While monetization for Studios, Networks and Cable companies is key, the reality is that viewers/consumers now have so many ways to watch entertainment and they expect it to be available in the way they want it.  Those sources can either be ignored – which leads to acquiring of content illegally – or they can be provided.  Which comes back to monetization.  They are only going to pay if there is perceived value.  So, which way will the content providers go?  Pick a card?

Here’s an Adweek/Harris Poll relating to television, cable and internet show consumption.  I would certainly add the condition of a wider pipeline – more bandwidth.  While most online viewers are solid (eg. ABC) there is still opportunities for buffering – especially if more people view content this way.  Ultimately, the model has to be figured out because the new paradigm is here.

More than three-quarters (77%) of Americans have now watched a full-length TV show online but less than one-third (30%) of them say they are ready to cut the cord and live off the internet for their entertainment, according to a new Adweek/Harris Pollthat surveyed 2,309 online adults late last month. Almost nine in ten Americans currently have cable TV (87%) but a majority would stop paying for it in favor of watching TV shows online if certain conditions were met (56%):

  • Two in five say they would stop paying for cable TV in favor of watching TV shows on the internet if they could get all of the programs that they wanted to watch for free online
  • A quarter of adults say that they would need to get all the shows they wanted to watch online at the same time that they air on TV (25%)
  • 16% would do so if they could get all the programs they wanted to watch for a small fee online and the same number say they would do so if it was less complicated to set their TV up with internet

Other findings included:

  • Half of U.S. adults say they have watched a show on the internet that they never previously saw on a traditional television (51%)
  • Younger adults 18-34 are more likely (88%) to have watched a TV show online than older demos: 84% of 35-44 year olds, 75% of 45-54 year olds and 64% of 55+ year olds
  • Men and women are equally likely to have watched a TV show on the internet