Thursday, February 12. 2009
Fifth of Virgin Media video downloads are thanks to BBC iPlayer
Last year, more than 500 million pieces of broadband video content was watched by Virgin Media cable tv customers, with a whopping 20% of the programmes coming from the BBC’s iPlayer.
Virgin Media has around 3.5 million subscribers, just over half of who access its on-demand tv service – which topped 516 million views of content in 2008. Virgin Media also saw 56 million views of video content in December alone, with a vast 17 million of this thanks to BBC iPlayer shows.
It is clear that the BBC iPlayer has taken off (I caught ‘The Baftas’ on it just the other day), with online UK web users reaching a vast 276 million views of content in 2008, with an impressive 41 million in December alone – and ever growing…..
Chief Executive, Virgin Media, Neil Berkett, said of the move ‘The launch of BBC iPlayer on our tv Platform was a real tipping point in consumer understanding of on-demand and we will continue this success with the ITV Player’.
‘Most watched’ figures were not released but they stated that videos by X Factor winners Alexandra (this year), and Leona Lewis (previous winner) received over one million views.
Virgin Media offers its on-demand and catch up service from the BBC, Channel 4, and soon ITV….who recently attempted to come together for ‘Project Kangaroo’ a joint VoD venture, but was refused by the Competition Commission (CC).
So for now the BBC iPlayer is clearly the leading force in online viewing, and its success is proof that it was a good move by the Corporation to bet its future on the internet, and according to BBC controller, Rahul Chakkara are still looking to expand ‘Following this success, we are working hard to bring BBC iPlayer onto other TV platforms.’
But will this mean permanent domination for the BBC iPlayer, or will it benefit others like Virgin Media to the point where they can catch up? James Murdoch, Chief Executive of News Corporation for Europe & Asia attacked the BBC last year saying ‘the iPlayer is a "big intervention" in the broadband TV market that had "hoovered up" otherwise useful or productive resources and "squashed other competitors". He went on to say ‘I'm not saying it is a bad product, but I am saying it does crowd out competition and innovation. But we have it now, so there you are,’ he added.
On the other hand, it is also clear to say that the on-demand TV service industry and on-demand sectors, have seen an uplift on the back of the iPlayer. So should also be grateful for the boost the iPlayer has brought with it.
With this in mind, is there room for competitors and will there be a ‘new’ iPlayer? No real reason for us to switch brands just yet….but then again, we didn’t think Facebook would overtake MySpace either! No doubt someone is up for the challenge, but who will it be……
Monday, February 9. 2009
Project Kangaroo, the joint VoD (Video on Demand) venture with the BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4, was bounced out last week by the Competition Commission (CC).
Project Kangaroo was intended to be a 'one-stop shop' where UK viewers could watch missed programmes using a single portal, instead of having to visit different websites or install a variety of software, plus provide an archive service of TV show footage mainly funded by advertisers. It would have been free to viewers.
However the BBC, ITV and Channel 4’s plan to join forces and tap into the small but expanding VoD market whilst benefiting from ad revenue, did not go to plan….
After a lengthy investigation by the Competition Commission since last November, their final conclusion was that the proposed service was too much of a threat to competition in the developing VoD market, with Peter Freeman CC Chairman telling BBC Radio 5 Live last week ‘The three joint venture partners are the largest TV companies in this country and you would normally expect them to compete with each other on a thing like this.’
Freeman went on to say ‘BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 together control the vast majority of this material, which puts them in a very strong position as wholesalers of TV content to restrict competition from other current and future providers of video-on-demand services to UK viewers’.
In response to the decision, the broadcasters said in a joint statement: ‘While this is an unwelcome finding for the shareholders, the real losers from this decision are British consumers. The spokesperson continued ‘This is a disproportionate remedy and a missed opportunity in the further development of British broadcasting.’
How will it affect our consumption of online video? Almost not at all is the likely answer. Our appetite for watching broadcast content online has been steadily increasing in recent years. The combination of faster connection and download speeds in our homes and workplace means we’re hardly ever tempted to hit the X on the browser because of buffering. So for now, we’ll just keep going to iPlayer or Channel 4’s watch again service, not one big uberplayer website.
Meanwhile, broadcasters are offering more and more traditional programming through online channels, not just the trusty tellybox in the living room corner. And brands are tuning into the reality that getting through to key audiences means producing cracking video content to captivate the discerning web user i.e. the vast majority of adults in the UK.
So while this is a temporary setback for the world of VoD, the future is still online.
Wednesday, February 4. 2009
For those who tuned in to this morning’s Chris Moyle’s Radio 1 Breakfast show, you would have heard him talk about the new social networking phenomenon that is Twitter.
Twitter, the new (less than a year old) social networking tool, allows people to write short messages/updates (of up to 140 characters) on where you are, what you are doing, your thoughts/comments on pretty much anything you like, and was the hot topic on this morning’s popular Radio 1 show. Andi Peters and Phillip Schofield also joined in the discussion, both praising the new craze, similar to that of the Facebook status update.
This micro blogging social media platform can be used via the web, mobile phones, and instant messaging software, and is becoming increasingly popular because anyone can use it, it is free, and it spreads word faster and further. Breaking news and communication on the web is more important now than ever, and Twitter feeds this hunger for instant news.
According to Twitter facts blog spot, Twitter.com is now the 291st most visited website in the UK, with internet traffic to the site increasing by 974% over one year, predicting Twitter users will reach the 7 million mark by mid February 2009.
More celebrity fans of the Twitter include Jonathan Ross who recently spoke about ‘tweeting’ with Stephen Fry on the BBC’s ‘Friday Night with Jonathan Ross’. Fry is a big fan and sends regular updates, further explaining in another interview with the BBC it suits his travelling, busy lifestyle and is a convenient way of keeping in touch…and has even just passed the 50,000 mark of followers!
markettiers4dc recently got tweeted about on a campaign for fiji tourist holiday 09 gig, including Twitters from msntechjane, WhichBudget, and Travel Magazine telling readers “In less than 24 hours, live, interactive travel TV show: Fiji: Halfway is Paradise" including a link to visit the site.
So is Twitter a personal or work thing? Well, it can be used for both – personal branding like making friends, social updates, even as a ‘to do’ list, or just for fun. Professionally, it can also be useful to keep up-to-date with news/industry updates, set up meetings, professional networking, ‘live’ coverage, or perhaps to drive traffic to websites for example web chats. You can see another recent markettiers4dc campaign, family relations, featured on Twitter here.
Twitter can therefore be used as a key marketing tool, with research from Twitter facts stating that users are clicking on the following types of links:
17.6% of Twitter’s downstream traffic goes to entertainment websites
10% of goes to News and Media websites
14.6% goes to social networks
6.6% to blogs and finally
4.5% to online retailers
However, not everyone in the public eye embrace Twitter, with MP Anne Widdecombe, and proprietor of her own website The Widdy Web, recently saying in The Sunday Times "What a damned silly waste of time". So you may not find it useful, but there are also issues of privacy and accuracy – same as any article or blog, but more at risk because it is instant. And of course, public announcements of where you are and when/what you are doing etc is personal choice but a potential risk – or as mentioned by Stephen Fry, not great when trying to avoid journalists!
So with Twitter now making the news regularly, it is set to really take off….perhaps even overtake Facebook? So if you want to become a part of the world of Twitter then install Snitter to your desktop. Get ‘tweeting’.
Wednesday, February 4. 2009
It is interesting to sit here and watch the tables turned as leading financial journalists today face a grilling live on TV about their role in the banking crisis only to watch them turn around and blame the banks’ PR.
The Treasury Select Committee put an illustrious panel of leading financial hacks under the spotlight including the BBC’s Business Editor and star-of-the-moment Robert Peston alongside Sky News’s business presenter Jeff Randall and Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times.
One particular issue strikes at the heart of journalistic responsibilities. Whilst discussing the collapse of Northern Rock they wanted to know if the BBC’s report that the bank was in trouble caused the run on the bank and therefore influenced the news or if they were merely reporting the facts as they had received them.
Which came first the chicken or the egg?
Peston’s accurate report that Northern Rock had gone to seek emergency funding from the Bank of England in September 2007 was cited by some critics as helping to prompt the run on the Newcastle-based bank the following morning.
Peston tells the MPs he had thought long and hard about his role in the crisis and then blames its PR team!
Northern Rock, he says, brought problems upon itself by publishing impenetrable press releases which further worried already concerned customers.
What about the BBC's renowned pictures of the long queues at the bank? the Committee asks. The pictures did reinforce customers' worries, Peston concedes.
But it is not clear that there will ever be a resolution to this. As he and other commentators have said what else could he do if he is in receipt of such newsworthy information? Bury it?
As many commentators have pointed out, can you imagine the furore if he hadn’t broadcast anything and the bank still collapsed only for MPs to find out the BBC had known all along but not broadcast the information?
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Julian Fisher
Tuesday, January 20. 2009
Barack Obama, the 44th President of the
The ceremony was watched on television by a global audience of billions – and included all of us here at the Democratic Republic of markettiers4dc. It was the first inauguration where citizen journalism truly played a part in coverage with mobile phones, pocket camcorders and digital cameras capturing the moment.
Mobile phone operators had already anticipated the immense strain of more than 1 million well-wishers attending the inauguration and their mobile traffic – with images, messages, and a mass of global social networking on Obama’s inauguration being captured on Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube.
Even iPhone got in on the action – users were even able to download the UStream application and watch the milestone event on live streaming video, plus a guide to the inauguration was available for download. For those of you who were not gathered round your office TV to watch the big moment like us, live video streams online were readily available.
For a man who won an election, not only for being an inspirational speaker, but also by embracing social media so successfully, surely Obama will be pleased to hear the whole world has also embraced his big moment globally? Obama pledged to bring the White House into the 21st century, by using information and communications technology – starting from today, and setting an example for businesses and organisations everywhere.
Change has certainly come to
