Turner eyes a move to fan engagement, away from ratings
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Michelle Clancy
| 22 May 2017

Turner Networks is eyeing the benefit of long-tail, digital-style audience building.

Speaking at the MoffettNathanson Media & Communications Summit in New York, Turner chairman and CEO John Martin said that traditional ratings are becoming less and less important to the programmer.

“We're no longer in the Nielsen, day part, CPM game,” Martin said. “We're in the fan engagement business.”

He added: “It’s become increasingly clear to all of us that we need fans, not viewers. That’s a different concept in TV because TV has always been about getting as much reach as you can. I'd rather have a smaller audience that is more dedicated and that loves the products we have, versus casual viewing that may aggregate to greater reach. I think engagement is ultimately going to lead to monetisation.”

Turner has a place in the bouquets of many over-the-top (OTT) providers already, and the skinny TV phenomenon will anchor it’s pivot to fan engagement even more, he said.

“My guess is we’re not going to be able to get ten networks in all of those packages,” Martin added. “But 85% of our affiliate fees are in four networks and 90% are in five. If we can get four or five, we’re in good shape. If that means you could grow the overall pool of subscribers, because aggregate bundles of networks are being bundled in a way that subscribers like better, so they’ll be more subscribers, we’ll be fine.”