Disruption Is Live And Very Confusing

Michael Hedges April 16, 2019 Follow on Twitter

Shocking, just shocking research is pouring in about the real world of television. Media watchers are completely gripped. Broadcasters are on the edge of the seats. It’s like watching Game of Thrones.

A YouGov survey of German TV viewers, released this week (April 16), shows that 18 to 34 year olds - oft referred to as Millennials - are really into streaming and REALLY into Netflix. Among that long preferred age group for trend watchers, 70% “use at least one of the most popular platforms once a week”: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Sky Go & Select and the public TV ARD and ZDF media libraries. The YouGov study is titled Battle of the Streaming Providers and the report is headlined “2019 is the year of disruption in the television industry.” Cue that theme music.

Netflix has won the streaming TV brand war in Germany. Among the beloved Millennials 33% use Netflix at least once a week, up from 3% in 2015. Amazon Prime Video is second. There is a demographic difference: people over 35 years - referred to as “older people” - are equally attached to the public broadcaster’s streaming services and Amazon Prime Video, though Netflix is rising.

And the platforms are differentiated: very important for branding. Series and films are the domain of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Public broadcasters ARD and ZDF attract streaming viewers with documentaries. Sports shows are “owned” by Sky Go & Select. Other categories from cooking shows to comedy and reality to music seem not to attract streaming viewers.

But German Millennials are feeling slightly overwhelmed. A plurality - 58% - said there are “just too many streaming platforms.”

The YouGov German findings conflict, somewhat rudely, with the massive Eurodata TV Worldwide study of television ratings across 94 countries through 2018. “TV is in good health and is also benefitting from new consumer practices,” said the agency’s vice president Frédéric Vaulpré in the release statement (April 8) to coincide with the MipTV trade fair. In 2018, said the report, average daily viewing time was 2 hours and 55 minutes, one minute less than 2017. Time spent before the TV screen in North America dropped 9 minutes while gaining 3 minutes in Asia.

Analyzing thousands of data bits, not to forget thousands of shows, the Eurodata TV study shows a healthy climate for reality/talent shows and comedy. Documentaries are doing well, too. Perhaps there is a divergence between traditional TV viewers and the streaming Millennials.

Back to Germany, where there is an existential answer to every question. Regional regulator Berlin-Brandenburg Media Authority (MABB) was looking into whether or not live video streams on bild.de, website of newspaper Bild, are television and, therefore, constrained to regulation. The Berlin-Brandenburg High Administrative Court (OVG) rejected (April 4) the complaint brought by MABB against publisher Axel Springer, which a lower court also rejected.

Last year the MABB classified certain streamed video programs on the bild.de website as broadcasting and, therefore, in need of a license. The shows in question offer viewers the opportunity to comment on what they are seeing in real-time.

The OVG judges effectively kicked the can down the road, reported horizont.de (April 4), saying the legal distinction between licensed broadcasting and license-free online media is “unclear and highly controversial.” Therefore, point to Axel Springer. MABB director Anja Zimmer said the regulator will appeal the decision as the OVG “essentially only clarified legal issues,” quoted by Tagesspiegel (April 5). “We had hoped that the OVG would make a substantive decision on the licensing of live streams and thus ensure legal security for many thousands of live streamers in Germany.”

At almost the very same time, Bavarian media regulator BLM ruled that a YouTube channel produced by an individual needs a broadcasting license, reported public broadcaster DeutschlandFunk (April 9). The issues were the number of site viewers, more than 500, and regularity. “The more regularly a program is broadcast, the more likely it is a broadcasting license is required,” said a BLM statement. “Broadcasting a promotion only once or sporadically will generally not require broadcasting approval.”

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