Yuticha

Ever heard of Google flops ?

Behind string of successes hide a few (or a handful) of faliures; and no one is spared.

Check out this interesting string of failures/flops from Google.

Source: PC World

The Internet's now getting metered

In 1996, when AOL started offering unlimited access plans in the US, Internet use took off and the online world started moving to the center of people’s daily lives. Today most Internet packages provide a seemingly unlimited amount of capacity, at least from the consumer’s perspective.

But like water and electricity, even digital resources are finite. Last year Comcast disclosed that it was temporarily turning off the connections of customers who used file-sharing services like BitTorrent, arguing that they were slowing things down for everyone else. The people who got cut off complained and asked how much broadband use was too much; the company did not have a ready answer.

Now three of the country’s largest Internet service providers are threatening to clamp down on their most active subscribers by placing monthly limits on their online activity.

Internet metering is a throwback to the days of dial-up service, but at a time when video and interactive games are becoming popular, the experiments could have huge implications for the future of the Web.

Millions of people are moving online to watch movies and television shows, play multiplayer video games and talk over videoconference with family and friends. And media companies are trying to get people to spend more time online: the Disneys and NBCs of the world keep adding television shows and movies to their Web sites, giving consumers convenient entertainment that soaks up a lot of bandwidth.

“As soon as you put serious uncertainty as to cost on the table, people’s feeling of freedom to predict cost dries up and so does innovation and trying new applications,” Vint Cerf, the chief Internet evangelist for Google who is often called the “father of the Internet,” said in an e-mail message.

Source: The New York Times

Internet Video: Snippets, Boutiques & Catch-up

As promised, here are short descriptions of the 3 distinct categories that seem to be emerging on the internet video content circuit.

Snippets are short, quick to watch and whilst focused on the screen, people are often also multi-tasking – talking on an internet phone or emailing links to friends for example. (YouTube)

Boutique is about task-based viewing where content is instructional or helps with information gathering around keen interests. People who are in this mode have high attention levels because of their interest in the subject matter (Baby Channel, GolfBug.tv).

Catch-up online is longer form in broadcast programme lengths and tends to be viewed in a more relaxed mode. This activity is really where the computer takes on the role of the second TV. (4oD, BBC iPlayer)

Snippets

• Short form; from 5 seconds to 5 minutes
• Amateur content
• Social; shared, forwarded, watched with friends
• Mindset is experimentation, discovery, entertainment
• Anytime media – work, home, mobile

Boutique

• Mini videos; from 2 to 5 minutes
• Independent professional content
• Privately consumed; cult, niche, obscure, watched in private
• Mindset is task based
• Evenings, weekends in home

Catch-up

• Longer form; from 5 minutes to feature length
• Professional/owned content
• PC becomes 2nd TV; private, comfortable, relaxed
• Needset is functional/convenient
• Peak time in home

Source 

Rare consumer insights into Internet video viewing

New research published today reveals that as online video usage goes mainstream, the PC has become the second TV in many homes. Men in particular are using internet video as a way of indulging their interests and escaping into a ‘virtual shed’.

‘The middle class study has been reborn as a US style ‘den’ where viewers displaced by a partner or child are escaping to indulge their personal interests. Instead of watching soaps under sufferance they are seeking out what they really want to watch online.’

Key FIndings

• The PC is taking over as the ‘second TV’ in the home
• Online video viewers are thoroughly mainstream with no evidence of users being overly ‘techie’ or interested in very niche interests
• There is more to online video than comedy snippets and TV catch up. Three distinct categories of online content emerging which have been characterised: Snippets, Boutique and Catch-Up. Each is being viewed in a different way.
• There is an ‘Apex of Attention’ where needs based viewing meets relevant advertising.
• Viewers accept advertising in exchange for ‘free’ content as in traditional TV

The research also set out to examine viewer reactions to video advertising. Pre-rolls and post-rolls are fairly acceptable to most viewers today. Some even reported positive experiences when the advertising is linked and relevant to their boutique viewing –a ‘pre-roll’ ad about golf equipment preceding footage of a golf tournament was praised for reflecting the audiences’ interests.
Source

Tomorrow, I will provide a short explanation on Snippets, Boutiques and Catch-up ..

Online TV & Video: US$ 2.7 Bn by 2013

New research from Informa Telecoms & Media shows that legitimate online TV and video services will
generate revenues of US$7.9 billion in 2013, almost six times the 2007 figure.

Advertising will consistently outperform a la carte and subscription-based download services in terms of revenue generation and North America will be the largest revenue-generating region, accounting for 63% of the 2013 global total.

The Informa report, called Online TV and Video: The over-the-top challenge to traditional TV, has found that online TV and video is successfully shaking off its perception as a marginal technology. Adam Thomas, author of the report, said "The Writers Guild strike brought much of Hollywood to a standstill for several months. The fact that revenues derived from Online TV and video were at the heart of the dispute indicate just how important this sector has become."

Top 3 online video countries by revenues
                    2007             2013
US             1,032.6        4,722.6
UK               119.1           842.4
Japan             56.7           605.5
Source: Informa Telecoms & Media

While the Internet has long been considered a technology of the future for film and TV executives, it is now having a measurable impact on traditional sectors, indicating that its time has come. Digital media is changing the consumption of TV from an 'on-the-couch' to a 'watch anywhere' activity. Content has become interactive rather than passive, with the emergence of 'citizen media' concepts, such as blogs and social networks.

The biggest negative for broadcasters and content suppliers is the potential for online TV and video to hurt their existing business models. To date its harmful impact has been limited and there are examples of a beneficial affect, with CBS and NBC both reporting improved TV ratings for programmes showcased online. The report has found that content companies actively co-operating with the leading online TV and video services are best-placed to avoid any potentially harmful effects.
Source

Users will control 25% of entertainment by 2012

Nokia’s latest study, ‘A Glimpse of the Next Episode’, predicts that within five years a quarter of all entertainment will be created, edited and shared within peer groups rather than coming out of traditional media groups. Trend-setting consumers from 17 countries were asked about their digital behaviors and lifestyles. Nokia also used information gathered from its 900 million customers and views of leading industry figures to reach the conclusion that you will control 25% of the world’s entertainment by 2012.

“From our research we predict that up to a quarter of the entertainment being consumed in five years will be what we call ‘Circular’. The trends we are seeing show us that people will have a genuine desire not only to create and share their own content, but also to remix it, mash it up and pass it on within their peer groups - a form of collaborative social media,” said Mark Selby, Vice President, Multimedia, Nokia.

Source: Mobile Crunch

Opportunity Next: Content for online media

Recently, Essence Communications Inc. and Time Inc. studios on Monday announced a joint initiative to create multimedia programming content.

The new division – called Essence Studios – will focus on developing content for online, mobile, video-on-demand and television distribution.

Essence Studios' first project is an interactive, online reality dating show, dubbed 30 Dates in 30 Days, that will debut in September on Essence.com.

As the industry's first interactive, online reality dating show, 30 Dates in 30 Days pairs five single women with six eligible bachelors each, for a week's worth of dates. Viewers will watch the dates and select who they think each woman should choose. The show culminates with a group-date event featuring the viewer-matched couples.

It seems to be getting clear that rehashing TV/film content and delivering it over online media will cease to be 'enough' to gather online-attention. Creating custom-made content for online-media, now, seems well and truly a focus area for content producers.

A solid website in the making

Since it's time for my annual vacation, travel is clearly on top of my SEARCH at this point in time.

While doing my daily browsing for newer websites, I came across Travel Paisa  that seems to offer a simple proposition - great places to visit ..now 'made' within your reach (without paying for the moon). And it seems to be well on their way to doing justice to it.

The most difficult thing in most of such sites is to avoid the clutter on every page - explanations that are not needed, superfluous images, unwanted information about heritage ..what budget travellers want is info on prices and contact information. Period. There are hundreds of sites to get other info.

Will keep tracking this site and will post on any further progress..

'Live' Search to beat Google..?

MyLiveSearch, which plans to go live as a public beta in a few weeks, is the brainchild of self-taught software developer Rob Gabriel.

Mr Gabriel, 35, says his search engine gives better, more relevant results than the search king because it is a truly "live" search.

Google's search engine works by building a vast index of web pages, via automated "spiders" that crawl through billions of web pages a year. However this represents only a fraction of the enormous, sprawling internet, and the index can never be entirely up to date.

Yahoo! search and (despite its name) Microsoft's Live search work the same way.

MyLiveSearch is fundamentally different. It works through a small browser plug-in. The search terms are put through Google, or other indexed search databases, but those results are treated as "starting points" alongside the user's bookmarks and other popular web hubs.

From there, the live search takes over, crawling through hundreds of web pages connected to those starting points in search of more information relevant to the search.

Mr Gabriel says the results come back in seconds, and are almost always richer, more detailed and more useful than a standard, index-based search.

His product can also search the so-called "invisible web" of dynamically-generated web pages that search engines have trouble indexing.
via

Video Downloads will be dead soon

Writes Paul Kedrosky
"There is a new report out from Forrester trumpeting the end of the paid video download market. Cynics like me might say that there would have to have been a market first before we could herald the end of it, but nevertheless it's good stuff. Here is the nut:

Like a flightless bird, the paid video download market in its current evolutionary state will go the way of the dodo, despite the fast growth and the millions being spent today. Television and cable networks will shift the bulk of paid downloading to ad-supported streams where they have control of ads and effective audience measurement.

The movie studios, whose content only makes up a fraction of today’s paid downloads, will put their weight behind subscription models that imitate premium cable channel services. What’s left of the paid download market will then evolve into IP-delivered video on demand that has more in common with traditional pay-per-view than online download business models today."