Posts Tagged ‘television’

The Growing Market For Online Shows

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

Although the market for internet shows declined during the recession, it is now attracting increasing amounts of sponsorship and advertising.

  • Interest in Web-based shows has waxed and waned in recent years, but it’s now on the rise again. As people continue to spend more time online, traffic for these types of shows is expected to increase.
  • The new faith in these programs comes from the realization that online shows won’t replace TV shows anytime in the near future, but they can provide an alternative viewing experience with different standards.
  • Many funding deals for these shows come from increasingly popular branded entertainment deals, where a company sponsors a show in return for having its brand somehow incorporated into the show itself.

Facts & Figures

  • An estimated 86% of users in the United States watch at least one online video per month.
  • Last month, YouTube put up $5 million in grants for online producers.
  • Commercials for professionally-produced internet shows cost $15-$35 per thousand views; banner ads cost $5-$15 per thousand views.

Best Quote

“I often think of my daily business life as a guy running a cable network in the early 1980s. There is, no matter how you slice it, a timeline for any new industry to grow.” –Rob Barnett, Chief Executive, My Damn Channel

Hulu Makes A Grab For Your Wallet

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

Hulu is introducing a paid subscription model in addition to its existing service.

  • Hulu Plus, Hulu’s new subscription service, charges a monthly fee in exchange for offering users a much wider range of episodes and programs, including full seasons of current shows and back seasons of past programs.
  • Hulu Plus will be available on many different devices, including laptops, the iPhone, iTouch, and iPad, Samsung TVs, and Blu-ray players. A deal with Sony to bring the service to the PS3 is expected, and it will also be available on the 360 next year.
  • Hulu Plus’ biggest challenge will be attracting users who are used to getting the same programs for free on regular television.

Facts and Figures

  • The starting subscription fee for Hulu Plus is $9.99 per month.
  • Three of the four major broadcast network owners- General Electric (NBC), Disney (ABC), and News Corp (Fox) – hold equity stakes in Hulu. CBS Corp is the only holdout.

Best Quote

“We believe that any lasting solution to the challenge of making TV show discovery and viewing dramatically easier has to work for all three of our customers, and those are our end users, our advertisers, and our content suppliers.”  Jason Kilar, Hulu Chief Executive

Hey Hulu Addict, Wanna Watch That Show On Your Big Screen?

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

This write-up explores the changing ways in which people watch TV and get their news, and what that means for businesses in the industry.

  • Cable-television companies struggle to respond to our growing interest of watching television online. The companies could easily sell us web connection, allowing us to choose exactly which programs we want to watch, but they won’t because of the consequences.
  • These companies make money by selling packages of channels, though we end up only watching a small handful. That’s why they’ve resisted the trend so strongly. Unfortunately for them, they may already be too late.
  • A slew of start-ups and savvy electronics makers have stormed the scene, giving us a number of new options to bring internet television into our living rooms.

Facts & Figures

  • The average American household pays $700 a year for over 100 channels of cable television but watches no more than 15.
  • New technology bringing internet television to the living room includes: a few new TV sets come with Ethernet sockets to connect to the internet, video game consoles can stream films and TV shows from Netflix, and specialized boxes like Vudu, Roku, and Boxee can access thousands of videos online and connect them to your TV.
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