OK. We’re not quite there yet, but viable alternatives to traditional television are definitely gaining some traction.
Nielsen is reporting a surge in online video streaming with YouTube and Hulu at number 1 and 2 respectively. Both offer TV shows and movies (YouTube as of this week)…the stuff you would normally watch on a television. Solid content (also available directly from network sites) and internet-to-television applications like Boxee are even prompting some early adopters to divorce their cable company.
There are no clear winners yet, but start-ups and established companies alike are racing to meet growing consumer demand for control over the video viewing experience.
Also TBD is how marketers will respond to the coming seismic shifts. Tivo has been around for more than a decade (it rocks!), but broader adoption of DVR tech in recent years has advertisers scrambling for answers to time shifting and ad skipping. Apple, Xbox Live, Amazon, Netflix, DIRECTV, and the cable comapnies offer commercial-free, on-demand video straight to your TV and/or laptop. The iPhone and other wanna-be’s have made viewing video on your mobile device practical and enjoyable… also commercial free.
The boobs are in control of the tube… the how, what, when, and IF of viewing video and any ads associated with it.
The days of ad-supported, appointment TV are coming to an end… following the painful, you-should-have-seen-this-coming decline of the newspaper. Broadcast isn’t casting so broadly anymore.
It’s been said many times before and it will probably have to be said many times again… marketers must build trusted customer relationships and provide targeted, relevant information if they hope to reach and retain consumers increasingly in control of the media they consume.
Filed under: Channels, TV, Technology, advertising | Tagged: amazon, boxee, Channels, directv, hulu, iphone, Netflix, Technology, tivo, TV, xbox live, youtube
