by Playfuls Staff |
28th November 2006
A BBC survey shows that online TV is gaining constantly and rapidly ground over traditional TV because of the latter's lack of quality content. People are turning away[more] from their television sets after realizing there isn't anything interesting to watch and go surfing, as they know that it's almost certain to find something worth watching.
Unlike in the United States, where hit TV shows are routinely available from networks' Web sites and services like Apple's downloading store iTunes, Britain is still in the early stages of an online viewing boom. As such, the rapid changes happening in Britain are an indication that even more traditionalist countries are moving towards highly flexible, on-demand online solutions.
A survey of 2070 people on TV viewing habits in the UK, by British firm ICM for the UK’s national TV broadcaster, the BBC, has uncovered some interesting statistics. In the survey, one in five people who watched online or mobile video at least once a week said they watched a lot less TV as a result. Another 23% said they watched a bit less, while just over half said their TV viewing was unchanged. Some 3% said online video inspired them to watch more TV.
Another factor that would be causing a drop off in regular TV viewing is the downloading of pirate TV shows from the Internet, rather than trying to find pirate content on sites like Youtube which are being heavily scrutinized for pirate content. The sharing networks using the BitTorrent technology are the most popular tool to download pirate content, with eDonkey probably coming second.
Some 43% of Britons who watch video from the internet or on a mobile device at least once a week said they watched less normal TV as a result. Just 9% of the population say they watch online videos regularly. Another 13% said they watched occasionally, while a further 10% said they expected to start in the coming year.
Online and mobile video is far more popular among the young, with 28 percent of those aged 16 to 24 saying they watched more than once each week. That figure fell to just 4 percent among those older than 45.
ICM interviewed a random sample of 1,008 adults aged 18+ recruited from the ICM online panel between 17-19 November. They also interviewed a random sample of 1,062 people aged 16+ by telephone. Panellists were recruited from across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.
Now-Google-property YouTube is credited with opening the door of opportunity to more Internet video viewing. Cell phone carriers are also experimenting with mobile TV, and content providers such as ESPN are obliging them. In addition, Apple's iTunes is growing its library of content for its Video iPods. Also, Microsoft provides users with the Xbox 360 video download service. All these legal content sites are racing (or will need to in order to survive) to beat pirate sites by offering low prices and easy purchases.
Microsoft’s Xbox 360 video download service doesn’t yet allow transfer of video content to the Zune or other portable media player, but could easily offer this service in the future. Xbox 360's technology allows displaying on home HDTV sets.
