Free online video was supposed to kill cable. But research shows most people are getting less interested in replacing cable with online video – not more. There are three reasons why, says Tom Nolle.
That's one of the big issues with online viewing of movies/streaming on a TV. I have that setup at home, and I have the same set of issues. You also need a decent system with decent video to keep up with the video decompression and display. I was using an old Atom processor system because it was small but it's not coping well with HD!
Hulu doesn't play well with a remote control. I've got a computer hooked up to my TV and sometimes I use it for Hulu -- but the problem is that I need to use a wireless mouse to perform actions that would normally be done using a remote control. Try to raise the volume -- grab a mouse and drag a little volume icon. Pause a show -- grab a mouse and move it to the pause button on the screen. These are not difficult tasks, but it's not as easy as picking up a remote and just hitting a single button.
The TiVo or PVR point is good, Chris. Where online does have some current "substitute value" is where users miss episodes of something and want to see them. In most cases they didn't record them either. Here the issue is that there's a group of players who make money on PVR capability, and they aren't interested in losing it. The online process has to have some financial power behind advocacy to level the playing field, and so far the Internet is all about "I get it all for free" so we've not developed any.
The data backs up your position so far. Online video consumption has been on the rise but so has consumption of normal TV programming, and few users report any substitution is taking place.
The complicated question is whether online viewing could or should replace some aspects of normal viewing, meaning whether online would offer a better model for all in some specialized areas. Your example of out-of-area stuff could be one case; could online delivery of material be made under different terms, perhaps for a fee? It's going to take a lot of work to answer the issues of all of the stakeholders, of course.
Hey Tom, You certainly nailed some very valid points. But non more clear than, we are creatures of habit. The benefits currently don't seem to outweigh the costs. Although DVRs and Tivos have made some head way over the past years, people either find their use too troublesome, too expensive or just don't want to admit their addiction to network programming...I'm not sure.
Interesting post Tom. I believe every technology for example Radio, tv, cable, online tv etc have their own place in terms of preferences. Radio broadcast is not a thing of past because of advancement in technology like wise online videos too are not a perfect substitute of cable tv.
Many a online videos that i intend to watch are not accessible in my region for example every time i try to watch anything on Hulu a screen appears which says "this video is currently not available in your region"
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
Subsidized handsets, rather than locked handsets, should be the focus of regulators. We're not getting good deals, not fostering innovation, and weakening our power as buyers.
50 billion household devices will be on the Internet by 2020, according to Cisco. And we're hearing foreign governments are hacking our infrastructure. Surely our refrigerators are next!
YouTube's move to a partial pay-for-view model could help relieve a dearth of good new content but it could also complicate debates in many parts of the world over payment by content providers for delivery of their material to customers.
That's what Larry Page said on Google's earnings call, referring to the conjunction of mobile and the cloud. Well, let's chart it then! We need to be thinking about an Internet where 90% of our traffic goes to 70 destinations within 40 miles of us.
Facebook's Graph Search may face some profound challenges and risks, first, because Facebook users haven't been thinking of their posts as product reviews; and second, because Facebook will now have to contend with the social-network equivalent of SEO "gaming" of results.
EU operators are considering joining up to create a pan-European network to reduce competitive overbuild and cost. This might lower costs and focus operators on higher-level, more interesting services.
What do Apple TV, Google TV, Netflix, and Apple's tossing YouTube from iOS have in common? They prove that streaming video success is dependent on two things, a solid linkage to TV and an ecosystem surrounding the video to mine margins and profits for the provider.
Netflix seemed to be a threat to all of TV, but with the current quarterly earnings report, it sure doesn't look as if that's true now. Netflix really proves that even Internet viewing of video isn't immune to profit and other business issues. This is a lesson we need to learn if we want a viable online video model.
Comparing Internet services is tough because service providers price and market their services based on a best-case scenario connection that most consumers will never enjoy.
The IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit in Monaco kicked into high gear today, and we've already begun to see news emerging from that lovely city-state by the sea.
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