Is TV 2.0 or the web based video channels cannibalizing the traditional TV watching time? Would Internet replace the traditional box?
I was recently reading the survey report on media consumption and noticed that 37% of the audiences between the ages of 12-28 on an average are hooked online for up to 5 hours a day. The usage varies from news, office work, matrimonials, jobs, social networking, online videos, online and music download, blogging, commenting, reading, file sharing, mobile messaging and mobile media usage and more…It is evident that there is a cannibalization of TV time with Internet/Mobile time. Another interesting piece by Times of India, 17th March 08 on Video Blogs and how there is a general behavioral shift towards internet.
However in another media and entertainment household survey fact sheet by IBM showcased DVR as one of the key reasons to have increased the TV usage. The key thing to look at is that video recording or playback is driving this behaviour of media consumption. This means people want to choose the time and want to have the convenience of watching TV or digital media as per their own will. Can we call it ON-Demand digital media?
Now in this case people are paying for the media and a small number is also ready to pay a little extra for ad free viewing. However, considering that there is a large focus group which is online and would like to get access to digital TV 2.0 or WEB TV 2.0 at their will, that to free of charge all supported by the ads, they wouldn’t mind watching that, would they?
Here enters Vuze an open platform for digital music and video on demand! Vuze is the world's most popular entertainment platform for high-res digital content: video, music, and games. With an installed base of 18 million unique client downloads in its first year, 500,000 new downloads per week and 150 content partners to date, Vuze is experiencing unprecedented organic growth. I have seen small webseries like roommating is getting popular already and there are many similar series which are presently running on Vuze.
It won’t be an exaggeration if I call Vuze the next standard of Web TV or the TV 2.0. It’s a P2P based video and music sharing platform. You can simply download the video by opening the torrent file. Also you can publish your own content by creating torrents. Vuze attracts and features high quality content from a growing roster of global television networks, premier production studios and thousands of maverick content creators, on the most advanced, most open entertainment platform ever created. Another finding in the survey sheet was that 23% responders liked user generated content which gets fulfilled in an open platform like this.
The new commercial-grade platform is supported by powerful peer-sharing technology, enabling its vast global community the ability to browse, share, search and discover unique multimedia entertainment in a high-resolution format. And Vuze is supported by text and video advertisements.
Then you have websites like youtube.com, yahoo video, google video, MSN Video, AOL Video, Veoh.com which offer a variety of online video series to watch online.
So the battle just boils down to Bandwidth. Do we have strong enough networks which can support these heavy video streaming sites? Can we actually stream LIVE Video as smooth as our traditional TV? Obviously looking at the benefits that I get where I can choose what to watch, when to watch and for how long I want to watch, I can pretty much control my buying behavior for entertainment products. And if offered well, I can even buy into a service provider for eg: there can be a bundling of packages with news, entertainment etc for online Video viewers. Presently Tata Sky is one of the leading organized cable operators on on-demand TV which is a digital, DTH via satellite TV, in India. This can become a threat to Tata Sky if they do not look at their online strategy of on-demand TV.
Would TV 2.0 become a threat to traditional Cable and TV operators or the traditional way of watching TV and replace the Traditional Idiot Box?
4 comments:
Most points are thought-provoking. but in a country like india with so many tier 2 & 3 cities and smaller towns with poor / negligible internet connectivity a concept like DVR or TIVO might work better and that too for a specific segment. A large part of the population will still watch TV as and when its telecast. The shift might occur, but slowly for the larger India.
I agree..for Tier 2 and tier 3 cities. However here are some important points to think about:
1) Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities were the fastest adopters of Mobile Phones(new technology). Even they have surpassed the landline usage.
2) TV is something that people definitely watch. Even in rural areas people have community TV watching.
3) With government spending time, money into expanding rural irrigation and providing Computer education in rural areas, its just some years away that these kids should start talking about internet and its benefits.
Though I am not saying its happening in 1 year's time...but may be 2-3 years from now: Tier 1 cities and 3-5 years in Tier 2, 3 cities.
-Sachin
Well I definitely think they have the potential to pose a significant threat but what would be interesting to watch though is how the online guys market their product. Apart from viral stuff for youtube, I really haven't come across serious guerila warfare amongst the 'brands'. Although I think Yahoo is waking up now after gmail almost sqaushed it.
Interesting read Sachin, in UK we have already started to take advantage of flexible and convenient online media. Its cool and I can decide what I want and when!
-Kuki
Post a Comment