The streaming of
TV shows is so now
More users are doing it as networks make it easier
By Heidi Dawley
Feb 12, 2008
With TV writers going back to work tomorrow, many are wondering whether their three-month strike, largely over payment for online work, was worth it.
A new study suggests it was.
While many believe it will be years before watching full-length TV shows on the internet catches on, this new report from JupiterResearch contends that time is already here. Says Jupiter analyst Bobby Tulsiani: “The internet streaming era has arrived.”
The interest has been there, reports Jupiter. What's changed is that it's so much easier to do these days. "Things are finally coming into place to do this,” he says.
A 2006 survey found that 15 percent of respondents were interested in watching full-length TV shows online. But as Tulsiani notes, a survey the following year found that only 10 percent actually had done so.
The reason, he believes, is that it was too hard for users to find the content, and when they did find it, the viewing experience wasn't good. The networks wanted it that way, fearing that if they made the content easily available online it would cannibalize TV viewership.
But in the time since, they've come to see the internet as akin to a DVR, as a place for fans to go to catch up on episodes they've missed or want to see again.
So they've moved to make content easier to find on their sites but also to get it out onto sites like Hulu, the just-launched video site, as well as mainstream portals like Yahoo.
And while the quality might not be comparable to that of a traditional TV set, Tulsiani believes it's good enough for viewing on a standard PC monitor.
Tulsiani also thinks that interest in watching full-length TV shows has risen since those earlier surveys and may now be as high as 20 percent to 25 percent.
“We would have seen bigger adoption in the autumn if it wasn’t for the writers’ strike. If the internet is acting like a DVR, people will go to watch if there are new shows. If there are no new shows, then you don’t go,” he says.
But challenges do remain that keep viewing of full-length episodes on PCs from going mainstream.
For one, not all episodes are put online. Networks limit episodes to protect DVD sales. And that's not going to change until they figure out how to better monetize content--make money from advertising, chiefly.
And that's still some time off, Jupiter figures. While ad revenues will be growing quickly, by 35 percent or so a year, it's from a small base. Jupiter forecasts it to grow from $760 million this year to some $3 billion in 2012. While that seems a hefty figure, it's still well short of the roughly $20 billion made in the DVD market.
But the big drawback is that consumers still see their TV set as the place of choice for watching full-length episodes of TV shows.
At some point, the technology to allow viewing of streamed shows on TV sets may be in place, but it's not there yet, nor is the quality of shows streamed over the internet.
What you have now, says Tulsiani, is the internet competing with cable over who can better provide on-demand programming, and both face challenges.
For the cable companies, the TV set doesn’t provide an easy way to search through a library. For online, the search is easy, but the quality of the stream is not as good. Says Tulsiani: “They are battling each other. Whoever gets to the middle first might be the winner here.”
Meanwhile, in online ratings for the week ended Feb. 3, according to Nielsen Online, Google claimed the top spot among parent companies, followed by Microsoft, Yahoo, Time Warner and News Corp. Online. The top five brands were Google, Yahoo, MSN/Windows Live, AOL Media Network and Microsoft.
NexTag was the No. 1 advertiser with 7.1 million impressions, followed by No. 2 Experian Group Limited at nearly 6 million. With 33.4 million ads served, Yahoo was again the top advertising site, well ahead of No. 2 MySpace at 4.2 million.
Sessions per person per week were even to the previous week at 17, and domains visited per person were down one to 41. PC time per person was even compared with the previous week, at 18 hours and 16 minutes.
|
Top 25 parent companies
Through Feb. 3 |
|
#
|
Parent
|
Unique Audience (000)
|
Reach %
|
Time Spent per Person (hh:mm:ss)
|
|
1
|
Google
|
88,492
|
63.6
|
0:37:07
|
|
2
|
Microsoft
|
84,866
|
61.0
|
0:47:41
|
|
3
|
Yahoo!
|
77,607
|
55.7
|
1:08:31
|
|
4
|
Time Warner
|
70,760
|
50.8
|
1:25:48
|
|
5
|
News Corp. Online
|
43,598
|
31.3
|
0:47:33
|
|
6
|
eBay
|
35,840
|
25.7
|
0:56:25
|
|
7
|
InterActiveCorp
|
31,011
|
22.3
|
0:12:38
|
|
8
|
Amazon
|
26,741
|
19.2
|
0:13:56
|
|
9
|
Apple Computer
|
24,356
|
17.5
|
0:30:22
|
|
10
|
Landmark Communications
|
23,252
|
16.7
|
0:11:06
|
|
11
|
Wikimedia Foundation
|
23,240
|
16.7
|
0:10:57
|
|
12
|
Walt Disney Internet Group
|
22,447
|
16.1
|
0:20:31
|
|
13
|
New York Times Company
|
21,580
|
15.5
|
0:10:34
|
|
14
|
AT&T Inc.
|
17,035
|
12.2
|
0:24:26
|
|
15
|
E.W. Scripps Company
|
15,448
|
11.1
|
0:07:25
|
|
16
|
RealNetworks, Inc.
|
15,185
|
10.9
|
0:20:14
|
|
17
|
Comcast Corp.
|
14,084
|
10.1
|
0:26:19
|
|
18
|
Bank of America
|
13,266
|
9.5
|
0:25:29
|
|
19
|
CNET Networks
|
12,990
|
9.3
|
0:05:13
|
|
20
|
Verizon Communications
|
12,956
|
9.3
|
0:19:01
|
|
21
|
Viacom Digital
|
11,928
|
8.6
|
0:27:00
|
|
22
|
United Online
|
11,630
|
8.4
|
0:31:46
|
|
23
|
CraigsList
|
11,360
|
8.2
|
0:35:20
|
|
24
|
Gannett
|
11,277
|
8.1
|
0:10:34
|
|
25
|
CBS Corporation
|
10,539
|
7.6
|
0:08:40
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online
|
|
Top 25 brands
Through Feb. 3 |
|
|
Parent
|
Unique Audience (000)
|
Reach %
|
Time spent per person (hh:mm:ss)
|
|
1 |
Google
|
81,983
|
58.9
|
0:28:02
|
|
2 |
Yahoo!
|
76,677
|
55.1
|
1:08:48
|
|
3 |
MSN/Windows Live
|
62,182
|
44.7
|
0:47:36
|
|
4 |
AOL Media Network
|
56,621
|
40.7
|
1:35:47
|
|
5 |
Microsoft
|
55,668
|
40.0
|
0:19:22
|
|
6 |
Fox Interactive Media
|
37,132
|
26.7
|
0:50:56
|
|
7 |
YouTube
|
34,061
|
24.5
|
0:21:43
|
|
8 |
eBay
|
29,561
|
21.2
|
1:01:44
|
|
9 |
Apple
|
24,356
|
17.5
|
0:30:22
|
|
10 |
Wikipedia
|
23,217
|
16.7
|
0:10:54
|
|
11 |
Amazon
|
22,742
|
16.3
|
0:13:25
|
|
12 |
Weather Channel
|
20,749
|
14.9
|
0:11:26
|
|
13 |
CNN Digital Network
|
17,463
|
12.5
|
0:20:37
|
|
14 |
Ask Search Network
|
17,399
|
12.5
|
0:13:43
|
|
15 |
Blogger
|
17,263
|
12.4
|
0:11:24
|
|
16 |
Real Network
|
15,185
|
10.9
|
0:20:13
|
|
17 |
About.com
|
14,919
|
10.7
|
0:03:09
|
|
18 |
Bank of America
|
12,809
|
9.2
|
0:25:31
|
|
19 |
AT&T
|
12,238
|
8.8
|
0:29:49
|
|
20 |
Craigslist
|
11,360
|
8.2
|
0:35:20
|
|
21 |
Comcast
|
10,360
|
7.4
|
0:33:15
|
|
22 |
Facebook
|
10,192
|
7.3
|
0:32:12
|
|
23 |
Disney Online
|
9,686
|
7.0
|
0:22:12
|
|
24 |
Chase
|
9,611
|
6.9
|
0:17:18
|
|
25 |
PayPal
|
9,313
|
6.7
|
0:11:39
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online |
|
Top 25 advertisers
(excludes house ads)
Through Feb. 3 |
|
#
|
Company
|
Impressions (000)
|
|
1 |
NexTag, Inc.
|
7,105,161
|
|
2 |
Experian Group Limited
|
5,992,319
|
|
3 |
Netflix, Inc.
|
4,820,718
|
|
4 |
Vonage Holdings Corp
|
2,816,792
|
|
5 |
Apollo Group, Inc.
|
2,132,702
|
|
6 |
The Walt Disney Corporation
|
1,885,018
|
|
7 |
InterActiveCorp
|
1,690,004
|
|
8 |
Novartis AG
|
1,559,697
|
|
9 |
GiftFreebies.com
|
1,270,383
|
|
10 |
HSBC Holdings plc
|
1,124,714
|
|
11 |
AT&T Corp.
|
940,168
|
|
12 |
Verizon Communications, Inc.
|
843,892
|
|
13 |
eBay, Inc.
|
701,941
|
|
14 |
TaxACT
|
678,128
|
|
15 |
Scottrade, Inc.
|
592,822
|
|
16 |
E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corp.
|
578,590
|
|
17 |
Xadvantage
|
561,884
|
|
18 |
Low.com
|
513,226
|
|
19 |
CoolSavings, Inc.
|
504,398
|
|
20 |
Echostar Communications Corporation
|
484,449
|
|
21 |
General Motors Corporation
|
472,860
|
|
22 |
Wachovia Corporation
|
434,118
|
|
23 |
VacationsToGo.com
|
359,591
|
|
24 |
Intuit, Inc.
|
349,984
|
|
25 |
Fidelity Investments
|
331,775
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance
Note: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance service estimated online advertising expenditures account for CPM-based image-based advertising. All reported estimated expenditures and impressions do not account for the following placement types: text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns. AdRelevance currently does not report estimated spending for paid search advertising. Also, Nielsen Online, AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service. |
|
Top 25 advertising sites
(excludes house ads)
Through Feb. 3 |
|
|
Company
|
Impressions (000)
|
|
1 |
Yahoo!
|
33,352,918
|
|
2 |
MySpace
|
4,157,304
|
|
3 |
MSN
|
2,841,690
|
|
4 |
AOL.com
|
1,905,324
|
|
5 |
eBay
|
1,187,895
|
|
6 |
MSNBC
|
874,381
|
|
7 |
Comcast.net
|
651,694
|
|
8 |
The Weather Channel
|
570,986
|
|
9 |
NeoPets
|
497,345
|
|
10 |
CNN
|
488,103
|
|
11 |
Home & Garden Television
|
487,953
|
|
12 |
FOXNEWS.COM
|
486,761
|
|
13 |
New York Times
|
436,694
|
|
14 |
IMDb
|
429,896
|
|
15 |
Juno
|
427,497
|
|
16 |
NetZero
|
420,358
|
|
17 |
Facebook
|
359,324
|
|
18 |
Amazon
|
353,321
|
|
19 |
MyPoints
|
307,780
|
|
20 |
Photobucket
|
274,002
|
|
21 |
CNN Money
|
225,244
|
|
22 |
FOX Sports on MSN
|
222,675
|
|
23 |
ESPN.com
|
206,386
|
|
24 |
Drudge Report
|
190,632
|
|
25 |
Excite
|
168,254
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance
Note: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance service estimated online advertising expenditures account for CPM-based image-based advertising. All reported estimated expenditures and impressions do not account for the following placement types: text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns. AdRelevance currently does not report estimated spending for paid search advertising. Above data does not include any house advertising activity. Also, Nielsen Online, AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service. |
|
Average use
Through Feb. 3 |
|
|
Current Week
|
Last Week
|
% Change
|
|
Sessions/Visits per Person
|
17
|
17
|
0
|
|
Domains Visited per Person
|
41
|
42
|
-2.38
|
|
PC Time per Person
|
18:16:42
|
18:24:06
|
-0.67
|
|
Active Digital Media Universe
|
139,233,913
|
137,483,292
|
1.27
|
|
Current Digital Media Universe Estimate
|
220,170,499
|
220,170,642
|
0
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online |
|
|
|
