Television guides go on demand

As television viewing fragments across hundreds of channels, how can TV listings products and services represent the vast range of on-demand programming? Stephen Armstrong reports.

In 1923, Lord Reith was enraged to find British newspapers refusing to carry radio listings information, as they feared the arrival of this upstart competitor. He decided to launch the BBC's own magazine, Radio Times.

From 1934 to 1993, Radio Times was the best-selling magazine in the UK and is still in the top three today. However, in a world with 300+ channels on Sky, a growing number of cable channels, the constant expansion of Freeview and Freesat, and an increasing number of internet on-demand and streaming services, is it possible for Lord Reith's baby and its print competitors to survive?
Radio Times publishing director Kathy Day explains: "The magazine listings market has held up well over the past 20 years. This is partly because many on-screen electronic programme guides are clunky and difficult to use.

"However, in the next three to five years, we are going to see huge convergence in internet and TV technology, which means your set will have the full archive of tens of thousands of hours of programmes, as well as YouTube, competing with existing channels. It's going to be a very tough world indeed."

A well-informed audience will become increasingly important to buyers. "The download market is in its infancy, so broadcast TV is still vital to advertisers," says Simon Bevan, head of broadcast at Vizeum. "As on-demand grows, particularly if it offers services such as click-through to a client url, it will give TV an accountability it hasn't had before."

He adds: "There is a new breed of digital natives who have grown up with online and will find TV content wherever it may be. Then there are other viewers who need help to find it. At the same time, broadcasters will still schedule event TV, so simplicity in navigating what's on offer will be crucial for us to get the viewers we want."

So how can TV listings providers accommodate the vast range of on-demand programming? According to Diane Rowe, business director at Zed Media, print listings magazines will struggle with the amount of space they would need and with their copy deadlines, which are often two or three weeks before transmission.

She says: "TV magazines can lag behind the broadcasters' actual schedule and struggle with changes to on-demand programming. This means there are opportunities online - we see the potential in replicating something such as the iPlayer home page, where everything is clearly listed and easy for the consumer."

Tom Weiss is managing director at TV Genius, the software company that builds TV search and personalisation software for AOL, ITV, What's on TV and Sky. "We noticed the first tipping point about two years ago, when smaller channels such as Living started to become more popular," he says. "But the big breakthrough came last year, when ITV.com and the iPlayer started offering streamed programming.

Classic search

"The trick is to move these sites into the on-demand area where, once they've explored, they tend to stay. So we use classic search if they're looking for episodes of EastEnders, for instance. Then there's the 'I feel like watching TV' approach, where previous picks such as Top Gear might mean the software points up Fifth Gear. Finally, there's cross-promotion on the site, linking programmes together."

Weiss believes this transition may be painful for media planners at first. "Traditional forms of buying may struggle to cope," he says. "But on-demand TV offers much tighter targeting and, particularly with streamed programmes, you don't have the Sky+ problem of fast-forwarding through the commercials. Our listings sites are able to pick out very tightly defined demographics - people who want to buy a car, for instance - and hit them with TV ads when they're already interested."

Broadcasters have mixed feelings about advertising around their TV listings services. Brian Lenz, head of product design at BSkyB and the man behind the channel's EPG and online TV guide, points out that, while banner ads and sponsorship would be interesting to Sky, they are by no means a priority. Lenz is unwilling to have brands advertising on Sky's EPG, as it might look cluttered and alienate viewers.

"We are a pay-TV service," he says. "We have a significant ad sales operation that pulls in £350m a year, but that accounts for less than 10% of our annual revenues. Our primary focus is on the user experience - we want our users to stay loyal, to spend as much time with us as possible and to watch as frequently as possible."

ITV.com, on the other hand, already offers ad placement on the mini-guides that appear on its TV guide if a viewer clicks on a programme - the mini-guide box contains programme info, a link to other episodes, a catch-up service and a space for ads. ITV also sees its online guide as key to building its streamed video-on-demand offering. "The TV guide is currently the main way viewers find out about catch-up TV," says Richard Waterworth, brand controller at ITV Consumer.

Meanwhile, Tracy Blacher, Channel 4's head of marketing, new media, supplies the Radio Times website with full details of 4oD's programming. C4 does not have a comprehensive TV listings guide, although its offer will change soon, following the revamp of C4's online proposition from the autumn.

Despite this rush of innovation online, Fiona Dent, managing director of IPC's tx division, argues that print listings titles are far from dead. "The bottom line is, TV listings titles are still the second-biggest consumer magazine market in the UK, selling a combined total of five million copies a week," says Dent, who looks after TV Times, What's on TV, TV and Satellite Week and TV Easy.

Mass-market women

"Our titles are bought by mass-market women who prefer the five terrestrial channels: in June, Barb shows those channels took 60% of all viewing. Our research shows these women use the mag to plan their weekly family viewing, which helps them control the remote and stops their husband using the EPG to set the viewing agenda."

Nonetheless, Dent oversaw last month's expansion of What's on TV's online offering to include a full TV Replay web listings guide (see box). The magazine offers advertisers such as Walkers Crisps, Vodafone and recycling agency Wrap deals across print and all online pages. For example, Wrap ran print ads in the title, with links to the website, where sponsored editorial offered a full recycling guide.

Zed Media's Rowe has already brokered a similar deal for one of her clients, which advertised next to the TV listings for Holby City, both in the What's on TV print magazine and online on TV Replay. Rowe sees the value of TV listings services as being like content editors - sifting through hours of programming to push appropriate programmes and event TV to a loyal readership.

"There's talk of FT.com and Handbag.com moving into the listings market," she explains, "and a blend of listings information and specific programme highlighting could be relevant and impactful."

Radio Times' Day agrees: "With so much choice, it's recommendations that count - like a good friend telling people about a great hidden gem coming up. Listings guides will be less about what's on and more about what to watch."

She adds: "Radio Times is 83 years old and if you ask anyone - even if they don't buy it - what our brand values are, they'll have a good idea. The challenge for any listings title over the next five years will be working out how to keep their brand values and make them work across any new media that come along."

TV LISTINGS FOR THE ON-DEMAND GENERATION

ITV.com
ITV.com's TV guide is in a state of permanent evolution, with new features being added on an almost weekly basis. For instance, from 5 August, viewers have been able to scroll back in time on schedules to look at the previous night's programming, and then click through to the site's Catch Up TV service. Every channel is listed, but consumers can edit out channels they never watch. - www.itv.com/TVGuide

AOL
Using a search engine at its core, AOL's offering allows users to look at conventional listings, personalise them, order reminders by e-mail, SMS or AOL Instant Messenger and find related video from across the internet. Viewers can also set their Windows Media Centre PVR to record shows automatically. - http://tvguide.aol.co.uk

Sky.com
Relaunched on 1 May, Sky's listings page details roughly 100,000 hours of programming each week using a Google Maps-style cursor that glides across the page, meaning there's no delay for "refreshing" info. Once on a show, consumers can click to instruct their Sky+ box to record remotely. The site offers e-mail and online recommendations based on viewers' previous preferences. - http://tv.sky.com

What's on TV
Last month saw the launch of TV Replay, which lists every TV channel as well as a guide to all web TV and on-demand catch-up services, including iPlayer, Sky Anytime and Joost. Users can click through from editorial around favoured catch-up shows to sites such as ITV.com's catch-up page. On the main site, What's on TV journalists have started filming their interviews to provide additional video content. - www.whatsontv/tvreplay

Radio Times
The mag's website has a series of small changes coming up. At the moment, it has video content from interviews and cover shoots, full listings, click-throughs to 4oD and ITV.com for streaming video, the ability to personalise by channel, as well as a database of 26,000 films. And it's the only site that carries radio listings. - www.radiotimes.com

BBC iPlayer
The iPlayer 2.0, relaunched in July, still offers radio and TV streaming, but now points users to the most popular shows, remembers the last 10 programmes users watched and allows them to pick up where they left off. It carries full listings for a week behind and a week ahead for all BBC radio and television channels. - www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer

Source: MediaWeek