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May 3, 2007

45% of Europeans watch TV online

Duncan Riley

90 comments »

motorola.jpgA new study from Motorola has found that an amazing 45% of European broadband users now watch at least some television online.

The survey covering the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Spain found that the French lead Europe in terms of online television consumption with 59% of people choosing to watch previews and episodes of their favorite shows via the web with the Germans trailing at 33%.

The survey did not ask where the respondents obtained the content, ignoring the reality that many were possibly downloading television shows from BitTorrent or similar services.

The results further strengthen the business models of startups such as Joost, that seek to target a massive potential audience through the use of streamed content over a P2P network, but with the safeguards of DRM and imposed advertising delivery built in.

The survey also found that 45% of Europeans expect to be making video calls via their home TV’s by 2012.

“Viewers across Europe are no longer satisfied with fitting into schedules dictated by broadcasters and are turning to the choice and flexibility offered by TV over the internet,” Motorola’s Karl Elliott told the BBC.

“We are witnessing a nation of citizen schedulers who are in control of their entertainment, allowing them to watch what they want, how and when they want it.”

The convergance of Television and the Internet, despite recent false starts with products such as Microsoft’s Windows Media Center, looks set to continue.

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Comments

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  1. alex

    May 3rd, 2007 at 4:03 am

    Nope, I don’t believe it. 45%of those surveyed, perhaps. But I’d be surprised if even that many people had fast enough internet access to watch online TV.

    45% of 14-28 year olds, maybe. 45% of the population, never.

  2. Florian Cervenka

    May 3rd, 2007 at 4:16 am

    alex: we young Europeans have multiple personalities.. so I’d rather go for an easy 140% of the population.

  3. Spiel

    May 3rd, 2007 at 4:18 am

    I agree with Alex. Not to mention, as far as my knowledge serves me, Europeans watch far less TV (overall) than Americans, focusing more on social activities.

  4. Patrice

    May 3rd, 2007 at 4:20 am

    This is just impossible. Just look around, Internet penetration is barely as high. Broadband is definitely lower. This is intoxication… or poor survey standards at best. There’s no way that 45% of Europeans watch TV online, even in 14-28 year olds.
    At least 80% of surveys are just crap. Pls check your source.

  5. John Sjölander

    May 3rd, 2007 at 4:26 am

    I’m sceptical about the 45%. Regardless, this is an absolutely booming market.

    In our experience consumption of online media (regardless of format) is more common in Europe than in the US. People are not content with waiting half a year to watch their favourite show, when the show is available (illegaly?) online.

    Not surprisingly, we expect a large part of these people download content illegaly. Some business models, such as advertisement financed or subscriptions, don’t yet work for the media companies because of the high costs of media distribution. Solving that problem may very well help pave the road for legal alternatives.

  6. Ted

    May 3rd, 2007 at 4:28 am

    I would agree with this statement somewhat — They may not be watching COMPLETE programs but are catching snippets of news here and there. There were a large number of people subscribing to paid podcasts in the UK not too long ago — for a comedy program of all things.

    Australia, New Zealand and England are a lot further ahead that 90% of American web companies - advertising agencies — their thinking is a lot different - more proactive. So there could be some truth to this.

  7. CincoJuanita

    May 3rd, 2007 at 4:29 am

    I definitely don’t see myself ever watching TV online - the reason being I’m too busy doing other things when online to watch it.

  8. Ali

    May 3rd, 2007 at 4:33 am

    I live in Europe, I’ve just started watching Joost - though I would hardly call it TV. More like recorded programming.

    My broadband is pretty good and if the right service comes along I wouldn’t mind shifting purely to watching TV online, just get another widescreen monitor and hook myself up.

  9. Duncan Riley

    May 3rd, 2007 at 4:39 am

    True, in that it was a survey so it’s respondents, but I think its important to look outside of mainstream streaming services and consider your Bittorrents and similar as well as I noted in the post, even Usenet has surged as a destination for downloading recorded TV content after nearly fading away several years ago. Consider that a 30 minute program is only a 200mb download that with a decent broadband connection could be downloaded in under 1 hour (or quicker again) then your potential market is a lot bigger than most would expect.

  10. Niklas

    May 3rd, 2007 at 5:04 am

    A substantial amount of (young) europeans ‘watch TV’ through BitTorrent, because it takes so darn long for new shows to arrive to the smaller countries’ TV networks.

  11. Bob Jones

    May 3rd, 2007 at 5:13 am

    Considering the Euro stations are so far behind the US in online activities, the only services in the UK are 4oD and Sky Anytime (PC).

    I can’t see 45% knowing how bit torrent works or how to get 4oD or Sky Anytime.

    I do agree a lot of Europeans will be downloading via bit-torrent because our networks, and the US congloms, are idiots and think its better to charge more to show it early, or pay less to show it 2 years later, than just doing it the week after and getting the buzz while it lasts and all those who download illegally.

    If I was to ever download illegally, which I contend I have not, I would not bother if it was going to be shown on British TV the next week … like Desperate Housewives is right now (although it started 4 months later!) … I might, although I content I didn’t, download it back in September when it started in the US.

  12. Ingmar

    May 3rd, 2007 at 6:02 am

    In France, 16-25 MBit DSL is market standard and customers get IPTV included into their flat rates, DE has IPTV in major cities available, should be the same for UK London area.

    http://www.t-home.de/
    http://adsl.aol.fr/acces-inter.....rique.html
    http://www.alice-dsl.de/kunden.....sicht.html

  13. Tom

    May 3rd, 2007 at 6:17 am

    It is 45% of broadband users, so more close to the truth than may appear. But most of this will not be Television as the press release indicates, but respondents mistaking video clips for TV

  14. Blonde 2.0

    May 3rd, 2007 at 6:51 am

    There is a real revolution emerging right before our eyes which will change the way we have viewed and defined TV till now. I believe that within a few years time, we will see the internet establish itself as the leader of all media (due to its ability for customization and personalization) and that more and more services and technologies will be offered to those watching and those who want to be watched. You can check out my post regarding this issue: http://blonde2dot0.blogspot.co.....of-tv.html

  15. Stephen Kelly

    May 3rd, 2007 at 7:00 am

    Another thing to consider is that some of this survey was done in the UK - where there is still a tax of a few hundred dollars a year which could nearly pay for a years broadband.

    Similar to mobile phones several years ago when younger adults starting cancelling home phone accounts and moving just to mobile phones.

    As when money gets involved users are generally more willing to change.

  16. Rajesh Kumar

    May 3rd, 2007 at 7:06 am

    We do not generally associate Motorola with TV. Sign of things to come?

  17. Vince

    May 3rd, 2007 at 7:14 am

    The 45% figure is dubious but TV on the internet is a reality in some european countries.
    My ISP offers me almost all channels (including around 80 for free) as high quality streaming MPEG2. No proprietary player (just use VideoLan), no DRM, no cost (I just pay the basic 29,90 euros for my ADSL2+ line).
    I don’t even own a TV set anymore.
    The 3 millions subscribers of this ISP are far from 45% of the population of the country but it is quite different from the “download on bittorrent” scheme the comments above are imagining.

  18. David Mackey

    May 3rd, 2007 at 7:19 am

    Hopefully this will help companies to continue to develop in this important area. I think there is still a lot of need for mainstream consumer adoption, but it will come when the products become intuitive enough.

  19. Your Mom

    May 3rd, 2007 at 7:21 am

    What exactly are “Europenas?”

  20. Jeremy Wright

    May 3rd, 2007 at 7:42 am

    Maybe “TV” includes “YouTube”? If so, I could see 45% of broadband users having watched at least some “TV”. Ultimately this depends on how the questions were worded…

  21. Nels

    May 3rd, 2007 at 7:50 am

    I’m with Vince here. I don’t live in Europe, but I’ve visited a few times and stayed in “non-hotel” places. The TV comes in from the ISP through a DSL modem that you can also hook up to your computer. I think Americans are spoiled by cable which I don’t think is nearly as prevalent in Europe. I don’t have numbers, but I’d imagine that for business reasons at least, DSL-style broadband penetration is much higher than cable penetration in Europe, so if people get their internet connection through DSL-style broadband, then they probably also get their TV through the same connection. It’s a lot like my brother who cancelled his cable and gets everything through his Apple TV. Imagine that instead of buying everything from iTunes and going through your Apple TV that you just get everything streamed through the Apple TV for free. Wouldn’t you be watching TV online then too?

  22. Richard Giles

    May 3rd, 2007 at 7:52 am

    I think the survey was of “broadband” users in Europe. Which, as far as I can tell from recent surveys, is 30% of the population. So that makes it about 14% of Europeans watch TV online. A more realistic percentage.

  23. ... Got It

    May 3rd, 2007 at 8:01 am

    This reminds me, 72% of all statistics are made up on the spot …

  24. Jens B

    May 3rd, 2007 at 8:01 am

    Stats like the ones presented in this article show America’s knowledge on what is happening outside their own borders. You can tell them anything and they will believe it.

  25. Mike M

    May 3rd, 2007 at 8:04 am

    It would be nice if the you would include a link to the study that you are referencing. It would at least be helpful if you could verify whether Motorola administered or commissioned the study.
    Since Motorola has an economic interest in having its business customers believe that a market is bigger than it actually is, the validity of any of the numbers quoted is questionable.

  26. Broardband

    May 3rd, 2007 at 8:44 am

    I think the title of this blog post should be changed to “45% of Europeans broadband users watch TV online”. That would make much more sense. Otherwise I don’t believe it at all. Also, as Mike M said, link to the paper would be much more helpful then just a link to the homepage of Motorola website.

  27. pallet jack

    May 3rd, 2007 at 8:47 am

    - anytime a person can find a way to watch a tv program in 20 minutes and get the exact thing -interruptions… THEY WILL

    - I just got DVR (I know Im 20 yr behind) but I havent watched a commercial except for live programs, since

  28. patricia

    May 3rd, 2007 at 8:47 am

    Does anybody know of any studies on U.S. users?

    I think this shows how far behind we are. It’s been forever known that this kind of trend would happen but video content sites, networks, etc. in the U.S. only seem to just be starting to position for it. It’s no wonder Joost is lighting it up right now.

  29. David N. Welton

    May 3rd, 2007 at 8:52 am

    I call BS. I live in Europe (Austria, at the moment, previously Italy), and no way do that many people watch TV on line. Their “survey” must have been on a web page regarding downloading movies or something similarly skewed.

  30. Will O'Connor

    May 3rd, 2007 at 9:35 am

    Hi. I work for Edelman, Motorola’s PR company (*prepares to get flamed*) but I think it’s worth me saying so and offering to clarify any questions people have here.

    It’s important to note that it was broadband users in Europe who were surveyed; this was simply the continuation of a large broadband/CMTS study that Moto conducted last year looking at consumer bandwidth usage. It was conducted by StrategyOne, a well respected third party research house.

    The intention here was to look at what services European consumers are currently using, their opinions of these services, their understanding of IPTV technologies and the attitude and demand for the viewing experience offered by IP video services.

    This is the first stage of results to be released. Following a number of questions about viewing habits and use of broadband, respondents were asked “do you watch previews or episodes of your favourite TV shows online?” the answer that came back was a resounding ‘Yes’. 45% may seem high (it certainly did to us) but when you think about the sheer volume of services and methods of provision, it’s not quite so extreme.

    The point of interest here should not focus on the specific mechanic or method of delivery but on the viewing experience being embraced by end-users. Respondents may not be able to differentiate between live streaming, video on demand or download, but the message that is coming through is that people are taking far more control in their viewing habits, making the decision on their own time and not allowing themselves to be dictated to by broadcasters. It’s simply evidence that illustrates the changing face of viewing habits - something that’s enabled by high-bandwidth internet connections and IPTV technologies whilst being embraced by broadcasters (like the BBC and ITV in the UK this week), new stakeholders (Joost, Babelnetworks, Jalipo) and traditional providers (Telia Sonera, France Telecom).

    The division I represent here is Motorola’s Connected Home Solutions division (http://broadband.motorola.com/) which has been active in the TV market for about 50 years. I know they’re mostly known for phones but they have a huge Cable modem, digital TV and IPTV set-top-box business.

    I’m happy to clarify any questions or issues you guys have, there’s an a lot more material yet to come out of this but for the moment I can only discuss the most recent announcement.

  31. Sriram

    May 3rd, 2007 at 9:37 am

    Skewed skewed! I have an article on my site that says TV internet consumption amongst the youth in Europe is quite low (compared to 45%)…and assuming the youth are one of the major drivers of internet TV, this directly contradicts motorola’s statistics. Sham!

  32. ...

    May 3rd, 2007 at 9:37 am

    It’s 45% of BROADBAND users… Not Europeans in general.

  33. sc

    May 3rd, 2007 at 9:38 am

    The only thing this survey suggests is that people who conduct the survey will only share data that supports whatever product they are going to launch in a few months/weeks.

    The question may have been as broad as “Have you ever seen a TV program or preview using the internet?”

    Can you provide the exact question that they were asked?

  34. Christophe

    May 3rd, 2007 at 9:44 am

    Why was this article posted on TechCrunch? Who is this Duncan Riley guy? Someone please give him the boot.

  35. Al Ramirez

    May 3rd, 2007 at 9:52 am

    No doubt millions are watching some video online but what qualifies as legal, long form, and premium content may not be an apples to apples comparison with traditional tv programming. Bottom line is people all over the world love TV and more people will watch TV online if it is free, safe, easy to use and entertaining.

  36. Jeff Clavier

    May 3rd, 2007 at 9:56 am

    It sounds like it was 45% of the broadband users who responded to the survey - all in all a tiny percentage. Europe is certainly more advanced than the US in terms of broadband penetration (50MB for less than $50 is being rolled out in France), and TV over DSL has been available for a while, but that’s about it.

  37. Joe

    May 3rd, 2007 at 9:57 am

    45% sounds very high.

    –
    We Will Create Your Very Own Domain Name - http://PowerNamer.com

  38. patricia

    May 3rd, 2007 at 10:07 am

    I don’t see what the big deal is with this. Everybody knows vendors aren’t exactly the best sources for this kind of stuff - it’s interesting but probably should be taken with a grain of salt. The survey probably came out of market research or some other project Motorola is/was working on, more than likely to justify or support doing it than a scientific effort. I thought it was useful.

    I still think video content is behind here.

  39. Alex Grogan

    May 3rd, 2007 at 10:38 am

    This page is currently blank
    http://www.techcrunch.com/archives/

  40. Jeremy Wright

    May 3rd, 2007 at 10:57 am

    Will: Thanks for the insight. What’s skewing the question is pretty obvious: it includes watching previews for shows. So anyone who goes to any show site or blog and watches a preview would answer yes.

    I can totally see how that would skew towards 45%. It’s like asking people if they’ve looked at or smoked a cigarette while in a convenience store… and then saying 45% of convenience store customers are smokers ;-)

  41. youtubesearcher

    May 3rd, 2007 at 10:57 am

    and what does “watch” mean, I check out a youtube video they get emailed to me, or I read about them on digg/reddit…am I “watching” TV ???

    I don’t think so, but I have a feeling this behaviour is included in the 45%

  42. Will O'Connor

    May 3rd, 2007 at 11:14 am

    The fact that we refered specifcally to ‘favourite TV shows’ skewed the concept away from UCG or clips towards content of a higher, more professional level of production value.

    I agree, the way that we phrased the question removed the concept of timescale - whatever the viewer watched - it could’ve been once, it could’ve been 50 times a day - the fact is, people are accessing online and watching to their own schedule. It’s all about the demand for these time-shifting services and the implications for stakeholders looking implement their own service - there’s a very ripe market.

  43. patricia

    May 3rd, 2007 at 11:37 am

    Consumer control over access isn’t new. It’s been widely known for a long time that people can and will continue to be able to access content/media by the device of choice when they chose to. It’s also widely known that people are responding to it.

    What plans does Motorola have about it?

  44. J-son

    May 3rd, 2007 at 11:38 am

    Will O’Connor: “Hi. I work for Edelman, Motorola’s PR company, so I am really getting a kick out of most of these replies. Some of you guys are very good at making it sound like you know what you are talking about. But trust me…. You don’t. I think you just want to make yourself sound smart, when in reality you don’t know what you are talking about. This is how bad info gets passed around. If you dont know about the topic….Dont make yourself sound like you do. Cos some Tech Crunchers believe anything they hear.”

    /obscure?

  45. Justin

    May 3rd, 2007 at 11:46 am

    Apologies for the off-topic comment… I am registered to attend the Rails Conference in Portland this month, but unfortunately it seems I am needed outside the mainland that week and will not be able to attend. Anybody interested in a ticket to the Rails Conference?

    If you are interested in the ticket to the Rails Conference, please contact me at entropSPAM@gmail.com—be sure to remove the “SPAM” from the above email address before sending. :)

  46. Peeyush

    May 3rd, 2007 at 12:32 pm

    If clicking on a youtube link in email is considered watching online TV, I am sure 45% of the LA commuters watch TV on a billboard.

  47. Esme V

    May 3rd, 2007 at 1:11 pm

    I am not surprised at all. There are a lot of sites like Dailymotion.fr in France, not to mention a number of video on demand websites. When they ask the question “do you watch TV”, it’s possible the respondents count video clips on French newspaper sites like Lemonde.fr. You can see clips of the recent debate between Segolene Royal and Nicholas Sarkozy on Lemonde.fr, as well as clips from the Virginia Tech reportages. People probably consider this to be “watching TV on the Internet”. If so, then basically anyone who goes to these sites and clicks on a video, “watches” TV online.

  48. youtubesearcher

    May 3rd, 2007 at 1:13 pm

    So 45% percent of broadband users have watched a video on youtube, sounds low to me, and also sounds like completely useless information.

    The self pro-claimed expert above can correct me.

  49. The Entertainer

    May 3rd, 2007 at 1:23 pm

    It’s probably more true than we think. European TV sucks, so they opt for the web.

  50. Alan

    May 3rd, 2007 at 1:38 pm

    It’s a trend, no doubt. But 45% seems WAY too high. I would guess it’s more in the 25% range. Still, that’s significant.

  51. Paul

    May 3rd, 2007 at 1:54 pm

    45% seems awful high, but not unthinkable!

  52. Sriram

    May 3rd, 2007 at 2:22 pm

    It’s fairly obvious that people who use broadband would have, at one stage of their life or another, clicked or viewed a video online. 45% in this instance would be too low.

    Either way, I think this survey was redundant and completely unnecessary. It is taken for granted that online video viewing numbers are exploding beyond control.

  53. alan p

    May 3rd, 2007 at 2:37 pm

    That term *some* online TV is the kicker…if watching a few Youtube vids or a movie preview or two over the last 6 months = yes, then that explains 45%…but minutes watched per week is going to be tiny.

    Undoubtedy growing, and probably rapidly, but still from a tiny base.

  54. Arthur

    May 3rd, 2007 at 2:41 pm

    For example, “M6″ - 2nd TV channel in France - offers all the programs for free or premium to download. The technology used is really fast and efficent.

    You can find: Prison Break (s1), Alias (s1 to 3), Desperate Housewives (s1,s2) to download for 2 euros for 24 hours watching.

    They offer a lot of free program to download; and these are long and cool TV show -1hour = 1 GB with few ads in the beginning.

    To download you need to install a browser-embedded download manager based on Bit torrent -like FoxTorrent- but keeping download pretty fast and with progessive download.

    I know also TF1 and others French TV channel offer VoD with Freemium model. French TV channels seem to be advanced to use Peer-to-Peer to offer Video On-Demand portal.

    There

  55. Rajeev A. Kadam

    May 3rd, 2007 at 3:05 pm

    My name is Rajeev Kadam and I am the CEO of divinity Metrics. We are a metrics firm in Silicon Valley. I think this article is right but very conservative. We do metrics online for major media outlets and we are seeing huge growth in TV viewing. Especially in markets such as France and Spain. The interesting thing when you look at Scope (our metrics platform), you see a lot of the television being consumed is actually American shows, in English, as well as the native language. So there are huge growth opportunities for syndication and advertising in these markets (if you have the right metrics) and the numbers we see on our network make Motorola’s study look toyish. But the overall point is true, video is not a regional thing anymore. It transcends borders and opens up all kinds of opportunities for media outlets that were not present 5 years ago.

    Rajeev Kadam
    CEO, divinity Metrics
    http://www.divinitymetrics.com

  56. Madman

    May 3rd, 2007 at 3:06 pm

    45% is way too high.My opinion is that only 15% is watching TV online.

    But that doesn`t stop you from visiting my blog.:)
    If you like exotic sports cars,thats the place for you.

    See ya.

  57. Guzzler

    May 3rd, 2007 at 3:14 pm

    I think Duncan Riley (Comment #9), has some very useful comments, bit torrent is huge and with a lot of peers downloading a particular asset, It will be much faster to download these recorded TV content.

    Divinity Metrics looks really promising, I think this metrics could be really insightful for media producers.

  58. patricia

    May 3rd, 2007 at 3:21 pm

    It makes my eyes hurt to continue seeing posts about online video viewership growing as if it’s something novel. It isn’t.

  59. patricia

    May 3rd, 2007 at 3:26 pm

    And, you can continue to anticipate growth because traditional channels (mobile, broadcast, etc.) are converging and that’s going to keep driving everything you’re seeing at the moment (video use, interactivity, etc.).

    I don’t think it’s a question of users adopting because plenty points to that. It’s more about what everybody’s doing/going to do to capitalize on it and how we can all make money off it.

  60. Devin

    May 3rd, 2007 at 3:34 pm

    patricia, did you not read the posts above. there are firms already figuring out what people are doing and how to cash in. there are startups here in the valley doing that already, see post 55. the reason people are poorly educated here is tc never talks about the business side of web 2.0 and rather post of a new site that is similar to other 55 sites like it. how will these people make money? no one talks about the power brokers of tomorrow like these metrics firms. this is the first post and i will like to see more posts like it.

    think about it, i get a hdtv tv show from mininova hours before it is released on tv with no ads and perfect quality at 500kb or more a second. sorry, tv, sorry nbc.com, but i will download it

  61. halo

    May 3rd, 2007 at 3:56 pm

    speaking of joost and video content, spotify are a nifty platform for music streaming. http://www.spotify.com just went private beta yesterday i think. they’re called the joost of online music in sweden and you know when the swedes mean something…they really mean it.

  62. Berlin

    May 3rd, 2007 at 3:57 pm

    I live in France, we get free everything at 100mbps. No MS, No Google. Yeah right.

  63. John Doe

    May 3rd, 2007 at 4:06 pm

    This figure may be more telling then you think.
    I am from Australia, and here are some facts here.
    80% of all TV I watch is coming from the internet. Podcasts/torrents etc.
    Out of all my friends, all tech savy ones regularly watch tv from the web.
    50% of my non tech friends, after I showed them how to torrent, have continued doing it, and learnt more themselves.
    They all do this with the lean back experience, (NOT ON A COMPUTER lean forward experience).
    Its called a DVD player with DivX support. Something you get with any DVD player you purchase over the last 3 years. (About $60 these days)
    And then common trade with those who do not have the broadband link. 2 DVD can fit a full series. ie 24, Lost.
    And to tell the truth, this is what has encouraged my friends to go more and more to TV from Internet sources.
    Reasons.
    1. No commercials. When you get use to it, its hard to go back.
    2. Watch when you want to watch. Pause, come back to it etc.
    3. Watch larger chunks of exciting shows in one sitting.
    4. watch shows that take a long time to get to Australia, or never do.

    My guess of % of people who watch TV that has come over Internet links is about 30-40% or all people in my age group 27-37. But my sample may be high due to the fact I showed them how, and this is the result.

    I work in Production, and I may be against this in some ways, I wanted to see how these technologies changed the viewing habits of myself and my friends. I may be ahead of the curve, but only by 6 to 12 months.

    I am a big believer in DRM, but DRM looks like being to restrictive and free download being to easy. I am very worried about the future of good quality content in the future.

    This is a much bigger problem then people are willing to admit.

  64. Wes

    May 3rd, 2007 at 5:45 pm

    Yes, its 45% of broadband users but still the number just looks like it was plucked from somewhere because its way too high. Maybe in a few years, I suppose.

  65. Christian

    May 3rd, 2007 at 6:02 pm

    There will be a convergance of Internet and TV.
    To me, this will take some more time and figures from the study …
    33% in Germany? Well, if this also counts as TV also youtube-videos on blogs or any other such videos, then the percentage would make some sense.

  66. xtraa

    May 3rd, 2007 at 6:39 pm

    If I look at the passed eBay auctions for Joost accounts, it might be. Still some features mising, but lets wait for third party add ons ;)

    I completely gave up regular TV about 3 years ago. There was nothing new anymore and it is passive plus boring. Hear me? Booooooring. :D

    My favs also don’t hit the screen here. I love RobotChicken and stuff. No way airing this in germany.

  67. Acronyms

    May 3rd, 2007 at 7:22 pm

    Misleading Title.

  68. Daniel

    May 3rd, 2007 at 7:49 pm

    Just get it off torrents:

    1. HDTV
    2. No Ads
    3. Hours early.
    4. MASSIVE SPEEDS.

    Comment No. 55 nailed it.

  69. Willem

    May 3rd, 2007 at 7:55 pm

    This is misleading. What is the defenition of online TV, if that means watching TV on the web… no way, rather 4.5% than 45

  70. patricia

    May 3rd, 2007 at 9:43 pm

    @ Devin, I know the space. I was at VON this year, all that. I just haven’t been impressed with what I’ve seen from U.S. companies on video here over the past year. It includes the traditional media players and the older start ups. I’m not counting the newer start ups or those who are rolling cool things out.

    As far as monetizing goes, there were some interesting things in the video expo at VON, and a lot of my friends in the production side of advertising (commercials, etc.) think that product placement in video will become very popular in the coming year. There’s a lot of disruption going on in a lot of industries right now. I think it’s going to take a little more time for the dust to settle where people will find what works.

  71. yaw

    May 3rd, 2007 at 11:43 pm

    Im a european and I get about 85% of my tv viewing from the web. It means I spend less time watching my shows and don’t miss a single episode.

  72. Doombug

    May 4th, 2007 at 1:11 am

    Very understandable Europe has one of the most burgeoning tech markets for streaming equipment and PVRS and they’re heavily invested in buying a lot of tech equipment from high-tech production places like India and Korea.

    What’s amazing is that I think Americans watch more tv online then Europeans it’s just that stats are not so open, go get some sort of stats from one of those tv sites like http://www.freetube.us.tc or http://www.peekvid.com

  73. Kula bácsi

    May 4th, 2007 at 2:21 am

    I don’t watch TV because even here just retarded U.S. shows are broadcasted.

  74. The Mercer News

    May 4th, 2007 at 6:14 am

    I own http://www.themercernews.com and http://www.mygtv.net while its currently localized, I have found our now defunct Global Radio news, and online presentation gathered a following in europe, since we did us news, we were rather like the BBC to the USA, if you want news about your country, don’t trust your home town media. However, I am finding, even in our small area, of those who know, one of 4 launch video to watch from our site through links according to googles software.

  75. The Mercer News

    May 4th, 2007 at 6:17 am

    On a technical note, the biggest problem is all of the formats and platforms, plus the fact that tower switching makes the video spotty, not a smooth display, and rather low quality at times when more users stress that system. Our problem to spite having good equipment, is that we have to down size the bit rate at times to allow more users at the same time, and to make it accessable for dial ups and dsl, but as I find more FIOS and ATT u-verse users are suing our system as those locations come on line.

  76. Loic

    May 4th, 2007 at 10:44 am

    Why is it hard to believe ? Because here in the bay we have poor internet access does not mean the rest of the world does not have a better access.
    I moved from France to the bay area one year ago, and I am still surprised how bad (crap) the internet access is here.
    In France, you have ADSL2+ in most cities (>10,000 hab.), this means up to 20Mb/s internet access, IPTV (~100 channels in both SD and HD + VOD) and unlimited telephone (IPVoice) for local/national/international calls, all this for only 30 euros (around $40) per month (and no need to have an extra phone bill like here, naked DSL rules!!).
    So, yes, my brother and sister have both such service, and they watch TV only through there DSL (ADSL2+) line. And they call me, here in the bay, for free (i.e. included in there monthly plan).
    So, please, travel outside US, you will surprised that the rest of the world is not that bad :)

  77. Neil Fairbrother

    May 20th, 2007 at 12:28 am

    As a UK-based independent producer and distributor of webTV shows we are at the forefront of all of this. We actually pay our mortgages by producing free to download commercially sponsored shows - think Channel 4 but download, rather than switch on. Our growth has been staggering, coming from nowhere June 1 2006, we’ve delivered over 50,000 hours of entertainment - our shows download into iTunes for watching on Mac, PC, video iPod, Apple iPhone, regular TV and AppleTV. You don’t need to be online to watch - which is a big plus IMHO.

    We’d very much like the Motorola survey to be accurate! We are negotiating with some big household names now about show sponsorship, it’s a very exciting time for us.

    Cheers

    Neil

  78. Jason

    May 22nd, 2007 at 4:47 pm

    45% is a lot, I think this number is impossible. Perhaps 45% in the age of 15-35, but not the whole population. I do watch TV online just because I live away from home and using sites such as http://www.myeasytv.com/ keeps me in touch with TV channels at home.

  79. Nick

    May 24th, 2007 at 7:29 am

    Interesting study. I recently did a brief interview with the CEO of Zattoo which is a European TV project that hopes to bring all major European channels online soon.

    http://www.insidetonic.com/exc.....attoo-ceo/

    45% does sound a lot but if this project takes off, it could end up a lot higher than that.

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