IAMCR 2004 - The Consequence of Digital TV for the Brazilian Media Professional

THE CONSEQUENCE OF DIGITAL TV FOR THE BRAZILIAN
MEDIA PROFESSIONAL
Sara Melissa Müller
Bachelor degree in Social Communication - FURB, Blumenau, SC,
Brazil Specialization in New Medias, Radio and TV - FURB,
Blumenau, SC, Brazil
Professor at UNOESC, SC, Brazil.
Address: Alberto Müller Street #87, Formosa Village, ZIP 89023-040, Blumenau, SC, Brazil
Telephone: +55 (47) 322-0387 / + 55 (11) 3742-1101 / Fax: +55 (47) 336-0680
E-mail: saramuller17@gmail.com
Abstract  We live in a period of transformations, even changes in the paradigms, and today
it is not possible to think about communication and media the same way we used to, for the
technology manufactured has caused an immense revolution. Parallel to this, we have the
new context brought by Digital TV, where the media planner will have an influence on the
interaction of the public with the programs, causing a great change in the behavior of the
viewers. This will not only revolutionize the edited content but the way this communication is
used. This article has the objective of investigating the opinion of the media professional of
the city of Sao Paulo about the implantation of Digital TV in Brazil, and the consequence of
this change for the media planner in this new context. The media professionals must be
prepared to meet this challenge. The transformation has already begun, since we are seeing
hybrid models of SKY and DIRECTV (both paid TV networks) here in Brazil.
Keywords – audience, interaction, media planning, media professionals, Digital TV in Brazil
1

1 - INTRODUCTION
Interaction with television truly means a revolution and will change the concept of
audience, but this process demands time for a complete consolidation. Meanwhile the media
needs to consider the so-called “mother media” 1
. According to Santomauro (2001) it is
impossible not to consider because it continues, among other things, to impact and penetrate
this industry.
The challenge surfaces: we have to make creative plans, more creative using innovation.
And that’s were the strategist’s roll begins. He has to mix the “mother media” with new
medias, and use this in a way no one has ever done before – or at least try. It is extremely
difficult to foresee what the future has in store for the media in general. We observe the
advances that happen today, and imagine what will happen in a near future, but the difficulty
lies in the fact that sometimes, changes are daily.
It is important that the publicity market changes its operation form, and changes quickly.
With all this revolution the importance of the media professional will grow because he detains
information, and today, information is everything.
Therefore the objective of this article is to investigate the opinion of media professionals
of Sao Paulo about the implantation of Digital TV in Brazil and the consequence of this
change for the media strategist, in this new context.
The media has conquered the attention, curiosity, preoccupation, and above all, the
importance of the communication scenario. The media has needed and still needs to follow
the drastic changes that communication means suffered, influenced by the arrival of Internet,
cable TV and now the Digital TV. Another important aspect of the media professional’s life
are the smaller budgets, this makes the importance even greater for he has to decide where to
invest the client’s money.
2 – SURVEY DESCRIPTION AND METHODOLOGY USED
For this article, the theoretical fundaments where found through exploratory bibliography,
for the former Qualitative Descriptive Survey using interviews with media directors of the big
agencies in Sao Paulo, in January of 2003, previously selected, that represent the expression
of the brazilian market.
1
– “Mother Media” means a media plan that uses means and vehicles that the mother of any of us would use (Neto, 1998).
2

The sample chosen was intentional, according to the researcher’s own criteria, and is
formed by nine media professionals from the Sao Paulo area, for the following reasons:
• They are directors of the media departments of the biggest agencies in Brazil or
businessmen of the communication area
• They are custodians of big accounts and are responsible for the media of big clients
national or multinational
• Work or have worked in the ten biggest agencies of Brazil
• Are known as a “reference” to other media professionals
Five of these professionals work in the ten biggest brazilian agencies, according to
“Investimento em Mídia”, that was researched from January to December of 2002, by
“Ibope Monitor”, except the “Popular” agency (which is new and segmented in the
market), “Fallon” (multinational agency with only two years in the market) and “Dainet”
(media company that has nine years in the market).
In this group there also is the president and ex-president of the Media Group of Sao
Paulo (MG), and some have been awarded or nominated the “Caboré” Media Award.
A wide professional experience is present in all nine interviewed media professionals , for
they have an average work time of 24 years (from 17 to 39 years). All have at least worked in
three different agencies, and unanimous in affirming that they grew slowly in the industry.
TABLE 1
Interviewed Media Professionals
Media Professional Present Company Job
Antônio Rosa Neto Dainet Multimídia e
Comunicações
President
Consultant-Media Director
Ângelo Franzão Neto McCann –Erickson Exectutive Vice-President and Media
Director
Paulo Stephan Talent Comunicação e
Planejamento
Main Media Director
MG President
Daniel Barbará DPZ Propaganda Commercial and Media Director
MG Ex-President
Maria Lucia Cucci Salles D’arcy Media Vice-President
Paulo Gregoraci Fallon PMA Business Director
MG Ex-President
Sandra Vaiano Carillo Pastore Euro RSCG Main Media Director
Sérgio Bairrada das Neves Popular Comunicação Main Media Director
Professor at ESPM
Ana Lúcia Fugulin Consultoria
Ex-DPZ
Consultora de Mídia
Professor at ESPM
3

3 – RESULT ANALYSIS
The implantation of Digital TV should have already happened in Brazil. Although it may
be slow and take more than a generation to be totally implanted. The traditional mission of the
media planner is based on the quantitative focus, Gross Rating Points (GRP), where the
consumers were defined exclusively by social and demographic profile. Nowadays,
consumers are detailed rather by behavior patterns, psychographic data, habits, attitudes; all
media channels are considered part of the process with no preconceived definitions, in other
words the focus became qualitative. And for this we have the qualitative softwares available
in the market such as:
• TGI (Target Group Index) - Ibope: group of information about the brazilian consumer,
social-economic profile, consumer habits, media consumption, opinions, attitudes and
daily activities.
• Sisem Suite - Marplan: open data bases that make it possible to evaluate the behavior
of the target in relation to a combination of means. Also detects niches of information
interest and permits the knowledge of consumption os products/services inside
objected markets. Permits analysis such as multiperiods, molding by base, new
reports of media plan simulation.
• Tom Micro - Marplan: this software is more complete if compared to Sisem, having
analysis tools, as for segment, correspondence analysis, audience superpositioning,
planning, simulation and media optimization (mono and multimedia).
For the average brazilian, TV is the main leisure activity, therefore the most bought
communication mean. According to Marplan, TV penetrates 98% of the brazilian population
(Mídia Dados 2003, page 154), and is responsible for the majority of the publicity
investments if compared to the other means of communication, despite this fact is has grown
from 57,2% in 2001 to 58,7% in 2002 of the publicity’s investment of Brazil (Mídia Dados
2003, p. 56). Brazilian TV gets a bigger piece of the budget if compared to other countries
worldwide, such as Mexico, Italy and Holland (Mídia Dados 2003, p. 559). Brazil is a very
unique country, reflecting the national identity. And open TV has faced lots of competition
from the other medias, so it’s a matter of survival to evolve as quickly as possible with this
possibility of Digital TV in Brazil.
4

For some of the interviewed people Digital TV demands a certain level of education, a
differentiated level of intellectuality, very close to the Internet and paid TV. Furthermore,
SKY and DIRECTV already have some hybrid models on air, preparing the viewers for
Digital TV in the open channel system.
The satellite paid TV network – SKY – began broadcasting, in November of 2003, an
advanced system of taped digital images (SKY+) similar to TIVO and REPLAYTV, both
available in the American market. With it the viewer can program in a very simplified way the
recording of his favorite attractions on TV or tape one program while he watches another, or
even still use the live pause, that allows the person to pause the program that he is watching
and start watching again from the point where he stopped, as the equipment continues to
record the following scenes. This service is intentionally known as the PVR (personal video
recorder). DIRECTV also released, in November a system called DPVR, that consists on a
software installed in the signal decoder boxes. The subscriber can use the decoder to program
the recording through the videocassette, differently than SKY whose solution is built-in the
decoder. Thus Brazil will be the first country from Latin America and the fifth country of the
world to have such a system (Meio e Mensagem, Nov. 10th
, p. 34).
“Nowadays the viewer has an extremely passive relation with the television. Turns it on
and there it is, receives a message and doesn’t interact with it; this is the standard we have
today. From the moment you can program yourself – and the mechanism knows you like news
– it will search the information editing your programs, when you get home at 10 PM and in
only one hour see all you like, totally changes your habits, and that’s where the media
professional and the communication vehicles come in, because if we are to buy anything,
there’s always got be someone selling it.”
In Claudio Zibenberg’s article (2003), “The discussion in the US is if the networks should
really broadcast digital content, since there are few people willing to have Digital TV for the
moment.” Zinbenberg questions if the consumer is ready to take on effort to watch TV or
continue for some more time to be called a couch potato.
Today television is an object of entertainment. An adult from 30 to 40 years old is a
passive viewer, according to some of the interviewed people. It is important to know the
amount of interest of the consumer in the interactivity, does he have interest in shopping,
playing and having several channels to interact with on a television. In Europe, mainly in
England where the Digital TV is segmented; it is used mostly as a shopping channel. “There
are questions, it will take a lot of time before it becomes a mass media, in spite of brazilians
love television, but they truly like television as entertainment. I believe it will take another
5

generation to “turn on” this business, to integrate interactivity in your life.” “While the
people don’t stop watching television, in other words, forget about it, we won’t have it
completely, that’s why I believe we have to wait a generation come before it catches on”.
For most the interviewed people the digital consumer’s profile is multimedia, because he
watches TV, is on the Internet, listens to the radio, reads a paper, in summary does several
activities at once. And the young people have all these characteristics. These opinion formers.
These are the ones who have aversion to passiveness. Speaking with the new generation
“imagine us, media professionals, in the world, I am speaking from Brazil, with this big
problem” that Digital TV is.
“Today we live with a one-way information highway, you only send it, and the interaction
brought by the Internet and all other digital means, made a two-way information road,
making the way back a lot easier. You send and receive at the same time. Which goes from
the communication satisfaction index to the effective response of the consumer. For instance
you have a commercial, and if it can’t provoke an immediate sale, real time, it is eliminated.
Meaning that you will constantly be evaluated. Internet in some way has already done this”.
Consequently “the media professional will live in an extremely intense market, being
constantly evaluated on Digital TV, […] then you realize that the mere possibility of realizing
a deal in an immediate way, making everything more dynamic than nowadays”.
There will be a revolution in the concepts, formats and models of the media. Digital TV is
a big business that is inevitable, will enter the industry, matter of time, but will cause a great
revolution. “I think Digital TV will change lots of things. Technicians are saying that there
will be a reengineering of the media itself. There will be a convergence, divergence, there
will be complete changes. There will be a need for theoretical knowledge, more researches,
more investment in technology to know about consumer’s behavior, how he buys between the
several different medias. So I think there will be a great expenditure in human labor, and
technical, to manage to accompany the changes that will happen in the next 5 years. A lot will
change I can even imagine how it will be”.
In Brazil the communication industry is not in a favorable position, in economic terms,
contrary from the American market, that has already determined the period for the change of
the television sets. “In the US they released the Digital TV 4 years ago and the technological
results were zero, the television cost was 5 times the normal cost. It started at 5 or 6 thousand
dollars”. “A set that didn’t show any improving neither in the image quality neither in the
options of content. So the worlds’ largest economy is discussing which system it will use. And
Brazil still hasn’t decided, but all logic points out that the best system of the world is the
6

Japanese. And the US prefers to die, but won’t buy the Japanese system. So in fact they are
gaining time to develop an alternative system”. “In Brazil the project is a little superfluous,
since the matter is merely economical. If the US hasn’t resolved this problem yet, […] I don’t
know if we will, time will tell. The first indications are the worst possible, especially if we will
have the budget to support the productions for the free channels. In cable it is another
dynamic of revenue. But in the open channel TV broadcasting we won’t have enough money
to finance so many channels”. “You will be able to do so many things that what we know
today will 100% junk”.
When questioned about the effects of the political uncertainty of the implantation of
Digital TV in Brazil in the daily work if the media, it is a consensus that the media is parked.
But in the future, lose everything, when other countries advance over it: “The fear is that later
we might have to take a summer course to learn quickly what takes ten years to learn”.
The digital television model has to be discussed by all parts of society because it
determines what system will be broadcasted for many years. In the past, society opted for a
colored system called PalM, that is basically brazilian. This was hazardous for the whole
national industry, because it has an additional conversion cost. According to Valim in an
interview for the Meio Mensagem Journal (22nd
of March 2004, p. 10) “The government is
doing a great process of the understanding of alternatives and a broad discussion, that sets
what is best for Brazil. We as a country with short budgets, we need to chosen a model that
doesn’t waist any more money in an exclusive product for Brazil. I think we need to opt for a
model that has a global scale, like the cell phones. In any situation the digital model will need
a conversion box. And the cheaper this box is, more it will sell. This is the basic rule”.
This is a historical moment for the medias. There is a lot of experimentation and
speculation, for there is no one specialized in Digital TV. So this is an opportunity for
everyone. “Everybody’s got the chance to be a great communication professional and be
more important than many media professionals that are well established and renowned in the
market, because here comes a new activity platform. Everything is new. How many young
professionals are showing themselves to be very good through the use of the Internet these
days, and even not following information and advice of renowned market professionals”. “I
have 15 and 16 year olds that are true geniuses. Digital TV will force the media professional
to integrate himself with the whole process, a lot more to live with the multiplicity of
information, and will force the connection with the result too. Not that this doesn’t exist
today, but the media professional will know how to evaluate the program, schedule, network,
also through an effective answer index and sales specifically speaking, that is caused by the
7

communication process”.
The actual situation doesn’t allows us to underestimate the consumer neither the
technologies to the point where we think this process will be slow, also because Brazil is the
country of TV. Digital TV is a reality, even if distant, and little by little the professionals and
media vehicles are getting ready for this new form of thinking and making commercials.
Growing by the day, the programs that seek interaction have the biggest audiences, such as
Big Brother, “Linha Direta”, “Voce Decide”, among others. The viewer is trailing the way
towards interactivity and won’t be long before it completely involves the whole TV. It is
important to be prepared to absorb this impact.
4 - CONCLUSION
Humanity lives a period of uncertainties, and it is known that the media professional will
find difficulties if caught going backwards in History. If he doesn’t start to familiarize, he
won’t learn in a week. As difficulties begin with the demands of an effective feedback, market
downsizing, globalization, the fragmentation of the medias and publics, lack of money from
the clients, low wealth distribution, and even worst, external factors like the economic loss
that big communication group are accumulating over the years.
The future can be fantastic for who understands about media planning, and involves the
technological basis, such as softwares, optimizers, for the technology has minimized and
optimized the media planning. And today in the US for example, it is the media professional
that briefs, in many cases, the creative in the agency. Thus it is very important for the media
to know where is it’s consumer. And from there on, creativity is needed.
The research has shown that the market still hasn’t agreed on this new situation for a
change of the paradigm, where the time in the market will not guarantee future jobs. So
everybody’s at the same level. It is not more than 15 years of experience that counts, but the
capability to adapt to changes, sort out the priorities and specially know how to organize
information. The media will have to change its concept about where is its place in the wheels
of publicity communication. Then the challenge is to be alert and want to keep up-to-date and
what will count is the profile of the professional.
8

5 - BIBLIOGRAPHY
ANATEL. Research database. Available at: <http://www.anatel.gov.br>. Accessed: 20
march 2003.
MÍDIA DADOS. Sao Paulo, 2003.
MÜLLER, Sara Melissa. O mídia: a tecla da vez. Blumenau, 2003. Monografia
(Specialist in New Medias, Radio and Television) – Communication and Human Science
Center, Regional University Foundation of Blumenau.
________. Sara Melissa. O planejamento de mídia na TV Digital na visão dos
profissionais de mídia. In: World Congress on Engeneering and Technology Education.
March 14-17, 2004, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
PENTEADO, Cláudia. Zibenberg fala sobre o futuro da mídia. Available at:
<http://np.brainternp.com.Br/templates/ grupodemidia/noticia/print.asp?
Cód_noticia=909&códcanal=22>. Accessed: 20 january. 2003.
VALIM, Francisco. Rota Ascendente. Meio & Mensagem, Sao Paulo, 22 march. 2004.
Ano XXV, n. 1100, p. 10.
PEREIRA, Eliane. Tv à la carte. Meio & Mensagem, Sao Paulo, 10 november. 2003.
Ano XXV, n. 1083, p. 34.
ROSA NETO, Antônio. Atração global: a convergência da mídia e tecnologia. Sao
Paulo: Makron Books, 1998.
SANTOMAURO, Antônio Carlos. Os alquimídias estão chegando. Mídia & Mercado,
Sao Paulo, october. 2001. p. 8-12.
SISSORS, Jack Zanville; BUMBA, Lincoln. Trad. Karin Wright. Planejamento de
mídia: aferições, estratégias e avaliações. Sao Paulo: Nobel, 2001.
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