Belgian cable operator Telenet wants to discuss targeted advertising with the country’s commercial broadcasters.
Over the past few months, private channels have complained to Telenet about the fact that viewers fast forward commercials on their PVR, thereby depriving the broadcasters of their main source of revenue.
Vincent Bruyneel, head of strategy, wants to find a solution, but does not want to alienate the cabler’s customers, “otherwise people will try to find other ways of accessing the content.”
Bruyneel believes the best way to compensate the broadcasters would be to force customers to watch targeted ads before they request an on-demand programme. “We know who our customers are and what they watch on their set-top,” he told local press.
He also stressed the fact that ad zapping is nothing new and has existed ever since the introduction of VHS videotape recording. At the moment, time-shifted watching only accounts for 5% of total viewing time.
The amount of advertising income has also risen since 2006, the year of introduction of digital TV, from €1.07 billion to 1.446 billion in 2012.
