Turner's President Says Marketers Regret 'Quick Move' from TV to Digital
May 18 2016 - 11:55AM
Dow Jones News
By Amol Sharma and Steven Perlberg
Time Warner's Turner cable unit unveiled several upcoming shows
for advertisers at its upfront Wednesday, including "Will," a TNT
period drama about a young Shakespeare, and CNN offerings including
"The History of Comedy."
Turner President David Levy joined the WSJ Media Mix podcast
ahead of the event, discussing his reasons for optimism about the
TV ad market, the state of skinny bundles and the high ratings for
the NBA Western Conference finals out of the gate, among other
things.
Mr. Levy said some marketers who made a "quick move" to digital
outlets were disappointed with the results and are shifting money
back to TV. "We've seen that they've lost some sales -- dramatic
sales, double-digits, when they pushed that kind of money," he
said.
TV networks are racing to show they can do all the fun stuff
digital players do. "We're getting the analytics, we're getting the
data, we're getting the target marketing that made digital very
sexy," he said.
The Turner chief said his company is talking to Hulu about its
planned streaming cable bundle, which aims to offer a package of
popular channels for around $40 a month. Such "skinny bundles"
could be a good opportunity, he said, but the jury is still out:
"Is there really a consumer need for it? We're going through that
right now."
Meanwhile, Mr. Levy said the company won't be offering networks
like TNT and TBS directly "over the top" to consumers -- the way
HBO Now and CBS All Access do, for example. But the company is
launching FilmStruck, a subscription service for arthouse films,
and he gave some hints about another subscription video service
that's in the works.
On the topic of sports: the market's cord-cutting fears
notwithstanding, Mr. Levy believes the company's big bet on NBA
rights made perfect sense and will pay off.
Check out the full conversation and subscribe here.
Write to Amol Sharma at amol.sharma@wsj.com and Steven Perlberg
at steven.perlberg@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 18, 2016 11:40 ET (15:40 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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