New research from Comscore shows a continued year-over-year increase in video on demand (VOD) transactions as millions of Americans seek entertainment during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, overall consumption for May 2020 declined compared […]
As television viewers increasingly turn to video on demand to watch shows when they want, PBS and its stations plan to follow them, but with a twist: They are creating a streaming video service that will be available only to members of local PBS stations.
Time Warner Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes said pay TV distributors need to step up their game when it comes to video on demand. Speaking at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York on Tuesday, Bewkes praised the potential VOD has for the entertainment industry, but at the same time, he chastised distributors for not doing more to not only promote VOD but also for having complicated interfaces that frustrate customers.
VOD Now Reaches 60% Of TV Homes
Long hobbled by clunky technology and often featuring old movies and television shows, the cable and satellite on-demand video services have been slow to expand viewership. A new report from Nielsen finds that VOD is available in 60% of American TV households. That’s a dramatic increase from just five years ago, when such services were offered to just 37% of homes.
A new report from The Diffusion Group identifies inadequate ad support and awkward program guides as the main culprits. Both factors contribute to limiting the availability and viewing of ad-supported video-on-demand content.
Poltrack On Shift To Playback Model, VOD
CBS has seen a surge in recent video-on-demand viewing, according to the network’s chief research officer David Poltrack. He said CBS got 70 million VOD views this fall — a 19% rise — versus the same period a year before. Because VOD is primarily a TV experience, and consumers accept advertising on VOD, Poltrack believes “VOD remains a advertising medium of great potential.”
Exclusives
Microsoft Corp. plans to offer online pay television service from Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) and Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) through Xbox Live, in an bid to channel more entertainment to its video-game console, people with knowledge of the situation said.
Video-on-demand technology has become a balancing act for executives weighing how to offer more programming without threatening traditional ad revenue.
Comcast, the nation’s largest cable operator, says it now has a selection of TV shows from all four of the major networks, with the addition of prime-time programming from ABC and Fox. While the selection is still incomplete — hit shows like Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory are missing — Comcast boasts that it is the first cable or satellite operator to have on-demand deals with all four networks.
Feeling that there is significant runway in establishing free VOD as an advertising platform, tech provider BlackArrow and the 4As trade group are teaming up. Tabbed the Advanced Advertising Media Project (AAMP), the initiative has launched with a study of perceptions among industry leaders about multiple aspects of VOD.
With digital technology rapidly disrupting the home entertainment business, Time Warner Inc. Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes is preparing aggressive moves in video-on-demand and against Netflix.
