TVNZ unveils new hybrid to gain online revenue

Photo / Martin Sykes.

Television New Zealand has unveiled a new initiative that merges entertainment and branded content and should provide more revenue from its "On Demand" site.

The state broadcaster revealed the new strand of three-to-five minute entertainment clips, tentatively named "OD Shorts" at a programming launch this afternoon.

The new hybrid combines entertainment clips commissioned by TVNZ and branded content and it is being treated as a significant commercial initiative.

TVNZ sales and marketing director Jeremy O"Brien said OD Shorts was aimed at people using mobile phones and other portable devices, but would also be available to anyone using its on demand site.

TVNZ is reporting increasing streaming of content from its On Demand site and online distribution is expected to supersede traditional media distribution. This means branded content is seen as an important way the revenue raised online.

That is especially the case with the growth of "advertising blocking " technology which shuts out clear cut commercial breaks.

O'Brien said: "We've seen the growth of mobile and the demand for video and we think there is a big demand for short form content" O'Brien said. TVNZ is not alone with the move to branded content," he said.

He predicted that the first clips would be available on the on demand site by the end of the year and expected branded content delivered by advertisers would be available at the "On Demand" platform in early 2016.

He acknowledged that the success of the venture would depend on creating content that stood out as entertainment.

TVNZ would ensure that the content was first and foremost ensured that branded content was not a turnoff for viewers. But the more subtle form of commercial content had to deliver to advertisers.

The TVNZ project had been launched successfully in the Britain by Channel Four on Demand. O'Brien said it had been success and its "shorts" package now accounted for five per cent of output,