An interesting thing happened to writers during the strike. It’s not just that the strike lasted a hundred days (leaving people with more time on their hands than they knew what to do with), or that the Writers Guild of America won their case in gaining residuals from the migration of television to the Web. What happened was something writers may not have expected or envisioned. In venture capital conference rooms and coffee shop meetings, writers began to see themselves, for the first time, as entrepreneurs.
The breakdown of an existing business model is often required to open the doors for a new, innovative paradigm. This is one positive outcome from the writers’ strike. Writers initially ignored the possibility of streaming their medium onto the Web, treating the whole process like a sordid affair studio heads were having behind their backs—until those same writers realized that they could skip marriage (or a contractual relationship) altogether, and form their own relationships by posting their own “ads.”
Of course, questions remain. Will writers’ profits increase or decrease? Will the quality of work that goes straight to Web be bad or good—if good, will the quality of online programming force an improvement in television as well?
The Ad Gain
An article in Broadcast & Cable referenced a study by Forrester Research and the Association of National Advertisers that found TV advertising was moving from running alongside first-run shows, to infiltrating DVR and video-on-demand services. Advertisements will now be embedded in VOD programming and become more interactive. When DVR usage passes 50 percent (the current usage is 23 percent), ad spending in this area will decrease and shift more to the Web. This transition, incidentally, opens up more space that requires “fill”—provided by writers—between ads. According to Accustream Media Research, online video ads are already increasing. Their number doubled between 2005 and 2006; Forrester Research projects online ad spending to exceed $7 billion by 2012, which is a competitive figure in comparison with the $9 billion/season currently spent on TV advertising.
Advertisers constantly return to assessing the viewer’s experience; so far, viewers appear to accept ads before, after, and alongside their content—probably because this placement allows them to seek out the content they choose—as they want it, when they want it, for free. This environment presents an opportunity for writers. Although there are fewer studio jobs in the post-strike world, writers have plenty of online venues for strutting their stuff—and this situation includes those writers who never carried a union picket sign.
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