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Gerhard Zeiler, President, WarnerMedia International, US

Transcript:

“The almost 100-year history of TV is a history full of innovations. From the first days of black and white TV to the coloured screen, from the days when we could only choose from a handful of networks to the multi-channel universe of today, from the time where the distribution of the TV signal was restricted to antennas, to the internet streaming of today. And with the innovations came an explosion of creativity and quality.

Despite all of this there are people who believe the best days of TV lay in the past. I couldn’t disagree more. Yes, we are, our industry is, in a face of transformation, with this transformation comes also disruption. But the hunger of people to be informed on what happens in the world, the hunger for new programmes, new relevant stories, live TV events, and to be part of the watercooler-moment has never been bigger.

There has never been a time where more programmes have been produced than today, and more video has been consumed than today. TV today is much more global and much more diverse. Local production, local stories find mass audience far away from home because people want to watch and want to have access to the distinctive relevant storylines regardless of where they have been created.

And in the centre of all of that stands the consumer. We all can watch what we want when we want to watch it, whether live or on-demand. Where we want to watch it, location is irrelevant in today’s viewing and on which device we want to watch it. Whether like our parents, on the big screen in the living room or on our smartphones. Today’s world, today’s TV industry, has a lot of changes, but these changes bring the opportunity for new innovations, better creativity and higher quality. That’s the future of TV the way I see it and that is a bright future.”

James Warburton, CEO, Seven West Media, Australia

Transcript:

“Hi, I’m James Warburton, CEO of Seven West Media in Australia. It is no secret that there has been a dramatic shift in how content is consumed, particularly in the last two years. For years, self-appointed experts have proclaimed television is dying. They are of course wrong, and in many cases biased. TV isn’t dying. It is changing. It’s adapting, to changes in how, where and when people want to watch video content.

The move in many countries to reporting total audience number, including +7 days and BVOD has highlighted the true reach of our medium. Total audience reporting shows that our industry is resilient and still as alive and thriving as ever. With online live streaming and on-demand viewing surging to new heights year after year. Measuring and reporting total audience reflects how people really consume our content, particularly younger audiences.

We should be proud as an industry that we have adapted to meet the audiences where they are and in the way they want to engage with our content, which is increasingly online through the largest screen in the house, via connected televisions.

In Australia, when catch-up viewings in its various forms and live streaming are added, programmes can add hundreds of thousands of viewers, not hundreds but hundreds of thousands. It is time to be proud of the unmatched power of television total audience numbers.”

Gabriella Vidus, CEO, RTL Hungary / r-time, Hungary

Transcript:

“There is a disturbance in the force for many advertisers and marketeers as the digital galaxy expands and provides increasingly tempting solutions for the products and services. In times like these, it is worth to remind them that the real force of advertising hasn’t changed when it comes to sales or building brands. It is still called: Television. For a couple of decades, television has always delivered these promises and from a marketeer’s point of view, it is a simple yet powerful one: You will always get what you are paying for.

100% brand-safe, audio-visual premium content, watch by millions of real viewers at the very same time on full screen and measured by independent research companies according to international standards which provides us with the strongest currency on the ad market, maybe the only currency of it. No fraud, no excuses, no scandals, just powerful reach and emotional impact. In a single word: Television.

May the force of television be with us and our partners. Happy World TV Day for all of us.”

Alexey Tolstogan, CEO, National Advertising Alliance, Russia

Transcript:

“Hi, everyone, hi from Moscow! I am Alexey Tolstogan. I’m glad to speak on behalf of the largest Russian TV seller – National Advertising Alliance.

In an old Oscar-winning Russian movie from the sixties there was a line: “Soon there will be no cinema, no theatre, no books, no newspapers – only one endless television.”

Time goes by. Only a couple of years ago we could hear that TV was losing its position and the process was unstoppable.

Today, we could say that it’s a Renaissance time for the TV industry. Especially during the pandemic, TV serves as a trusted and reliable source of information.

And now, in the post-pandemic world, TV plays an essential role in the modern media ecosystem!

It impacts brand metrics, it drives sales! It demonstrates the biggest long-term effect on advertising campaigns versus all other media platforms.

This is absolutely true for the Russian market as well.  And TV is a basic channel of any media mix in Russia.

A lot has been said about the competition between TV and digital. However, one cannot exist without the other. TV has a huge halo effect on the whole media mix of the campaign. Without TV, all other channels lose up to 50% of their efficiency.

Moreover, TV provides a powerful boost of trust for the brand. And it also spreads like a halo on all other platforms.

Now in the consumer-centric era TV advertising help to move TV content to new formats, driving economy and creativity! So let’s be proud of being a part of this process!

And don’t forget: the sun always shines on TV!”

Gian Paolo Tagliavia, CEO, Rai Pubblicità, Italy

Transcript:

“Actually, broadcast TV is a kind of miracle, if you think about it. At the same time millions of people do exactly the same thing and we know something about it in Italy when the Maneskin became an overnight sensation by winning the European Song Contest or when our national team of female football became an element of national pride, when they played in prime time on Rai 1 during the World Cup in France.

So, these elements gave people something to share, to talk about, to have in common and that is increasingly important in a society that is fragmented and at times it’s even divided, and this is something that is very, very important, not only for broadcasters or for content creators but for companies and brands that need a safe space where to articulate their storytelling and where to tell the general public what their core values are and basically what they stand for and what they are doing practically to fulfill their promise.

This ability to interact and to shape the general public is really the magic of broadcast television. We could say that: if it doesn’t happen on TV, it really doesn’t happen and the other way around if it happens on TV, it does really happen.”

Marinella Soldi, President, Rai, Italy

Transcript:

“When world television day was established, in 1996, on the initiative of RAI, the Italian public service broadcaster, the United Nations strongly believed television was going to live a long life and to keep playing a major role in peoples’ lives. And as you know, they were right.

In 25 years, TV has changed dramatically and even unpredictably, but some things have stayed the same: Whether you watch on an old tv set or on a smartphone, whether you choose live, linear or on demand, nothing makes your heart beat like video.

No matter how young or how old you are, tv provides us with the widest range of emotions:

• fear at twisted fictional plots,
• amazement at the wonder of documentaries,
• elation at reality shows,
• shock at hard news,
• joy or desperation at sports cliff-hangers.

In 2000 some experts foresaw the end of the TV, but simply those two letters T and V changed to signify Total Video: choose any place, any time to watch content, on multiple and even simultaneous devices. Data and algorithms create an increasingly ‘tailored for me’ tv experience.

And although viewing behaviours are much more fragmented, the number of tv households worldwide has been increasing by 17% in the last ten years and is expected to exceed the current 1,7billion in the near future.

The Tv Screen still has a central role in our home and in our heart. Every day, here, in Europe, 78% of us watch television on a tv set, the overall tv market is steady, over 210 million units sold per year.

The TV screen is still an object of research and development: it has become smart, flat, hyper, augmented and bigger! More than 5 inches of growth in five years, thanks to higher resolution. And, in its most futuristic realizations it is still an object of design and of desire.

With such an emotional and powerful media, we have a great responsibility as a public broadcaster, to our audience and stakeholders, and grateful that it pushes us towards the highest quality, credibility and creativity.”

Marek Singer, CEO, Prima TV, Czech Republic

Transcript:

“Is the future of professional video ad-funded or subscription based? That is the question of today. But is it the right question we should be discussing going forward? I find the argument too black and white and missing one key point. How about asking the end-consumer what does he want? Is he happy with the current product discovery experience? I would argue that the current average length of content search on any global SVOD platform suggests it cannot be yet the winning model for video viewing of the future.

The same goes for free TV channels with loads of ads not even targeted to my needs. I believe this fight between linear TV and global SVOD platforms is just a foreplay. But it will accelerate a creation of a new hybrid total-video models. Technologies will enable much more customisable models, allowing every end-consumer to choose the right proposition according to his content needs and spending limits. But it won’t be driven only by global SVOD platforms with one size fits all approach. We shall also see local smart solutions arising, fulfilling many still unsatisfied consumer needs. A change for innovative, local players to define their VOD future.

Therefore, we should anticipate creation of Total Video 2.0, video world that is much more colourful and exciting than the world today.”

Khalik Sherrif, CEO, e-tv Group, South Africa

Transcript:

“Television as a medium will remain strong because at the heart of television is content. What has changed in the recent past, is that the methodology of how the content gets delivered has become easier. Technological advancements have been made to ensure that content can be distributed, content can be delivered to households, to telephones, to PCs, and to television sets, much easier than before. The barrier to entry into television has become much easier.

It means that the content access, or access to content, has evolved, and people can get content wherever they are. As long as we TV people understand that, as TV companies, as long as we understand that we need to adapt our content to get to our audience in whichever methodology there is, whether it be digitally, whether it be through the traditional means of getting TV across, we need to adapt. And that is the resilience of television. We have been able to adapt, because we understand the one maxim in television: A nation gets the TV it deserves.

Now having said that, that is how it used to be in television, a nation gets the TV it deserves. But, because of delivery mechanisms now, that has changed. A nation now gets the TV it wants and when it wants it and how it wants it. So, what we should do, as television businesses, we should adapt to find ways in how we can reach our audience, where to find them. Because, what we have proven over time, is that the best experience of consuming video is on the couch. But it’s available on your phone, it’s available on your PC, on your laptop, it is also available on your television. The challenge is that there are so many companies now bringing you content, and easily so, the only differential that will allow television to remain at the heart of the home is: Is your content relevant? Is it what your audience want to watch? And if you remain comparative with content, you will remain the best medium strong. Long live television. Thank you.”

Stefano Sala, CEO, PubIitalia ’80 – Gruppo Mediaset, Italy

Transcript:

“Welcome to egta community,

Speaking about television, TV is the accountable medium – always measurable from its very beginning. The first mass-medium to offer accountability and measurement at scale, thanks to initiative lead by local joint-industry committees, globally and for decades.

TV has never feared full transparency and accountability when it came to its audience performance. And this approach has been recognised by the market and by advertisers, to the point that it’s clear to everyone, everywhere in the world, that TV is the medium with the highest ROI in short and the long-term, both on sales and on profits. Transparency and ROI are indeed the two reasons why TV’s resilient, even in the digital era, proving to be key in the recovery after recession, growing double digit, catching up with the pre-covid investments.

Furthermore, TV is leading its digital transformation toward the world of connected television, entering a new and exciting youth. 01:10 Advertisers and the agencies are attracted by the opportunity to plan the medium with the highest reach with the targeting of addressable television. Stimulating local JICs to evolve audience measurement to new frontiers, pursuing its accountability even in the new connected cross-screen age.

Eventually, TV is the medium working across the entire marketing funnel, ranging from branding to performance, delivering not only results but also clear and recognised KPIs, soon including Total Video currencies. Welcome to the world of augmented TV!

Ciao egta!”

Kim Poder, EVP & Chief Commercial Officer, NENT, Nordics

Transcript:

“When commercial TV was introduced in the Nordics in the 90s it was considered relevant only for advertisers or brands with a proven success. TV was, so to speak, an exclusive club for those members, those marketeers that could afford the big national campaigns and many new and interesting brands would simply rule out TV. And consequently, they would never realise their true potential. Today we of course we still see the traditional and global brands using TV and video to generate reach and to take category ownership.

But nowadays, the client list is a lot more fragmented, with advertisers across all life stages, including both DTC and non-DTC brands, who experience significant business outcomes as a result of scale, legitimacy, halo effect that TV and video advertising delivers.

Traditional media plans suggest that brand should wait until they are more established before advertising on TV. But studies nowadays show that it is actually some of the young brands that reap the most benefits from accelerating that path into TV and video. Those brands who believe they have something new and exciting to our consumers. Those products that our viewers are keen on trying before our neighbour or our friends. 

So why have we seen this change? First of all, we benefit from the many years of research conducted, research going into understanding how and when TV and video is relevant and when it pays off. That has obviously increased efficiency, but it has also taught us how new businesses and products can use TV and video marketing in an efficient way.

Secondly, technology and digitalisation are as important as research. With the introduction of addressable TV, AVOD, retargeting, frequency cap, etc. etc. all types of advertisers can now optimise the use of TV and video with high return on investment.

Those who were preaching TV’s death were wrong, luckily. And there is no longer a discussion if TV but how TV.”