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Internet TV –the (legal?) show everyone’s watching
Topic Started: Feb 13 2009, 06:37 AM (110 Views)
Warren
Administrator
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Internet TV – the (legal?) show everyone’s watching

With an apparent desire for “one digital media box to rule them all”, Internet video has finally come of age, according to Cisco, showing Internet video is highly popular in Australia and NZ. What are we watching?

If illegal TV show and movie downloads are a part of the online diet of the 1000 people in Cisco’s “Connected Consumer” survey across Australia and New Zealand, we’ll never know, because global research Illuminas didn’t seem to ask that question.

Yet while Australia is branded the biggest TV pirating nation on Earth, we can only assume that if the question of illegal video downloads was asked – and was truthfully answered – Internet video usage would have skyrocketed even more than the amazing 59% it has already reached in both countries amongst regular Internet users.

In total, the 1000 people surveyed comprised 864 Australians and 219 New Zealanders in November 2007. Not a massively huge sample size if you ask me, but then I’m not a research expert, and I guess there was a budget Cisco allotted which Illuminas must have had to work towards.

Anyway, the sample size being what it is, the results are nevertheless quite interesting. A typical week in the life of an Internet user in both countries would see each individual spending a whopping 47 hours in “media related activities” in the home, split up as 22 hours of Internet media use and 14 hours watching TV.

That means more time being entertained each week in some form than is spent in a “regular” 40 hour work week, although the Internet does make it easy for some of those meant to be working spending at least some of that time sneaking a peek of the latest Internet videos. What the precise cross-over is, however, is unknown.

That 47 hours of cross media consumption for Aussies and Kiwis equals the usage seen in the USA and the United Kingdom, meaning we match our first world cousins in entertainment consumption, with the split slightly different in the US (21 hours Internet use in the US and presumable then 15 hours of TV), while the UK sees the same 22 hours of Internet media consumption usage.

Cisco says the survey its “one of the first of its kind” in the region, which seems to suggest it isn’t the first, but simply the latest, and suggests that us down under types “are interested in the concept of a single platform for storing and managing their digital content”.

So, what precise types of Internet media are we said to be consuming in Australia and NZ, and what questions and answers drew Cisco and Illuminas to the conclusion that we want one digital media box to rule them all?

Please read on to page 2 where I also link to some of Australia's major free, legal video watching and downloading sites!

The figures for what Aussies and Kiwis are watching online over broadband connections is quite interesting.

The study says that 59% of us “watched or downloaded media content from the Internet in the previous 30 days”. What kind of media (video) content?

Short video clips – presumably of the YouTube variety, or music videos come in at 38%, while news programming doesn’t lead the headlines at only 25%.

Kiwis – the term for New Zealanders – do things differently, as can probably be expected, and are “significantly more likely to have downloaded or watched short video clips than those in Australia (47% vs. 36%, respectively)”.

And why, pray tell, are we watching all these online videos? Because it’s free! Or so say 51% of respondents. Hey, not a bad reason! Beats paying for pay television, especially if you don’t already have it and are already paying for your Internet connection.

That said, if you are paying for pay television, a bit of free Internet TV in the form of short video clips, music videos and news isn’t costing extra, so why not?

Either way, the stats show that a big factor for 37% of Aussies and Kiwis say that Internet video is simply convenient, while 31% love the fact that Internet TV lets them “view content missed when it originally aired”.

Now, I know the ABC in Australia is beta testing a “catch up TV service” like the BBC offers in the UK, and Americans have a plethora of catch-up TV services in the US.

That said, the ABC already offers a wealth of downloadable TV shows now on their video page and I know you can also download many of their programs through iTunes.

I don’t know what the situation is in New Zealand with the commercial channels, but in Australia, Yahoo7, the online site for Channel 7, offers plenty of video with previews of upcoming episodes, recaps of already broadcast episodes, other sneak peeks, interviews and the like – but does not seem to offer any actual full episodes to watch.

What about Channels 9, 10, SBS and Telstra BigPond? Are they any legal – and free – actual TV shows to be downloaded in Australia, by Australians on these other commercial networks and other ISPs? And what about that “one media box to rule them all” along with other interesting stats the survey uncovers?

Channel 9, through its website NineMSN, also offers a range of short video clips, while also offering free downloads of full TV shows – through a special media player – of its own locally produced hits Canal Road and Sea Patrol II. Madmen and McLeod’s Daughters can be purchased, but none of its international hits seem to be available.

Update: Interestingly, since publishing this article, I've discovered that Canal Road and Sea Patrol II are able to be 'shared' with your friends and even legally uploaded to BitTorrent sharing sites, according to the Catch Up TV website, but must be played through the Hiro Media Player, although they also state the shows can be watched online or offline.

A proviso states the shows are only available to viewers in Australia and New Zealand, but whether this means someone in the US, UK or elsewhere in the world can download the shows from BitTorrent networks and play them through the freely downloadable Hiro Player and actually watch them outside of Australia or New Zealand is unknown. Each episode is around 800MB in size.

Channel 10 has a range of video clips from its news service, its morning show and seemingly only one full episode an actual TV show to watch on its site: the, er… ultra compelling “Bondi Rescue” program, of which the only compelling episode seems to be the 10th one from Season 3.

Update: Damian Smith, GM Digital Media, Network TEN has written in to the comments section on page four with the following information:

"Hi Alex: enjoyed the article. There are quite a few other shows that we at TEN are offering in full episode form on our sites. If you go to ten.com.au and look at "catch up TV", you'll see 3 right now: Neighbours, Good News Week and How to Look Good Naked. You can also get full episodes of Big Brother (as a paid subscriber). Full versions of Meet the Press, and most of the Before the Game AFL show are also available. During their "season" runs, we've had full episodes of US programs Supernatural, Back to You and Womens Murder Club. We hope to have more shows in free, full episode mode before the end of the year."

Thanks to Damian for taking the time to write in, a longer reply is on page four.

The original article continues:

Multicultural commercial broadcaster SBS also has a video player page with a relatively small range of clips with most lasting from 30 seconds anywhere up to around 5 minutes, depending on the show they’ve been excerpted from.

Australia’s dominant telco and ISP, Telstra BigPond, also offers a range of free and paid video content, from its free BigPond Sports Weekend TV show, a BigPond Video channel offering previews and other free content, through to its paid TV show and movie downloads service, BigPond Movies.

TPG, a competing ISP to Telstra, also offers paid IPTV programming to its customers after a free trial, and I'm sure other ISPs have some video programming too, you'll have to go to your ISP's home page to find out.

So, there are a range of legitimate TV shows, movies and clips to watch from actual television broadcasters and ISPs on the Internet in Australia, not including the wealth of content available from YouTube and other sites online – it’s clearly not all pirate TV content we’re all said to be downloading.

Now, let’s get onto that “one digital media box” Cisco has been talking about. It says the survey “introduces [consumers to the idea of] the concept of their storing digital media and content at a centralized service (without considering price)”.

Here, we’re told that 89% had “at least some level of interest”. It’s hardly a ringing endorsement, this “some level of interest” business when “price is not considered”, but as with all surveys, you need to dig a bit further to see what the claimed results point to.

The survey notes that: “the strongest opportunity exists among those consumers who are 'very' or 'extremely interested', representing 54 per cent of the combined Australia and New Zealand audience.”

How much are Aussies and Kiwis prepared to pay for such a “service offering” on a monthly basis? $12, apparently. Yet the survey then goes on to say that “when consumers were then asked their interest levels at varying monthly price points ($5, $10, $15 and $20), even price points in line with their expectations, interest levels declined.”

I’m not quite sure what to make of that. They’re willing to pay $12 per month if asked what they were personally prepared to pay, but if given prices ranging from $5 to $20, “interest levels decline”. Maybe I’m not reading it right as it seems a bit contradictory, so you, dear reader, can come to your own conclusions.

But Les Williamson, the vice president of Cisco Australia and New Zealand, is sure the entire survey shows that Internet video access is booming, saying: "The simple fact is the network is rapidly becoming the platform not only for businesses that want to increase efficiency and productivity, but also for consumers who are changing the way they interact with each other and a whole range of their favourite content."

Williamson continues: "The Connected Consumer survey is another point of confirmation to show that broadband consumers are using the Internet to access video information in ever-increasing numbers, and it is up to Australian and New Zealand media and service providers to adapt to that change."

The survey also discovered that consumers in Australia and New Zealand own an average of seven devices, with almost everyone owning a mobile phone (96%), desktop PC (88%) and a digital camera (86%).

39% of the consumers who have a mobile phone use it for gaming, and this is expected to increase to 42% in the next year. Other content viewing on the mobile phone is done less often, but is also expected to increase in the next year.

The survey also found that when it comes to consumer choice in Australia, Telstra/Telstra BigPond is the clear leader (55%) as the provider of multiple services such as cable, Internet, mobile phone, and video. Google and Optus Zoo each has 20% of consumers considering it.

Jay Shutter, Illuminas' managing director said that: "The key challenge for service providers is convincing the average consumer that a centralized digital media storage device will be easy to use and provide greater access to their digital content. Consumers want this type of device as both time and place shifting continues to change their digital media behaviour. Any new for-fee service would need to greatly improve on how they are currently accessing and consuming their digital content."

With YouTube now offering a higher quality video experience for online video, Microsoft’s Silverlight technology also offering high quality video and broadband speeds set to get ever faster (at an ironically slow pace) for consumers, it’s clear that Internet video will only continue booming.

So, sit back, relax, boot up your PC, and watch legal video programming. Everyone’s doing it. You can, too!
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