It’s time to light a fire under online broadcast

The BBC has long denied that the fire was timed to coincide with – and steal viewers from – ITV which launched that same day. If this was the programme-makers’ aim (as many suspect) it would mark the first broadcast “format war”, as radio struggled to come to terms with a thrusting new medium – commercial television.

Now television has its own fight on its hands. The rise of streaming media has made traditional, linear TV seem curiously quaint, and broadcasters’ best efforts to match on-demand services like Netflix and Hulu are falling flat.

When online broadcasting was in its infancy the problem was largely around quality of service, with buffering and unavailability leading to an often-unacceptable viewing experience. When these glitches affected important live programming such as major sports tournaments, the outcry from frustrated viewers only highlighted the gulf separating traditional broadcasters from their upstart online competitors.

According to our research, just one in seven viewers watching live sport streams say they are satisfied with their experience. That should worry broadcast executives, but there is another reason for traditional TV’s decline, which is its inability to provide a fantastic, all-encompassing experience for the viewer.

At its heart, this problem revolves around the failure to solve the issue of “second-screening”, an essential part of the modern viewing experience. Few people sit down to watch live television like we did a decade ago: today, they flick restlessly between windows and browser tabs, chatting with friends about the broadcast they’re watching, and engaging with social media about, say, a football match in real-time. What’s more, online catch-up services generally do a poor job of personalising the experience with, say, recommendations on similar content that viewers might enjoy.

There are thus two major problems facing traditional broadcasters: the technical issue of how to keep their broadcasts as “live” and up-to-the-minute as social platforms, and the more vexed question of how to engage a new generation of viewers who simply expect more from their viewing experience.

Addressing both these problems requires a fundamental rethink of decades-old broadcasting strategy; one that is predicated on viewers having a limited choice over what to watch, and therefore accepting a “good enough” service.

From a technical point of view, for example, it’s not enough to solve buffering problems by adding a delay to live broadcasts. In an age when people follow the latest breaking news – and sport – on Twitter and other social platforms, such an approach often means that a goal or shocking plot twist is revealed within seconds on social media, rather than on the screen.

No-one pretends that there aren’t daunting technical challenges to delivering truly live, seamless streaming, but broadcasters need to find a way to up their game. If they are not doing so already, they need to harness new methods and technologies for optimising the live viewing experience, such as intelligent use of dynamic virtual paths to minimise bandwidth consumption across networks.

There is, however, an even more pressing imperative, which is to create an all-encompassing experience that can revive the old sense of community that existed in the days when linear, analogue TV was the only choice. The “watercooler” is no longer a corner of the office, but any online space where people can discuss the latest drama or sporting event. Broadcasters should look at how companies like Facebook have created ecosystems where programme makers can provide additional content and discussion forums.

One of the keys to creating these new online communities is to engage with the vloggers, YouTube stars, and fan forums who do so much to create the buzz around new programming or live events. It’s more than just creating interest, though: these ecosystems enable broadcasters to engage with viewers on that one-to-one basis, rather than the one-to-many model of traditional broadcast. In doing so, they can find that elusive personal engagement that means so much to today’s audiences – and no need to start a fire to get people talking about your programming.