Not every TV network is going full-bore on streaming. Some networks are more comfortable with linear because they have an older audience.
Yet, with TV ad dollars defecting to connected TV, networks must strike a balance by broadening their reach into streaming to attract younger viewers.
INSP, a TV network owned by a religious nonprofit called Inspirational Network, falls into this category. In 2010, INSP spun off into a for-profit subsidiary of that nonprofit, and, in 2015, it pivoted to programming Westerns. (Turns out religious content isn’t all that popular.)
The network has since seen consistent YOY growth in both Nielsen ratings and revenue because Westerns appeal to a broad (albeit older) audience. Plus, as a for-profit network, it also gets to monetize its content with ads.
“Our revenue model is very much driven by advertising, which has grown substantially over the last decade,” Chief Operating Officer Dale Ardizzone tells me.
Much of that growth centers on linear. Still, INSP is also experimenting with streaming. It launched its own free ad-supported TV (FAST) channel last year.
Boots on the ground
While most other programmers are busy zeroing in on younger audiences, INSP pitches itself as a place to reach an underserved (older) audience – a crowd highly coveted by direct response advertisers, including in the healthcare and insurance categories.
Most of INSP’s viewers are 55 to 60 years old, an age group that hasn’t been so quick to cut the cord compared with younger audiences.
By sticking to linear programming – and doing some heavy self-promotion, including on social media, because INSP isn’t necessarily a household name – viewership numbers have consistently ticked upward over the past decade. The linear channel now reaches around 55 million US households.
“The linear model is still a strong way to reach a mass audience, and we still see INSP’s linear channel as a predominant focus for us in terms of ad revenue,” Ardizzone says.
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According to Ardizzone, the network’s viewers are highly engaged, in part, because many watch cable TV for hours at a time. (Retirement, amirite?)
Howdy, advertisers
But that doesn’t mean streaming is off the table.
The network’s FAST channel is a home for original Western content, which Ardizzone says is bringing in new, younger viewers, although he declined to share specific numbers. Streaming also opens the advertising doors beyond direct response to a much wider array of verticals.
To tap new advertiser demand, INSP sells its streaming inventory programmatically. It doesn’t have an in-house programmatic team, but its distribution partners – which include Tubi, Roku and Vizio, among others – package the network’s inventory with that of other media companies in programmatic deals.
But ad targeting is still linear-like. Fo the most part, INSP sells its FAST inventory based on blocks of time rather than by audience. Because the network is so focused on Westerns, it considers its overall audience to be alike in terms of their interests, Ardizzone says.
INSP can make more ad revenue by charging higher prices for so-called primetime spots rather than selling spots in specific shows or packaging inventory based on target audience.
It’s still too early to judge the success of INSP’s streaming strategy, but the network is confident that introducing streaming will help keep its viewership and ad revenue on an upward trend.
Godspeed.
