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iTunes Credited with Boosting Primetime Ratings
grandgator writes "TV Week reports on NBC's claims that iTunes downloads are boosting ratings for their primetime shows. Citing one example 'NBC's "The Office" delivered a 5.1-its highest ratings ever-last Thursday among adults 18 to 49, a bump the network credits in large part to the show's popularity as an iPod download. Such a connection between podcast success and broadcast ratings success is particularly significant because the NBC data is among the first available evidence of what network executives have been gambling on when striking their new media deals-that the new video platforms are additive because they provide more entry points into a show for consumers.'"
How long will it now take before we start seeing iTunes Payola. Networks eager to get their shows on people's ipods will certainly be tempted to try to strike special deals to make their shows more easily obtainable. They may try to offer Apple cash, try to reduce the cost to consumers, or try to find ways to get their links on the front page. If it happens, can an individual state try to take action against the practice? This may turn out to be another interesting episode of the theatre of greed.
But all I can say is that it doesn't surprise me at all.
When the video is available from iTMS, it's uncoupled from the network schedule. You can send an episode to a friend as a gift. You can buy one show and see whether you want any more, and the critical thing is, you can watch it anytime you want. It's a whole new ball game.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Um, it could be that some people believe in paying for something that isn't theirs, and that they may perceive IRC and Bittorrent to be stealing? I know, these wacky oldsters with their fax machines and hula hoops and libertarian ideas about property rights ...
The Independent: Reverend Spooner Arrested in Friar Tuck Incident - ISIHAC, Historical Headlines
...Fox would have pulled their collective heads out of their universal ass before they cancelled Arrested Development and podcasted it to supplement the ratings.
...someone needs to add "Firefly" to iTunes, pronto.
Libertarians support government-enforced monopolies restricting certain forms of speech for corporate profit? Interesting.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
"ITunes is one way to bring fresh eyeballs to the network, he said, in particular the younger demo that uses video iPods."
Don't you find it especially intimidating TV execs when they refer to people as eyeballs?
I have yet to buy an iPod video yet, and I won't till they get the Daily Show on iTunes. However, I won't pay $1.99 per episode to get it, but I would LOVE for some type of subscription service, ie for somewhere less than $100 per year I could get that show delivered to me automatically on my iPod. It would be awesome for commuters if they could get up in the morning, grab their iPod from it's dock and take the train/bus/whatever and watch the previous nights Daily Show.
Pipedreams I guess....
Monstar L
Okay now this makes absolutely no sense at all. Downloading tv-shows from Bittorrent declined the ratings, but downloading from iTunes actually increases ratings?
How are those two different? (aside from the money factor)
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I keep pinching myself in utter disbelief that the furture has come where a-la-carte programming would be real. Now it is and I can watch my favorite shows anywhere I want. iTunes is a direct download service with no viruses, dead torrent links, tracker downtime, RIAA threats, slow downloads, or any bothersome thing like that. Video quality is so nice on my 17" CRT monitor that it's just like watching a TV rip but better quality since there's no logo's anywhere or scrolling text, or weather updates or any crap like that. I tell ya, I wouldn't have it any other way. Freedom from commericals, folks. It's the read deal and I couldn't be any happier. NBC/ABC has all the good shows anyway like Lost, BSG, Monk, and The Office so we're not missing much from the other loser networks that refuse to join up with iTunes. That free Monk episode and SNL skit was just the icing on the cake.
/hugs Steve Jobs. =)....
As for buying all episodes on iTunes, that would be a mistake. I plan on buying Monk on DVD & ripping it so I can watch it again (some for the first time) on my PC. Too much glare watching it on an iPod but for long road trips life without it would be unbarable. But from time to time, like an SNL skit for example, it can't be beat.
It's not that different: if everyone did that, commercial TV would either die or find alternatives, such as product placements, adverts spliced more closely into the shows or going subscription-based. We have another alternative here (UK) of state-funded, advert-free TV.
That said, it is clearly more wrong to illegaly download copies of shows, when there is a legal alternative which provides the makers of the show with income, than it is to skip the adverts electronically. At present, advertisers know that most people don't watch the adverts very much anyway, which is why they go out of their way to make them grab attention - loud, bright, odd, funny etc.
Ricky Gervais is god, thankfully he's getting paid quite well for the bastardized version in the USA.
PMPs finally make it possible for me to come in the next day and say, "hey, you've got to watch this clip from last night's Office." I would certainly get more people to start watching the show by actually showing them part of the show than by possibly injuring someone with my horrible Dwight impersonation.
Is something burning?
Oh, it's my karma.
Well, Windows is popular...
Other examples of horrible things that are or have been popular:
Wrestling
Soap Operas
Lotteries
Married with Children
George Bush
TeleTubbies
Family Circus
Penny Arcade
Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Finally, Appointment Viewing is Dead! iTunes and Tivo and PVR's have killed it.
Part of the reason series like BSG are so good, is because the writers know that the don't have clean up the story in the last ten minutes. In fact the last ten minutes become a good time to "frack-up" everything we've come to know and trust.
This is a boring sig
We taped The Office last week but the tape ran out halfway through. So the next day I check on iTunes and sure enough, there was the episode. $2 and a few minutes later it was playing on my TV (and it looked great).
I guess I could have searched for a clean copy of it on IRC or BT, but I value my time pretty highly. To be a better value than $2, I would pretty much have to find it the instant I started looking. That's both a) pretty unlikely and b) exactly what happened on iTunes anyway.
TV shows on iTunes were definitely worth it for me. I can't say I'll be buying every show--more likely I'll just use it when I miss a show I wanted to see. For the cost of a Coke and candy bar I'll now be able to get it easily.
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
The success of the Office on iTunes is probably because it can be enjoyed even if you watch only a few minutes at at time. You don't need to sit through the entire show to enjoy it. You can just watch a few minutes.
And that probably suits the mobile nature of iPod viewing.
And it might be a good show to buy if you want to show off your new iPod to friends because you can always find a good little short scene that you can show whenever someone is asking about the video capabilities of your new iPod. And this probably matters quite a bit at the moment. Most of the 8 million videos that Steve Jobs claimed were sold are probably bought by people who bought just one episode to check out what it's all about.
The Internet is full. Go Away!!!
I'll tell you what I just want some "Doctor Who." I get sick and tired of downloading them from through Bit Torrent. I am an American and I want me some real BBC content and not this watered down BBC America rubbish!!!!
"Help me Obi-/.-Kenobi,your my only hope!" -$