Latest Articles
More Web 2.0 Needed In Schools
An influential think-tank calling for more Web 2.0 use in school and technology experts agree, arguing that children should get used to collaborative tools before they enter the workplace.
moreUK Council for Child Internet Safety Launches
The UK Government launched its programme to help protect children from exposure to potentially harmful content on the Internet, including some forms of advertising. New Media Knowledge spoke to AOL, one of the companies involved, to see what real impact the new group would have.
moreUS Presidential Election Gets Social
Last week, Twitter launched its US Presidential Election microblogging site and, with social media likely to play a big part in the outcome, politicians this side of the pond should be looking closely at its impact, experts say.
more- i-design 08 - Brendan Dawes, My Interactive
- i-design 08 - Simon Waterfall
- YouTube gets into Top Gear
- Goldfarming for Fun and Profit
- Sky Appoints its First Head of Mobile Advertising: an Industry Viewpoint
- Industry Welcomes Intel/Yahoo! Internet TV Tie-In
- Media Landscape vs. Media Ghetto
Related Articles
YouTube gets into Top Gear
With the BBC launching its own Top Gear YouTube channel, Tim Hoang looks at the reasons for this move into video-sharing sites. more
Industry Welcomes Intel/Yahoo! Internet TV Tie-In
Chip giant Intel and media outfit Yahoo! have come together to create the ‘Widget Channel’, a television application framework primed for TV and other consumer electronics devices. more
Online Videos: Engaging your Users
Online video is big business nowadays. Websites dedicated to video like Youtube, BBC iPlayer and 4oD have taken off in a big way, and an increasing number of websites are introducing video content to keep users engaged. more
TiVo down the YouTube?
The IPTV market is growing. Usually associated with user generated content on Web sites such as YouTube, the success of video-on-demand services, such as BBC's iPlayer and online mini soap operas such as Kate Modern has proven that there is a healthy appetite for viewing video content on computers. more
TV Struggles With Ads
Traditional TV advertising is becoming less impactful as viewers begin to create their own schedules, according to eMarketer. Technology such as digital video recorders (DVRs), video-on-demand (VOD) and time-shift TV has meant that advertising is often skipped or avoided altogether. more
Related Events
On-Screen Advertising Creativity Summit 2007 (Marketing Week)
Location: St Giles Hotel, London, WC1B
Price: Reduced to £699.00 if you are eligible for a discount.
Get Started With Ruby On Rails
Location: The Worx, 10 Heathman's Road, Parsons Green, London, SW6 4TJ.
Price: Reduced to £395.00 if you are eligible for a discount.
Pizza On Rails
Location: Please join the mailing list for details...
Price: Reduced to £0.00 if you are eligible for a discount.
PizzaOnRails (Ruby On Rails Meet Up)
Location: Join the mailing list for details
Price: Reduced to £0.00 if you are eligible for a discount.
Communities On The Move
Location: 01zero-one, Peter Street, London W1F 0HS
Price: Reduced to £20.00 if you are eligible for a discount.
The VOD Era: Can Broadcasters Adapt?
StumbleUponVideo-on-demand throws up some serious challenges to broadcasters. What trends are emerging and what business models will help them survive, asks Michael Nutley...
Video-on-demand throws up some serious challenges to broadcasters. What trends are emerging and what business models will help them survive?By Michael Nutley of
[Register and post your own comments on this article below...]
One of the developing trends in the world of interactive TV is video-on-demand. It’s been a long time coming, but cable networks Home Choice, NTL and Telewest are all rolling out services over the next few months. Meanwhile the BBC is developing its media player with the aim of offering an on-demand archive of its TV programming in the same way as the radio player currently does for its radio output. Even BT is looking at a content play, with its current plans to wrap on-demand video content around a Freeview offering.
And these are just the early stages. The UK already leads Europe in illegal downloads of TV programmes. At the same time, broadband penetration means illegal downloading of films is now seen as a similar threat in Hollywood as music downloads have been in the record industry. Meanwhile PVRs, which failed to make a significant impact in the UK market initially, are predicted to take a much bigger slice second time round, being pushed as they are by both Sky and the big consumer electronics firms. And while most of the controversy around PVRs has to date focussed on the ability to skip ads, their ability to record programmes, particularly when combined with DVD recording to allow you to archive your favourite shows, is another vital strand in the evolution of an on-demand culture.
Consumer control pushes forward
In other words, we’re seeing another example of what OgilvyOne chairman and CEO of OgilvyOne worldwide, Brian Featherstonhaugh recently called “the only trend that matters” – consumers taking control of communications. Everywhere you look in media, you find yourself facing the same set of issues: that whenever consumers are offered tools that allow them to control a medium, they seize them with enthusiasm. In journalism, it’s blogging and RSS; in advertising it’s PVRs, pop-up blockers and the telephone preference service; in broadcasting, it’s video-on-demand. And in every case the big question is how to make money in this new environment. Or rather, how can the established companies continue to make money?
But there is another question to be asked here, and that is whether technology is driving us up a blind alley. Or, to put it more specifically, if you have the choice of watching everything, will you ever actually watch anything?
Fragmentation versus community
Someone in the television industry put this question to me at the recent launch of Herfordshire Creative Industries. He was arguing from his experience, which I’m sure is familiar to most, that he has shelves full of videocassettes of programmes that he has taped, but never watches. The time never seems to be right, or there’s something else on, or he doesn’t feel like watching anything he’s got. And he was predicting a backlash against video-on-demand, and a move back to event television, where what matters is watching something live and discussing it next day with friends or colleagues, who’d all watched it at the same time.
Business models for the VOD era
To a certain extent this trend is already happening, as a response to audience fragmentation caused by increasing numbers of channels, and therefore consumer choice. Broadcasters believe that sport is the “killer app” in this situation, the one thing that has to be watched live to be truly enjoyed and appreciated. Now, with reality television, there’s an increasing amount of programming that aspires to the quality of sport.
It’s possible to imagine a future where video-on-demand has driven most broadcasters to a model that looks more like retail, with a strand of event programming running alongside. But if video-on-demand turns out to be an illusion, and viewers are paralysed by choice rather than liberated by it, will the revenues from programme sales be enough to replace those lost from advertising? Or will we see a shrinking in the number of channels on offer to match the changed economics of broadcasting.
Michael Nutley is the editor of New Media Age.
The University of Westminster is a charity and a company limited by guarantee.
Reg. No: 977818 England. Reg. Office: 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW
© 2008 New Media Knowledge.
Site created by Green on Black and designed by Imagination
Comments
You must be logged in to comment.