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The term multi-screen is being used just about everywhere these days. But what does multi-screen actually mean? For years, network equipment suppliers and operators have been espousing the benefits of a converged intelligent network that offers integrated multi-screen services. Converged network services will, for example, permit a voice call session to be upgraded to a video call session on the fly. The term multi-screen can also imply bundled network services, such as TV Everywhere, with a common authorization mechanism linking pay TV subscriptions to the PC and mobile handset. Since Netflix is accessible from just about any web-enabled device, it must be a multi-screen service. And last month at CES, Samsung (and others) demonstrated the ability to share video between a tablet and a big screen TV, provided both are running the same proprietary multi-screen application platform.

With so many ways of accessing and viewing multimedia content on multiple screens, it only seems logical that everyone must want to do it. Yet, In-Stat research has confirmed that nearly two-thirds (64%) of consumers acquire, store, and view their online video content on a single device (usually the PC). In contrast, only 14% of US broadband consumer households view locally stored content on multiple screens. The remaining 22% of consumers have no interest in acquiring online video at all. Consumer behavior will change over time, but the data suggests that there is very little pent up demand for multi-screen services today.

The implications of multi-screen adoption (or lack thereof) will be far-reaching. Mobile operators must justify their huge investments in LTE. Pay TV operators need TV Everywhere services to fend off video cord cutting. The future of equipment manufacturers, such as Ericsson and Alcatel Lucent, depend on making public networks more intelligent. Most importantly, content producers have bet the shop that multi-screen licenses will generate greater consumption and higher profits. The question to be answered is not whether we will be operating multiple screens, but how will we use our many web-enabled devices?

Our initial research indicates that traditional demographics, such as age, income, or education are not useful in predicting multi-screen behavior. Even psychographics, such as In-Stat’s Internet Usage Behavior segmentation (power, social, and passive Internet users), which more accurately predict technology adoption and content consumption fall short. As a result, forecasting the market for multi-screen services will require an understanding of both the technological alternatives, as well as the unique characteristics of multi-screen consumer behavior.

In-Stat has just published a research report entitled Home Video Library Acquisition, Storage, and Viewing Trends. The report examines how consumers are currently acquiring, storing, and viewing video content, and it forecasts home video library growth using new multi-screen behavior segmentation.

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Home video retail revenue has fallen precipitously over the past five years. Worse yet, double-digit declines in annual retail sales of physical discs are expected, resulting in a drop of $4.6 billion from 2009 to 2014. To replace retail DVD revenue losses, the online digital paid video download and streaming segment, (which includes both purchase and rental) is expected to show high revenue growth. Annual revenue is forecast to grow from $2.3 billion to $6.3 billion within five years, says In-Stat (www.in-stat.com).

The battle lines for online offerings are continuing to be drawn and are intensely competitive. Online à la carte rental of TV episodes will directly compete with online subscription TV services, such as Hulu Plus and Netflix, and may detrimentally impact the use of TV Everywhere services. Further competition will come from paid online video stores, such as Apple iTunes, Amazon, Vudu and CinemaNow.

“Video disc rentals will continue their significant decline,” says Keith Nissen, Principal Analyst. “Netflix is already shifting its focus to online streaming, and Red Box is evaluating a similar strategy. The convenience and utility of the online offerings are simply too compelling. Online rentals permit the selection of any movie or TV program from the Video-on-Demand library. Ultimately, it will be impossible for physical disc kiosks to compete with the in-home or in-store download-to-rent business model.”

Some of the research findings include:

• US TV download revenue will more than triple between 2010 and 2014.
• Premium channels (HBO, Showtime, etc.) are in competition with online video subscription services for both subscriber spending, as well as movie licensing rights.
• The emergence of electronic sell-through for online video purchases and rentals will transform the digital entertainment industry over the next five years.
• Online VOD (Video-on-Demand) subscription revenue is expected to approach $3.5 billion by 2014.

Recent In-Stat research The Battle for OTT Video: Redistributing Video Industry Dollars (#IN1003966MBI) reviews the economics behind the video entertainment industry today, encompassing:

2009 revenue and expense totals for each market segment including; theater box office, home video, pay-TV, premium TV channels, broadcast networks, online video, and video disc rentals. Segmentation of online video revenue includes electronic-sell-through (EST, download-to-own), VOD rentals, and subscriber VOD.

Three critical market scenarios are assessed from a revenue and profit standpoint: Apple’s 99-cent iTunes video rentals, online TV rentals as replacement of retail DVD/Blu-ray disc sales revenue, and the viability and impact on the pay business model.
Based on the research conclusions, five-year forecasts for each video entertainment market segment are presented.
For a free sample of the report and more information contact Elaine Potter, epotter@in-stat.com; (480) 483-4441

To purchase it online, please visit: http://www.instat.com/catalog/mmcatalogue.asp?id=289

Related articles

• Hollywood Needs to Jump On the Streaming Bandwagon (gigaom.com)
• Will Apple and Amazon Kill Netflix? (fool.com)
• New Eye-Popping Netflix Growth Stats (paidcontent.org)
• Feature: Who watches the watchers? TV ratings in the age of digital TV (arstechnica.com)

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More than ever before Internet users in the United States want to be able to connect their TV to the Internet. Research firm Deloitte says 65 percent of Internet users want online content available on their televisions, with Millennials (14-26 year olds) leading the way; some 74 percent said they want to connect their TVs. But they weren't alone in their desires, said Deloitte in its “State of the Media Democracy (4th edition).” Gen Xers (71 percent), Boomers (59 percent) and Matures (46 percent) also contributed to the 7-percentage point uptick from a year ago.

The economic downturn that has plagued the nation may have contributed to an increase in TV viewing by Internet users as well, with viewing topping 18 hours per week in 2009. Deloitte said about 4 percent of respondents said they watched some of their favorite shows on sites like Hulu, with another 3 percent saying they watched post-broadcast episodes of their favorite shows on the show’s website.

via Survey shows increased desire for TV-Internet convergence – FierceOnlineVideo.

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The Wall Street Journal reports that the Walt Disney Company is close to unveiling new technology to allow entertainment companies to distribute media to consumers using computers and cell phones, rather than on DVD and television.

The technology is code-named Keychest and sounds like its the for-pay web service that Disney CEO Bob Iger announced back in July. The service would basically let consumers pay one price for permanent access to content from a number of different devices — like set-top boxes and mobile phones.

As the WSJ points out, this type of system could really bring the idea of movie downloads to the mainstream — because content would be stored and accessed from the cloud on your different devices, rather than downloaded and then stored for playback.

Digital Media Served From the Cloud

Think of the service kind of like Microsoft’s Zune Marketplace — content you buy via your set-top box would also show-up on your mobile phone or on your computer. The advantage is that the content can be easy to access from multiple devices from the user, but the content provider ultimately has control over who gets to watch the content (making piracy much more difficult).

Even content purchased on physical media, like Blu (Blu)-ray or DVD could still work with the Keyset system, because a customer could either type in (or in the case of Blu-ray, have the key transmitted over the Internet) a code that would then “unlock” viewing options for that product on different devices. For consumers, this would be like the iPod friendly digital downloads that now come packaged with many DVDs or Blu-ray discs. Only instead of a download, you could access the content over the cloud.

Of course, all of this content seems to be based on the idea of ubiquitous connectivity. How consumers would (or if they could) access content when not online (say you’re on a trip or in the car) hasn’t been discussed.

via Disney’s Going Digital: Buy Once, Watch Anywhere.

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Submitted by Mark Hefflinger on August 31, 2007 – 6:28am.

San Francisco - An independent filmmaker who posted some of his work on YouTube, which was then used without permission by Viacom on a TV show, has seen his posting of Viacom’s use of his work removed from YouTube by the media conglomerate, CNET News.com reported.

Filmmaker Chris Knight created promotional videos that showed him blowing up a schoolhouse with a Death Star, a la “Star Wars,” which was then used by Viacom in the VH1 TV series “Web Junk 2.0.”

Viacom, which has separately filed a $1 billion copyright infringement suit against YouTube, claims the commentary it made on Knight’s video qualifies it as a “fair use,” according to the law.

However, the company believes Knight’s posting of the full “Web Junk 2.0″ segment on YouTube — which utilizes his own work — constitutes copyright infringement, and the clip was removed from YouTube at Viacom’s request.

Knight writes on his blog that he contacted YouTube’s division of copyright enforcement, arguing that the VH1 clip is derived from his own work, and as such he should be entitled to use it.

“What does this mean for independent producers of content, if material they create can be co-opted by a giant corporation without permission or apology or compensation?” Knight wrote on his blog.

“When in fact, said corporations can take punitive action against you for using material that you created on your own?”

Related Links:
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9769329-7.html

http://theknightshift.blogspot.com/2007/08/viacom-hits-me-with-copyright.html

http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/webjunk_20/series.jhtml

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TV advertising spending is growing, and analysts expect that to continue through 2010. Online video usage is increasing, online advertising spending is taking a larger proportion of the overall advertising pie and digital video recorders (DVRs) and video-on-demand (VOD) capabilities are becoming widespread, according to a new study by eMarketer. Talk of TV’s short-term demise is unfounded. Yet it is equally shortsighted to think that the traditional TV model will not change significantly over the next decade.

Estimates show by 2011 there will be more than 200 million broadband Internet users in the US, 92% of whom will regularly watch video online. At that time the broadband audience will be two-thirds the size of the total US TV audience, up from less than half the TV audience in 2006. In addition, 45.1% of TV households will have DVRs and nearly 59% will have VOD capabilities — both of which are used to avoid advertising. TV advertising dollars will inevitably shift to alternative channels. Online advertising is likely to be the major beneficiary of this redistribution. Most recent online advertising spending estimates show that by 2011, $44 billion will be spent on online advertising, up from $16.9 billion in 2006, and 10% of all online advertising will be spent on online video advertising.

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