Is TV On-demand In Demand?

Alex Burmaster, European internet analyst, Nielsen Online, examines the television over the internet phenomenon, and looks at who’s winning the battle for viewers.

There has been much activity from the major media players in the quest for the TV-over-internet grail, as well as much speculation as to what degree people will actually watch TV over the internet. However, how likely or quickly is this really going to happen? What does today’s behaviour tell us about tomorrow’s appetite?

A look at the TV-related websites accruing the greatest amount of time gives a realistic sense of the appetite that Britons currently have for augmenting their TV consumption online.

In August, Channel 4’s Big Brother site was by far the most engaging TV-related website – its 1.1 million Unique Visitors spending a total of just over 27 million minutes on the site. This was followed by the BBC Drama website, whose 1.3 million Uniques spent just over 19 million minutes. Although the BBC Drama site was more popular, its average visitor spent 14 minutes 33 seconds during the month compared to over 25 minutes by the average Big Brother visitor.

Following some way behind in total UK time, was the Children’s ITV website (CiTV) with almost 10 million total minutes. This is particularly impressive considering it’s based on a relatively small audience of 0.27 million Uniques. Of the leading TV sites by total time, CiTV had the highest average time per visitor across August at almost 36 minutes.

Time per person gives a guide to how realistic the internet as a medium for watching TV is – and it shows there’s much work to do before this happens. Of the leading ten TV-sites by total time, only the sites for Big Brother, CiTV and Aussie soap Neighbours come near the landmark 30 monthly minutes per visitor.

However, these sites are more about additional information and content relating to the particular show as opposed to actually sitting down and watching the show through a viewer’s PC or laptop. So, what about the two most popular sites that seek to actually provide this service?

Channel 4’s TV and film on-demand offering – 4oD – which provides a free 30-day catch-up service – was visited by just over a quarter of a million Britons in August. The BBC’s iPlayer – offering a seven-day catch-up window – was visited by almost 200,000 Britons.

BBC’s iPlayer website, whilst not as popular, averaged just under 12 minutes per visitor, whilst Channel 4’s 4oD averaged a much lower two minutes 16 seconds per visitor. This doesn’t look encouraging as obviously neither is enough time to view a missed programme. However, viewers don’t watch a programme directly through the site but rather through their media player applications – the iPlayer and 4oD. Both applications, like many of the UK’s video-on-demand services including Sky Anytime, use the Kontiki Delivery Manager software application to provide this service.

This is where the figures start to look far more encouraging. In August, almost 550,000 Britons used this software application – averaging five sessions during the month. The average visitor spent just over 35 minutes in total across the month. This means Britons online were potentially watching a total of almost 320,000 hours of TV and movies on their computers through this application alone.

So whilst some talk about TV over the internet almost as though it’s inevitable that people will soon be watching their entire small-screen schedule through the smallest screen, there is still some way to go – although it is, of course, early days. The incredibly habitual and ingrained nature of sitting on the sofa in front of the TV, either on one’s own or with friends and family, is unlikely to go away – and this is what the online industry is up against.

In the relentless quest for the ‘next big thing’ when it comes to new forms of digital consumption, there is a significant tendency for the technology industry to over-estimate consumer’s knowledge, understanding and willingness to use the seemingly limitless new services available.

A study we conducted on this subject last year showed that although around half of Britons online believed online and digital technology did make their life easier, half said they simply couldn’t keep up with it all. The secret for the industry in increasing the take-up of video-on-demand lies in educating consumers about the simple benefits of the service – namely the convenience and opportunity of catching up on programmes they missed.

Initially some might question if there really is a significant market for this service with all the recording devices available to viewers. However, let’s remember the majority of TV viewers in the UK do not have Sky+ or TiVo. Furthermore, many have switched to DVD players from video recorders and haven’t quite got to grips with recording via a DVD to the degree they ever did with cassettes.

Recording also requires that you know when a programme is going to be on and remember to do so – not always so simple in our increasingly cluttered lives. The sheer proliferation of channels these days – whether through Sky or Freeview – means it’s also very difficult for viewers to be aware of all the programmes they might like to watch in the first place.

So, there is undoubtedly a market for this. Ultimately, success for the video-on-demand providers lies in their ability to instil a habit in the viewer that makes them as likely to reach for their mouse as they are the remote control when they want to watch TV.