Cover Story: What Viewers Really Want

A Study Of Changing Habits In A Multiscreen World

By George Winslow -- Multichannel News, 1/4/2009 7:05:00 AM

Never before has data on new technologies and analysis of viewer habits been more critical for a television industry trying to divine the future. With financial markets in turmoil and advertising revenue in peril, executives also must contend with increasingly fickle consumers whose evolving patterns of video consumption promise to upend many key business models.
A compendium of data and insights from executives and researchers, the Multichannel News Viewer Watch examines the changing patterns of video usage across platforms and demographics.
Besides offering a snapshot of present usage and demands, this special report provides projections for a wide variety of digital services, from multichannel subscribers to digital video recorder and mobile TV users, and looks at prospects for the year ahead.
Through data on the penetration of various devices, digital platforms usage and ratings for top-ad supported networks, Viewer Watch will provide insight into how consumers are likely to respond to new and evolving platforms.
Several research organizations and companies provided data for this report, including Fox Cable Networks, Frank N. Magid Associates, Horowitz & Associates, Nielsen Co., PricewaterhouseCoopers, Starz Entertainment and Turner Broadcasting System.
Special thanks to Horowitz & Associates for supplying data from its surveys on the digital landscape, PricewaterhouseCoopers for its subscriber projections, Starz Entertainment for access to its recently completed study on usage of digital media, Fox Cable Networks for providing ratings data and Turner for its wide array of data on the changing video landscape.
Multichannel News contributor George Winslow compiled the data, conducted the interviews and reported the accompanying analysis.
Click here for a report on Web trends and here for a story about how youth is connecting with various new media. Read the entire Viewer Watch in the Jan. 5 issue of Multichannel News.