Hollywood2020

WILL ANYONE PAY FOR CONTENT IN THE FUTURE?

WILL ANYONE PAY FOR CONTENT IN THE FUTURE or will it all be ad-supported/sponsored, underwritten and other free to the user models? Blogged by Joyce [email protected].  The Future of Content is changing radically! Two articles that I read today underscore that major changes are happening in the revenue models for content both online and offline. The article in TV WEEK shows the rising recognition by networks and studios of the importance of content anywhere/everywhere. And the article in the trade pub Advanced-television.com talks more about what's happening right now -- a dramatic switch to ad-supported content as the network model for 'monetizing' content online.

Here are the links to the two articles. 

http://www.tvweek.com/news/2007/09/web_video_evolves_in_bid_for_a.php

US networks stream for free excerpted from Advanced-television.com

US television networks believe they have found the business model needed to profit in the digital age – streaming their hit shows over the Internet for free as opposed to selling them to consumers as digital downloads.
This Autumn, the major networks are gearing up to stream unprecedented amounts of programming with embedded advertisements on their own websites and via those of distribution partners. They are embracing streaming video after recent experiments eased concerns that it would cannibalise traditional broadcast audiences and undermine business models.................................................more

Both of them follow the announcement by NBC that they are no longer going to be using iTUNES after their contract expires in December but rather will be launching NBC Direct in October with an advertising revenue model. I've included links to articles on that too. This article shows what'[s happening and clearly calls it a WAR!

NBC, Fox, and the iTunes War
Pronet Advertising, CA - 10 hours ago
While NBC has decided to leave iTunes and strike out on its own, Fox has recently demonstrated that it fully embraces the iTunes business model. ...

More in the future. Wanted you to have a chance to digest these articles and get your input. Lots more here. BUT all of it follows what I have been writing and talking about since 1994 when the MULTIMEDIA: Gateway to the Next Millennium Book was published by Harcourt Brace-- by 2015 the proliferation of content will be totally invasive and persistant. The revenue models could just be all free-- brought to you by sponsors -- not unlike the PBS model that I've admired for decades.

js.

Apocalypto DVD Review by Hollywood2020.blogs.com

Apocalypto is one movie I could not bring myself to see in the theatres...much too violent on the big screen, blogged by Joyce Schwarz, www.hollywood2020.blogs.com.

So when it came out on video I meant to pick it up and finally just rented it at where else-- Hollywood Video. Still I thought the best way to see it was to watch it with the director's comments on it. I'm just wondering what the stats are for people who watch videos with the director's comments on versus those that watch the whole video first and then go back to hear the director's comments?

Gibson no doubt was dedicated to the project. And it was amazingly filled with gore. The costumes were unbelievable, the sets fantastic and the story actually fascinating. But still tough to watch. I found a great review of the DVD and I want to share it with you -- there's no way I can write one better and more detailed than this one. So enjoy --BBC - Movies - review - Apocalypto DVD

DVD Reviews A-Z. Interviews ... Obviously the weapons design was the director's favourite part, ... Apocalypto DVD is released on Monday 11th June 2007. ... www.bbc.co.uk/films/2007/06/04/apocalypto_2007_dvd_review.shtml - 34k - Cached - Similar pages

3/4 Internet Users Watch 3 hours Online Vid In July

Can you believe it-- nearly 3/4 of the US Internet users watch an average of 3 hours of online video during the month of July according to this Video Matrix report from www.comscore.com blogged by Joyce [email protected].

AND GOOGLE REIGNS SUPREME....(don't forget though that the Google figures include Youtube.com) now owned by Google of course! --- out of a total of 9 billion videos watched online, with Google Sites once again ranking as the top U.S. video property with nearly 2.5 billion videos viewed (27.0 percent share of videos), 2.4 billion of which occurred at YouTube.com. Yahoo! Sites ranked second with 390 million (4.3 percent), followed by Fox Interactive Media with 298 million (3.3 percent)Blogger note -- Fox Interactive would include myspace.com also! and Viacom Digital with 281 million (3.1 percent).

Property                    Unique Viewers         

U.S.

Internet
                                 (000)                  Reach 

Total Internet                  133,646                 74.2%

Google Sites                     67,782                 37.6%

Fox Interactive Media            35,834                 19.9%

Yahoo! Sites                     35,325                 19.6%

Time Warner Network              26,571                 14.8%

Viacom Digital                   22,652                 12.6%

Microsoft Sites                  18,847                 10.5%

Disney Online                    13,907                  7.7%

ESPN                              7,733                  4.3%

MLB.com                           7,671                  4.3%

Photobucket.com LLC               6,684                  3.7%

________________________________________________________________________

*Rankings based on video content sites; excludes video server networks.  Online video includes both streaming and progressive download video. Source Video Matrix from Comscore www.comscore.com

Full press release available at: http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1678

Other notable findings from July 2007 include: (note the boldface is from Hollywood2020 -- we thought these were the most signifcant factors!)

·       Online viewers watched an average of more than three hours of online video during the month (181 minutes).

·       The average online video duration was 2.7 minutes.

·       Nearly three out of four (74.2 percent) U.S. Internet users viewed video online.

·       More than one out of three (36.7 percent) U.S. Internet users viewed video on YouTube.com.

·       The average online video viewer consumed 68 videos, or more than two per day

COMMENTS -- My quick comments as a new media analyst and author with my JCOM (www.joycecom.com) hat on are

A) MLB.com -- bodes well for the NFL who made headlines on USA TODAY last week saying they want to drive all traffic for NFL video to their own website.

B) Photobucket.com -- now in the top 10 -- wow I used to think of them just as a digital (still photo) site.

OTHER TV NETWORK SITES? 

So what's up with the other network sites --NBC, ABC etc? I put in a call to Andrew Lipsman,Senior Analyst,comScore, Inc who said that most of the other networks were in the top 20. He expects them to rise fast as we head into the fall TV Season.

Andrew and I talked about such shows as Nick's new ICarly -- which has a website that plays off of the TV show www.icarly.com and I also mentioned the Saturday Tween shows

that are simultaneously sending viewers to the website and asking for videos and registration etc to literally be part of the show.

As you know I previously blogged about NBC's Ivillage TV show out of Universal Studios in Florida which seems to have the most interaction I've seen for a daytime show online. And the rise of Larry King's King Cam and other interactive features. ABC's "I Caught" is another show that is based totally on web videos. Amazing stuff! Funny that Dancing with the Stars and others have not encouraged viewer videos etc?

We'll see what this fall season has to offer. I've already watched Showtime's previews of Californication on Netflix -- and that was a trip in itself. js.