Audi launches its own TV Channel

Audi has become the first car maker in the world to launch its own TV Channel.
In order to do so, it first had to gain the first ever self-promotional licence, granted by Ofcom, setting a precedent in broadcasting regulations. Evidence of OfCom being prepared to relax its regulations around advertising funded programming
The company now becomes the first car maker in the world to capitalise on the phenomenal growth of digital television.
It gives the company constant access to over 7.6m homes and nearly 21m individuals. Audi Channel certainly opens-up a new and potentially important communication platform to a wide audience.
The Audi Channel will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The channel cost Audi ?2m to set up and the company is committing $?1m to ?2m a year programming.
Why has Audi taken such a step?

because the decision to extend from advertiser to broadcaster was born of growing frustration with a fragmenting media marketplace and concern that British viewers were spending less time engaging with the brand's television advertising.

I am surprised that more brands have not gone down this route already. Adam Singer convinced me two years ago that the costs of becoming ones own broadcaster were now so low that it was open to all players.
I think its a better way to go than product placement. For sure traditional advertising will not go away, but as we have demonstrated in Communities Dominate Brands a whole new set of marketing tools are required in a non-linear world. As well as a different mindset.
However, marinading advertising content with editorial is always going to be a touchy subject. Though I argue if its done well its a better model for those that are interested, lets say in this instance of buyiing a car.
Watching the Audi channel when one is actively in the market for a new car would be I suspect a more rewarding experience and certainly more informative than a 30 second spot.
And as John Grant said in his book after Image

Image advertising is the junk mail of the 21st Century

Alan Mitchell argues that for a great deal of marketing if it were a thing in its own right would anyone want to buy it? And we all know the answer to that.
So Audi investing in its own collateral makes so much common sense.
Now the challenge is, how does Audi completely move from a "push" model of advertising to one of "pull"?
The Financial Times reported

The extension from advertiser to broadcaster is a big step but one that a growing number of brands are assessing as attention turns from conventional advertising to so-called brand content - entertainment funded by a brand owner that can be exploited across a variety of media platforms: television, radio, live events, mobile phones and the internet.
Carling, for example, is a leading music sponsor and has examined the viability of launching its own music entertainment channel. Sony Europe, meanwhile, is positioning its new PlayStation Portable (PSP) as an entertainment channel in its own right in the UK, where it has recently moved into advertiser-funded television and is now producing television content exclusively for PSP.
Some industry observers see Audi's logical extension of this trend as an indication of things to come

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