Archive for the ‘Internet Movies’ Category

This Week in “What I’m Reading”

July 23rd, 2010 No Comments

This week I enjoyed these articles:

  • Microsoft apparently killed a project that would let console and PC gamers play each other. Why? Because PC gamers would always beat console gamers. The advantage is the controller. A mouse and keyboard is much more accurate than a console controller. Anyway, I found this interesting since I’ve been playing around with Portal on Steam for Mac.

    “[B]oth programmers and consumers view online video as a complement to, rather than as a substitute for, traditional linear MVPD [multichannel video programming distributor] service,” it wrote in the filing.

    But furthermore, Comcast said it doesn’t see online video emerging as a competitive threat any time soon. There are “several impediments — technological, pricing-related, and rights-related — [that] make it highly unlikely that online video will become a substitute for MVPD service in the foreseeable future,” the cable company writes.”

    That is all!

    Posted in Internet Movies, Internet video, Online movies, What I'm Reading

    12 Million Households Paying For Online Video

    September 26th, 2007 No Comments

    According to research company Parks Associates, the number of broadband households that pay for online video is about 12 million. That’s up dramatically from 2005 to 2006 when there were about 3 million.

    It looks like this 300% growth in paid video content is the result of a) having video content available and b) having good content. The growth of paid video sites like iTunes, Amazon and even NetFlix is what’s driving this. Consumers want brand-name TV and movie entertainment that they can rent or buy and take to their portable devices, or TV screens.

    Parks said that the market for online video is still in flux: “With issues surrounding content rights, the role of incumbent video providers, business models, and questions about how consumer electronics manufacturers and other service providers will actually succeed, the space is very fluid at this point.”

    Case in point: Apple’s iTunes and how NBC Universal decided to take their content to their own Hulu.com and even Amazon.

    Another interesting development is the adult entertainment market which could very well be a huge factor in paid video content. I don’t know whether Parks Associates is looking at this market, however, but it’s definitely where a lot of technological innovation happens.

    Posted in Internet Movies, Online movies, research

    Hulu Acquires Video Annotation Company

    September 12th, 2007 No Comments

    According to TechCrunch, Hulu acquired Mojiti, a Beijing-based company for an undisclosed sum. This deal is so secret that it “may have originally leaked via an overheard airport conversation”, says TechCrunch. Wow, guess people should be more discreet in any public place. And kudos to the person who overheard this deal, too.

    Says Michael Arrington at TechCrunch:

    “Mojiti is a basic online video platform that also allows users to annotate videos at specific time points. The annotation feature is somewhat similar to another startup, click.tv, which is rumored to have been acquired by Cisco.”

    Apparently, Mojiti is also similar to a company called Viddler, which lets viewers add comments and tag videos while they watch. mojiti.jpg

    Personally, tagging videos doesn’t seem like the next killer app. When I heard about the ability to tag videos, I just shrugged my shoulders. There’s got to be something good you can do with it, but the most I can think of is to make fun of people, like Mystery Science Theater 3000 skewered bad movies.

    Or even worse, insulting people. I wonder what kinds of controls there will be on these services. I tried to annotate a video on Viddler, but I was told I had to log-in for it to be saved in the video. Guess that’s a great way to get people to register for your site and grab them.

    Viddler Screenshot

    These video annotations also reminds me of VH1′s Pop-Up Videos, which was great because they had interesting factoids and funny quips about the videos they played. I just hope taggers are as funny and interesting as MST3K and Pop-Up Videos.

    Posted in Internet Movies, TV

    TV Experience on the Web

    September 5th, 2007 No Comments

    A story from the AP called “New Web sites aim for TV experience” gives a rundown of some of the major companies looking to compete with TV. It’s a pretty basic article targeted at those who are new to Internet video, but I just wanted to pull out some tidbits. Like slogans of three new companies, Joost, Babelgum and Veoh:

    • Joost: “The new way of watching TV”
    • Babelgum: “TV experience, Internet substance.”
    • Veoh: “VeohTV makes watching Internet as simple as watching television”

    The article talks about how people are not ready to watch long-form video online. But it fails to note the “lean forward” aspect of watching TV over the Internet. That’s why PCs are better suited for short form video.

    And people are getting accustomed to interacting with their computers differently, like doing work or checking e-mail. Watching videos isn’t something people sit down in front of their computers and expect to do for two hours.

    Another good tidbit:

    A poll conducted last September by The Associated Press and Time Warner Inc.’s AOL found that only one in five online video viewers have watched or downloaded a full-length movie or TV show.

    Posted in Internet Movies, Internet video, Online movies, research

    NBC Universal Playing Hardball with Apple?

    August 31st, 2007 No Comments

    Yesterday, NBC Universal unveiled its online video venture with News Corp., called Hulu.com. It got lots of press everywhere and they’re even keynoting the next Streaming Media show. Today, NBC Universal said it was pulling its video content from iTunes so they can put it into Hulu instead.

    Today’s New York Times said that NBC Universal wants more control over pricing and packaging of its TV content. From the Times:

    “The media conglomerate — which is the No. 1 supplier of digital video to Apple’s online store, accounting for about 40 percent of downloads — notified Apple of its decision late yesterday, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked for anonymity because negotiations between the companies are confidential”

    I’m sure all the other iTunes content providers would like a better deal too. In July, Universal Music Group said it was pulling most of its music out of iTunes and just allowing certain content for sale. Does that mean that there will be a mass exodus from iTunes now? The New York Times says that talks between Apple and NBC Universal are still ongoing. Over at All Things Digital, they say NBC may be just playing hardball.

    But I still have questions about Hulu. Will it be a free ad-supported, user-generated site like YouTube? Or is it going after the more mature “pay for play” iTunes market? 

    Not much is known, so it’s wait and see about Hulu.

    [tags] Hulu, NBC, YouTube, iTunes, Apple, NBC Universal [/tags]

    Posted in Apple, Internet Movies, Internet video, Online movies, Online music, TV

    TV Losing Ground to the Internet

    August 23rd, 2007 No Comments

    IBM released results of a survey into the habits of consumers around the world and found that people are using the Internet more and watching less TV. Nineteen percent said they spend 6 hours or more per day using the Internet versus 9% who spent the same time watching TV.

    The survey looked at other digital media usage, inculding mobile TV, online video, music and DVRs.  (I’ll be posting data on DVRs over at my sister blog, DVR Bulletin soon.) Some data highlights:

    • 66 percent reported viewing between one to four hours of TV per day, versus 60 percent who reported the same levels of personal Internet usage.
    • 81 percent of consumers said they’ve watched or want to watch PC video
    • 42 percent said they’ve watched or want to watch mobile video
    • 23 percent reported using a portable music service
    • 7 percent reported having a video content subscription for their mobile phones
    • 11 percent reported subscribing to a PC-based music service
    • 18 percent reported an online newspaper subscription

    People are increasingly turning to the Internet, where they have a variety of media, such as music, photos, movies and games and watching less TV. Among young consumers, TV is taking a back seat, said Saul Berman, IBM Media & Entertainment Strategy and Change practice leader.

    “Just as the ‘Kool Kids’ and ‘Gadgetiers’* have replaced traditional land-lines with mobile communications, cable and satellite TV subscriptions risk a similar fate of being replaced as the primary source of content access.”

    In Germany, users that have watched mobile video, 23 percent prefer to view user generated content, and 21 percent prefer video trailers or promotions.

    Overall, nothing most of us don’t already know, but it’s nice to have the numbers to back it up and put in our PowerPoint slides and business plans.

    * Marketers love to invent ridiculous words like “Gadgetiers” and “Kool Kids” to describe various groups, much like people use “Millenials”, “Generation X” and “Generation Y” to describe certain demographic segments. IBM says “Gadgetiers” are drawn to the latest devices and are interested in participating and controlling the time and place of their media experiences; while “Kool Kids” prefer interactive content and rely heavily on content sharing and social interaction. Enough fine print.

    [Via Monsters and Critics and NewTeevee]

    Bonus: Here’s a direct link to the IBM study on U.S. consumers. There are also individual reports for the U.K., Japan, Germany and Australia.

    Bonus #2. IBM walked around the street with a video camera and asked kids whether they prefer TV or the Internet and the results won’t surprise you.

    [tags] IBM, research, YouTube, online music, mobile TV, mobile video, Internet video [/tags]

    Posted in Internet Movies, Internet video, Online music, TV, YouTube, research

    Wireless Set-Top Boxes: Isn’t It About Time?

    August 21st, 2007 No Comments

    building bOn Monday, a Silicon Valley-based start-up announced that it raised $17.5 million from a group of venture capitalists. The company, called “Building B”, says it plans to incorporate HD, SD, on-demand and Internet video content and have it delivered over wireless broadband without a PC.

    Sounds like a nifty idea, but there’s not much known about Building B so there’s been a bit of speculation. First, the good news about Building B:

    They’re Focusing on Mainstream Content. According to Michael Gartenberg at Jupiter Research, Building B is not interested in niche content like some companies. Said Gartenberg: “The fact that they’re focusing on mainstream, not enthusiast markets, the recognition that today’s broadband and home networking services leave a lot to be desired and the knowledge that mainstream audiences want mainstream content.”

    Delivering Premium Content and Internet Video in One Box. I’m not sure what Building B will do for content. Will it partner directly with movie studios and set up its own on-demand service? Will it seek to partner with IPTV providers? Ether way, integration of Internet video in the same box as a cable box, for example, is sorely lacking.

    Why Not Wireless Set-Top Boxes? I have a Tivo connected to my TV, but I don’t have an Ethernet wire running to it. I’m using Tivo’s wireless adapter to connect to my router. It cost about $50 but it’s well worth it. My biggest complaint is that Tivo didn’t have it built-in to its box and I had to buy it separately. But it’s worked flawlessly from day one and I can stream music and even download movies from Amazon’s Unbox service.

    Get Away from the PC. Delivering the mix of SD, HD, VOD and Internet video to the TV is important. It’s easy to do all of that on the PC, but delivering those integrated video experiences and doing it well, with must-see TV and movie content is a great market.

    But Don’t Believe the Hype

    There are lots of questions, however. Like what wireless technology will they use in the home? WiMax? How will they earn revenues? When will they launch? What pricing will they have? What content partners do they have?

    Gizmodo cautioned everyone:

    “The bottom line is that we’ll believe in the One True Box when it’s sitting atop our TVs—we’ve heard way too many empty promises from far too many prophets to be true believers before then.”

    NewTeeVee said that they were somewhat skeptical of their claims also.

    “Such reticence makes me inherently skeptical of their claims, especially in light of Movie Beam, another wireless video content delivery service that burnt through millions of dollars and in the end had little to show for it. Similarly, Akimbo, which has been aggregating produced video content for some time, hasn’t exactly rocked the world, despite backing from AT&T (T) and Cisco Systems.”

    Plus there’s the “Yet Another Set-Top Box” syndrome. Consumers already have lots of choices to get content. There’s cable, VOD, Tivo, Amazon, NetFlix, YouTube, AppleTV and lots more. And there’s the aforementioned MovieBeams, Movielinks, and Akimbos that have tried something very similar. Plus there’s also more recent competition. Mashable says: “WiTV and VuDu are others on which we’re keeping a close eye.”

    In the IPTV space, wireless set-top boxes are ready to be unveiled. Celrun announced that it was adding wireless connectivity to its set-top box using technology from Metalink. Metalink makes the 802.11n WLANPlus chipset which allows for a maximum data rate of about 300Mbps (compared to 54Mbps for WiFi). Samsung also said it will use Metalink’s chipset, so it should be interesting to keep an eye on these products when they are finally released.

    Bonus: PaidContent (via Variety) points out that Building B is partnering with a company called Claria, which used to be called Gator, a notorious ad-ware company.

    [tags] Building B, Tivo, Apple TV, Motorola, Scientific Atlanta, set-top box, Celrun, Metalink, Samsung, WiMax, 80211n [/tags]

    Posted in HDTV, Internet Movies, Internet video, Online movies

    Internet Users Don’t Like Video Downloads

    August 10th, 2007 No Comments

    According to a survey by Park Associates, just one in five users (21%) are satisfied with videos they download from the Internet.

    The definition of downloaded videos, Parks says, can be anything downloaded from peer-to-peer networks like LimeWire or BitTorrent, which are usually illegal DVD rips of or TV shows. It can also mean legitimate movies or shows like those available for purchase from iTunes.

    The data was broken down between “Video Downloaders Not Using P2P Networks” and “All Video Downloaders.” See the chart below:

    chart_videodownload.gif

    Interestingly, the percent of satisfied users jumps from 12% to 21% when counting all downloaders including those using legitimate services. Users downloading video from peer-to-peer systems are likely to be unsatisfied with the quality of the video, since they are usually lower-quality than legitimate pay services.

    Here’s a quote from the Parks’ press release:

    “People don’t see a reason to use video downloading services,” said John Barrett, director of research at Parks Associates. “Sure, it saves a trip to the video store, but it takes longer, looks worse, and you end up watching it on a 17” screen. No wonder consumers are dissatisfied with the experience.”

    However, that’s not always the case. A growing number of movies available on BitTorrent are DVD quality because they are actually DVD rips, with very little compression. Users can specifically search for DVD-quality files, rather than go for lower-quality Divx encoding, for example.

    Searching for something like “Spider-Man ISO” will bring up high-quality DVD rips saved in ISO format, which makes it easy to burn it back into a DVD. Once you burn it into a DVD, it’s practically indistinguishable from the original DVD since it comes with chapters, titles and all the special features. The downside is that a) it’s illegal since DVDs need to be ripped of their copy protection and b) ISO files are huge.

    Full-length movies encoded with Divx are usually 650MB, while ISO files are usually 1.2GB. That’s double the size and a big difference in downloading time, but a huge difference in quality.
    Anyway, I suspect that many people aren’t using ISO files anyway. Only hard-core users who love quality video would take the time to download an ISO, burn it onto a DVD then watch it (either on a TV or computer).

    One more point. Despite what Parks says, I think it’s possible that people taking the survey may not have known the difference between downloaded and streamed video. Lots of people don’t know the technical differences and wouldn’t be able to accurately define what “streaming” is.

    I know, because I used to work for a company (and website) called Streaming Media (and wrote a book), and I always had to explain what “streaming” meant.

    But perhaps consumers are more savvy about video now that we’re in the age of YouTube. Until I see the entire report this data is based on, I wouldn’t use these numbers anywhere or put much weight to them.

    Bonus data:

      16% said the selection of online videos is good
      13% said video downloads are sold at a reasonable price.
      Less than one in five people said they would download videos again in the future.

    [tags] online movies, itunes, bittorrent, peer to peer, Internet movies, streaming, streaming media [/tags]

    Posted in DVDs, Internet Movies, Internet video, Online movies, Streaming media, research

    Blockbuster Acquires Movielink

    August 9th, 2007 No Comments

    Blockbuster announced yesterday that it was acquiring Movielink, an Internet download company. The Wall Street Journal said the price was under $50 million.

    blockbuster

    Blockbuster is trying to compete with NetFlix a rival online DVD rental company, which also launched an online movie rental service in January 2007.

    Although NetFlix’s movie downloads hasn’t received much fanfare, that may be because it got off to a slow start after being offered to just a few NetFlix subscribers. Still, NetFlix at least had an online movie service, while Blockbuster did not. Rather than build, Blockbuster bought into the game.

    Another rival in the movie download business is Amazon, which has its Unbox service. Customers can rent or purchase movies and have them delivered to your computer. Amazon also has a deal with Tivo to deliver movies to their subscribers so they can watch on their TV sets.

    One blogger says that Blockbuster can pull ahead of NetFlix in movie downloads if it caters to the ignored Mac market, including Apple’s AppleTV system:

    “My only request if Blockbuster pulls the trigger: don’t leave Mac users stranded like Netflix has (thus far). If Blockbuster is smart, it will not only support Macs, but also find a way to weave itself into Apple’s movie/living room strategy. To ride the coattails of Apple’s market zeitgeist would be a huge win for whoever figures out how to do it. Blockbuster, I’m looking at you.”

    None of the three services (Amazon, Blockbuster or NetFlix) have DVD or HD quality movies, so these are strictly for those who want speedy access to a small number of movies. Most of the movies on these services are for new releases and a select number of classics or older movies. They’ve all been slow in offering a wide selection of back catalogs.

    However, CNet said that the acquisition gives Blockbuster an larger online movie presence: “Movielink owns the rights to more than 3,000 titles, making it the Web’s largest digital-movie library.”

    The back catalogs from movie studios is really where the money is, according to proponents of the Long Tail. The Long Tail, first proposed by Wired editor in chief Chris Anderson, says that:

    “Businesses with distribution power can sell a greater volume of otherwise hard to find items at small volumes than of popular items at large volumes.” (Thanks Wikipedia for the succinctness of that description!)

    Movelink was started in 2002 by some of the biggest movie studios in Hollywood including MGM, Sony, Universal and Paramount. But things didn’t go too well. Video wasn’t as popular back then, and neither was broadband. Plus it was spending way too much money for an Internet start-up.

    Bonus: Read the original Long Tail article from Wired magazine here.

    [Via ZatzNotFunny, WebProNews and Engadget]

    [tags] Blockbuster, NetFlix, Amazon, Movielink, Internet video, video on demand [/tags]

    Posted in DVDs, Internet Movies, Online movies

    Hollywood Getting into Internet Entertainment (Again)

    March 31st, 2007 No Comments

    Tired of kowtowing to start-up Internet video companies, News Corp. and NBC said that they were starting their own YouTube clone and media player. But apparently News Corp./NBC said their videos will appear on sites like AOL, MySpace, Yahoo, and maybe even YouTube.

    The new partnership is keen to point out that they are protecting copyrights, unlike say, YouTube. So apparently, the site won’t host movies or TV shows, or at least it will have News Corp and NBC content. Whoopie!

    But do we really need another online video destination? It’s notable only because this is being created by a TV network and a movie studio. If this will have just user-generated content or just NBC or Fox content will it really get viewers to come? Viacom may be next to try their hand at a YouTube clone since they’ve now sued YouTube for $1 billion.

    Doesn’t this remind you of the pre-boom dot com days? Those idyllic days when big Hollywood producers and directors decided to get into Internet video. Now YouTube is enticing Holllywood back to the Internet. For example:

    Steven Spielberg is working with Survivor-creator Mark Burnett on a website called Onthelot.com, which lets aspiring filmmakers submit videos for a chance to win a $1 million development deal. The best shows make it to a TV show on Fox, where viewers will vote and choose a winner.

    Burnett is also teaming up with MTV to create a site where users create parodies of movies. The best videos will be shown during the MTV Video awards next year.

    Michael Eisner is getting into Internet content as well with a production company that is producing short online serials (about 90 seconds long). Eisner hopes to generate ad revenue from in-stream ads appearing before and after the shows, as well as product placement.

    And finally, TV writer Steven Bochco is teaming up with MetaCafe to launch a series of confessional short videos. The project, called “Cafe Confidential” will include videos that are unscripted and feature just ordinary people not actors. Video producers that attract the largest audience can get some payment, although there was no word on how much. From the Time article:

    Bochco says he views the Web as a medium best suited for snippets of entertainment that can be consumed between tasks, something he calls a “mental shower.” “I think people go to the Internet, particularly younger people, assuming they’re not going for information, for a distraction between tasks,” Bochco said.

    Remember a few years ago when Hollywood big wigs like Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, David Geffen, Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen backed Pop.com? The site which eventually closed before it even launched. A victim of a bloated (over $50 million) budget and the beginning of the dot-com crash.

    I wonder, will Hollywood really understand Internet video?

    Posted in Internet Movies, Online movies
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