this post was submitted on 08 May 2024
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This is likely to be something we see more broadly, eventually with the phasing out of TV. I've noticed they're trying to push us onto their catchup services by playing much fewer ads (I still block them anyway). I imagine it's cheaper to stream over the internet, but more importantly it's much easier to lock people into watching only your channels. With TV you can go to another network with the push of the button, with a dedicated app you need to exit, open the other app wait for it to load/sign in and have a look at what's playing to browse. Not to mention how much more data they can extract from you for better targeted ads, heck even ABC iview needs accounts so they can give you recommendations (something I think should be optional because I don't really care about whatever new show they want me to watch, I just want to watch Vera, Mad As Hell and the Weekly. Two of those shows are finished and the other just had its last episode for the year).
@unionagainstdhmo @Baku The other really big part of it has to do With who pays for free TV: The advertisers.
Let's compare what broadcast TV to a free streaming app from an advertising point of view.
With broadcast TV, there's one ad that's shown to everyone. If 100,000 people watch, then 100,000 people all see the same ad at the same time.
You pretty much need to be a big national advertiser to buy all 100,000 eyeballs.
With streaming, you can insert different ads from different advertisers to different people.
And an advertiser doesn't necessarily need to buy everyone that's watching. Perhaps they only buy 50,000? Or 10,000? Or potentially even just one or two?
That potentially increases the pool of brands that can advertise.
With broadcast TV, the ratings give you a rough breakdown of how many people are watching, with breakdowns by age, gender, and socioeconomic background. But the TV station doesn't know *precisely* who those people are.
More importantly, you can't target who sees the ad at the level of individual people.
With a streaming app, you typically need to give up some personal details, like your email address, to set up an account. The app owner can know *precisely* which accounts, with which email addresses, are logged in and watching at any given time.
That means an advertiser can select, down to the level of individual accounts linked to email addresses, who sees their ad.
An advertiser can upload a list of email addresses they want to target, and if any of those people are watching, they'll see their ad.
So, for example, an advertiser with a niche product could upload the 5000 people on their email mailing list and only show their ad to those people.
Or a business might only show their ad to people in postcodes where they have a store.
You can't do that with broadcast TV.
Here's where it gets a little creepy.
If you go shopping and scan your FlyBuys or Woolworths Rewards card, Coles or Woolies know your email address and the products you bought.
They can then sell the fact that your email address purchased a particular product on a particular date to an advertiser.
(Coles' platform for this is called Coles 360: https://www.coles.com.au/coles360).
So, for example, say you sign up to a Kellogg's email mailing list, for example. It can provide Nine's streaming platform with your email address to make sure you see an ad for Corn Flakes.
They can then cross-check to see whether or not you purchased Corn Flakes in the following week from Coles and Woolies.
In short, it's end-to-end tracking.
You can't do that with broadcast TV.
That's why TV networks and advertisers want you to stream.