Digital DNA » WebTV and IPTV

Young adults watching online video at “near-universal levels”

David — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:39:41 +0000

The rise of online video services has been fascinating to watch. Especially over the last 6 months. Even though video sharing sites like YouTube have lead video consumption online, it is actually the “quality” end of the market (dominated by Hulu in the US and BBC iPlayer in the UK) that has further fueled this growth.

Recent research (by Pew) has found that video watching is nearing epidemic levels among the younger age groups – 9 in 10 internet users in the age bracket 18-29 watch content on video sites. And 1 in every 3 watches video content every day.

The interesting stat I found in this report was that amongst those who watch TV shows or movies online, 23% of them have hooked their computer up to a TV. It is video content that is leading the fabled living room convergence. Make no mistake.

Online video to dominate our living rooms?

David — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 07:25:22 +0000

I was reading NewTeeVee’s quarterly review – it highlights two main facts: (i) we are buying more and more “living room” devices that are capable of playing online video (e.g. set top boxes, games consoles) – projections are for 57 million devices to be sold in 2009 in the US, and (ii) cable operators are sensing a threat and responding with their own authenticated services – e.g. Time Warner and Comcast with TV Everywhere.

This all translates to a healthy and active sector in terms of investment and opportunity. Which is refreshing in the current climate.

I can back this trend up with what we have been experiencing at The Filter over the last few months. Demand for our video recommendations and relevance technologies is at an all time high: whether from content owners, distributors or aggregators, they all have a pressing business need to find intelligent ways of connecting more of their content to their customers. Editorial and popularity-based suggestions are better than nothing, but our experience is that it is only when companies start using consumption data and sophisticated and matured algorithms that they get seriously exciting results in terms of increases in dwell time, video streams per visit and visits.

Normal telly versus webTV

David — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:35:17 +0000

I sit here tonight on my sofa watching the telly. My PVR is polluted with stuff that the kids and my wife have recorded, so I am really left with channel surfing to quench my thirst for entertainment.

So, BBC1… Holby City (poor man’s ER)
BBC2… Coast (about the UK’s coastal cities)
ITV… Ladette to Lady (surely, this is the lowest of the low?)
Channel 4… Big Brother (I was wrong, this is the lowest common denominator stuff)

Ok, not any original or interesting content on right now on the main 4 channels. But, I have Sky, so I will be saved by the plethora of high quality digital channels on offer, won’t I?

Click… Road Wars

Click… Diary of a Mail Order Bride

Click… Britain’s Next Top Model

Click… 10 Years Younger USA

Ok, I give up. I reckon it’ll be easier and quicker for me to find some good stuff on the web. I am now on YouTube and within 2 seconds I find this… an Evian viral ad. It’s an advert and it is more engaging and entertaining than anything I found on the REAL telly tonight. Next time I am sitting here looking for tv entertainment, I will not reach for the remote, but pick up my laptop instead.