Trends in television viewing
Internet video is creating smiles all around. "Space Alone," by Ilias Sounas, is one of countless animations on MyToons.com.
The current face of entertainment
Online video content is spreading rapidly. According to the comScore Video Metrix report for July 2007, nearly 75 percent of Internet users in the United States watched more than three hours of online video in that month. In total, nearly 134 million Americans viewed a staggering 9 billion streams of video online in July. On average, online viewers consumed 68 video streams, or more than two per day.
This change in viewing habits is carrying over to television. The number of Americans viewing entire television episodes or shows on the Internet has doubled from a year ago, and now close to 16 percent of American households who use the Internet watch television broadcasts online, according to the Consumer Internet Barometer report for the third quarter of 2007, by the Conference Board and TNS.
Broadband media distribution was only a fraction of total media distribution in 2005. In the future, broadband distribution is expected to be worth US$225 billion.
Cooking programs such as Yahoo!'s "Cheap N' Easy" are turning up on video sharing sites. Copyright © 2007 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
The new face of niche broadcasting
The success of The History Channel, the Discovery Channel, The Food Channel, and the Home Shopping Network, among others, heralded a new era in niche broadcasting. Online video sharing sites such as YouTube and Crackle (formerly Grouper) have taken the concept of niche broadcasting to levels undreamed of just a few years ago. With an audience reportedly in excess of 70 million users, YouTube has been the poster child of all that's right and wrong with viral video sites. Multimillion-dollar reality television careers have been launched. Intellectual property rights have been infringed to the chagrin of network television execs and the pleasure of fans of TV programs that once were unavailable….The list goes on.
Old media is learning to leverage the marketing power of viral video. Some sites, as seen on Comcast.net's "The Fan," are repurposing on-air programming for online viewing. B2B sites use topic-specific webcasts as custom solutions to generate revenue from customers less interested in traditional media advertising vehicles.
Independent and large film studios learned just how powerful online trailers can be years ago. The success of the iTunes store showed the world that downloaded music and, more recently, video content, could generate real revenues. Online video on demand could be very popular.
The shape of video to come
Web video that can be downloaded or viewed online will further disrupt old media business models, while presenting broadcasters with exciting new profit-making opportunities. Some of the possibilities include:
- Interactive broadcasts in which viewers can buy products seen onscreen with the click of a button
- Ads that can be refreshed months or even years after a consumer downloaded the video
- Personalized video on demand
- Peer-to-peer marketing
The proliferation of video on mobile devices opens further business opportunities. Eight million people in the U.S. viewed mobile video in August 2007, an increase of 34% over January, according to M:Metrics.
Major studios rely heavily on the Internet to generate buzz. The trailer for "The Spiderwick Chronicles" is now playing in a browser near you. Copyright © 2007 By Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
The unanswered questions
Should you copy-protect your digital assets or decide to make them openly available? What will advertising look like online and on mobile devices? What other business models can be developed around existing and new interactive content? How can you build scalable, cost-effective content creation and delivery workflows?
See also
