Product Category: Broadband Media
Price: $1495
Release Date: Q2 2009
Author: Pam Allison
Pages: 48
Tables: 3
Figures: 3

 
TDG Member Download

Summary    
Today’s consumers increasingly demand access to their favorite TV content on their terms – when and where they want to enjoy it. These expectations have remained unfulfilled by traditional TV delivery, driving many consumers to web-based TV programming where content is easier to find and always available on their unique schedules.

Traditional TV broadcasters and cable networks are following very different paths into the forest of online video, each scrambling to find the “right” combination of content, ease of access and search, and on-demand access that will attract online viewers without cannibalizing traditional linear TV revenue. As well, a host of online upstarts now aggregate and distribute vast amounts of video content to consumers, some to the PC, others reaching for the TV. The impact of these third-parties on the home video industry is the subject of much debate: are they accretive or dilutive to incumbent revenue, for how long, and to what extent?

While these are fair questions, most content purveyors now realize that the choice is no longer if to embrace online video distribution, but how best to go about it. On one hand, content creators understand that online video is a burgeoning market, one they inevitably must exploit. On the other hand, they are reluctant to release their high-value content online due to a variety of factors including contractual restrictions, fear of piracy, and cannibalizing DVD- and TV-related advertising and license revenue. Finding the right balance among these factors may be difficult to achieve but is nonetheless imperative for success in this new quantum media world.

This report provides an overview of the online TV programming space, including an analysis of the current tactics of the major broadcast and cable television networks. Additionally, this report offers strategic recommendations as to how TV content creators should best approach online video presence and outreach.

 
Table of Contents
  Key Findings

  1.0    Introduction

  2.0    The Players
  2.1    Incumbent Content Creators
           2.1.1    Big Four Broadcasters
           2.1.2    Cable Networks
  2.2    Emerging Third-Party Online Aggregators and Distributors
           2.2.1    Fancast
           2.2.2    Hulu
           2.2.3    imdb
           2.2.4    Joost
           2.2.5    Netflix
           2.2.6    Sling Media
           2.2.7    TV.com
           2.2.8    YouTube
  2.3    The Future of Online Video Providers and Incumbent TV Operators
  2.4    Over-the-Top Providers – What Play Do They Have?

  3.0    Consumer Viewership of Online TV Programming
  3.1    Online Video Viewers
  3.2    Time Spent Watching Online Video
  3.3    Most Frequently Visited Online Video Sites
  3.4    Effect of Online Video Consumption on TV Viewing

  4.0    Strategic Recommendations for Content Providers
  4.1    Make TV Content Available Online – Somewhere, Anywhere, Everywhere
  4.2    Negotiate for Web Distribution Rights for Non-Network Produced Content
  4.3    Clips Don’t Cut It
  4.4    Third-Party Streaming Partnerships
  4.5    Third-Party Download Services
  4.6    Missed Opportunity:  Live Sports Programming
  4.7    Don’t Forget about Mobile

  5.0    Final Thoughts – The Inevitability of Quantum Media Consumption

 
List of Tables
  Table 1 – Online Video Viewing Forecasts thru 2013
  Table 2 – Summary of Incumbent Content Creator Online Offerings
  Table 3 – Summary of Emerging Third-Party Online Aggregators and Distributors
  Table 4 – Frequency of Viewing Specific Online Video Sites

List of Figures
  Figure 1 – Weekly Online Video Viewership
  Figure 2 – Weekly Online TV Viewership
  Figure 3 – Impact of Online Video Consumption on TV Viewing