Streaming Media - December 2008/January 2009 - (Page 37)

One evolving content area is the customizing of content for the screen and to the lifestyle and usage habits of the screen owners. For example, broadcast, long-form content is not very popular on mobile devices. Similarly, PC video content is not necessarily something people want to see on their TVs, and it is starting to morph into a hybrid of long- and short-form video with more interactivity and new ad models. Although the current demographic for much online and mobile content is 12–34-year-olds, older audiences may be pulled in. And the current audience will age, suggesting that providing the right content for the right device will be a moving target challenge. In 2008, a couple of key things were discovered about online content for the PC. One principle is that web broadcasts of a certain type of content have yet to take eyeballs from the TV. In fact, it is believed that Olympic content delivered on the web led people to turn on the TV to watch. It also proved that people may watch the full event on TV but then go online to rewatch their favorite moments or see interviews with the winners. Another lesson is that consumers are willing to watch online content concurrently with broadcast content, but they have newly raised expectations. Mio Babic, CEO of iStreamPlanet, a company that provides managed webcasting services and SaaS-based media applications, says that despite customer acceptance of multiple-screen and sometimes simultaneous viewing, quality is still a major concern. “In the past, we were able to say, ‘It does on the web, so we don’t need to worry about quality,’” Babic says. “But now, people expect perfect quality and an enhanced experience, such as multiple viewing angles.” Another interesting trend is that people are starting to watch PC-based versions of events, especially sports, that are longer than those they watched on TV. This is largely because consumers are used to spending longer amounts of time in front of their always-on PCs. Another area innovating around content is mobile. Both free services (e.g., mywaves) and paid services (e.g., MobiTV) exist. With free services, content can be subsidized by ads or by carriers, which realize the value of additional minutes and the ability to decrease subscriber turn by offering video services. According to Susan Cashen, VP of marketing for mywaves, users of her service are spending 20 minutes per visit and finding mobile video content to be quite compelling. “People are connected to their phone constantly; in Europe and the U.S., it’s about business, and in India and in other developing nations, it’s just cheaper than broadband, so it’s natural for people to spend time looking at content on their phone,” she says. But the content these users seek is far from traditional. “Users are not looking for full-length content, they are seeking out short content—quick blurbs about things important to their [demographic], which is primarily males 18–34 years old: celebrity clips, music videos, WWW.STREAMINGMEDIA.COM 37 http://www.digital-rapids.com http://www.digital-rapids.com http://WWW.STREAMINGMEDIA.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Streaming Media - December 2008/January 2009

Streaming Media - December 2008/January 2009 Table of Contents User-Generated Politics Netflix Needs a Business Model Technology and Business Trends by the Numbers Improving Video Color Quality What Makes for Compelling Video? Game On: Bringing the NHL to IPTV Give! The New Era of Corporate Communications New Video Frontiers: Taking It Beyond the PC The HD Showdown: Codec Vendors Battle It Out for Supreme Quality The Ultimate Guide to Creating Online Video Content That Works, Part 2 Planning for Webcasting Success: Considerations for Deploying an Enterprise Video Communications Platform All Mobile Devices Are Not the Same Datmedia Datpresenter LSI Tarari Encoder Accelerator LCPX-6140 Gomez Active Streaming XF Transcoding for Global Reach Executive Visions 2009 The Revolution Is Being Televised

Streaming Media - December 2008/January 2009

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