Digital Lifescapes

The demographic mix of Americans capable of using the Internet continues to evolve. With 71 percent of Americans using the Internet (from any location) at least once per month in 2010 -- U.S. Internet users now better resemble the general population. Overall, eMarketer forecasts the number of monthly Internet users in the U.S. will rise to 250.7 million in 2014, up from 221 million in 2010. More than one-half of new (novice) users will be ages 45 and up, as many of the remaining laggards join the mainstream. Among younger groups, the Internet is nearly ubiquitous, and most who are able to access it already do so -- leaving limited potential for new growth. eMarketer expects significant increases in usage applications among children ages 3 to 11, as technology becomes a part of people's lives at increasingly younger ages. Currently, the 12- to 24-year-old segment represents a major bloc of users at 51.7 million -- or 23.4 percent of the total. By 2014, though, their total share wil

Over 11 million hotel rooms and 1 million airline seats are potential new IPTV entertainment applications, according to the latest market study by MRG, Inc . Hotels and Airlines alone will account for a $1.9 billion global market in 2012, indicating that for most hospitality applications, analog video use is likely to quickly become extinct. MRG says that both In-Room Entertainment (IRE) and In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) markets show a sharp shift in user expectations. "While respondents indicated that IPTV may be too expensive for the low-end market, the study finds that there is a substantial and growing need for IPTV to serve the mid- and high-end of the hospitality market. This has gone from a nice-to-have to a must-have situation," says Mike Galli, IPTV Analyst at MRG. While many in the IPTV industry may consider the hospitality opportunity to be insignificant, MRG found that it is very important -- with some IPTV suppliers reporting that it now represents 25 percent of

Attracting early-adopters is critical for vendors of new consumer electronics devices, and the profile of the informed progressive user is changing, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . Early technology adoption is no longer constrained by income, education, ethnicity, or social status. As a result, a larger percentage of young adults than in the past consider themselves to be early-adopters. "Whether it is TV Everywhere initiatives, over-the-top video services, Web-to-TV devices, or 3D digital televisions, the market success of each new innovation will be dependent on attracting early-adopters," says Keith Nissen, In-Stat analyst. "Yet, many of the characteristics that defined early technology adopters in a pre-Internet world no longer apply." In-Stat's research identifies that U.S. early-adopters are much more likely to: Subscribe to premium pay-TV channels; Two-thirds get at least one premium channel; Over 50 percent receive HBO; Subscribe to a D

Infonetics Research released the routing and switching systems vendor market share results for the fourth quarter of 2009, based upon their latest global market study. These are the essential infrastructure building-block elements that enable the Global Networked Economy to flourish. The top two vendors in the service provider router space, Cisco and Juniper, together went from attaining 69 percent of the worldwide router market in 2008 to 59 percent in 2009 -- while Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei, and others gained share. Tellabs pushed past Ericsson in 2009, putting them in the top five for the first time. Infonetics says that Tellabs had an especially strong year, based upon their focus on the mobile sector. "All six of the top router vendors posted strong double-digit revenue increases in the fourth quarter, and we expect modest growth in the router segment to continue in 2010 as carriers carry out fixed-mobile convergence strategies for their router networks," notes Michael How

U.S. video content producers say they're determined not to follow in the footsteps of the music recording industry, and for good reason. When consumers send you a signal that demand is shifting, you need to be ready and willing to adapt -- with an open mind. Nearly 37 percent of broadband households in North America are extremely or very interested in viewing Over-the-Top (OTT) video content on the Connected TV, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . Yes, this is a significant shift in consumer behavior. While DVD media demand is in decline, the online demand is growing as companies such as Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, and Apple, offer streamed or downloadable TV episodes and movie content. Similarly, a growing set of web-enabled TV devices are now proliferating across device categories that include digital TV sets, Blu-ray Players, Digital Media Adapters (DMAs), network attached storage, and set-top boxes (STBs). "By 2013, In-Stat predicts that nearly 40 percent of all d

The market for digital interface technologies continues to grow. According to the latest market study by In-Stat , USB is still the most common interface on both work and home personal computer (PC) platforms. Other common device interfaces include DisplayPort, DVI, HDMI, Bluetooth, eSATA, and 1394 (FireWire). USB Flash cards are still the most commonly connected peripherals. I'm now using a variety of USB storage devices for my multimedia file transportation needs -- I'll share more about my own application scenarios in an upcoming post. "Just because an interface is common, does not mean it is widely used," says Brian O’Rourke, In-Stat analyst. "For example, 1394 was the second most common interface, but is rarely used." HDMI is a less common home PC interface. However, among those few consumers with an HDMI port, a large percentage use it to connect their portable or desktop PC HDMI port to their digital television set HDMI input. HDMI connectivity is the

In the few short years that social media marketing has been prevalent, it has already had an enormous effect on the way companies do business online and off-line. In the coming years there will be even more changes, as social media marketing extends from the marketing department to nearly every aspect of a company's business operations. eMarketer senior analyst Debra Aho Williamson outlines several trends to watch in the coming years. "Advertising -- which some might say has already failed as a business model -- will not be the primary revenue driver for social media companies," said Ms. Williamson. Instead, the strongest business models in the future will incorporate analytics, as social media becomes truly integrated into all marketing efforts. In addition, TV will become more social, as will online search. Location will become more important to social media, and brand monitoring will increase in sophistication so that companies can begin to understand the "why&qu

Will consumers pay for online news and entertainment they now receive at no cost? In its latest market study, Nielsen asked more than 27,000 consumers across 52 countries, and the answer is maybe they will, maybe they won't. As expected, the vast majority (85 percent) prefer that free (advertiser or sponsor supported) content remain that way. Online content for which consumers are most likely to pay -- or have already paid -- are those they normally pay for offline, including theatrical movies, music, games and select videos such as current television shows. Consumers are least likely to pay for content that is essentially homegrown online, often by other consumers. These include social communities, podcasts, consumer-generated videos and blogs. In between are an array of news formats -- newspapers, magazines, Internet-only news sources and radio news and talk shows -- created by professionals, relatively expensive to produce and, in the case of newspapers and magazines, commonly

According to the latest market study by TDG Research , almost two-thirds of Netflix customers that subscribe to a home broadband service are now viewing the 'Watch Instantly' online streaming video service. One-third of broadband-enabled Netflix subscribers view this streaming video exclusively only on their PCs, 8 percent view the content exclusively on their TVs, and 24 percent use both their PCs and TVs. "Netflix is now the archetype for over-the-top (OTT) streaming video services," notes Michael Greeson, TDG founding partner and director of research. "Not only has Netflix eclipsed its immediate competitors in terms of online DVD rental, but it has quickly become the 'gold standard' for new OTT streaming services." The implication is significant: one-half of broadband-enabled 'Watch Instantly' users now view streaming video on their TVs -- a phenomenon unimaginable just a few years ago. Several factors are critical to this early success: -

Three sectors of the digital entertainment ecosystem -- device manufacturers and retailers, content producers, and service providers -- have much different visions of the home entertainment future, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . Each industry sector will continue to try to mold the future to its advantage. "In the TV and video ecosystem, operators and media companies want to avoid what happened in digital music, where Apple dominates the digital music ecosystem," says Keith Nissen, In-Stat analyst. As Web-to-TV initiatives accelerate, pay TV operators TV-Everywhere concepts must deliver more than just TV content on a PC screen. It must deliver a complimentary web-based video experience to any screen. Meanwhile, media companies must balance existing distribution channels with new over-the-top (OTT) opportunities. In-Stat's market study found the following: - Exclusive live sports and TV events are a key competitive advantage for pay-TV operators. - Devic

The number of U.S. unique viewers of online video increased 5.2 percent year-over-year, from 137.4 million unique viewers in January 2009 to 142.7 million in January 2010, according to the latest market study by The Nielsen Company . Among the top Web brands ranked by unique viewers in January, Disney Online was the fastest growing month-over-month, increasing 23.3 percent. Facebook and MSN/WindowsLive/Bing were the second and third fastest growing, increasing 18.6 percent and 15.6 percent month-over-month, respectively. Once again, the top ranking position overall went to YouTube -- with over 112 million unique viewers and more than 6.6 billion total video streams for the month of January. However, Hulu was the top ranked site, based upon the "time per viewer" (234.6 minutes) for the month of January. Note: effective with June 2009 data reporting, Nielsen has made several enhancements to the VideoCensus service, including a panel that is 8 times larger, more granular reporti

The latest market study from IMS Research reveals that demand for connected consumer electronics (CE) devices are being driven by increased availability of broadband services, the evolution of content delivery methods and the convergence of the Technology, Media and Telecommunications industries. According to their assessment of the marketplace, these market drivers are resulting in new retail delivery models, new sources of video content and evident changes in consumer behavior. Given their current view, it appears that the European market is leading, and the North America market is trailing by comparison. They believe that adoption of over-the-top (OTT) content will become an "extension" of both pay-TV and stand-alone device subscription packages -- but OTT on the TV will not become a "ubiquitous solution" until at least 2015. Apparently, IMS Research doesn't anticipate that the major CE manufacturers will move quickly to grasp the nascent OTT IP TV video ma

eMarketer reports that online video viewers became even "less likely" to click on pre-roll ads, or watch them to completion over the course of 2009, according to the analysis of video ad network YuMe. Between 2009 Q1 and Q4, click-through rates trended steadily downward -- from 1.88 to 0.74 percent. Completion rates dropped as well, to 66.3 percent in Q4. Broken down by length of pre-roll, there was a trade-off. While completion rates were higher for 15-second videos than for 30-second spots, the longer ads received more click-throughs. Additionally, view-to-completion rates fell throughout 2009 for both types of video advertising, but rates for the shorter ads dropped more dramatically over the period. Average click-through rates for the year were almost doubled on longer videos, at 1.5 percent for 30-second ads -- versus 0.8 percent for 15-second pre-rolls. YuMe found that video ads targeted to children and teens ages 6 to 14 had the highest video ad click-through rate, at

As High-Definition (HD) video reached its stride worldwide, the TV and film industry are now looking ahead to the next new digital video innovation. 3D TV and Ultra-HD (UHD) are on the horizon, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . 3D video is already out of the gate, with growing proliferation of 3D films in movie theaters. Pay-TV operators are in the early stages of deploying 3D TV capability. Early 3D TV sets and 3D Blu-Ray players will ship in 2010. In-Stat projects worldwide 3D TV shipments will reach 41 million in 2014. 3D Blu-ray player shipments will track closely with 3D TV sets. UHD will take considerably longer to roll out, but has started to garner interest and discussion among long-term planners in the TV, film and technology industries. In-Stat believes the first UHD broadcasts will start around 2017. UHD TVs will reach about 5 percent household penetration in some regional markets in the early 2020s. Technology companies, broadcast systems vendors and consum

comScore released their 2009 U.S. Digital Year in Review report. It recaps key trends in the U.S. digital media landscape -- including e-commerce, search, online video, online advertising and mobile, with an emphasis on how digital marketers can capitalize on these trends in 2010. 2009 proved to be a critical year in digital marketing as the economic environment brought unprecedented challenges to the industry. After years of strong growth across the digital economy, the recession introduced softness to many digital business sectors. But, despite these economic headwinds, consumer's use of digital media climbed to new heights in 2009 as the Internet continued to evolve as an integral component of American's personal and professional lives. The report provides a comprehensive view across the fixed and mobile digital sectors to uncover this past year's important consumer trends. Key highlights of the comScore report include: - The U.S. core search market grew 16 percent in

3G Americas announced that it has published its resource report on 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards and their evolution to IMT-Advanced, or 4G services. The white paper provides in-depth examination of 3GPP technology standards from a technical, business and applications standpoint. "The 3GPP technology standards deliver mobile connectivity to more than 4 billion users worldwide today and have been developed to continue evolving to higher levels of performance with mobile broadband innovation," said Chris Pearson, president of 3G Americas. GSM operators can choose to evolve their networks in ways that best suit their assets and business environments with benefits that offer flexibility, scalability and economic advantages, whether they choose HSPA+ or LTE. The global demand for wireless data services continues to drive the rapid growth of HSPA technology with 303 commercial HSPA networks and over 454 million UMTS-HSPA subscriptions reported at the end of 20

comScore ranked the leading mobile phone manufacturers and smartphone operating system (OS) platforms in the U.S. -- according to their share of current mobile subscribers age 13 and older, as well as the most popular forms of content and activity accessed via mobile device. The report found Motorola to be the top handset manufacturer with 23.5 percent market share, while RIM (BlackBerry) led among smartphone platforms with 41.6 percent market share. A total of 234 million people age 13 and older in the U.S. used mobile devices in December 2009. Device manufacturer Motorola was the top ranked with 23.5 percent of U.S. mobile devices. LG ranked second with 21.9 percent share, followed by Samsung (21.2 percent share), Nokia (9.2 percent share) and RIM (7.0 percent share). RIM was the leading mobile smartphone operating system in the U.S. in December 2009 with 41.6 percent share of U.S. smartphone devices. Apple (iPhone) ranked second with 25.3 percent share (up 1.2 percentage points), f

Voice-over-IP (VoIP) penetration among U.S. businesses will increase rapidly over the next few years, reaching 79 percent by 2013, compared to 42 percent at the end of 2009, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . This market penetration reflects companies having a VoIP solution deployed in at least one location. "VoIP adopters have a good understanding of the cost savings associated with VoIP, and have oriented their limited budgets to optimizing efficiency and savings by replacing legacy TDM voice solutions," says David Lemelin, In-Stat analyst. With businesses opening up fewer new locations than we have seen in recent years, much of this current investment is occurring at headquarters locations where efficiencies and savings can be maximized. In-Stat's market study found the following: - Hosted IP Centrex has now surpassed Broadband IP Telephony as the leading revenue-generating, carrier-based business VoIP solution. - 33 percent of businesses that have

Marketers continue to shift their budgets from traditional to digital media, but simply including online ad campaigns and social media efforts is not enough for an effective marketing mix, reports eMarketer . According to Alterian 's assessment, the maturity of digital and social media requires integration of marketing strategies. Marketers must move from a focus on isolated campaigns to an emphasis on listening to and communicating across channels. In this study, more than one-half of marketers worldwide reported directing their efforts toward integrating their communication strategies to emphasize multichannel engagement. The majority of marketers surveyed recognized social media as increasingly important to the marketing mix, while only 14 percent said it's "critical" for their success. Most marketers say they're "prepared enough" to take advantage of new techniques in digital and social media, but more than one-third felt "minimally pre

The GSMA and comScore announced the launch of Mobile Media Metrics (MMM), a solution to the challenges of mobile media usage measurement and reporting. Taking anonymous mobile Internet usage data from all five UK mobile operators, the service provides insights into market-specific mobile media consumption. MMM was designed to deliver actionable reporting tools to the media industry, while respecting the privacy of individual mobile service subscribers. According to comScore, access to transparent measurement is essential in establishing Mobile as a legitimate marketing and advertising medium. The service is based on anonymized census-level data for mobile Internet usage across all mobile networks, which is then augmented with demographic data that has been collected with the consent of a representative sample of mobile Internet users. The service provides an aggregated view of mobile Internet usage behavior, enabling market-level analysis of site visitation and engagement metrics -- s

Mobile Internet apps are beginning to play a role in shaping the future of social network service usage. Both social networking site operators and mobile phone service providers are very aware of the mutual benefits, according to the latest market study by Pyramid Research . The ability of members to access their social network from anywhere enhances the utility of the sites, while mobile social networking greatly increases mobile service provider's data network usage and creates the potential for new revenue streams from subscription fees or advertising. Pyramid believes that Europe, with more than one billion mobile phone service subscribers and roughly 130 million mobile Internet users in 2009, is a fertile growth market for mobile social networking applications. Accelerating adoption of mobile social networking in Europe will be critical to local wireless service providers, handset vendors, software developers and the most popular social networking web site operators. Technical

Consumers now seem eager to adopt affordable Mobile Internet access services. Long Term Evolution (LTE), the next-generation 4G mobile broadband standard, is going to be the clear choice for the next leap in wireless technology, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . While WiMax appeared to be a competitor for 4G network deployments early on, that battle is now largely resolved. LTE's deployment will primarily be impeded by the success of 3G networks and HSPA and HSPA+ networks as mobile operators seek to leverage the existing investment in their installed infrastructure. "LTE still has several glaring issues," says Allen Nogee, In-Stat analyst. "These include lack of spectrum, signal-to-noise ratio, and non-established patent and royalty pool. It's clear that the shift toward 4G LTE will be gradual and protracted." No, that assessment doesn't sound like it's a foregone conclusion that LTE is on the path to 4G standard domination. In fact,

Pay-TV service providers have reached a crossroad -- either way, business as usual is not an option. Over two-thirds of American pay television subscribers would be willing to switch providers if offered a price discount of 20 percent, according to the latest market study by Strategy Analytics . While Cable TV customers were the most likely to churn, only half as many (33 percent) of Telco IPTV subscribers are eager to change providers. Their report, "Digital TV Customer Satisfaction: U.S. Survey Results 2H'09," is the result of polling 856 digital pay television subscribers within the U.S. marketplace. Overall, respondents reported satisfaction with their current digital television provider, with 71 percent claiming to be "somewhat" or "very" satisfied. There was a marked difference, however, among access platforms. Telco IPTV customers reported 95 percent overall satisfaction, compared to 78 percent for Satellite, and 67 percent for Cable. Highly Vol

As more people access digital video on consumer electronics (CE) devices, applications for MPEG digital video compression technology are expanding -- particularly in portable CE devices, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . As a result, shipments of MPEG Integrated Circuits (ICs), which support hardware compression and decompression of digital video, will reach 2 billion units by 2013. "Compression technology continues to improve, offering lower bit rates and higher quality, as well as lower cost and power," says Michelle Abraham, In-Stat analyst. H.264 compression is finding a home in most new MPEG ICs targeting both line-powered and mobile devices. In-Stat's latest study found the following: - Qualcomm was the leader in the mobile MPEG codec IC market for mobile handsets, while Zoran leads among “Other Mobile Applications”, followed closely by Samsung. - MPEG IC market share differs among the various types of line-powered consumer electronics, such as s