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The Impact of Converged TV Technology on Actual Audience

Behaviour

Sarah PearsonJuly 7th 2009

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1-3-9 Consortium Members

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Overall Aim of 1-3-9

Provide early insights into actual (not

claimed) audience behaviour in

‘converging homes’ where TV can

increasingly be watched on screens 1ft,

3ft, and 9ft from the viewer.

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Methodology

.

• Video ethnography (similar to our earlier research on PVRs in 2005).

• Three phases with increasing ‘hot-housing’ (10.07, 5.08, 4.09)

• 30 individuals in 9 homes (Phase 1) reducing to 19 individuals in 5 homes (Phase 3)

• Mainly ‘early majority’ technology adopters

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Claimed behaviour unreliable, reflects self perception not actual

behaviour

• Claimed: Male (43) “It’s almost getting to the point where the recorded thing is the first thing that we turn onto – I see it as a first port of call”

• Actual: Embedded behaviour is to go straight to the EPG not the planner

• Claimed: (re: time shifting) “70 (recorded) 30 live”• Actual: 88% live, 11% time shifted, 1% online VoD

• Claimed: Female (15) “I hardly watch anything live anymore, its always slightly delayed.”

• Actual: 64% live, 31% time shifted, 6% online VoD

• Claimed: Female (44) “Nine times out of ten we’ll put on something we recorded”

• Actual: 85% live, 15% time shifted

• Claimed: Male (42) “I now look at channels that I would never actually watch”• Actual: 43% Channel 4, 28% BBC, 27% ITV

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Some highlights

• Big channels are here to stay!

• 9ft screen : PVR users want bigger hard-drives not

more VoD

• The 3ft screen is best for private VoD

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1: Big channels are here to stay

Percentage

3ft 9ft Total

Live 0.4 61 61

Time-Shifted or catch-up

4 29 33

True OD 4 2 6

Total 8 92 100%

Even with ‘hot-housing’ (Phase 3) • 61% of viewing was still live on the 9ft screen • 94% was regular linear TV (mostly from the main channels) watched live, time shifted (PVR+TV), or catch-up TV (3ft or 9ft)

Results From Phase 3:

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1: The limited impact of true OD viewing

• Only 6% of total viewing, despite ‘hot-housing’

• Despite breadth of choice online, 50% of video viewing

on the 3ft was iPlayer and 4oD.

• 71% of YouTube viewing was TV content originally

broadcast on ITV or BBC

• PVR users find it easier to choose from a few favourite

channels, usually BBC, ITV and C4

• On Demand will have little impact on big channels

which remain strong

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2: PVR users want bigger hard-drives, not more On Demand

• PVR use increased from 15% Phase 1 to 28% Phase 3

• PVR dominates non-live viewing “We don’t have a need for it (VoD) anymore, it’s much easier to use the Virgin +.”

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2: PVR users want bigger hard-drives, not more On Demand

• Hand picked ‘archive’ on the planner reduces appetite for OD

• “We don’t need On Demand, we have a resource and that’s the

recordings”

• PVR users want the capacity to build larger archives: “There’s

never enough space … even with the HD, the space that’s got

on it, you still get to 5%”

• As hard-drives get bigger, VoD on the 9ft may become

increasingly redundant

Content viewed from planner

Phase 2 Delay TV 65%

Archive TV 71%

Delay TV 29%

Archive TV 35%

Phase 3

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3: The 3ft screen is the right (private) space for On Demand

Why are viewers happier to sit at 3 foot? Need to understand the dynamics of main set – Viewers access two types of content off the PVR

1. Compromise content enhances the social viewing experience

2. My TV enhances the private viewing experience but rare and infrequent

Compromise wins on the 9ft because the 9ft is perceived as a social space

The 3ft screen is emerging as an alternative space for My TV

As private viewing on the 3ft goes up, social viewing on the 9ft goes up:

Social viewing > Phase 1: 70%, Phase 2: 75%, Phase 3: 78%. As 3ft increases > compromise on 9ft.

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

0.4 mins 7 mins 10 minsAverage time spent

viewing online VoD per person per day

In PVR homes, VoD may be more successful on the 3ft - over half content viewed is long form

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The Laptop is the right (private) space for VoD

84% of online VoD is on laptop in the lounge

• Semi-mobile so context is flexible

• Lean-back experience more possible in lounge

• Familiar TV environment/more prompting

• Private viewing in social spaceFuture households may have a network of screens that are complementary and

used simultaneously

3ft screen offers a different experience

• Bingeing

• ‘Build up’ to high urgency on 9ft

• Seek out new or free content

3ft is a better option than the 9ft screen

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Some highlights

• Big channels are here to stay!

• 9ft screen : PVR users want bigger hard-drives not

more VoD

• The 3ft screen is best for private VoD

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Thank you