial cable households shows that 75% of programming choices are made by people using remote controls to scroll up and down the dial. In digital, the number of people using the remote in this way drops from 75% to 33%; 51% use their EPG to make their choices. People used to surf viscerally because they were looking at channels - see an actor they recognised, or if music caught their attention - and make their choice that way. Now they are text surfing and making their choices that way.

What new headaches might this create for promo producers?

It used to be that people landed on a channel by serendipity. Now it's an even playing field - whoever writes the best programme description has a unique advantage. It changes the balance of power.

Glimpses of a brave new world... My son and daughter have grown up in a PVR household, with a library of child-friendly content on the hard drive. They were visiting my sister (who has cable but not PVR) and wanted to watch TV. My daughter wanted to watch Arthur, and my sister said that was only on in the morning. My daughter said: "No, Arthur is always on". My son asked me: "Dad, you wouldn't buy a car without brakes, why would you buy a TV without pause".

...and the people who will inhabit it. We are used to living in a linear world where we dip into the stream of TV to see what's there. What we may be beginning to see is a shift in the way TV is developed. If people are not watching a linear schedule, why do we need shows formated for, say, two hours. What will happen in the next 5-10 years - at least in the US - is that 50% of TV will be on- demand and 50% linear.

What happens to the Old World?

It will not be a completely on-demand world. Some people like the idea that others make choices for them. People will have a mix of linear and on-demand, and use both.

What does this mean for promo producers?

Earth shattering changes. Creative people will come up with ideas no one thought of before. If we need to get people to watch, promos and commercials' level of creativity are going to have to rise to the level of programming. There will be a renaissance of ceativity in advertising and promotions. There will perhaps be fewer spots but they will be better. Promos will become like movie trailers.

What's the one thing you always tell programmers?

That on-air promo is the most efficient marketing tool we have. As clutter grows, on-air promo becomes that much more important. What on-air does is reinforce the relationship with the viewer and lets them know when to come back.

What should the promo maker's mantra be?

Your audience is there ... Don't waste it.

The phrase 'use a bloomin' slug' springs to mind.

apart from the Ned1,2,3 the dutch channels have slugs but very rarely see end credits. Even on films the end credits have been snipped off and just show either an end board or a slug to show the copyright and the film company name (e.g. Fox, Paramount etc...) Whilst normal TV shows very rarly show end credits and no slug for copyrights etc...


note

Tien/Talpa changed name over this last weekend to RTL8. Any chance soon that five Uk will be having the RTL tag at the front of it ?

Where do they usually show the idents in The Netherlands? Before every prog or in the break?

Channel ident at both beginning and end of commercials. In between programmes they have coming next, later trailers then straight into next programme. Commercials are usually between 15-20 and 45-50 mins past the hour and last between 6 and 7 mins! Although they do often shows show commercials just before a film!

...but didn't understand it.