SubscribeFuture for Paid Video Downloads?
Posted in IPTV, News on May 17th, 2007. By Maren Hermans.
A new study by Forrester Research, Inc. predicts the end for the paid video download market: Only nine percent of online adults have ever paid to download a movie or a television format. And this number is not going to increase, mainstream viewers are not going to pay for that service.
“Free is going to win” is the device of the author of the report, James McQuivey. Companies should make their programs available on every possible distribution platform.
CBS got the message, and is starting to spread its programming all over the web. This is also a question of attitude: “We can’t expect consumers to come to us.” says Quincy Smith, president of CBS Interactive. Since consumers are more and more willing to watch longer formats on their computers, his attitude can help to actually reach the viewer. The question of a good format is now accompanied by the question of the good placement. Where to catch the consumer?
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Free is, of course, a relative term. Viewers will pay dearly with their time watching ads…wait…avoiding ads. Free will not win for content worth seeking and buying. It’s basic economics. For the right price, a buyer will purchase something they value. Sure, there will always be a place for surfacing content in exchange for being exposed to ads, but in the end that isn’t going to be winning. That’s merely fooling around not scoring. Just because there hasn’t been a lot of success, relative to ad-blasting free crap everywhere, selling worthy digital content directly to the consumer will win eventually.
Comment by Marc Rullo on May 23, 2007