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- TiVo Growth Picture: TiVo may have trouble meeting goals without a cable deal but cable companies may do their own thing (11MAR04) (BusWeek)
BusinessWeek reports, "Analysts say that getting to 3 million subscribers in a year's time is doable. Yet it may be premature to declare a decisive victory for TiVo, as competitors are gearing up to sell their versions of personalized television services." BusinessWeek quotes NPDTechworld industry analysis director Ross Rubin as stating, "Without a doubt [digital video recording (DVR)] technology is something that is resonating. The question is: How much TiVo, the company, will be able to capture." BusinessWeek also cites Mosaic Equity analyst Murray Arenson as indicating, "Beyond doubling its subscriber base, TiVo's next big challenge is to secure a distribution deal with a cable operator.... To get to the tens of millions who aren't using DirecTV, TiVo needs partnerships with big cable operators, which provide television content to some 60% of U.S. households." - Mediapost's Jim Meskauskas says Nielsen has to partner with DVR service providers to get minute-by-minute data (11MAR04) (Mediapost)
Mediapost's Jim Meskauskas writes, "Nielsen needs to find a way to partner with DVR service providers, be they cable companies, TiVo, or satellite TV firms [to get minute-by-minute viewing data to better gauge the watching of TV commercials]. Fighting the [DVR] advance, or averting it with distractions is not going to behoove it in the long run. Nielsen will end up looking like the recording industry in the face of peer-to-peer networking and the file-sharing that it enabled." Also with regard to demographic-specific data, Meskauskas writes, "In the short term, cable companies could do things like offer discounted or even free DVR service if members of a household were willing to offer up basic information about themselves as viewers." - Incentive For Watching Commercials: DVR users may eventually trade control over commercials for their viewing data (10MAR04) (ClickZ)
ClickZ cites Knowledge Networks/SRI vice president David C. Tice as indicating, "DVR users may eventually trade control over commercials for their viewing data, much like grocery shoppers use loyalty cards in exchange for discounted prices or coupons. While privacy is a big issue for consumers, there may be reasonable incentives or discounts that inspire cooperation." - Going Online During TV Commercials: UCLA's Jeffrey Cole says broadband users still watch TV but they watch fewer TV commercials (11MAR04) (iMedia)
iMedia Connection quotes UCLA Center for Communications Policy director Jeff Cole as stating that broadband users are going online "not 20, 30 minutes in most cases but two minutes, three minutes, sometimes even less, this integrative activity that comes between the rhythms of the day. We found that broadband use doesn't displace television programming viewing. Broadband use, probably even more frightening for my friends at the network, displaces television advertising viewing. It becomes the thing people are doing during the commercial, and long-term, I think the consequences of that can be devastating." - UCLA's Jeffrey Cole's Powerpoint: Surveying the Digital Future - Year Four - The Emergence of Trends (09FEB04) (UCLA)
Also see: UCLA Internet Report - Surveying the Digital Future - Year 3 which is a PDF file dated February 2003. - Forrester Research's James Nail says 30%+ watch online video ads & that's nearly even with 35-40% who watch commercials on TV (11MAR04) (NYTimes)
The New York Times cites Forrester Research analyst James Nail as indicating "that more than 30 percent of those who watched the video commercials viewed most or all of the them, nearly even with the 35 to 40 percent who watch most of a typical TV commercial." Nail states, "I didn't expect consumers to have as much patience online as they do with TV." - Online TV-Like Ads: Dynamic Logic finds about 72% of people react favorably to new Unicast-powered net video commercials (11MAR04) (CNET)
CNET reports, "Roughly 72 percent of people surveyed by market research firm Dynamic Logic reacted favorably to new Net video commercials, compared with 62 percent for TV ads and 22 percent for pop-ups.... Dynamic Logic's study shows that the messages were likely to increase a marketer's brand awareness by 54 percent and influence the customers' desire to buy the advertised product by 47 percent." - Broadcast Flag: EFF, American Library Association and others say FCC shouldn't impose 'broadcast flag' content controls on PVRs (11MAR04) (Wired)
Wired reports the FCC's "broadcast flag" rules "will clearly curtail the practice of taping a show for a friend or taking a copy to a friend's house, unless one uses an analog VCR or a digital recorder bought before the deadline." Wired cites Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) senior staff attorney Fred von Lohmann as indicating "the regulations stifle technical innovations, but they also won't stop people from sharing programs over the Internet, since people can buy or build machines that ignore the broadcast flag." Lohmann further states, "The broadcast flag can't work. It's like putting lots of locks on the front door and leaving the back door open. The ironic thing is that what you will be able to get at Best Buy will be worse than the off-the-shelf stuff you can buy to build your own DVR." So, save your old VCRs and build your PVR.... - EFF, Libraries & Consumers Union appeal FCC ruling on digital TV broadcast flag that could prevent consumer recording (10MAR04) (ZDNet.CNET)
CNET reports, "The Motion Picture Association of America, along with television companies, have argued that moving their content to digital television would be impossible," meaning they would not move TV shows to digital "if people could easily make perfect digital copies of movies and other programming, and swap them online." - Emerging Technologies: Entertainment & Media Industry Almanac 2004 has section on VOD, PVRs & personal music players (Mar2004) (Research&Markets)
- Video Codec Shootout: ExtremeTech looks at DivX, WMV9, QuickTime-Sorenson3, and QuickTime-MPEG4 for consumer video recording (08MAR04) (ExtremeTech)
ExtremeTech reports that "this is an article for those who want to compress video for home use: to e-mail to family members, put up on a Web site, burn onto a CD, re-compress to fit on a PDA or portable video player, or just archive for later use. Our focus is on middle-of-the-road bitrates suitable for download or CD archives, not extremely low bitrates for streaming over the Internet or very high bitrates for DVD-ROM based packaged media." - DVD Player Goes Wireless: Gateway intros $199 ADC-320 DVD Player with built-in 802.11g & WinXP-MCE content compatibility (11MAR04) (CNET)
CNET reports, "Gateway ... unveiled a version of its wireless DVD player that supports the 802.11g standard and can handle content from PCs running Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 software." - Handheld Video-To-Go: Archos AV320 & RCA Lyra RD2780 are video players which may never be smash hits like audio players (11MAR04) (NYTimes)
The New York Times reports, "If you hadn't noticed, audio inventions are inevitably followed by corresponding video versions. Radio begat TV; audio tape begat videotape; CD's begat DVD's. It was only a matter of time, then, before it occurred to somebody to invent, for want of a better term, the video iPod: a hand-held personal-entertainment gizmo with a color screen capable of playing movies." - BBC's 'New' Digital Channels: Majority of non-digital TV viewers targeted by poster ads are unaware of BBC digital channels (10MAR04) (Guardian)
The Guardian reports that in a misleading advertising complaint involving print posters advertising BBC's "new" digital channels that "[t]he BBC said the posters were aimed at the 54% of homes that did not have digital television at that time" and that the BBC "submitted research to the [Advertising Standards Authority in Great Britain] showing the majority of the target audience [for the print poster advertising] was unaware of its digital television channels." - Supermarket TV: Tesco to roll out TV in its supermarkets on large TV screens throughout its grocery stores (10MAR04) (Guardian)
The Guardian reports, "Tesco TV will offer health and beauty tips, recipe ideas and information on healthy living - as well as conventional advertising - on large television screens placed around the stores.... Tesco claims that with 10 million shoppers coming through its stores every week, it can rival ... most popular shows.... [TV] Content will be tailored to specific areas of the store...." The Guardian quotes JC Decaux CEO Jeremy Male, who has been hired to attract advertisers to broadcast on the new Tesco TV, as stating, "Seventy-five per cent of buying decisions are made at point of purchase, so this is media where it matters. As they shop for products, customers can view content and in-store promotions on screens and pick up the products within seconds of seeing the ads. With Tesco being the UK's leading supermarket, this has huge potential for advertisers." - Broadband Consumers: ComScore finds 36% of online users in the US accessed web via broadband in fourth quarter of 2003 (10MAR04) (comScore)
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The ComScore news announcement reports, "At the national level, 36 percent of online users accessed the Web through a high-speed connection in the fourth quarter of 2003, up 2 points from 34 percent in the third quarter." - Broadband In The City: Broadband gains subscribers in cities including 52% of San Diego residents having broadband internet access (10MAR04) (CNET)
CNET reports, "... the fact that San Diego now has more than half of its Internet users on broadband highlights a growing shift to speed. Much of the past year's growth has been sparked by competition...." - Skipping Commercials: Knowledge Networks/SRI finds 74% of consumers consider TV-commercial skipping as most important (10MAR04) (Mediapost)
Mediapost cites Knowledge Networks/SRI as indicating, "Asked about a host of features associated with new TV technologies, the vast majority of consumers - 74 percent - said they considered the ability to skip TV commercials the most important to them, and they'd even be willing to sacrifice the convenience of such services as video-on-demand, and the frugality of 'free' TV to have that capability." Mediapost quotes Knowledge Networks/SRI's Home Technology Monitor director Dave Tice as stating, "When we asked people if they thought commercials were a fair price to pay for watching TV programs, 63 percent agreed. They just don't want to be the ones paying it.... The bottom line [is] that consumers understand how the TV advertising model works. They don't see it as their responsibility to make TV work the way it works today." - Assoc of Nat'l Advertisers to develop new TV ad models with tests expected to cover DVRs, VOD, iTV and addressable advertising (10MAR04) (Mediapost)
Mediapost reports the Association of National Advertisers is working "to accelerate the development of new TV advertising models...." and that testing of the new advertising is "expected to cover the most significant new TV technology platforms, including digital video recorders, video-on-demand, interactive TV and addressable advertising." - Leichtman Research Group says broadband internet is second-fastest growing consumer product or service behind DVD players (10MAR04) (Mediapost)
Mediapost cites Leichtman Research Group president and principal analyst Bruce Leichtman as indicating "... broadband Internet adoption is the second-fastest growing consumer product or service in the country's history, behind DVD players, since its inception in late 1997. [Leichtman] underscores that the challenge for the industry will be to get the next 25 million connected to the Internet through broadband, a goal he expects will be reached in the next four years." - Harddrive For PVR: Hitachi Deskstar 7K400 400-gigabyte harddrive could be in consumer video recorders this year (10MAR04) (CNET)
CNET reports the Hitachi Deskstar 7K400 400-gigabyte harddrive "is being tested by manufacturers and could be in digital video recorder (DVR) products available to consumers later this year.... The Deskstar 7K400 ... aims to find a place in DVRs, which are devices that can record broadcasts as well as temporarily pause live programming.... The roomier new drive is designed to store about 400 hours of standard broadcasts, or 45 hours of high-definition television...." CNET quotes Gartner analyst John Monroe as stating, "Every TV in the next five years will have a rotating magnetic device in it, on it or near it" and that Monroe "expects hard drives to play an increasing role in TV watching." - TiVo Networking: TiVo plugging into home networking technology and is also looking for cable partner (09MAR04) (CNET)
CNET reports, "Among other things, TiVo is focusing on developing technology to take advantage of home networks. Its Home Media Option allows Series2 recorders to access and distribute content stored on the hard drives of computers. The recorders can stream the content to a television set or a stereo via a home network, whether wired or wireless.... Earlier this year, TiVo said it had acquired the intellectual property assets and engineering staff of Strangeberry, which has been using home networking and broadband technologies for content delivery and other entertainment services on televisions." And "TiVo has also developed TiVo-to-Go, a feature that allows subscribers to transfer shows recorded on a recorder to a home computer. Shows are protected by a memory key that, when plugged into a PC, unlocks the content." CNET also reports, "While TiVo has had a foothold in the satellite business through a partnership with DirecTV, it has been looking to woo a cable ally."
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