Television

PwC has issued its annual "Entertainment & Media Outlook" report, which contains projections for online and offline media markets through 2017 across various components including advertising revenues and consumer spending. The outlook for traditional media markets is similar to previous forecasts in that TV and out-of-home advertising have the healthiest future, while radio continues to grow at a modest pace and the outlook for print continues to be dim, although losses may slow. Read more »

There's a reason Netflix accounts for almost one-third of North American peak downstream internet traffic. According to new data released by the NPD Group, TV programming accounts for 80% of subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) streams, and Netflix Watch Instantly dominates that market to the tune of 89% market share in Q1. There are signs that the TV programming market may slowly be fragmenting, though: Netflix's share was down 4% points year-over-year, with that decline coming mostly at the hands of Hulu Plus, which increased its share from 7% to 10%. Read more »

Mobile viewing may still represent just a small fraction of TV consumption, but that consumption is rising quickly, and marketers are keen to better understand the habits of the mobile TV audience. In a new study [pdf], the Council for Research Excellence examines when mobile viewing tends to take place, as well as which genres are preferred and where viewing typically occurs. The research finds some patterns that are distinct from viewing habits on a traditional TV. Read more »

The Council for Research Excellence has taken a look at mobile video viewing via a large survey of Americans aged 15-64 who have broadband internet access at home and watch at least 5 hours of TV per week. The study divides the respondent sample into 3 groups: those without mobile devices; those with them, but who do not watch TV on their devices; and those who own mobiles and watch TV on them. Among the findings of the study [pdf], just 2% of all TV hours logged were on tablets (1%) or smartphones (1%). Read more »

A recent study from Convergence Consulting Group detailed the rise in cord-cutting, showing that TV subscribers are being added at a far slower rate than lost. According to a more recent report from Leichtman Research Group (LRG), the top multi-channel video providers, who represent about 94% of the market, posted their first overall subscriber loss over a four-quarter period (between Q2 2012 and Q1 2013). Cable companies were the hardest hit, with a net loss of 1.6 million subscriptions, slightly higher than their net loss (~1.5 million) the previous year. Read more »

A survey from M-GO of streaming media consumers finds that new TV shows (that are still on the air) are their most popular type of programming, cited by 68% of respondents, with new movies (46%) and older movies (44%) in tow. That suggests that streamers are driven by a desire to watch shows on their own schedule, perhaps more so than by a particular affinity for content that can only be found online. Indeed, recent research from the IAB indicates that among online video viewers, convenience counts more as a reason to watch than content availability. Read more »

A new study from ShareThis examines the social sharing behaviors of 200,000 mothers aged 25-54 with children in the household. The analysis of their behavior across the 2.4 million sites in the ShareThis network over a 1-month period, which amounted to more than 1 million social signals, reveals that 30% of mothers shared content on the network during the period, compared to 10% of the network's overall average. Mothers were most likely to share content about parenting (18%) and movies & TV (15%), with those 2 categories alone combining to represent one-third of shares. Read more »

3 in 4 American adults report having noticed billboard (static or digital), transit or street-level advertising in the past month, finds Arbitron in its 2013 "Out-of-Home Advertising Report," and that rises to 84% among those who have driven or ridden in a vehicle. Among adults who have viewed a billboard or other out-of-home media in the past month ("OOH media viewers"), many have taken a range of online and offline responses, ranging from watching an advertised TV show to visiting an advertised website. Read more »

The next generation of marketers and advertisers have some strong opinions on where their industry is headed, according to results from a report by the MediaSchool Group. Based on a survey of more than 2,000 students aged 20-25 studying advertising, marketing communications, design, PR and events, the study finds that 70% believe that in 10 years, the marketing landscape will be "dominated" by content marketing and "PR thinking." At that time, advertising's job will be mostly to "entertain" rather than "sell," according to 7 in 10. Recent survey results indicate that American consumers already believe that should be the case. Read more »

Viacom and its Vicaom International Media Networks (VIMN) division have released a study examining the relationship between TV and social media usage. The study, which involved online surveys conducted in the US, UK, Germany, Brazil, and Russia with more than 5,000 Viacom viewers aged 13-49 who use 2 or more social media platforms on at least a weekly basis, reveals that viewers average 10 TV-related activities on social media on a weekly basis. The most popular of those are: interacting with friends and fans (72%); searching for info and show schedules (66%); sharing or recommending (61%); watching full clips and trailers (61%); and following/liking a TV show (57%). Read more »