Media Technology Monitor (MTM) Top 10 Results (August 2009)
10. Internet Video: High Reach, Low Usage. The media seems to go into a frenzy covering the latest developments in the Internet video space. Lots of Canadians are now watching Internet video, but the amount of time they actually spend watching is small.
9. Internet TV is catch-up TV. Why would you want to watch TV on a Computer? Well, people use the Internet to get TV for the same reason they have PVRs or watch TV programs on VOD: to “catch up” on missed episodes and for convenience. Of course, for most people a computer screen isn’t an ideal way to watch for an extended period of time, which is why news clips, sports highlights and comedy are the most common types of TV content accessed.
8. iPod, uPod, wePod. It seems like there is no end to the number of us using ear buds. iPod/MP3 players grew substantially again this year and most owners have Apple Pods.
7. Podcasting is more than radio. It seems like everyone who has content that can be converted to a spoken word audio format (with or without video) is getting into the podcasting game. Podcasting of conventional radio programs are losing ground to other types of content that are from newspapers, magazines and TV stations.
6. Canadians Love their HDTV Screens. They’re bigger, thinner and cheaper. Canadians can’t get enough of them. Nearly one in five of us have them and many of those even have two. And it seems the
more people get one, the more other people tell us they’re going to buy one.
5. The HDTV Receiver is an Afterthought. Don’t be confused: people don’t necessarily buy HDTV Screens for HDTV channels. Only half of people with an HDTV Screen also have an HDTV Receiver, which is necessary to receive HDTV channels. That ratio has improved, but intention to buy an HDTV
receiver is flat.
4. Digital Deadline 2011: Post-Transition Intentions Are Becoming Clear. In two short years, analog off-air TV will disappear in Canada. When it does, off-air TV households will have to change the way they
receive TV to either digital off-air or a subscription TV service. Off-air TV viewers are split evenly between which option they’ll choose, which means that the already small group that relies on TV off-air could be cut in half.
3. iPhones lift mobile video. People generally don’t watch video or TV on a cell phone and they consistently tell us that they’re not interested in doing so. Then, of course, along came the iPhone. Penetration levels are still small, but most who have them watch video on it and many use it to watch TV.
2. PVRs: Those who have them, use them a lot. The steady but modest growth of Personal Video Recorders (PVRs) continues. Just over 1 in 10 households have one, but users spend about half of their TV viewing time watching PVR’d programs.
1. Radio Still Rules. Audio choices used to be in two neatly defined boxes: radio and recorded music (e.g. CDs). With the Internet, iPods and satellite radio, the continuum of choice is much broader. But despite this, the simplicity and convenience of conventional radio is not lost on consumers. Even people who use new audio technologies listen to more conventional radio than any other audio source.
These findings are taken from the annual Media Technology Monitor (MTM), a survey conducted since 1997 with samples (6,000 Anglophones and 6,000 Francophones) and methodology that far exceeds industry
standards.
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