On Demand Summit: Execs Want Ad Gains and Innovation

Cable's desire to improve the free on-demand business by increasing ad revenue and giving consumers more Netflix-like options was on display at a distribution-focused panel session at the On Demand Summit Wednesday.

Rebecca Glashow, senior vice president of digital media distribution at Discovery Communications, said Discovery and other programmers eight or nine years ago "were forced kicking and screaming" into giving distributors on-demand programs to enhance the value of their digital-video offerings.

Networks knew there wouldn't be an advertising payoff, and worried about driving viewers away from watching ads on their linear channels.

The best hope was to draw new viewers to sample shows on demand, or keep existing viewers happy by providing Discovery content that complements the linear broadcasts without hurting ratings.

Over the last couple of years, Glashow said, on-demand channels have become more viable revenue sources, mostly through deals with providers such as Netflix and Amazon for library fare.

Discovery is careful with those deals to only make relatively older fare available, about 18 months after first broadcast, though. It's mostly for fans who want to "binge" on shows that aren't on the air any more, she said.

Discovery would very much like technology to easily insert ads to catch up to the Internet, making video-on-demand a better business proposition for the networks. It's already a superior video offering than Netflix, with more current and relevant programming firmly integrated into the TV, Glashow said.

David Purdy, vice president of video products at Canadian media conglomerate Rogers Communications, said Netflix tapped into a consumer willingness to pay for on-demand programs -- notably older "catch-up" episodes of TV series -- that cable should have been going after, too.

Consumers are anxious to tap into video vaults such as are held by Discovery, the WWE or the National Football League, he said.