MRG Evening Meeting Looks At New VoD Research
Stuart Knapman, partner at Essential Research, last night presented some recently completed research on Video-on-Demand at the latest MRG meeting.
According to the research, VoD is primarily driven by catch-up and convenience, although there are currently barriers to uptake.
One of the barriers is watching content on the “wrong screen”, as people do not want to be crouched over a small laptop screen if they have bought expensive TVs.
Other barriers include general understanding of VoD and issues surrounding content and digital rights management, together with poor user experience and pricing issues.
However Knapman claims that all of these barriers should come down, and much faster than expected.
IPTV is expected to migrate to set top boxes through wireless broadband, with Sky mooted as leading this trend and Virgin Media set to follow in the near future.
The research showed that long-form VoD should be on a big screen, available “under one roof” through one distribution channel, and able to be flexibly accessed while also being beautifully packaged and realistically priced.
Knapman predicts that in five years time, VoD will account for one third of all TV viewing, with consumers no longer thinking about whether to watch on the TV or the internet, but thinking “What am I going to watch?”
Essential Research: www.essentialresearch.co.uk