Reinaldo Llano, CTAM Florida; Ximena Rogers, Comcast; Jeff Kreger, New Frontier Media; Brian Hansen, analyst; and Dough Ohlandt, In Demand
(Maribel Ramos-Weiner). One of the conclusions of the panel discussions titled Tango Lessons for Partners Driving Television Transactions, was that free video on demand (VOD) may boost viewing of paid VOD and may also attract TV viewers to the linear channels.Doug Ohlandt, Vice President of Programming Promotions at In Demand, said that one of the keys for transactional video to work is that operators clearly promote their catalogs in order to attract viewers to that platform.Jeff Kreger, Vice President of Sales of New Frontier Media and moderator of the panel discussion, said that transactional video currently is a billion dollar market with over three billion hours of viewing. He indicated that sporting events on demand ring in the most sales.Fernanda Merodio, Director of Affiliate Sales at Olympusat, commented about their channel, Funanimation: We are using free VOD to transactional VOD and the transactional drives the audience to the linear channel. She added that as an incentive to the cable operators that carries their channel, they will grant a 30-60 day window for content to be used as VOD before going to DVD. Costs per movie range between US$0.99 and US$2.99. It is an extremely loyal audience, added Merodio.Another important observation of the panel was that most users think all VOD carries fees, thus making it necessary for operators to invest in educating subscribers about the different options available to them.It was also noted that VOD online is much more aggressive at inserting commercials, an area where cable operators still have a lot of ground to cover.
