Digital Lifescapes

According to a new IMS Research assessment, the FCC has adopted the disruptive technology formed when the "open" home network standard DLNA is combined with DTCP-IP and seems determined to use the opportunity to mandate the end of the "closed" pay-TV digital set-top box (STB). The FCC goal: enable any consumer electronics (CE) manufacturer's devices to access pay-TV content, which the Commission believes would foster meaningful new competition and innovation in smart video devices. The current restrictive vendor-centric service delivery model will be replaced by the FCC's non-restrictive AllVid concept -- which is a Pay-TV Gateway that translates from the platform-specific modulation and encryption (Conditional Access) to DLNA & DTCP-IP. The proprietary STB will be replaced with standards-based Digital Media Adapters that support the same protocols. An increasing number of TVs and Blu-Ray players are also including DLNA & DTCP-IP standards sup...

The average American home now has 2.93 television sets per household, up from 2.86 sets per home in 2009 -- the largest year-over-year increase since 2006 according to the latest Nielsen market study. This year the number of U.S. homes with three or more TV sets increased to 55 percent -- with 28 percent having two sets and 17 percent have just one set. The report also finds that while the total population continues to increase, the number of people per TV home holds steady at 2.5, continuing the recent trend of more TVs per home than people. Other findings from the Nielsen market study include: - Less than 10 percent of U.S. homes receive their TV signal over-the-air. - 34 percent of American homes have a digital video recorder (DVR). - 46 percent of U.S. homes are able to receive a high-definition (HD) signal. - Total advertising spending on U.S. Network television in 2009 is down 10 percent from last year while spending on Cable is up 16 percent. - The Business and...

According to the latest market study by Analysys Mason , the number and variety of smartphones in use worldwide is forecast to grow at an annual rate of 32 percent between 2010 and 2014 -- with Smartphones forecast to grow to 26 percent of all handsets by 2014. More than 50 percent of this growth will be generated in developing Asia–Pacific and Latin American markets. Western European, North American and developed Asia–Pacific markets combined will account for less than 30 percent of total growth. Analysys Mason concludes that it's clear the market for smartphones will soon transform. Jim Morrish, Principal Analyst, responsible for Analysys Mason's Mobile Content and Applications research program says, "Smartphone markets in the developed world will continue to be fiercely competitive, but key handset manufacturers such as Nokia and Samsung are lining-up to tap a new opportunity in emerging markets." Morrish says that there will be key differences in competiti...

UK consumers are spending less on traditional and digital media, compared with six months ago, but are consuming more -- according to the latest KPMG market study of over 1000 UK survey respondents. Average spend per UK consumer on traditional media fell from £9.19 in September 2009 to £7.46 in March 2010 and spend on digital media also fell -- from £1.99 to £0.98. However, time spent consuming media has increased. The average monthly consumption of traditional media rose marginally from 11 hrs 40 minutes in September 2009, to 12 hours 13 minutes. Hours spent consuming digital media increased even more, from 6 hours 14 minutes to 7 hours 28 minutes. Spend reduced across the UK media industry as follows: - 21 percent of newspaper readers paid nothing for these over the past month, compared with 15 percent six months ago. - In London this almost doubled -- 23 percent to 41 percent -- highlighting the impact of the Evening Standard move to a 'free' model. - The situ...

Apparently, the consumer network storage (CNS) market appears to be migrating beyond its innovator roots, which could be a key factor contributing to its continued growth. According to the latest market study by In-Stat, major vendors are now focusing on customer education, awareness and ease-of-use to influence consumer demand and increase wider adoption. This is meaningful progress, in my opinion. I've been evaluating the mobile hard drive storage options, and there is very little purchase guidance information from vendors -- about how to select the best-fit drive for your particular needs (in my case, video editing and storage). "Despite intense market competition, the six largest players increased market share in 2009. But with narrowing product differentiation, competition will shift to ease-of-use, functionality and brand awareness," says Norm Bogen, In-Stat analyst. This combination of maturing market dynamics and a renaissance in the consumer home technolo...

When I launched the IP Video Curator microsite late last year, I had followed a path of online video entertainment research and discovery that led me to sign-up for a Netflix subscription. This new experience has changed my TV viewing behavior -- for the better. Netflix is a month-to-month subscription-based service, where Internet access is a required part of their offering. Meaning, I must go to their Web site to select from a library of DVDs, which are then delivered to me via first-class mail. I chose an unlimited use plan. I can rent one DVD at a time, plus stream movie and TV episode videos (17,000+) online -- as often as I want. When I’m signed-in to my Netflix account, my new content selections are placed into either the DVD or “Instant” play Queue. TV Viewers Morph into Programmers My Queue is the list of video content that I want to see, in the order I want to receive them. I may add, delete or change the order of content in my Queue at any time. I can also watch I...

eMarketer reports that business-to-business (B2B) sales cycles are longer than a year ago, but sales pipelines are growing, according to the results of a market study by OneSource. Traditional outbound prospecting still produces the most qualified leads for U.S. B2B sales representatives, but companies are relying more on their corporate Website to attract new customers. Social networking sites were rated toward the low end of the scale -- though they were as helpful in lead generation as direct mail. According to Onesource, the most effective social network for prospecting was LinkedIn, by a wide margin. The business-oriented site was rated 3.1 out of 5, compared with ratings of 2 for blogs, 1.9 for Facebook and 1.8 for Twitter. The effectiveness of LinkedIn translated into significant increases in usage. Nearly one-half of respondents said they were now using the site more for prospecting and research than a year before. Around one-fifth of those polled were also increasing...

The shift to digital marketing practices, and a move away from traditional advertising, has taken its toll on legacy media companies. In hindsight, the economic crisis hit the U.S. advertising market much harder than expected, with overall revenue dropping from $77 billion in 2008 to $67 billion in 2009. New York Madison Avenue's traditional ad executive ranks have gone from upbeat Mad Men, to down-and-out Sad Men. The glory days are clearly over, as the industry transformation continues. According to the latest market study by Yankee Group , contained in a report entitled "2009 Advertising Forecast Update: Less TV, More Internet," the lion's share of the decline was due to TV advertising, which plummeted from $52 billion in 2008 to just $41 billion in 2009. "The 2008-2009 recession drove down the value of everything -- from home prices to TV advertising revenue," said Carl Howe, director at Yankee Group and author of the new report. As consumers ha...

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 84.3 million units in the first quarter (Q1) of 2010, a 27.4 percent increase from the first quarter of 2009, according to preliminary market study results by Gartner, Inc . These first quarter results have exceeded Gartner's earlier market outlook. Gartner had been expecting first quarter PC shipments to grow 22 percent. "The stronger-than-expected growth was led by a robust recovery in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) PC market, which grew 24.8 percent in the first quarter of 2010," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. "All other regions recorded double-digit growth rates, although the U.S. and Latin America were slightly lower than what we had expected." In the U.S., PC shipments totaled 17.4 million units in the first quarter of 2010, a 20.2 percent increase from the first quarter of 2009. The U.S. market has registered two consecutive quarters of double-digit shipment growth. PC shipments in EME...

Sixty-five percent of marketers worldwide believe that advertising agencies are still not results-driven. According to the latest market study by The Fournaise Marketing Group , ad agencies are not doing enough to deliver better results for their clients. In their 2010 Global Marketing Pulse report, they compiled insights from close to 1,000 marketers around the world on several aspects of their marketing ROI -- from the increased pressure for results they get from top management, to the effectiveness of marketing strategies they implement, and their overall expectations of ad agencies. Fournaise reports that marketer perception of agencies not being result-driven is a truly global trend. As an example, it's true for 70 percent of marketers in developed economies such as the U.S., Western Europe and Australia -- where the fight for the customer wallet is tremendous. It's also now exceeded 50 percent in developing regions such as North Asia, Southeast Asia and India -- whe...

Most consumer electronics (CE) device manufacturers are apparently in the process of introducing software platforms that support widgets -- also called Connected TV applications. According to the latest market study by In-Stat , this sets the stage for a burgeoning new market and alters how people will access Internet content -- from news, web-surfing and purchasing to watching Netflix movies and YouTube. "By 2013, TV applications have the potential to generate over $1.7 billion in annual revenue," says Keith Nissen, In-Stat analyst. "Our primary research shows consumers already have a moderate interest in TV Widgets. An innovative web-enabled CE device and service from a company like Google or Apple could truly galvanize the market, much as the iPhone transformed the mobile telephony market." Connected TV applications are small, self-contained software programs that can be plugged into a web application to access a wide range of content. Due to their broad ...

Infonetics Research released its LTE wireless infrastructure and subscribers market size and forecast report -- which tracks E-UTRAN (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network) macrocells (enhanced NodeBs), evolved packet core (EPC) infrastructure, and Long Term Evolution (LTE) subscribers. "Despite NTT DoCoMo's shift in topology aimed at cutting LTE deployment costs by leveraging the existing W-CDMA footprint with remote radio head (RRH)-based expansion, there is no slowdown foreseen in the LTE market, only acceleration, notes Stéphane Téral, principal analyst for mobile and FMC infrastructure at Infonetics Research . In addition to the Verizon Wireless aggressive LTE roadmap, more mobile operators have committed to LTE as their 4G wireless network solution, including China Mobile and China Telecom -- with a massive TD-LTE rollout expected in China by 2012. According to the latest Infonetics assessment, there will be a dozen live LTE networks by the end of 2010...

As I’ve mentioned before, I have utilized low-cost USB flash drives for my video content transport applications. Initially, the largest drive that I used had a 4GB memory capacity. Recently, I’ve been using a much larger 16GB drive and discovered that the benefits go beyond storage capacity. The developers of non-linear video editing software recommend that you store the video content that you are editing on a separate drive, to help improve performance. Typically, that meant adding a new hard disc drive to you PC configuration. Transporting in-progress video content requires that you either use an external hard drive designed for mobile apps, or a USB drive (also known as memory stick or thumb drive). In the past your applications were greatly limited by the USB flash drives capacity – and the relative high-cost per gigabyte of storage. As the cost of high-capacity flash drives decreased, that new development has opened up opportunities to apply these devices for more routine v...

According to the latest market assessment by eMarketer , significant change is happening within the U.S. online population. The average age of Internet users has risen -- to more closely align with the general population. In addition, racial and ethnic characteristics are now mirroring those in the offline population. eMarketer predicts that in 2010, 221 million people in the U.S. will be online -- about 71 percent of the total population. Their numbers will continue to grow, reaching 250 million in 2014 -- more than 77 percent of the population. "Marketers already know they are navigating a dynamic digital landscape in 2010," said Lisa E. Phillips, eMarketer senior analyst. "In five years, the results of some demographic shifts now taking place will become more evident. Internet users will be older, and many will have lower levels of education and annual income." "One thing is certain," she said. "They will be more diverse racially and ethni...

comScore released the results of their latest market study of mobile phone gaming -- highlighting the potential for market growth, despite a 13-percent decline in the number of U.S. mobile gamers during the past year. This overall decline was driven by a 35 percent decline in mobile gaming among feature phone subscribers, who represent approximately 80 percent of the total market -- which contrasted with the 60 percent increase in the number of gamers via smartphone. The inevitable ascent of the mobile gaming market depends on smartphone subscriber's higher propensity to play games on their mobile devices. Also, their heavier gaming activity across nearly every dimension. Smartphone subscribers (47.1 percent) are three times more likely than feature phone subscribers (15.7) to play games on their device at least once a month. They are more than five times as likely to play games almost every day and far surpass their feature phone counterparts across various methods of game ...

According to the latest market study by Strategy Analytics , global Digital Television (DTV) subscriptions will grow from 484 million in 2010 to 887 million by 2014, with a five-year Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 16.34 percent. On a regional basis, Asia-Pacific, Central and Latin America and Central/Eastern Europe are expected to grow the fastest during the next five years. Cable TV continues to be the dominant television viewing platform, however over two-thirds of subscriptions worldwide still use analog services. This is expected to change rapidly, with digital cable households outnumbering analog starting in 2012. As countries roll out their respective Digital Switchover (DSO) programs, the relative importance of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) as a primary viewing platform will increase. Although there has been much optimism about the future of Telco IPTV, Strategy Analytics believes that the technology may have encountered some setbacks. As such, they have sc...

Over-the-Top video consumption in America increased, yet again. comScore released their February 2010 market study results showing that more than 174 million U.S. Internet users watched online video during the month. Video viewers at Hulu watched a record amount of video per person -- at 2.4 hours per viewer. U.S. Internet users watched 28.1 billion videos in February, with Google Sites ranking as the top video property with 11.9 billion videos -- representing 42.5 percent of all videos viewed online. YouTube.com accounted for more than 99 percent of all videos viewed. Hulu ranked second with 912.5 million videos, or 3.2 percent of all online videos viewed. Microsoft Sites ranked third with 623 million (2.2 percent), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 455 million (1.6 percent) and Turner Network with 318 million (1.1 percent). More than 174 million U.S. online viewers watched an average of 161 videos per viewer during the month of February. Google Sites attracted 133.2 million uniq...

According to the latest market assessment by IMS Research , Apple is expected to gain a significant share of the tablet market -- with strong pre-orders for iPad tablets and millions projected to ship in 2010. Regardless, many other suppliers are introducing either e-reader or tablet products this year, with a fair share of these based on Google's Android operating system. IMS estimates that about 24 percent of the devices shipping in 2010 will be based on the Google Android OS. Anna Hunt, principal analyst at IMS, says "The user interface and content that a tablet supplier brings to the table will likely influence purchase decisions just as much as hardware requirements." Suppliers are realizing the importance of content and service and many are turning to the Android ecosystem to be able to offer the complete user experience and compete with Apple's integrated offering. In addition to Android and Apple OS, Microsoft Windows 7 will also account for some share...

comScore reported key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month period between November 2009 and February 2010. Their report ranked the leading mobile phone manufacturers and smartphone platforms in the U.S. market. In the 3 month average ending in February, 234 million Americans age 13 and older were mobile subscribers, with device manufacturer Motorola ranking as the top OEM at a 22.3 percent share of U.S. mobile subscribers. LG ranked second with 21.7 percent share, followed by Samsung (21.4 percent share), Nokia (8.7 percent share) and RIM (8.2 percent share). 45.4 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones in an average month during the December to February period, up 21 percent from the three months ending November 2009. RIM (BlackBerry) was the leading mobile smartphone platform in the U.S. with 42.1 percent share of U.S. smartphone subscribers, rising 1.3 percentage points versus the prior period. Apple (iPhone) ranked second with 25.4 percent sha...

Editorial content marketing approaches are gaining momentum in the online marketplace. eMarketer reports that U.S. Internet users are more likely to act after viewing ads in editorials, according to longitudinal research conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation for ARAnet. The survey found respondents were most likely to act based on reading an online article with brand information, at 53 percent -- up from 51 percent last year. In addition, nearly six in 10 Internet users said they searched for products and services they read about in online articles at least somewhat frequently. According to the March 2010 survey, brand-related articles interest key demographic groups, with younger and higher-income users more likely than average to take action after reading them. "We're seeing that article-based advertising rates highest with these important and discerning audiences," said ARAnet president Scott Severson. "Compared to other online advertising option...

Broadband service delivery in the United States is highly concentrated -- with most new subscriber additions still going to the very largest service providers, as new competition continues to elude the marketplace. Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG) found that the nineteen largest cable and telephone providers in the U.S. market -- representing about 93 percent of the market -- acquired nearly 4.1 million net additional high-speed Internet subscribers in 2009. Annual net broadband additions in 2009 were 75 percent of the total in 2008. The top broadband providers now account for nearly 71.8 million subscribers -- with cable companies having 39.3 million broadband subscribers, and telephone companies having 32.5 million subscribers. The market status-quo remains intact, with no immediate signs of progressive change on the horizon. Highlights from the Leichtman market study include: - The top cable companies netted 57 percent of the broadband additions in 2009. - The top...

Telepresence is video conferencing taken to the next level -- participants feel as if they are in the same room together. Despite the tough economic environment, sales of telepresence hardware, software and services grew to $567 million in 2009, according to the latest market study by ABI Research . Expanding the options for access to telepresence products and services is critical for maintaining strong market growth. Video conferencing products that are a step above talking-heads at reasonable price points allow companies to experience the benefits and incorporate them into their business processes. According to ABI's market assessment, other major trends and supplier contributions driving the market in 2010 and beyond include: - Saving on travel costs, particularly for companies experiencing supply chain expansion. - Suppliers targeting companies with legacy video teleconferencing systems and expanding telepresence system interoperability. - Telepresence enhanced with...

Mobile phone network operators -- either independently or in partnership with banks, other financial institutions and mobile payment service providers -- are developing platforms and applications to offer mobile payment services. Such initiatives have seen the worldwide mobile payments market evolve significantly in recent years, with mobile handsets now readily used for a variety of payment-related transactions. According to the latest market study by Portio Research , the worldwide mobile payments volume -- denoting the face value of purchases and transactions through mobile handsets -- stood at $68.7 billion in 2009, up from $45.6 billion in 2008, and will surge nine-fold to reach $633.4 billion by end-2014. In 2009, there were 81.3 million mobile payment users worldwide and this number is forecast to grow over six-fold to reach nearly 490 million by the end of 2014, seeing the worldwide penetration of mobile payment users increasing over four-fold to reach almost 8 percent by...

Infonetics Research recently published its fourth quarter 2G/3G and LTE Mobile Broadband Devices and Subscribers report -- which tracks mobile broadband cards. "The effects of the recession continue to linger, with fewer than usual USB dongles and netbooks delivered at the end of 2009, making the normally seasonally-strong fourth quarter softer than expected for the mobile broadband device market. However, fundamental drivers remain strong and the market will continue to gather momentum, driven by HSPA, and we expect to see fewer growth blips in the future," notes Richard Webb, Infonetics Research's directing analyst for mobile devices. The Infonetics quarterly mobile broadband card report provides worldwide and regional market size, market share, analysis, and forecasts for mobile broadband cards by technology, device, and operating system, as well as mobile broadband subscribers. Highlights from the Infonetics market study include: - While the mobile broadband ...

A new comScore study, based on a survey of more than 1,800 U.S. consumers, grouped viewers into three segments -- TV-only viewers (65 percent), cross-platform (i.e. TV + online) viewers (29 percent) and online-only viewers (6 percent). Respondents were asked questions regarding their "advertising tolerance." The questions were designed to assess the levels of advertising (based on one minute increments from 0-15 minutes) viewers would tolerate when watching one hour of TV programming on the Internet. According to comScore, the results indicated online advertising might actually be tolerated between 6 and 7 minutes per hour -- higher than the approximately 4 minutes per hour that is currently tolerated by consumers. When cross-platform viewers were asked about their motivations for consuming a portion of their TV content online, freedom in time and space emerged as primary motivators. 75 percent of these viewers selected online over TV because they were able to watch ...

eMarketer reports that in 2009 e-mail marketers started to get social, but 2010 will be the year social media makes e-mail marketing more powerful. Social media is a complement to e-mail marketing, because it provides new avenues for sharing and engaging customers and prospects. "Even though people are spending more time using social media, they are not abandoning e-mail," said Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer senior analyst. "The two channels can help each other, offering the opportunity for marketers to create deeper connections." More than four in 10 business executives surveyed by StrongMail said integrating e-mail and social was one of their most important initiatives for 2010 -- just after improving e-mail performance and targeting and growing opt-in lists. About one-quarter of respondents had already implemented an integrated strategy, and another 24 percent had formulated a strategy and were researching how to put it in practice. But 18 percent wanted...

Revenue from shipments of home automation systems will exceed $11.8 billion in 2015, according to the latest market study by ABI Research . That number includes all four categories of home automation -- Luxury, Mainstream, DIY and Managed. However, the luxury segment is forecast to deliver the greatest revenue. In addition to quantitative market measurement, ABI Research also sampled U.S. consumer attitudes with a September 2009 survey. Nearly half of the 1001 respondents did not know what the term "home automation" actually means. A further 43 percent understood the concept but had no system installed. According to ABI practice director Sam Lucero, "Our survey results show that a major challenge is simply lack of awareness on the part of mainstream consumers. Other issues for consumers were the expense, and a perceived lack of need for home automation." Regardless, Lucero believes that the home automation market is approaching an inflection point beyond whi...

The media publishing industry needs an upside trend. Perhaps this is it. comScore released the results of a survey of 2,176 Internet users regarding their awareness, attitudes and opinions of the Apple iPad and other e-readers or tablet devices. Results were analyzed across age and gender profiles, as well as the iOwners (a comScore term) consumer segment -- defined as those owning either an iPhone or iPod Touch. Consumers were asked several questions regarding their awareness of various e-readers and tablet devices and their past purchase behavior or intent to purchase these devices. The results showed very high awareness of the iPad, with an aided awareness of 65 percent, the same as that of the Amazon Kindle Wireless Reading Device . Overall, consumers have demonstrated a high level of interest in these types of devices with between 58 percent and 69 percent of consumers having conducted online research of the top five devices. Amazon Kindle rated highest in terms of curren...