Monthly Archives: November 2012
Why “Cord Nevers” Don’t Worry Me
The latest study to put the television business in a tizzy is a study from TDG that shows the number of “Pay TV refugees” — users who have broadband but not TV– growing from 9.5% to 12.5% over the past 2 years. Particular attention is being paid to “cord nevers” — people (usually in their 20s) who have never had a cable subscription. The easy conclusion is that because this generation grew up with a wide array of online video options, they are going to abandon TV en masse and that it’s just a matter of time until pay TV dies. Not so fast… The problem with making sweeping generalizations about generations and their behavior is that the generalizers forget that the behavior often has more to do with life stage than with birth year. Millennials switch jobs and careers a lot because they’re in their 20s and people in their 20s have always switched jobs and careers a lot: they’re unburdened by families … Continue reading
Still Not My Friend
I was at a conference the other day and much to my dismay, I heard an entire panel of what seemed to be reasonably smart people repeating the old canard about location based advertising and how great the world will be once it’s up and running. Not at all. I remember reading a piece by Robert Scoble about 4 or 5 years ago where he waxed enthusiastically about a scenario where he’s walking down the street in his hometown of Half Moon Bay at lunchtime, receiving text messages with offers from every restaurant serving lunch. And all I could think was “this is the seventh ring of hell.” Users, guys. Users. So easy to forget, yet so critical to the success of whatever it is you want to do. So, to use an example from someone on stage at this panel: I am walking down the street and pass a pub where I have had dinner before. The pub texts … Continue reading
Four Things Australian TV Broadcasters Could do to Become Better User-Centric Companies in 2013
2013 is shaping up to be a massive year in the Aussie broadcast TV industry. Online ad revenues are about to overtake free-to-air (FTA) TV ad spend, there’s talk of a consortium of FTA channels launching a Hulu-like aggregated TV service and sole Pay-TV operator Foxtel is aggressively seeking to improve its subscriber numbers by pursuing content deals like its recent exclusive one with HBO. On top of that, almost every broadcaster is rushing to launch a fuller suite of connected device apps to meet the demand for content at any time and on any device. Connected device availability, depth of quality content and affordable (or free) data usage are all critical to attracting customers. However, as the competition heats up, so too is the urgency to deliver on expectations of a world class, multi-device user experience. Users are a fickle bunch, and they tend to flock not only to the best value experiences but also to the simplest ones. … Continue reading
Apple’s iTunes Problem
Apple does a lot of things right, but iTunes video isn’t one of them. I’ve rarely had a smooth experience with the service, and my recent experience shows they’ve not gotten any better. With Hurricane Sandy approaching, I decided to rent Casablanca after my kids noted they hadn’t seen it. So I downloaded it to my laptop, as I’m able to plug that directly into my FIOS router and get a faster connection. All good… until I decided I wanted to watch it on my iPad. I plugged the iPad into the laptop, opened up iTunes and dragged the unwatched movie into the iPad line-up. It showed up on iTunes, but when I unplugged the iPad, the movie did not show up. Thinking there might be some kind of WiFi connection needed to make the transfer, I logged both the iPad and the laptop onto my iPhone’s hotspot (we had no power and thus no wi-fi at that point.) Success … Continue reading