RSS Feed
Twitter
zeno
Originally uploaded by jalvear
Archive for December, 2007
We Want More HD Content!
December 20th, 2007 No Comments
I just got a new HDTV set last month and have been enjoying the crisp picture from DVDs, and HD channels from my cable provider. In fact, my HD set has changed how I watch TV.
I now watch HD content almost exclusively. My cable provider Comcast has a decent amount of HD channels and groups them in a separate part of the channel listing, plus I can also search and look at only the HD TV and on-demand channels. So I’ve been ignoring all the SD channels I have (which must be over 70 to 80) in favor of the 20 HD channels I get. In fact, I sometimes prefer watching an HD commercial over actual SD programming! The quality of the picture is so great, it’s almost not worth spending time watching SD content on an HD set.
I watch more HD sports. It’s football season and now I’m watching more football than ever. In recent years I haven’t watched much sports on TV, but now with HD I’ve been watching Sunday and Monday Night Football as well as the NBA. The quality is incredible; it seems like there are actual little men running around in my living room. In fact, a recent survey conducted by Motorola, found that more people (45%) would prefer to watch sports like college and NFL football on a HDTV than in person (32%). Watching in HDTV is almost like being there in person, with with the comfort of being at home and (if you have a DVR) the ability to pause, record and re-wind the action).
I watch HD music. I love all kinds of music, especially live music. I get MTV’s high definition music channel called MHD and watch that very often. It features live concert footage of artists like Bon Jovi, Alicia Keys or MTV concerts in HD format. 
The quality of the concert footage is simply stunning. The lights and sounds and crisp images make it seem like you’re live at the venue. Unfortunately, when I tried to watch music videos on Comcast’s on-demand menu, they were all SD quality. There was no option for HD music videos. Where can I find them? Surely artists are filming their videos in HD, so why can’t I find them?
Planet Earth. I can’t stop watching the Discovery series Planet Earth, a mini-series documentary that took over five years to film. The filmmakers used HD cameras exclusively to capture the majesty of the Earth’s planets, seas, and animals. It was simply made for HD. The other day I watched a slow-motion, high-speed video of a shark attacking a seal. And it was breathtaking to see the clarity, the detail of each split second. This kind of made for HD programming is what viewers want to see.
In sum, I want more HD content. What I have is simply not enough. And SD content seen on an HD set just looks crappy and fuzzy and out of focus. I can’t wait until everything on TV is HD.
Bridging the PC-TV Gap
December 19th, 2007 No Comments
Nick Wingfield from the Wall Street Journal writes about how no one’s really figured how to watch Internet video on TV sets. So far, products like Apple TV and Akimbo haven’t reached mass usage for a number of reasons such as they’re hard to use, hard to install, high cost and low value proposition because content can be found elsewhere.
Wingfield goes through the problems and talked to vendors to discuss possible solutions. For example, the problem of too many set-top boxes. Consumers need to know that a new stand-alone box gives them something they can’t get anywhere else. Things like new high def DVD players have the potential to keep a coveted place underneath the TV set. Also, game systems like PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 act as set-tops since they can download music and movies.
The solution to this is incorporating features into existing devices or one new converged box. However, there’s no consensus on what that box might be. Will it be Tivo? A cable box with a DVR and Internet functions?
According to Scientific Atlanta, cable companies may end up winning this battle. Cable and satellite TV providers already provide the majority of DVR devices to U.S. consumers, so it seems possible that Internet connectivity will soon be a part of set-tops. Kip Compton, general manager at Scientific Atlanta said that cable companies will begin rolling cable boxes that can access Internet video next year.
However, others believe that cable companies won’t want to do this because consumers will be able to watch TV free by accessing content on the Internet. And that may impact their revenue.
Cable and satellite companies, however, need to think beyond their quarterly earnings cycle and think longer term. Consumers will be happier and increased usage in Internet video may mean better integration of digital media advertising and may spur other revenue that we haven’t even thought of.
IPTV services may have the biggest jump. In the U.S. AT&T’s U-Verse and Verizon’s FiOS TV services use IP networks to deliver broadcast TV programming. So integrating other IP features should be relatively easier than it would be for cable or satellite providers.
So far, however, IPTV providers are just ramping up in the U.S. so they’re just trying to roll out broadcast and VOD services and gain new customers. Advanced Internet features aren’t yet a big part of IPTV, either in the U.S. or the rest of the world where IPTV is much more mature.
Cable Penetration Dropping in U.S.
December 14th, 2007 No Comments
An analysis by the Television Bureau of Advertising found that cable penetration fell to 61.3% of all TV households compared to 62.1% last year. That’s the lowest that cable penetration has been since February 1990.
It’s not a big drop, but it’s a sign that other broadcast TV providers are gaining. There’s no information on how the Internet other VOD systems are affecting cable penetration rates, but it’s likely there’s some cause-effect here.
Meanwhile, satellite and other TV providers are gaining on cable. So called “alternative delivery systems” went from 24.5% last year to 28% this year. Broadcast satellite is the leader in this category with an estimated 27.6% of TV households, up from 24 percent a year ago.
The study didn’t look at IPTV specifically, but it should be among the alternative systems since it’s usually delivered via fiber or DSL. But in the U.S. IPTV deployments have been rather small still, unlike Europe or Asia where IPTV is growing at a very fast rate.
AT&T and Verizon are now battling cable and satellite providers with their IPTV offerings in many states and communities, but so far their subscriber numbers are pretty low. AT&T’s U-Verse offering has about 126,000 subscribers, while Verizon’s FiOS TV has about 515,000 as of the end of the second quarter 2007.
[tags] cable penetration, cable TV, cable, satellite, IPTV [/tags]
Bonus: Press release from the TV Bureau of Advertising.
Posted in Satellite Dropping Tivo for Cable HD DVR
December 14th, 2007 No Comments
I recently got a new HDTV for my living room and that means a re-evaluation of my DVR.
Currently, I own a Series 2 Tivo which I’ve had for about a year or so. Previously, I owned a Panasonic ShowStopper ReplayTV that served me for about 5 years. (Yes, I came to the Tivo party late, but I think using DVRs other than Tivo gives me some good background and experience with DVRs.)
So now that I’m using HDTV, I got HD cable from my provider Comcast. So I had to upgrade my cable box and also decided to add on an HD DVR so I can record HD programming. It was just an extra $5 a month for the HD DVR and it gave me 30 hours of HD recording. Not a bad deal. The Comcast HD DVR works OK, but the interface and design isn’t as friendly or sophisticated as Tivo.
Nevertheless, I decided to use both DVRs. My SD Tivo is hooked up on one input on my TV, and the Comcast HD DVR is connected via HDMI to get me that clear digital HD picture. It’s working great so far. I can switch back and forth between HD Comcast and SD Tivo.
But as I started to watch more HD, I quickly realized one thing: I probably wouldn’t be using my Tivo much anymore. Why use my Tivo when it can only record in SD? The SD picture quality looks awful on my new HDTV set. It’s like being an expensive stereo, and only listening to AM radio.
An HD DVR is practically a necessity once you get an HDTV. But Tivo’s Series 3 DVR is too expensive. And the new Tivo HD ($300) just doesn’t have the features I expect in a Tivo product.
Even though I’m still using both DVRs at the same time, I realize I won’t keep my Series 2 Tivo much longer. I do still have lots of TV shows recorded on my Tivo that I’ve been meaning to watch. At the same time, all those unwatched shows are somewhat of a burden. These shows have been patiently waiting for me to watch them, but I choose to let them sit in Tivo purgatory.
An article at PC Magazine crystallizes my sentiments. The writer, Sascha Segan says that they’re leaving Tivo and getting a cable HD DVR. Why? Essentially it comes down to economics. Tivo’s Series 3 HD DVR costs $800 plus monthly fees of $20 vs. cable which is free and $5 monthly fee. (See the article “So Long, TiVo; Hello DVR“.)
Here’s a good quote:
Trust me. If I’m leaving TiVo, it’s in trouble. This breaks my heart; TiVo has always been friendly, innovative, fun, and easy to use. It should be celebrated, not abandoned. It’s a verb, for heaven’s sake. But by turning into a luxury product, it’s consigned itself to the quiet fringes of a bustling TV world.
Okay since that was written, the Series 3 Tivo has gone down in price somewhat ($600 rather than $800) but it’s still not enough. It’s still a luxury item. And a luxury item that I can’t afford to buy right now. Guess I’ll be using my cable company’s DVR for a while.
Bonus: Take the poll on HD DVRs.
[tags] HD, HDTV, Tivo, Comcast, satellite TV, digital video recorder, DVR, HD DVR [/tags]
Tivo Making Friends with Advertisers
December 13th, 2007 No Comments
The New York Times has a story about how Tivo is finally making in-roads with advertisers, after many were initially mad at the company since it allowed viewers to fast-forward through ads.
In recent years, Tivo has been moving away from being a technology company that had to deal with hardware and subscriptions into a media/ratings company that is dealing with services.
How has it made this change?
- Creating a DVR Ratings Service. Its recently unveiled Stop|Watch service allows advertisers to track “second by second” movements by DVR viewers. This gives a more accurate count of who’s watching ads, how many people skip ads, most popular Season Pass shows and other top-rated shows. Tivo says its DVR ratings service has a larger panel than Nielsen’s (20,00 vs. 3,000). NBC recently became a subscriber.
- Partnering with Advertisers. Rather than becoming enemies with advertisers, Tivo has grown into a media partner, giving them new ways to promote their products to their users.
- Creating New, Effective and Creative Ad Solutions. Because Tivo breaks new ground, it must also change how it advertises. As such it has created numerous new advertising buys including:
- End of Show Text Ads. When a show ends, viewers are shown a short one line ad about a new show that they might want to watch. Or some other product that comes with a pre-downloaded video that viewers can watch for more information.
- Thumbs Up/Record From Commercial. If you happen to watch (or fast forward through) commercials, you can see a thumbs up icon pasted on top of the screen. This allows viewers to hit their Thumbs Up button on their Tivo remote and record a show that’s being advertised.
- Featured on Now Playing Screen. Sometimes ads appear just on the Now Playing menu, which is the menu that users go when they want to view their pre-recorded TV shows. A text ad sits on the bottom of the menu. If a viewer clicks on it, they are taken to an action screen with more information and possible a video/commercial to watch.
The Times story also said that things are looking up for Tivo in other ways. The lawsuit against EchoStar is progressing in Tivo’s favor, which may add substantial revenue if it finally gets the $90 million it was awarded (but is still in appeal).
Which means Tivo my soon be in a better place financially:
According to Tony Wible, an analyst with Citigroup, television networks now “have to embrace DVR advertising, and TiVo is a leader there.” He added that “the NBC deal adds a lot of credibility to that business, which I think could be as big or bigger as the current DVR business today.” He predicted that TiVo could start to break even in its quarterly earnings within a year.
Younger Viewers Time Shift More Often
December 13th, 2007 No Comments
It’s no surprise. Time shifting is for the young. A study by the Nielsen company found that younger adult TV viewers are 2.5 times more likely to timeshift than older viewers.
In fact, 50% of older viewers said would “do nothing or wait for reruns” for shows they missed. Do nothing? Do they not care about the latest Lost or Heroes episodes?
And think about it. Reruns? How often do you keep track of reruns and when they might come back on the air? Nobody likes reruns, unless you happen to miss an episode? And unless you’re some sort of fanatic (or a younger TV viewer) you’ll probably be OK with missing a show.
In fact, reruns are dying. They’re being replaced by DVRs, iTunes/iPods, Start Over on-demand features on cable and streaming via the Internet.
It’s almost as if the TV networks don’t really care about repeats, since they are putting recently aired shows on the Internet for free. Or by paid download via iTunes (or even NetFlix, which is where I go to catch up on Heroes).
Anyway, younger viewers are more hip to technology, have more time to waste hunting down their favorite shows and have grown up with online TV viewing.
The study also found that 50% went to ABC.com more than any other TV site when looking for catching up on shows. NBC.com and CBS.com were next.
Bonus: Nielsen’s PDF of the Study Results.
Posted in research Creating TV Ads To Thwart DVR Users
December 13th, 2007 No Comments
With the growing number of people using DVRs–about 20% in the U.S.–it’s not surprising that advertisers are worried that TV viewers won’t watch their ads. In the last few years, advertisers have dreamt up a number of different tactics in order to entice viewers into watching, rather than fast forwarding, their ads. For example:
Superimposed Ads. Tivo started a campaign where they would paste a superimposed ad over an ad that was being fast-forwarded. The result was that you could clearly see the superimposed text ad, while fast forwarding through all the action. Tivo subscribers, however, reacted negatively to this, probably because they felt they were paying Tivo a monthly fee for avoiding advertising and having TV their way. After trying this in early January 2007, Tivo has stopped this practice. But who knows it may come back.
One Static Image. Some advertisers are targeting fast-forwarding DVR users directly by airing commercials that feature just one static image for 30 seconds. Fox did this in 2006 by creating an ad that just had the show logo on the screen (for fast forwarders) as well as people talking in the background (for those who actually watch commercials).
Subliminal Ads. Okay, they’re not really subliminal commercials (that went out in the 70′s allegedly) but they’re ads that flash really quick messages, that only fast forwarders can view. Viewed at normal speed, the images flash very quickly and don’t interrupt the commercial. Viewed while fast forwarding and the commercial is supposed to evoke curiosity and make viewers pay attention.
On-Screen Animated Ads. Many TV networks avoid any tricks during the commercial breaks and do them during a show. Networks do screen animations for future shows while a show is in progress. Sure it’s annoying and distracting, but I think this works the best of all because it catches viewers when they have their full attention–during the actual program.
Hybrid Ads or Content Wraps. These ads look like the show you’re watching, such the name content wraps. But they’re just clever ads. In a recent Mythbusters show there was a short content wrap showing an animated character asking another whether it was true that Guinness beer only had 125 calories. Another character verified this “myth” and a voice over came on saying it was “brought to you by Guinness”. Yes, this is awkward for both viewers and the actors/characters. It’s somewhat dishonest, in that you think you’re watching the show and you’re suddenly in the middle of a sales pitch. It’s a shocking moment that manages to break the spell and magic of TV viewing.
View the Guinness/Mythbuster clip here:
Best Week Ever did one a few weeks ago. It was a commercial for–Uh, I don’t even remember!–that featured some of the Best Week Ever performers/comedians and appeared right before the show went to the commercial break. It was effective to me because I love the show and the comedians and thought this was part of the show, not another lame commercials. But ultimately it was ineffective in getting me to remember what they were advertising.
Interestingly, viewers that saw the Guinness ad on Mythbusters remembered the Guinness brand 41% more often than a traditional Guinness ad. A research company called IAG did an evaluation of 1,000 hybrid ads and found that they generated a 30% higher brand recall than traditional ads for the same product.
In fact reality shows are one of the top places where you can find in-show product tie-ins. Shows like America’s Next Top Model, Top Chef, Survivor frequently feature products during the show–like hair care products, new frozen food dishes and cars. These advertisers not only get plus during the show, but also have buys for 30-second spots.
In fact, IAG said the highest-scoring hybrid ad was during America’s Next Top Model, which featured Herbal Essences hair product, with over 40% of people were able to recall the name of the brand compared to 28% viewing the regular ad.
Experts say ads of these types will grow especially as the usage of DVRs increase.
Posted in research EchoStar Changes Name to DISH Network
December 10th, 2007 No Comments
In filings with the SEC, EchoStar said it was changing its name to DISH Network Corporation. It’s also expected to spin off its set-top box business as well as its Sling Media division to a new company called EchoStar Holding Company.
This makes things a bit easier to keep track of, since most people know the brand (Dish Network) rather than the company behind it (EchoStar).
Meanwhile, AT&T is supposedly still looking to acquire the DISH Network Corporation but no announcements have been made yet. This is one rumor that everyone expects, but that hasn’t happened yet.
Posted in Satellite Consumers Comfortable with Internet and Mobile Video
December 10th, 2007 No Comments
A survey by ChoiceStream found that consumers are comfortable watching TV programming on computers and mobile devices instead of TV sets. ChoiceStream found that 55% of Internet users that watch TV also watch video on devices other than their TV sets.
That’s not too surprising since consumers are driving the market. Once the TV networks start offering their shows on the Internet and in different formats, consumers will respond. It’s really just the networks giving consumers what they want.
After all, consumers are currently using work-arounds for lots of things they can’t get yet. They download shows online, encode them for their iPods or use Slingboxes to watch their DVR recorded shows on the road. People want content in many different formats.
Other highlights:
The Younger Are More Comfortable. Not surprisingly, younger consumers (18 to 24) are leading the way with 66% saying they watching TV on other devices.
TV Programming Rules. Most interesting of all is that 65% of consumers watch TV programming rather than user-generated video (39%).
Computers Are Most Popular Device. Most consumers (36%) watch content on their computers more than mobile devices
Four Hours A Week. 33% watch at least four hours every week
Many Will Watch More Internet or Mobile Video. 20% said they will watch more TV away from their living rooms in the next six months.
They Watch Commercials, Don’t They? The survey determined that 23% of viewers that record TV shows take the time to watch commercials when they view the recorded program.
Posted in research 