Digital Lifescapes

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...

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...

There were numerous announcements about 3D technology during CES. The basic concept has been with us for many years, but had never reached common use. The popularity of Avatar and other 3D movies, however, will put 3D TV into the mainstream, according to the latest study by In-Stat . 2010 will be a big year for 3D entertainment, as movie studios release more 3D films shown in a growing number of 3D-equipped theaters. "Exposure to 3D films is important to the debut of 3D TV, because consumers who have seen 3D films are more interested than the general population in being able to view 3D content at home," says Michelle Abraham, In-Stat analyst. In-Stat's 3D consumer survey shows that 64 percent of consumers are at least somewhat interested in 3D in the home. For those who have seen a 3D movie in the last 12 months, the percentage increases to 76 percent. In-Stat's market study found the following: - In-Stat projects worldwide 3D TV shipments will reach 41 million in 201...

Global shipments of Blu-ray disc players, excluding PS3, are expected to total nearly 12 million units this year, according to the latest market study by Futuresource Consulting. In last year's crucial Q4 period, three million BD players were shipped globally, which represented more than 50 percent of the total for the year. And the trend is continuing, with our projections showing shipments for Q1 2009 will reach 1.2 million units, significantly up on Q1 2008. All eyes will be on Q4 this year, with Futuresource predicting shipments in excess of six million units in that quarter alone, a healthy year-on-year growth that will successfully propel BD into the next decade. Sales of HD-capable LCD and plasma TVs, and continued dramatic reductions in BD player prices also continue to fuel interest. In the last quarter of 2008, average retail prices for standalone Blu-ray players fell by 15 percent in most major markets and they're going fall by another 25 percent during the course of...

There once was a time when a few big media companies ruled over the news and entertainment industry. All was calm, as long as everyone in a position of power agreed to play by the same dysfunctional rules. Access to the legacy content distribution ecosystem was tightly controlled and longstanding restraint of trade barriers were successful in ensuring that most attempts at innovation never saw the light of day. Tactics like pay-for-play payola schemes were able to perpetuate the content scarcity model that fueled the industry's efforts to limit and manipulate what was considered popular (pop), and how it was going to be marketed to the awaiting mass-media audience. The macroeconomic theory of supply and demand can not reach its full potential in a closed marketplace model that restricts access to the chosen few participants. However, the oligopoly regime of legacy big media companies loathed any notion of creating an open market. Re-Booting the Media Business Model Make no mis...

It's predicted that 2009 is set to be the year for 3D, a reality that was apparent across the breadth of the recent Consumer Electronics Show, with many key players in the industry ready to showcase their capabilities. With a myriad of competing technologies and 3D concepts out there, Futuresource Consulting announced the launch of a new market study outlining opportunities and challenges for 3D in cinema, broadcasting, TV display equipment, gaming, video content delivery and the outdoor advertising and digital signage industries. Hollywood's ultimate goal is to bring 3D Cinema into people's homes to fully maximize this revenue stream, as only 25-30 percent of the revenues a studio earns from a blockbuster film come from the box office. "Crucially, much of the backbone technology has arrived and is already in many people's homes, without them even realizing it," says Sarah Carroll, Director Strategy Consulting & Continuous Services, Futuresource Consulting...

According to Reuters, Hollywood Studios are cutting back on their investment at trade events -- such as the annual Consumer Electronics Show -- as studios seek cheaper or more effective ways to sell movies and television programs. The shift has occurred as new alternative marketing strategies have displaced the old methods. Viral campaigns and digital marketing techniques, using videos and other rich media online, are creating the forward-looking momentum. Perhaps, more along the lines of the mystery-filled Web promos for the 2008 sci-fi movie Cloverfield . "As part of our larger cost containment initiatives, we're curtailing travel unless it's really critical for business reasons and I'd imagine that fewer people are going to conferences," said one studio executive, referring to CES as well as the Sundance Film festival and the National Association of Television Program Executives conference in Las Vegas. "Some of these shows have grown less relevant as prog...

The U.S. Home Video market is in the process of transformation, with its supply chain gearing up for change, according to a market study by Futuresource Consulting. "U.S. consumer demand for SD DVD and High Definition discs is projected to fall by a small amount this year," says Michael Boreham, Senior Consultant at Futuresource. "We're looking at a dip of just over 3 percent, resulting in retailers employing a more cautious approach to ordering stock, thus reducing surplus inventory and freeing up capital and shelf space." Although this is piling on the pressure across the supply chain and increasing the frequency of deliveries, longer term it is hoped that improved forecasting and smaller, more regular shipments will result in fewer returns, which will equate to considerable cost reductions elsewhere in the chain. In order to minimize lost sales, retailers are trying to balance maintaining existing tolerances on out-of-stock titles against higher inventory cos...

Have you seen a movie trailer online lately? Seems like they're surfacing more frequently in all types of rich media Ads. Online film marketing is truly expanding -- in both the scope and sophistication. In 2007, studios in the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and their subsidiaries, spent $754 million advertising films online. By 2012 that figure will increase to $2.4 billion. According to eMarketer projections, last year online channels represented approximately 5 percent of all film advertising, but by 2012 the figure will climb to 13.2 percent. "Not only is online film advertising spending on a fast growth curve, the marketing channels used by studios are also expanding," says Paul Verna, senior analyst at eMarketer. "Today, virtually every film marketing campaign leverages traditional and new media channels, with applications such as social network profiles, widgets and recommendation engines becoming an integral part of the mix." Films are rar...

Futuresource Consulting released findings of its second annual home copying consumer research study. The research built upon the survey conducted last year, and key questions remained the same for annual benchmarking purposes. Around one third of all respondents in both the USA and UK admit to making copies of pre-recorded DVDs in the last 6 months, up from just over a quarter of respondents in 2007. As in 2007 it is 18-24 year old males who are most likely to be copiers. UK respondents showed a significant increase in copying TV shows on DVD when compared with 2007. In both territories, the most common way of copying is either from a DVD player to a DVD recorder, or using a single PC software application for burning DVD copies. In the last 6 months, DVD copiers have copied an average of 12 titles of all genres in the USA and 13 titles of all genres in the UK. In the last 6 months, the average number of movies copied in the UK was 13 new release and 9 catalog; in the USA the figures we...

Global TV shipments rose 4 million to almost 200 million units -- worth over$100 billion last year -- and growth will accelerate to reach 280 million units -- worth $160 billion by 2012 -- according to a new consumer electronics industry report from Understanding & Solutions. The global TV boom is being powered by consumer desire for Flat Panel TV, which is rapidly replacing CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) sets, plus growth in emerging markets, which are also trending away from CRT to flat panels. Emerging markets accounted for over 50 percent of global TV shipments in 2007 and will rise to more than 65 percent by 2012. LCD is rapidly growing to become the dominant display technology for television, and accounted for 40 percent of shipments in 2007 and 64 percent of market value. By 2012, LCD will account for over 80 percent of the market. "Strategic supply of LCD panels has become a critical competitive issue, with huge concentrations of volume under the control of major producers, i...

AngelouEconomics has released their first comprehensive economic impact assessment on the City of Austin from the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music, Film and Interactive Conference and Festival. Few entertainment industry events in the world can compare to the depth and breadth of SXSW -- given the range of activities, performers, presenters, and visitor attendees. In 2007, SXSW featured nine days of industry conference activities, six days of trade shows, a five-night music festival featuring over 1,500 artists in more than 70 venues, plus nine days and nights of film festival with more than 275 screenings in six venues. In total, it's estimated that the event last year was attended by more than 125,000 people. According to the AngelouEconomics assessment, the 2007 SXSW events were directly and indirectly responsible for injecting about $95 million into Austin's local economy. Digital Media Entrepreneurs That said, while the creative residents of Austin contribute to the city...

Video: 2008 International CES pre-show press conference.

At the IBC 2007 event, Strategy Analytics presents the findings of its analysis of the television industry value chain, and assesses the impact of emerging web delivery models on traditional TV broadcasting. According to the recent Strategy Analytics report entitled "The Television and Movie Industry Explained: Where Does All the Money Go?" less than half of the $97.6 billion generated by Europe's television industry currently goes toward content production and acquisition. Web video and IPTV offer content owners the opportunity to shift the balance in their favor. "In the last couple of years the internet has emerged as a viable platform for television distribution," comments Martin Olausson, Director, Digital Media Strategies. "As broadband access moves towards universal availability it presents content owners and emerging web players with the opportunity to permanently alter the traditional structure of the broadcast industry." The Strategy Analyti...

The latest report from Screen Digest examines how the individual Hollywood Studios are adapting their businesses to online movie distribution. Notably, the report finds that a viable business will emerge in the U.S. and Western Europe for movie downloading, but warns that the Studios are following a fragmented path to digital distribution, with each major following a different strategy. This is likely to hamper the development of movie downloads and ultimately confuse and fragment the consumer market. The research provides detailed analysis and forecasts of the movie distribution business in the U.S. and Western Europe, and reveals that the overall winners in this market will not only be the Studios who own the content, but major device manufacturers such as Microsoft, Apple and Sony. Unique to the report entitled "Online Movie Strategies: Competitive Review and Market Outlook" are trade level revenues and forecasts of the market for movie downloads, both rental and retail. S...

As broadcast TV, movies, and other professionally produced (i.e. typically very high-budget) content gets moved onto the Internet, huge opportunities are emerging for vendors who provide hardware, bandwidth and services, according to In-Stat. The value of the annual infrastructure build-out for online entertainment services is expected to quintuple between 2007 and 2011, reaching more than $4.1 billion, the characteristically upbeat market research firm says. However, vendors may be the only members of the this ecosystem that see a meaningful profit from this high-stakes gamble. I believe that when this storyline has run its course, some big media companies may actually end up wondering how they invested so heavily without a clear understanding of where the potential for profit really exists. Perhaps they're right, that exploiting online entertainment is just the same as prior media distribution channels. Frankly, I'm not convinced it is the same. "Bandwidth is the largest...

In today's consumer electronics products, hardware IC features play little role in protecting copyrighted content. Popular digital rights management schemes that depend on secure software implementations such as Windows DRM, Fairplay, and AACS are routinely targeted and hacked. However, processor companies are enhancing their architectures and embracing security features that will simplify secure software implementations and make it much more difficult to copy and share protected content. By 2013, more than 60 million CE devices are expected to ship with hardware security. That is one of the key conclusions of a new study and market assessment from ABI Research entitled "Hardware Security in the Consumer Electronics Market." "There are basically no secure processors in consumer electronics right now. They will start showing up in commercially available devices in the next couple of years, and will take hold rapidly starting in 2009," says principal analyst Steve...

According to a new study from Strategy Analytics, the video and music industries are unlikely to follow the Apple and EMI recent decision to abandon Digital Rights Management (DRM). The report entitled "A Roadmap for DRM: Business Impact for Content Owners and Technology Vendors," draws on extensive interviews with senior executives in the media, entertainment and consumer electronics industries. It concludes that DRM will still play a critical role in the emergence of the digital marketplace. But to remain valid, according to Strategy Analytics, DRM will have to sink into the background of the value chain, enabling new choices for consumers, while also opening up new revenue streams for creators and content owners. "In the right form, DRM can help expand the size of the music and video markets," comments Martin Olausson, Director of the Strategy Analytics Digital Media Strategies service. "Ultimately, DRM is needed to harness the commercial value of the rip, m...

Lawsuits, acquisitions, and experimentation are now the tools being used to craft the User Generated Content (UGC) landscape, and even with all that has transpired, we still only have an unfinished foreground in place, according to an In-Stat market study. Business models continue to adapt and change, as do experimentations with advertising, making the overall landscape of this market appear to be as dynamic as a feather in the wind, the high-tech market research firm says. "Three companies in particular have and will likely continue to make headlines: Google, YouTube, and Viacom," says Michael Inouye, In-Stat analyst. "The U.S. continues to be the market leader and will be for the foreseeable future," he says. The In-Stat report is entitled "User-Generated Content: How About Just Content?" which reminds me of why it's time to drop the whole user generated rhetoric, because it doesn't describe the meaningful phenomenon within the marketplace. Inde...

New-media commerce is generally booming, but an exception is movie downloads. The pioneering movie video-on-demand services haven't caught on and some of their owners are heading for the exits, according to Kagan Research. Walt Disney Co. has sold money-loser MovieBeam to video retailer Movie Gallery, which operates 4,600 video stores in the U.S. and Canada. Also, reports indicate that Blockbuster is negotiating to buy Movielink, owned by five of Hollywood's major studios. Kagan Research analyst Wade Holden says video store operators Movie Gallery and Blockbuster are buyers because they will eventually expand VOD to allow consumers to burn movies on DVD discs, rather than just store them on hard drives or view the video stream. It's a diversification for retailers who face sagging in-store sales. Mail-order DVD rental leader Netflix unveiled a movie streaming business in January and Wal-Mart indicates it will enter the digital movie fie...