WHILST video social networking sites such as You Tube and MySpace, web-based streaming Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) sites such as our Mobile World TV (www.mobile-world.tv), mobile video and downloadable video files have certainly gained many viewers, traditional large-screen TV broadcasters need not fear, as overall TV viewership has increased worldwide, which presents an opportunity for broadcasters to tap the potential presented by these multiple screens if they play the game right, according to global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing firm Accenture.

“The content consumption market has certainly fragmented,” said Alwin K Magimay, Accenture managing director for Communications, High-Tech and Media, South East Asia.

“Gone are the days when music, video, radio or TV content created for formats such as a CD, DVD, TV or radio are only consumed via a CD or DVD player, a radio receiver or a TV set. Today, CD or DVD content can for example, consumed on a DVD player, a PC, a games device or a mobile handheld devices and likewise content created in other formats can be consumed across multiple devices in out new digital world but traditional broadcasters need no fear, as results of our Broadcast Consumer Survey 2009 show that the viewing of all content – including television – is growing, with the numbers of viewers consuming content on all platforms having increased in 2009 from last year across nearly all the countries we surveyed.

“Also, consumers are more willing to pay for content, as the proportion of users who are willing to pay for some type of content increased by 12 percentage points in 2009 over 2008, in those countries where we could make a comparison,” Magimay added.

Between January 19 and February 14, Accenture surveyed a total of 13,616 consumers aged 18 years or older across 13 countries – namely Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States both in 2009 and 2008, whilst this year it also surveyed consumers in Australia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore. This roughly amounted to 1,000 consumers per country. It also categorised respondents into five age groups – namely Under 25, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54 and 55+ years and categorised the 13 countries into developed and emerging content markets.

Most of the countries surveyed are developed markets. For example, the US and the UK are regarded as the most developed, having had over-to-air TV since the 1950s and cable TV since the 1960s and 1970's respectively. On the other hand, Brazil, Mexico and Malaysia are emerging markets. especially in terms of the number of cable, satellite or pay TV stations these countries have had and the year from which they have had them.

Brazil's only cable TV company NET was founded in 1991 and a satellite TV company Sky Brazil in 1996. Whilst Mexico has had over-to-air TV for as long as the US and the UK, the penetration of its pay TV services such as satellite and cable reached only 23% of the population in 2007, whilst 82% of US households subscribe to a pay TV service. Whilst over-the-air TV began in Malaysia in early 1964, its first satellite TV – i.e. Astro – was launched in 1996 and whilst the cable TV operator MegaTV also began operations “also in 1996,” it closed five years later due to competition from Astro.

Accenture's study is rather inaccurate with regards Malaysia. Firstly, MegaTV was launched in November 1995 and not 1996, so it is Malaysia's first pay TV services and strictly speaking, it was not “cable TV” since instead of cables it broadcast analogue pay TV using microwaves received via a rooftop antenna. Accenture did not mention Malaysia's third pay TV operator MiTV (now called U-Television), was launched in September 2005 and broadcasts programmes using Internet protocol (IPTV) over microwaves in the UHF band which are received via a regular rooftop UHF antenna.

U-Television also owns the 3G mobile operator U-Mobile, which began Mobile Live TV broadcasts to suitably equipped mobile phones based on the DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld) standard.

Television

Anyway, Accenture's key finding across the 13 countries is that whilst TV content is continuing to fragment across devices, brands and behaviour, its overall viewership size continues to grow.

In those countries where it could make an annual comparison, the proportion of respondents overall who viewed six or more TV channels per week increased from around 38% in 2008 to around 43% in 2009 across almost all age groups, except for those under 25, whose proportion remained the same, whilst the biggest increase spanned those aged 35 to 55 years and older.

On the other hand, the proportion of those who viewed eight of more TV programmes per week increased by about five percentage points across all age groups, though the proportion of under 25s increased from around 30% in 2008 to around 34% in 2009, with the difference between the two survey years increasing with age.

Accenture's findings are corroborated by those of other research firms. Nielsen's quarterly A2/M2 Three Screens Report of February 2009 found video viewership on TV, the Internet and mobile devices was at record levels, with the average American viewer watching over 151 hours of TV per month, whilst a similar report by SevenOne Media found that consumers in Germany consumed 235 minutes of TV per day in the first quarter of 2009, up eight minutes from the corresponding quarter in 2008.

The Nielsen report also found that viewing of traditional TV rises with age, whilst the use of video on the Internet peaks amongst young adults and the viewing of mobile video is highest amongst teenagers.

Mobile TV

Whilst the proportion of viewers who watched four or more mobile TV programmes per week increased, the increase was markedly higher in Brazil and Mexico in 2009, changed a little in Germany, Italy and Spain but dropped dramatically in the United States, the United Kingdom and France. More specifically, the proportion in Mexico leapt from 9% in 2008 to 22% in 2009 and from 6% to 18% in Brazil. The proportions for Germany, Italy and Spain were 7% to 8%, 16% to 14% and 12% to 15% respectively, whilst those for the US, UK and France were 15% to 10%, 13% to 9% and 15% to 10% respectively in 2009 and 2008.

Accenture believes that this suggests that existing services are failing to meet consumers' needs and tastes, resulting in them losing interest in mobile TV after an initial burst of enthusiasm. However, the reasons for this vary by different country. For example, Accenture believes that the root cause of the drop in the US are probably the quality of the content, the use of subscription business models and that service providers are selling a services rather than content, when they should be looking at ways to deliver content appropriate to specific platforms.

Also, with notable exceptions, such as You Tube on the Apple i-Phone, most broadcasters have tended to duplicate traditional TV programmes on phones or provide limited clips of TV shows on phones both of which were amongst the least desired content types, since as for types of content respondents want to watch on their phone, 25% said they wanted watch public service information, followed by new content specific to phones (15%), content they create (15%), shortened versions of programmes (12%), highlights of programmes (11%) and full TV shows (11%).

The  study also shows that besides merely saying that they want more mobile content, consumers in emerging markets are actually putting their money where their mouths are by being more ready to buy mobile videos for download. For example, especially older consumers in Malaysia and Mexico are well ahead of the global average in terms of their willingness to pay for mobile content.

On PC

Viewership of programmes on PCs is more encouraging and rose across all countries where an annual comparison can be made, again with the fastest increase in emerging markets Brazil and Mexico, whilst the increase was more sedate in those countries with more developed content markets.

Accenture attributes this high increase in mobile TV and TV on PCs in emerging markets to a lower level of satisfaction with the quality of free-to-air TV there compared to the developed markets, hence the greater willingness to try alternative platforms.

As for the types of content watched on PCs across all countries, 42% of those who watched specific types of content on their PC watched new content tailored specifically for PCs, followed by 37% who watched public service information, 31% who watched fullTV shows, 25% who watched content they created, 22% who watched highlights of programmes and 16% who watched shorter versions of programmes.

Providers such as You Tube, Alicé, BBC iPlayer and Youku.com are winning consumers worldwide by providing them the type of content they want on their PCs and some familiar TV programming. Some providers such as the Asia-based TV-Desi and JumpTV launched an IPTV service in December 2008, which provides South Asia TV content to subscribers in the United States and Canada, thus serving cross-board niche interest.

On the other hand to address the mass-market, pay TV operators in the US are discussing an industry-wide “TV Everywhere” service where they will put their collective content on a website which consumers can access provided they can prove that they subscribe to pay TV.

Willingness to pay

As for willingness to pay for content, with the exception of Italy and Spain, the proportion of those who were willing to pay for some type of content increased in 2009 over 2008, with the biggest proportion being in Mexico (69% from 37%) and Brazil (63% from 46%), with the smallest increase being in the UK (37% from 36%), whilst the proportion in Italy dropped from 50% to 49% and Spain from 42% to 41% over the same period. The proportion willing to pay was the lowest in the US at 35% in 2009 but this is a rather healthy increase from 28% in 2008.

Whilst consumers' preferred option worldwide is to pay for content, this is closely followed by those who would pay nothing in return for viewing advertisements, and these preferences are consistent across all age  groups. About 49% of consumers worldwide were willing to pay for programmes from a digital service, whilst 40% preferred to watch advertisements and pay nothing.

However, in the emerging markets, the 68% in Malaysia and 63% in Brazil who were willing to pay is almost double the proportion who preferred watching advertisements and pay nothing, whilst these two proportions were about even in the United States and Europe.

Once again, Accenture attributes this to the perception amongst consumers in emerging markets that they are paying for a higher-value digital content services, than their counterparts in the developed markets feel.
 
amongst those willing to pay, most (25%) preferred to pay for unlimited downloads from any network, whilst the proportion of those who would download an unlimited number of programmes increased by 10% points to 14% in 2009, thus reflecting interest from Brazilian and Mexican consumers, as well as from Malaysian consumers who were not surveyed in 2008.

The subscription model also was the most resilient despite the economic slowdown, with 12% who said they would spend more on subscriptions in 2009 versus 12% who would spend less, whilst 41% had no spending plans and 35% planned to spend the same amount in 2009 and in 2008.

On the other hand, whilst 80% said they would purchased DVDs or CDs in 2009, 13% said they would spend more, whilst 19% would spend less, which suggests that DVDs and CDs are most under threat.

Altogether, 4% would spend on downloads in 2009, with 8% saying they would spend more versus 13% who would spend less. Mobile content came out the worst with 44% saying they would but mobile content in 2009, with 9% planning to spend more and 12% less.        

The implication here is that of this pattern of purchase plans continues, subscription purchases would most probably hold its own, whilst the other types of purchases would decline.

amongst other findings is that viewers' loyalty to programmes, with 73% of nearly three-quarters who watched the same or more networks than programmes, suggesting that they follow their favourite programmes from network to network. At the same time, consumers in many countries said they found new programmes they liked whilst watching another programme or channel. For channels and platforms, a way to generate and sustain interest could for example use carefully targeted, strategically placed advertisements and suggestions, especially of the programme types provided via the service are of consistently high quality and reflect similar tastes.

Children vs no children

The study also found that with the exception of South Korea and Singapore, the proportion of parents – ie adults with children -- in the rest of the countries surveyed were more exited about digital consumption opportunities than adults without children, with the gap being biggest in the US (23% vs 11%), Brazil (43% vs 32%) and Mexico (51% vs 40%). The proportion for Malaysia was 34% vs 30%.

Accenture believes this could be due to the children's enthusiasm to consume digital content having a positive influenced on their parents and that digital content meets parent's needs, such as to consume content whilst their children slept.

Also, with the exception of Japan and Singapore, the proportion of parents in the other 11 countries who were willing to pay for digital content is higher than the proportion of adults without children, whilst parents and non-parents tied at 31% in Japan and at 61% in Singapore.

Where there was a positive difference, it was the largest in the United States (51% vs 28%), considerable (from 8 to 13 percentage points difference) across Europe as well as in Brazil (67% vs 57%), modest in Mexico (67% vs 71%) in Mexico and the smallest in Malaysia (69% versus 67%).

The proportion which preferred to watch advertisements and pay nothing is similar between the two groups.

Senior citizens' second teenagerhood

Whilst the young are know to be digitally savvy and in the forefront of digital transformation, older consumer's interest in PC and mobile content, excitement about digital transformation and willingness to pay for downloadable content are growing just as quickly as their younger counterparts, especially in the emerging markets such as Brazil, Mexico and Malaysia, where the differences in interest and adoption between younger and older consumers is less, so service providers should not ignore the older consumers. However, older consumers prefer to for example receive public information on their phones, whilst younger consumers are more interested to watch full TV episodes on their PCs.

The study shows that the proportion of respondents who would enjoy content fro a mobile device starts at about 72% of under 25s in Mexico, falls to about 66% amongst those aged 45 to 54 years but reverts back to about 72% amongst those 55 years and above. Malaysia comes second with about 66% of the under 25s, rising to about 72% if those aged 25 to 34, falling to about 52% for those age 54-54 and rising to 70% of those 55 and above. In contracts, the proportion for the US falls steadily with age from 50% of the under 25s to about 8% of those aged 55 and above, whilst the overall pattern, as well as that for Singapore are similar to the trend for the United States, except that their proportions are higher.

Likewise the patterns of the proportion of those who currently purchase downloadable content looks similar with the proportions for Mexico falling from about 68% of the under 25s to about 64% of those aged 45 to 54, then ramping up to 70% of those 55 years and above, whilst for Malaysia the proportions increase with age from about 58% of the under 25's to about 63% of those 55 and above. In Singapore, willingness peaks at about 51% for those aged 25 to 34, drops to about 36% for those aged 45 to 54, then rises to just under 50% for those 55 and above.

On the other hand, this willingness drops steadily with age, both globally and in the United States.

Watching what they want, when they want

Besides wanting the content they love, people are also looking for platforms and devices that give them greater control over it. For most genres – especially soap operas and lifestyle programmes – the proportion of consumers who wanted to watch them on-demand increased in 2009, whilst at the same time, the proportion of those who prefered watching many genres in real-time – notably reality shows and sports – also increased.

This confirms that people want more control over their content, so they can fit their consumption of each genre around their schedule and lifestyle. In most of the eight countries surveyed in 2008 and 2009, the proportion of those who said they were excited to watch what they want, when they want increased, with Mexico and Brazil again coming out tops, with increases from 16% to 45% and 28% to 37% respectively, whilst the proportions in the UK and France fell from 13% to 8% and 16% to 15% respectively. The increases across the rest of Europe and the United States was more modest.

Once again, Accenture attributes this trend to the more robust traditional TV offerings in Western Europe and the US, whilst these findings also suggest that the initial excitement with new platforms – especially mobile – are no longer exciting consumers as much as they used to and could decline with time as their novelty wears off and consumer preferences take hold.

In some cases, this progression from novelty to familiarity may have positive effects, such as PC-based content moving mainstream but on the other hand, familiarity could just as easily slide into disillusionment, which providers must take pains to avoid.

However, an encouraging indicator is that there were fewer respondents in 2009 who said that they did not know about enjoying content on mobile or PCs.

Traditional methods still rule

As for how consumers discover content they like, most still discovered it in traditional ways, with 40% doing so via TV advertisements and promotions, 33% by channel surfing, 31% by looking at their favourite channels, 30% from family and friends and 28% from TV listings, whilst a mere 8% discovered content from blogs, 6% from web content stores, 5% from mobile advertisements and 2% from DVR/PVR recommendations.

Whilst TV listings in an newspaper or a PC did not score the highest overall, still 31% regarded them as the best source of information about the best programmes and this was the case especially for amongst 41% of those in the 55 years and over, whilst 24% of those under 25 cited family and friends as the best source.

Accenture believes the reason why so few consumers rely on automated recommendations is because the tools offered to help them find new programmes cannot keep pace with advances in content delivery.

Its proposed solution is for providers to help consumers overcome this bottleneck in content discovery by enhancing existing methods – namely listings, programme advertising and so on with targeted messages to improve engagement and to make them more powerful and intelligent. they could also deploy automated recommendations in a seamless manner and take advantage of consumers' relationships with friends and family by incorporating social networking components into the viewing experience subtly, without giving consumers the feeling that its an attempt to hard-sell, which would tend to put them off and be counterproductive.