Old media and new media are often uncomfortable bedfellows. The old knows it needs the new but cannot quite give up its stranglehold just yet. And it means both sides are losing out in the money department.
Susan Boyle is the latest star of Britain’s Got Talent and online video. This Scottish diva, who until a few weeks ago was an unknown 47-year-old lady living with her cats, is now a viral video star known the world over.
The Poor Viral Video Star
Just a few days ago we discussed how Boyle had truly taken the world by storm thanks to YouTube. The various clips of her on the site have now been seen by well over 100 million people, and that figure is sure to increase as she makes more appearances leading up to the final of the ITV show.
However, due to some petty squabbling over the type of advertising which should appear against these clips, neither YouTube or ITV have made any money from them. The original clip of Boyle singing I Dreamed A Dream from Les Miserables in front of a shocked Simon Cowell and company may have been seen by more than 40 million people to date, but the lack of adverts on the clip means a huge payday has been missed out on.
An Expensive Disagreement
newspaper reports how ITV and YouTube have been negotiating for weeks over an advertising deal between the two companies. The problem is both sides want different forms of advertising to be used on the clips and neither side seems willing to back down.
ITV wants to have pre-roll video advertising on the clips, which would comprise an ad showing for a certain length of time before the requested clip played. YouTube has never liked pre-rolls although it has sometimes softened from its stance of never using them. It would prefer the ITV clips to have the standard Google text and overlay adverts on them.
ITV Insistent
Ben McOwen Wilson, the director of online for ITV, said:
“We don’t want to be part of YouTube’s standard terms and conditions, because content like Susan Boyle is unique. I think both sides are being hard-nosed and commercial about it.”
A Missed Opportunity
So what has happened? An impasse has occurred where neither side is willing to back down. In the meantime, ITV has insisted that no advertisements be used alongside the Britain’s Got Talent videos while it is still in negotiations with YouTube. The phrase, “cutting your nose off to spite your face,” springs immediately to mind.
The Times estimates this failure to reach an agreement has cost both sides almost $2 million between them. The newspaper comes to this conclusion by stating that advertisers in the States pay $20 to $35 to be seen by 1,000 people, while advertisers in the UK pay between £20 ($30) and £35 ($52) per thousand.
The Bigger Picture
Whether these figures are accurate or not isn’t really the point. It’s clear that both sides are paying dearly for their hardheaded approach to online advertising. Although $2 million isn’t much money to either company, it shows that old media and new media companies are still butting heads rather than putting them together in order to generate revenue collectively.
I wonder if Simon Cowell will have a moan like Pete Waterman did over the Rickrolling phenomenon?
Related Ads
Buy a Susan Boyle T-Shirt on Amazon
