HBO Talking about pay-per-view online.

HBO are in talks for broadcasting over a web service like Apple TV and Google as an 'a la carte' version - in other words, pay-per-view. 

HBO Go is already on Apple TV but only for subscribers only - so this pay-per-view version makes total sense and something we blogged about before. In fact in April 2014, where we suggested (!) that the only way to go for cable TV was "to introduce pay-per-view to supplement subs".

You can search the blog top left of this page or copy here;

http://streamabout.blogspot.ie/2014/04/pay-tv-is-going-to-be-in-decline.html

This will push HBO to compete with Netflix given they have 'True Detective', 'Game of Thrones' and many other quality series.

A huge amount of online viewers watch 'on demand' rather than on subscription and this will capture those. This is also now a fundamental issue for 'Sky' this side of the water and they need to take notice.

But online broadcasting, online TV, is taking a further twist. Better content online will continue to drive viewers away from traditional TV Stations. Their days are numbered.

(And thanks to Adforce's Kevin Foley for pointing it out. Always on the ball.)

Updated March 9th - HBO Announce Apple as their streaming partner so the service will be available on all Apple devices.

Time Warner Revenue falls, reflects audience switch away from traditional TV.

Interesting data from Cable Company Time Warner (CNN, TNT, Cartoon Network, TBS) in the US for Q4 2014 just out, giving it a not too optimistic view for 2015.

They're really suffering from the decline in traditional TV viewing as viewers switch to other devices and how that's starting to affect advertising spends. 

Netflix, Amazon, Hulu are starting to make inroads both into audiences and therefore, into Ad dollars.

Time Warner Revenues were down in the last quarter meaning an uplift of only +3% for the year. But it's revenue is 27.4 Billion usd so that's still very strong. Operating profit was down nearly -6% on the year. 

21st Century Fox has also reduced advertising expectations because of the slow advertising TV market and Nielsen reported live TV viewing down nearly 13% and Ad spends are down reflecting that.

Time Warner are now focused on bundling more their digital assets with traditional TV buys and have recognised the shift. 

It's the first full and clear indication that TV audiences decline and as they do, so will advertising income. Nothing surer. 

Advertising money chases audiences as sure as night follows day. And when audiences shift, so too will advertising spends - just surprising that it has taken so long.