TDG Research

Containing the Costs of Multi-Screen Delivery: A Primer on Scalable Video Coding

The Diffusion Group — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:55:00 GMT

Product Category: Market dBrief™
Release Date: 2010 Q3
Author: Colin Dixon
Presented by: Seawell Networks
Pages: 9

The new media world order presents many opportunities for content providers to reach viewers in new and exciting ways. But it brings challenges as well. Delivering to multiple screens is a tremendous opportunity. Keeping costs down while doing so, however, is far from easy.

This paper will look at the growth in multi-screen video distribution. It will examine the challenges faced by a fictitious online content provider, VballVolley.net, and discuss a solution to one of the major contributors to infrastructure cost growth: video file proliferation.

Table of Contents:
1.0 Introduction
2.0 It’s a Multi-Screen, Multi-Network World
3.0 Delivering to Multi-Screens Is an Expensive Business
4.0 A New Approach: Scalable Video Coding
5.0 Summary and Conclusion

List of Figures:
Fig. 1: Many Screen Resolutions and Network Speeds make Multi-Screen Delivery a Challenge
Fig. 2: H.264 SVC saves Disk Space over H.264 AVC

Bandwidth Challenges to the Digital Home: 2010

The Diffusion Group — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:11:07 GMT

Product Category: Market dBrief™
Price: $0.00
Release Date: 2010 Q2
Author: Colin Dixon
Pages: 10

Telecom operators seeking to enter the lucrative television market based on existing DSL technology are facing serious bandwidth problems, primarily due to the fact that High Definition Television (HDTV) is rapidly exceeding the capacity of DSL networks serving today's homes.

In order to grow into their network, Telecom operators need to consider new solutions. This Market dBrief™ will examine the criteria needed when evaluating new last-mile technologies.

Table of Contents:
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Triple Play Leads the Way
3.0 Video Bandwidth Concerns in the Telecom Network
4.0 Telecom Operators need a New Approach to Last Mile Bandwidth
5.0 Can Fiber Meet the Need?

PayTV versus A la Carte

The Diffusion Group — Wed, 26 May 2010 20:38:11 GMT

Product Category: Market dBrief™
Price: $0.00
Release Date: 2010 Q2
Authors: Michael Greeson
Pages: 17

Some six years ago, TDG first waded into the tete-a-tete regarding à la carte services, arguing in support of the proposition. Not much has changed during these six years, at least in the U.S. In Canada, however, enlightened MSOs have recognized the necessity of adding á la carte options to their service mix.

This Market dBrief™ examines three questions regarding the subject of à la carte PayTV offerings in the U.S.

Download today to learn:

What does the Canadian experience tell us about the future of à la carte in the U.S.?
What do U.S. consumers have to say about à la carte versus closed programming tiers?
The three principal streaming solutions available today
What can demographic characteristics of à la carte enthusiasts tell us about early demand for such services?

Table of Contents:
   Weighing in on À La Carte, Five Years Later
   Must be Something In the Water
   ALA in the USA
   But What Does the Research Say?
   Who Are These À la Carte Enthusiasts, Anyway?

TVE vs. OTT - Are You Ready for a Throwdown?

The Diffusion Group — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:46:12 GMT

Product Category: Market dBrief™
Price: $0.00
Release Date: 2009 Q4
Author: Michael Greeson, Colin Dixon
Pages: 14

For those who keep up with the day-to-day business of digital video, these are interesting times. With the arrival of broadband connectivity to the TV, a host of new Internet-based video services are coming to the living room TV. TDG refers to these as "Over-the-Top" or "OTT" video services. At the same time, incumbent PayTV operators are looking to push their high-value programming beyond the TV to consumer PCs and mobile devices through the "TV Everywhere" efforts.

While there is no consensus as to how this market battle will play out, there is no doubt that battle lines are being drawn and that the consumer video landscape is about to be redefined.

For over five years, TDG has kept our fingers on the pulse of digital delivery. Download today to learn:

TV Everywhere

Service definitions
Which carriers are in this space
Consumer interest in TV to PC services
Consumer willingness to pay for such services

Over-The-Top

Service definitions
Which devices consumers will be using
Consumer interest in OTT services
Global # of OTT Households

Table of Contents:
   Introduction
   TV Everywhere
   Over-the-Top
   TVE vs. OTT, Different Models, Same Teleology
   Final Thoughts

This Market dBrief™ draws its data from TDG’s new report: Broadband-Enabled TV: Rise of the OTT Provider. This report analyzes the market conditions of Internet-based video services, identifies key market trends and predicts likely market developments for the period 2009 through 2014.

The Terror of Terminology: Demystifying Broadband TV

The Diffusion Group — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 21:09:42 GMT

Description
Product Category: Webinar
Price: $0
Release Date: 2009 Q3
Presenters:Colin Dixon, Will Richmond
File Size:

Summary

As you wade through the daily round of announcements of new over-the-top to the TV services it’s easy to get lost in the conflicting terminology used. You may find yourself wondering if Internet video and broadband video are the same thing or if broadband usage caps will render the Internet video market DOA. This webinar will throw a little light on these sometimes confusing issues and a little cold water on some of the industry’s most outlandish claims.

Here are some of the questions we addressed in this session:

What is the difference between broadband and Internet video?
What are the main home networking technologies and which is best for video?
How much bandwidth is really consumed watching Internet video and will usage caps kill the emerging market to the television?
Will the PayTV operator TV Everywhere service really deliver on its namesake promise and will it break net-neutrality in the process?
Can you really deliver a TV service over the Internet?

Co-presented by Will Richmond of VideoNuze and TDG's Colin Dixon, Senior Partner, Advisory, this webinar will help answer some of the industry's lingering questions on the future of the broadband media home and its consumers.

Over-the-Top, Cord-Cutting and the Consumer

The Diffusion Group — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:52:08 GMT

Product Category: Market dBrief™
Price: $0.00
Release Date: 2009 Q3
Author: Michael Greeson
Pages: 12

With the rapid uptake of web-based video and dramatic improvements in the quality of online video delivery, it was inevitable that innovative companies would look beyond the PC and instead turn their attention to delivering online video directly to the living room TV, bypassing or going "Over-the-Top" of incumbent PayTV providers.

This Market dBrief will present TDG’s latest primary consumer research on consumer interest in OTT video services, one which goes beyond the "cord cutter" label and identifies four different OTT segments: Replacers, Supplementers, Optimals, and Non-OTT Consumers.

Table of Contents:
   The OTT Market Space - Emergence
   The OTT market Space - Evolution
   The Shift to Embedded Web Support
   Profiling PayTV Service Subscribers - A Snapshot
   PayTV Service Subscriptions
   Final Thoughts

This Market dBrief™ draws its data from TDG’s new report: Over-the-Top Broadband Enthusiasts – Who Are They, What Drives Them, and What Do They Want? This report identifies four non-overlapping OTT-dependent segments (Replacers, Supplementers, Optimals, and Non-OTT Consumers) and analyzes the characteristics that define and distinguish each segment, including demographics, psychographics, TV viewing and subscription habits, technology dispositions, interest in alternative TV services, and a host of other characteristics. The data reveals an emerging market comprised of very different consumer segments with different motivations and service expectations.

Online Video: Threats and Opportunities for PayTV Operators

The Diffusion Group — Wed, 20 May 2009 22:38:25 GMT

Product Category: Market dBrief™
Price: $0.00
Release Date: 2009 Q2
Author: Colin Dixon
Pages: 12

With the rapid uptake of online video and dramatic improvements in the quality of delivery fueled by innovations in advanced, adaptive codecs from the likes of Move Networks and Microsoft, it was inevitable that some online video distributors would look beyond PC delivery and instead turn their attention to delivering online video “over-the-top” (OTT) of incumbent PayTV services and directly to the television.

Taken from the larger report, Pay TV Service Providers and Online Video Delivery: How Soon is Now?, this paper discusses consumer interest in, and price sensitivity to, an OTT service, and how operators can benefit by embracing web delivery methods, improving their offerings and expanding their audience. This paper also looks at how companies like Netflix are using OTT to their advantage.

Table of Contents
   Perspective 1 Online Video as a Competitive Threat
   Online Video Delivery – Show Me the Money!
   An Example of Today’s OTT Services: Netflix and Video Streaming
   Perspective 2 PayTV Operators Are Standing By to Launch Their
        Own Online TV Services
   Conclusions

Wild About Widgets – Differentiating Video Platforms in the Age of Internet TV

The Diffusion Group — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:24:36 GMT

Product Category: Market dBrief™
Price: $0.00
Release Date: 2009 Q2
Author: Michael Greeson
Pages: 12

The Internet is finally coming to the TV – this time for real and forever. It is no longer a possibility; it is an inevitability. The question for CE OEMs, then, is not “if?” to embed Internet connectivity in new video platforms, but “in what form?” to do so.

The challenge is to identify the right solutions to enhance the living room TV experience without introducing unwarranted complexity. OEMs must be wary of inexpensive solutions that do not have the horsepower or headroom to support the types of web-based TV applications that consumers demand.

This Market dBrief will present TDG’s latest primary consumer research regarding consumer demand for Internet-enabled TV platforms, as well as discuss the advantages of a widget-based approach in delivering such experiences. It will also identify the benefits that OEMs can expect when offering a widget-based interface within their video platforms.

Table of Contents:
   Setting the Stage
   Consumer Electronics in the Internet Age – Competitive Realities
   The Shift to Embedded Web Support
   Identifying the Right Solution
   The Right Interface – the Widget Toolbar
   The Right Applications – More than Just On-Demand Information
   New Revenue Opportunities
   The Right Solution – A Powerful Media Processor
   Conclusion

Funding for this research provided by Intel.

For more reading on widgets, and their potential to PayTV providers, view Using Widgets to Monetize Web-Enabled TV – The Service Provider’s Perspective.

Using Widgets to Monetize Web-Enabled TV – The Service Provider’s Perspective

The Diffusion Group — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:11:49 GMT

Product Category: Market dBrief™
Price: $0.00
Release Date: 2009 Q2
Author: Michael Greeson
Pages: 13

In the post-iPhone market, consumers have embraced the widget for its ease of use and enjoyability. The next logical placement for the widget is on the TV, specifically, on web-enabled set-top boxes. TDG strongly believes that web-enabled TV will hit its stride in the next 12-24 months, and consumers will eagerly and aggressively adopt the new applications. It remains to be seen which companies will best exploit the opportunities that internet-enabled TV will deliver. PayTV operators remain the default choice; though timing will play more than a fair share of who can ultimately grab the brass ring in the battle for emerging internet-TV experience.

This Market dBrief will present TDG’s latest primary consumer research on consumer demand for web-enabled TV-based applications in general and from PayTV Service Providers in particular. The paper also discusses the advantages of a widget-based approach in delivering such services and the benefits that PayTV operators can expect when offering a widget-based interface on their web-enabled set-top boxes.

Table of Contents:
   Setting the Stage
   Home Video Services in the Age of Internet TV – Competitive Realities
   Identifying the Right Solution
   The Right Applications – More than Just On-Demand Information
   New Widget-Related Revenue Opportunities
   The Right Solution – A Powerful Media Processor
   Conclusion

Funding for this research provided by Intel.

For more reading on Widgets and their potential in web-enabled platforms , view Wild About Widgets – Differentiating Video Platforms in the Age of Internet TV.

Game Consoles and the Emerging Over-the-Top Video Opportunity

Michael Greeson — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:39:17 GMT

There is little doubt that broadband video is a reality. Rather than trying to give an exhaustive overview of the different methods of delivering online video to the TV ‘Over-the-Top’ of incumbent PayTV closed networks and proprietary set-top boxes (what TDG has coined OTT), this Market dBrief™ will examine broadband video and explore why, of the many OTT platforms and solutions hitting the market, next-generation game consoles are uniquely positioned for success.

Report: Console Vendors and OTT Delivery -
Let the Games Begin!

The Lean on the Green Scene

Michael Greeson — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:18:49 GMT

Description
Product Category: Market dBrief™
Price: $0
Release Date: 2008 Q4
Author: Michael Greeson, Wendy Stockard, and Sarah Crisman
Pages: 8

Introduction

Popular focus of late has turned to ‘going green’ – that is, adopting environmentally-friendly, energy-conscious dispositions and actions. No doubt due in large part to the rising price of gasoline and fueled by a growing awareness among consumers about global climate issues, the public imagination has been drawn to the positive value of conserving our resources and preserving our environment.

But is this ‘green shift’ just a passing fad? Or have American consumers truly turned the corner when it comes to adopting long-term behavioral changes that will reduce the impact they have on the environment? Are consumer attitudes actually giving rise to sustainable, positive, concrete action?

The purpose of this Market dBrief™ is to benchmark specific aspects of eco- and energy-friendly behaviors and perceptions so that companies can appropriately incorporate ‘green’ aspects into their product planning and market messaging.

Table of Contents
    Introduction
    Green Leanings
    Voodoo Eco-Logic?
    How PC is your PC?
    Sour Stats on 'Green' Apples
    Are We All Ecologically Incorrect?
    Final Thoughts

Toward a Quantum Theory of Media

Michael Greeson — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:07:27 GMT

Emerging digital technologies are shaking the foundations of the media business, altering the mediums, the messages, and the models that have long dominated this important social and cultural space. Content creators, publishers, programmers, network operators, and service providers are finding it difficult to understand how and why their long-established “chain of being” is eroding.

This lack of perspective is due to the absence of a coherent theoretical backdrop by which companies can make sense of these changes; a condition which undermines strategic development, induces myopic tactical behavior, and ultimately leaves companies “behind the curve.”

TDG’s president and principal analyst, Michael Greeson, offers a unique interpretive framework for understanding the impact of various “new media” phenomenon—such as the digitization of media content, the shift to non-linear media, and the implications of the “any time, any place, any content” paradigm—using as a backdrop key tenets of relativity and quantum theory to provide a fascinating and unusual interpretative analysis.

“Relativity and quantum theory fueled a legitimate intellectual revolution impacting disciplines far beyond the physical sciences, including philosophy, literary criticism, the social sciences, and even business theory. Why? Because the core concepts have proven surprisingly useful for understanding a variety of phenomena, even today’s media universe: a world of experiences no longer confined by absolute time or space; in which user motives and context more strongly determine the nature of the experience than the creator or distributor.”

The Little Book of Broadband Video

Michael Greeson — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:02:33 GMT

Why Call it “The Little Book?"
The growing confluence of broadband, home networks, and connected devices made it clear that consumers were putting the pieces in place to support the digital lifestyle. At that time, however, most broadband-enabled home networks were limited to PC and peripheral connectivity with the majority of use focused on data-centric activities.

Since that time, a variety of new devices and services have surfaced to seamlessly extend the broadband connection and home network into the realm of digital entertainment. Specifically, new solutions are aiming to extend this digital infrastructure beyond the PC and into the home entertainment system. It will be years before this model of entertainment distribution goes mainstream, but the pieces are now in place for the "over-the-top" model of content delivery to gain a solid foothold.

The Little Book of Broadband Video is a collection of 10 key insights regarding this rapidly evolving market. We hope that our unique perspective helps you gain a more concise picture of the broadband video landscape and spark some deeper thought by all involved in this market.

As a busy executive, your time is precious. TDG’s reports are designed with that in mind, each focused on getting to the point and going beyond the fluff and puff of those other reports that spend chapters stating the obvious.

Is “Over the Top” Really That Important?
Definitely. Whether you call it convergence, New TV, Over the Top, or any other name, broadband video models will forever change the television landscape. How will you compete in this new market?

Taming the Explosion in CE Software Complexity

Colin Dixon — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:53:21 GMT

Description
Product Category: Market dBrief™
Price: $0
Release Date: 2008 Q3
Author: Colin Dixon
Pages: 6

Summary

Consumer expectations regarding the functionality and utility of electronic devices have changed dramatically over the last several years. From digital cameras to televisions, from PCs to mobile phones, users are demanding more of these devices than at any time before. These demands, however, extend far beyond the reliability and performance of core functionalities. Increasingly, purchase decisions are made on the basis of value-added or secondary features (implying such features can no longer be relegated to secondary status). CE software engineers must balance the need to design products that excel at their category-specific functions, yet support a growing number of applications and connectivity features (all while trying balance cost and complexity).

This Market dBrief™ examines these challenges, as well as how external software component vendors can be a key part of the solution.

Table of Contents
    Introduction
    The Explosion in Connectivity
    The Developer’s Challenge
    Build or Buy?
    Selecting the Right Partner
    Domain Expertise
    Standards-Based Solution
    Built-in Operability Across a Wide Range of Devices
    Hardware & OS Compatibility
    Test Support
    Conclusion

The Business Dynamics of PayTV Versus Internet TV

Mugs Buckley — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:48:38 GMT

Description
Product Category: Market dBrief™
Price: $0.00
Release Date: 2008 Q3
Authors: Mugs Buckley
Pages: 8

Description

Online video is a burgeoning, hot growth sector, yet the advertising market that supports it is confusing, even to the veterans of the traditional programming fields.As the revenue structure unravels, PayTV Operators face a looming competitor, one no longer dependent on monthly subscriber fees.

With the business model of television undergoing a massive transformation, broadband penetration growing, and video production and delivery business becoming more and more affordable, there are few barriers launching a video-based broadband content business.TDG’s latest Market dBrief, The Business Dynamics of PayTV versus Internet TV, discusses the state of the online video advertising market as it stands today and where the growth will come tomorrow. This dBrief serves as an excellent primer to the basics of understanding this often perplexing area, and is taken from the larger report, Online TV and the Future of Digital Video Advertising.

Table of Contents

    “The Times, They are a Changing”
    The Beneficiary? The Viewer
    The Impact of Broadband Video Ad Sends
    The End of PayTV? Not so Much
    The Big Four on the Move
    The PayTV Operator’s Conundrum
    Committed, but Available for Experiment
    The Window of Opportunity Opens

Making Sense of the Store-and-Serve Landscape

Ted Theocheung — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:38:51 GMT

Description
Product Category: Market dBrief™
Price: $0
Release Date: 2008 Q2
Author:Ted Theocheung
Pages: 15
Figures: 1
Tables: 1

TDG Full Report:
One Platform to Rule Them All: The Age of the Home Server Begins

Summary

The importance of secure digital storage is well understood in the enterprise world, but its value in the home is only now becoming manifest. Consumers are increasingly aware that the value of their "digital assets" (the personal home movies they create, the digital music and video they collect, and the digital information they archive) can be compromised by a variety of threats. Hence the need for a convenient, inexpensive and easy-to-use backup solution.

This Market dBrief™ highlights the trends driving demand for home storage solutions, as well as discussing the various models of home servers. Many specific storage solutions are examined.

Table of Contents
       Introduction
        Key Trends Driving Demand for Home Servers
        Start Making Sense - A Taxonomy of Store-and-Serve Solutions
        PC-Centric Store-and-Serve Solutions
        Microsoft's E-PC Offering
        Apple's E_PC Offering
        Network Attached Storage (NAS)
        Home Server Computers
        The Relevance of Microsoft's Windows Home Server
        CE-Centric Store-and-Serve Solutions
        Smart Storage Appliances
        Home Entertainment Server Appliances
        Final Thoughts

The Emergence of Broadband Television

Colin Dixon — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 06:37:18 GMT

Description
Product Category: Market dBrief™
Price: $0
Release Date:
Author:
Pages: 8
Figures: 2

TDG Full Report:
Broadband Video: Redefining the Television Experience

Summary

As the Internet finds its way to the primary home TV, consumers are looking to the Internet for content, much of which will be available on-demand and specifically suited to their tastes.

This topic paper provides an overview of the various types of Internet video now available and describes how Internet video will soon find its way from the PC monitor to TV screen. It also discusses several of the methods to help 'bridge' the gap between home broadband connection and television set.

A larger view is found in the report, Broadband Video: Redefining the Television Experience. It explores in detail how many broadband-enabled televisions will actually be connected to the Internet and used to receive broadband video. Further, the report discusses the types of video services that will be launched from the Internet targeting the television and includes specific revenue estimates for these services.

Market dBrief™ Excerpt:

With the recent flood of Internet-based video content, it is fair to say that the transition of open video delivery is well underway. Put another way, the incumbent PayTV operators and major broadcasters are losing their grip on the types of video programming to which consumers have access - a sure sign of what we call 'the democratization of video delivery.'

Table of Contents
    1.0    Foreward
    2.0    Democratizing Video Delivery
    3.0    Bridging the Gap: Connecting the Television to Broadband
    4.0    After-word

List of Figures
Figure 1 Broadband Video for Television
Figure 2 Mix of Broadband-Enabling Mediums for the TV in 2011

Mastering the Metadata Menace: How Metadata Mismanagement is Slowing the Delivery of Digital Services to the Set-Top-Box

Colin Dixon — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 06:30:24 GMT

Description
Product Category: Market dBrief™
Price: $0
Release Date: 2006 Q2
Author: Colin Dixon
Pages: 14
Figures: 3

Summary

This Market dBrief™ looks at the challenges of delivering advanced services to the Set-top box (STB). Specifically covered are the challenges within the current Interactive Program (IPG) and application environment, the increasing amount of metadata, and how various solutions are seeking to solve this problem (and often falling short).

From the Report:

After many years of relative stability in delivering television services to the home, today's PayTV operators now face some of the most significant challenges of their tenure - both from a technological and business perspective.

With the "heavy-lifting" of network upgrades virtually complete in cable and fully underway in Telco and satellite, operators are now focused on leveraging these high-bandwidth architectures to roll out new digital services to their customers - services such as Video-on-Demand (VOD), Personal Video Recording (PVR) and Voice over IP. However, there remains a significant and virtually intractable problem that Multiple-Service Operators (MSOs) must address (and soon): delivering applications for the in-home Set-top Box.

Table of Contents

    1.0    Introduction
    2.0    The Evolving STB Application Environment
                2.1    The Early Days
                2.2    Today's STB Application Environment
    3.0    Today's Metadata Management Challenge
                3.1    IPG Architecture & Metadata Management
                3.2    The Impact of Application Metadata
                            Mismanagement
    4.0    New STB Technologies Fall Short as Metadata Management
                            Solutions
                4.1    Middleware
                4.2    New STBs
                4.3    Embedded CE Databases
    5.0    Taming the Metadata Management Beast
    6.0    Conclusion

List of Figures

    Figure 1    Basic Architecture of an IPG
    Figure 2    IPG Metadata Sources
    Figure 3    Penetration of New STBs in an Existing Operator
                        System