The See-Saw Fortunes of VOD
A very interesting article by Kate Bulkley (originally published in Broadcast) about the prospects for video-on-demand in the UK. Some good thoughts which are valid well outside the confines of British TV…
Is it time for a serious rethink about video-on-demand in the UK?
There are some winners at the moment, for sure, although not always for the most obvious reasons, and there are some services that are struggling to make their mark.
One thing is clear: online video is growing fast and the success of the iPad will only accelerate that, but as a business proposition, it is still sorting itself out.
BBC iPlayer continues to grow, with a stunning 116 million requests overall in February. But its only requirement is to be accessible and easy to use – not exactly a business model.
For commercial broadcasters, VoD is a more complex equation and there is not yet a consensus about how best to design an online video offering. They need to do it to extend their brands beyond TV and to put a dent in online piracy, but free video online can also take viewers away from linear by trading TV ad dollars for digital pennies.
Even Hulu, the US online video site backed by three of its biggest commercial broadcasters, could soon dump its ad-supported model and become a subscription service. Sky’s chief operating officer Mike Darcy recently criticised the UK terrestrials for “leaping like lemmings” to make online content available for free.
One of the companies currently suffering in this space is SeeSaw. Built on the technical platform assets of the ill-fated Project Kangaroo, SeeSaw’s owner Arqiva paid a reported £8m for it and has since pumped a further estimated £23m into the business. Yet its CEO has just been let go and Arqiva is shopping the service to potential buyers because it will require a lot more funds to get to any kind of scale.
What the SeeSaw sale process underlines is how difficult it is to make it as a standalone business without the power of cross-promotion from a TV channel or some other business model to build the brand and drive traffic. SeeSaw has also struggled to differentiate its offer from the sites of its suppliers, including Channel 4, and has no programmes at all from ITV, which is still sorting out its online offer. When all this is taken into account, any sale price for SeeSaw will likely be only a fraction of what has been invested to date.
And looking to the dominant commercial force in online VoD for lessons doesn’t help. Apple’s iTunes leads the pack, clocking up a 64.5% share of online movie and video purchases in the US in 2010, according to HIS Screen Digest. But Apple makes a negative margin on the content it sells – the iTunes store is more important as a sales tool for its iPods, iPads and Macs than as a standalone profit centre. The VoD sales are just a way of adding more traffic for potential purchasers of its devices.
Online video streaming services like Netflix in the US and Lovefilm in the UK are building their businesses on the back of their subscription postal DVD businesses, but can they transfer that from premium movie content to more standard TV shows?
ITV boss Adam Crozier admitted recently that its online business is “sub-scale”, and he’s right. There is a lot to be won and lost and the battle is only just beginning. Perhaps the biggest challenge is that, even now, no one is sure of the tactics that might help them win.
Read more articles by Kate Bulkley here
More proof that traditional media are still going strong
This report is as much about print media as it is about broadcast, but it’s still very interesting on the subject of the supposed new/social media “takeover”
Big surge in watching TV through “other channels”
New research is showing that an increasing number of US consumers are watching TV using alternative platforms such as a laptop, a mobile phone, a tablet or an OTT device.
This is yet more fuel for the debate about whether “new media” are a threat or an opportunity for traditional TV.
If it’s the case, as this research suggests, that the new devices are becoming additional delivery mechanisms for existing channels, then it must be an opportunity, since presumably the “new” viewers get the commercials along with the content and the TV business model still works.
It becomes a threat only when the new devices don’t just liberate consumers from the big screen and the couch, but encourage them to abandon TV altogether…
Google/YouTube: Friend or Foe for broadcast?
YouTube (owned by Google, of course) has moved further towards the television sector by buying the web production start-up Next New Networks.
This will doubtless crank up the already lively debate among broadcasters about whether new media in general, and YouTube in particular, are Threat…or Opportunity.
DirecTV going on the air this weekend with a 3D channel
DirecTV are maintaining their leading-edge reputation by launching a 3D channel this weekend. They were the first to launch an HD channel and clearly see a business advantage in being first to market. However it’s not clear how many consumers have suitable receiving equipment…nor how much of a 3D content library there is to show.
Read more here…
Royals reject 3D for the big wedding…
The marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton will be a two-dimensional affair…sources say the Royal Family have decided against 3D coverage of the event.
Read the full story here…
BBC revamps technology strategy
Followiong the departure of Erik Huggers, the BBC has lost no time in announcing some changes to the way it approaches technology.
TV audiences…and advertising…on the up and up, say Deloittes
n 2011, television will defy prophecies of imminent obsolescence, viewers around the world will watch 140 billion more hours of television, revenues from pay TV will rise by 20 percent; worldwide TV advertising will increase by $10 billion, and 40 million new viewers will be added.
So says Deloittes in a new report.
3D solved! (Nudge nudge wink wink)
We’ve seen quite a few different technologies deployed to deliver 3D in the home…but this one is both incredibly ingenious and just a bit creepy…see what you think…
So you think traditional TV is doomed?
Despite all the hype about the encroachment of new media, TV viewing in the USA is more than holding its own. As reported in Broadcast Engineering, Nielsen says the average American is watching more TV than ever: 34 hours of TV per person, per week. They also reveal that Fox has overtaken CNN for the first time…