Virgin on-demand hits a billion

Subscribers watched around 490 million hours of TV-on-demand shows during the year which means the expanding company will be adding 620 jobs to its workforce to cope with the expected future demand. Fourth quarter results, saw Virgin’s revenue soar to 3.0% (approx £4.0bn for the year), this is up 2.0% (£1.0bn) for the quarter.

The company also saw a net income of £76m for the year. The strong demand for the TiVo and superfast broadband has also help to boost the profits. Virgin’s TiVo customer base has doubled in the fourth quarter, 273,000 additions boosted the total to 435,000 TiVo customers at the end of 2011,  thats 12% of its total TV customers.

Neil Burkett from Virgin was quoted ” I believe the company’s resilience reflects its strong business model. Virgin Media is the only quadruple play media company in the UK, offering television, internet, mobile phone and fixed-line telephone services.”

He also stated “Our strategy of focusing on customers who want more from the digital world is paying off. With the number of TiVo customers doubling in the final quarter of the year, our new TiVo service is attracting both new and existing customers. Since its commercial launch mid-way through the year, the number of TiVo subscribers has grown to almost half a million with a large and growing proportion now using its next generation functionality on a regular basis.”

Virgin confirmed that Demand for better broadband also continues to grow fast, with around half of new customers choosing superfast speeds. The combination of the best TV experience and the best broadband, has enabled us to acquire more new customers.

Virgin Mobile contract customers are also up 26% (1.5m), with a 101,000 contract additions into cable homes in the quarter.

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Internet TV is not smart enough

Lets be clear, i love streaming TV, it just doesnt seem to quite work on my TV set, somethings not right. When i finish work for the day, and when im ready to relax. I do not sit in front of my laptop and i do not sit on a chair with my iPad in front of me. Instead, i sit where most people do, in my lounge in front of my 55 inch 3DLG TV and watch cable and DVR recordings.

Strangely, my streaming consumtion tends to happen when i am not in my lounge, and therefore not in the place i do my serious TV watching.

When i watch online content i may be sitting in bed while my partner is watching something else, or catching up on a show while im between chores around the house.

It’s almost like my watching of internet TV happens when i dont have time to truly relax, and be in my most comfortable place.

Of course my LG TV is a so called ‘Smart TV’. It has streaming capabilities, i can access a number of channels and options, but it just feels so wrong. I tried to watch a simple Youtube video, but i have to navigate using a weird remote controlled online keyboard that takes at least ten times as long to use as on my PC. Then when i finally press play video, that little round thing that tells me it’s buffering starts, and carries on, and on…Until i just give up and go back to ‘normal TV’.

Also, to get to streaming TV, i have to select an option on the TV remote then navigate a strange page full of icons and apps. I can see how a regular TV watcher would be freaked out by this.

There is supposed to be a convergance, internet and TV are supposed to become a seamless ‘one’. But they arent. I still know where my normal TV ends and the internet starts, and it’s not right, it doesnt fit..yet.

For a TV set that incorporates the internet to truly work, i think that 2 things need to happen.

1. The streaming has to be instant, or nearly instant. People (me included) just dont have the patience to wait.

2. The available channels need to be incorporated better into the set navigation. I almost want to choose channel 1, channel, 2, netflix, channel 3, youtube. So streaming TV becomes an integral part of the TV set, rather than feeling like an add-on.

So my ideal set would have a chaanel menu and then an on-demand menu where i can choose TV shows and movies by name or genre. Currently internet TV feels right on a laptop or iPad, but feels wrong on a TV set.

Get the balance right, and the streaming speeds right and i think that it will really take off. Looks like this year may be when it finally happens, but for now and for me. Internet TV still doesnt quite work.

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Online TV in the UK on a plateau?

The study was carried out by the Barb, who measure the UK’s broadcasting audience. The study comprised of 4,000 viewers who were asked if they had watched UK online TV content on a computer, laptop or tablet during the previous week.

The result back in December 2010, of the same survey had a yes percentage of 14.4%. The results for 2011 were 14.9%, a rise of just 0.5%. When compared with the same results in 2009 (which was 11.2%), the growth has shown a massive slowdown.

In a statement Barb said that the “plateau” effect can be attributed to the growing popularity of connected set-top boxes and Internet-connected TV sets that both carry catch-up content

One area of online viewing still on the rise is smartphones which have doubled amongst the 15-34 age demographic. The figure for 2011 of 9.8% compared to the 2010 figure of 5.8%.

The figures are a little misleading though, although the week comparison between years showed little growth, the actual increase of all adults watching TV on PC, laptop or tablet device was 36.2% for 2011, showing an increase from the 2010 figure of 5.1%.

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Torrent and piracy news website TorrentFreak have revealed figures that show the 10 most pirated films (downloaded) of the past year, with Fast & the Furious sequel Fast Five topping the alternative charts with 9.2 million pirated downloads, beating out comedy sequel The Hangover Part II, which was pirated just over 8.8 million times.

The top 10 was revealed alongside their respective worldwide gross figures, where surprisingly Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (which topped the gross income list with $1.3b) was 10th in the piracy table (with 6 million downloads), which alongside other figures suggested that a movie’s popularity in box office does not nessecarily relate to higher instances of piracy.

One fact that was established from the 2011 release, though, was that compared to 2010, piracy is on the decline, as Avatar was responsible for over 16 million illegal downloads in 2010, a sum much higher than anything from 2011, with full figures from the respective two lists asserting the fact that downloading movies is in the decline.

TorrentFreak wrote on their blog of possible reasons behind the drop: “In part this drop might be explained by the increase in legal alternatives, although upcoming alternative piracy sources (such as cyberlockers and steaming sites) may have also had an effect. However, since the total number of active BitTorrent users isn’t shrinking, the downloads may simply be spread out over more titles in 2011.”

The 2011 pirate download list can be seen below, but do they suggest that piracy could be on the decline, or was 2011 just a bad year all-around in the world of cinema?

1. Fast Five [Fast & Furious 5] - 9.2 million pirated downloads
2. The Hangover Part II – 8.8m
3. Thor – 8.3m
4. Source Code – 7.9m
5. I Am Number Four – 7.6m
6. Sucker Punch – 7.2m
7. 127 Hours – 6.9m
8. Rango – 6.4m
9. The King’s Speech – 6.2m
10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 – 6m

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Youtube biggest online video site of 2011

To further enforce Youtube’s dominance, the second placed site which is VEVO, getting around 34 million unique viewers – is powered by Youtube’s video engine!.

The report called Nielsen’s tops of 2011 also show the top online web brands, social media sites, and smartphone devices.

When it comes to the top brand (and bearing in mind Youtube’s diominance(, search engine giant Google was the most-visited website, followed by Facebook and Yahoo!

The top Smartphones were led by Apple in number one followed by android powered HTC then Rim’s Blackberry phone.

Back to the online video sites, here is the top ten:-

1. YouTube
2. VEVO
3. Facebook
4. Yahoo
5. MSN/Bing
6. AOL Media Network
7. Hulu
8. CollegeHumor
9. CNN Digital
10. Netflix

When it comes to paid online TV, Hulu were highest in 7th place, and Netflix just made the top ten. Interestingly the Nielsen number crunchers show that whilst Hulu managed to get almost double the visitors of Netflix, a recent report showed that Netflix viewers are on the site twice as long as Hulu viewers.

I have a feeling that 2012 may well continue the same trend, but who knows what is coming on the internet TV scene next year. Catch the Youtube top ten video’s of 2011.

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Watch Irish TV on the web

Although the United Kingdom is a collection of several smaller countries and territories that make the whole – England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. When it comes to TV production the British Isles are a lot more unified.

However, Ireland does still have it’s own unique selection of content in both channels and TV shows, including a selection of regional-based programming.

RTE One – the national public broadcaster of the Republic of Ireland. With content designed to fit a range of interests, stand-out shows on the network (which is responsible for 6 TV channels and 12 radio stations), and main channel RTE One, include The Late Late Show, Crimecall, and the All-Ireland Talent Contest.

TV3 – Ireland’s first commercial broadcaster, TV3 also goes out to Northern Ireland, having begun broadcasting in 1998. The channel’s contents are generally entertainment-based, and original shows on the network include Xpose, School Run, and Ireland AM, although a majority of content is imported.

RTE Two  -  RTE Two is the secondary channel of the national public broadcaster of Ireland, RTE. Programmes on RTE Two include Hollywood Trials, RTE News on Two, and live sporting coverage. Shows across the RTE channels can also be found online via the official on-demand service, RTE Player.

UTV (Northern Ireland) – UTV is a TV network in Northern Ireland formed as a national offshoot of ITV. The content on the digital terrestrial channel (available on set-top boxes in Northern Ireland (with some reach to the Republic of Ireland)), is mainly the same as its parent channel, along with a selection of UTV in-house productions.

TG4 – TG4 is an Irish-language TV network operating in the Republic of Ireland on terrestrial TV. Key content on the mainly public-service network covers reality TV, sport, and news coverage, amongst others.

Setanta Sports – Irish sporting channel Setanta Sports is a premium broadcaster in the Republic of Ireland, and while a foray into UK television was unsuccessful, the native version is still running strong, with big-name broadcast rights including club football from across Europe and South America, MotoGP, and the GAA.

There are many UK channels that can be watched by the Irish populace such as Sky, Channel 4, E4, Comedy Central, Discovery, Nickelodeon, MTV and others.

You can find more details on Online TV networks in Ireland on this page, and for additional in-depth information on the Irish TV market in general can be found here – link to Wikipedia.

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Dish Network getting into streaming

Reaffirming that the programming is where the money is spent, he said, “The expense is the programming.”

It seems that Dish have been in discussions with several television networks and are attracted by the fact that an online service negates the need for a dish. The news comes just days after Verizon were reported at looking to offer a streaming service.

And according to the Bloomberg interview, anything Verizon can do, so can Dish. Clayton reportedly said, “If Verizon can do it, why can’t we? Both of our companies buy a lot of content. That gives us some leverage.”

Dish who brought the defunct Blockbuster assets back in April for $320 million, and then made plans to launch a streaming and DVD rental service to rival Netflix which was launched in September and called Movie Pass.

The service is available to Dish subscribers only at present but they have plans to offer the Blockbuster streaming service nationwide. If a Dish Internet TV service is launched they may be glad of the aquisition as it gave them access to over 100,000 movies and TV shows.

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Xbox Live TV getting original content?

The news reported by Bloomberg says that the computer giant have been attempting to recruit The previous chairman of NBC, Jeff Gaspin and head of west coast operations for NBC, Marc Graboff.

Microsoft have made no secret that they wish to turn the Xbox 360 consoleinto an entertainment hub and already have a number of streaming services available including Hulu Plus, Netflix, Youtube, ESPN, Xfinity Fios and EPIX amongst others.

Other streaming channels coming December/early 2012 on the Xbox Live service include BBC iPlayer, Crackle, MSNBC.com, TMZ, and UFC, CinemaNow, HBO GO, Xfinity from Comcast.

Microsoft are no stranger to the idea of making original video content. Back in 2006 it launched MSN Originals, supplying exclusive video content for MSN. It was though a short lived affair.

Microsoft are aware that consoles are the most popular streaming device aand are following in the footsteps of Netflix and Hulu, who are looking at producing content rather than paying the ever increasing prices for streaming rights.

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Watch online TV in Canada

The major TV networks of Canada (including CTV, Global, Citytv, and national public broadcaster CBC) all feature an online video service, while some lower-profile networks (including those on cable or satellite service) also feature a catch-up service to allow viewers to see what they want, when they want, as part of a system fairly similar to America, fitting given the level of interactivity the two national industries share.

One area that naturally refrains from the US influence a little more, though, is the province of Quebec, where the French-language community generally support their own channels with on-demand content, such as CBC Television de Radio-Canada, V, and TVA, though the English-speaking channels are still represented in the ‘French-Canadian’ areas.

To see our selection of Canadian online TV networks, please visit our Canadian TV guide page. A detailed look at the industry in Canada can be found on Wikipedia.

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Online TV will see rapid growth

The rise is a massive six times increase from existing revenues of $3.48 billion that were made during 2010, says the Online TV and Video Forecasts report from Digital TV Research.

With increasing revenue comes more viewers of course, and the report says that by 2016, 415 million households in 40 different countries will be viewing online content. A rise from the existing 177 million in 2010.

The US will be the biggest market for online revenue, but it’s percentage will drop as other Countries grow. The US revenue share will fall from the 2010 figure of 54% ($1,868 million revenue) to 36% ($7,722 million revenue) by 2016.

China will see a massive growth with online TV and video revenue soaring from the current $50 million, to $1,380 million by 2016.

Speaking about the report, author Simon Murray said, “The OTT television and video sector is on the brink of a huge take-off as the key players expand internationally, companies consolidate [with Hulu about to be sold to one of existing major players] and as new partnerships are announced on a daily basis.”

The growth will come about as more advertisers seek to make use of the online market. Advertising in this medium will grow from $2.18 billion in 2010 to $9.98 billion globally in 2016 says the report.

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Connected 'Smart' TV is on everyones christmas shopping list

During the first half of 2011, 6% of US broadband households were planning to go smart, but that number has risen to 10% during the second half of the year. And they prepared to pay around $1,000 for the pleasure.

Smart TV is defined as a HD flat screen TV that has inbuilt access to the web and streaming services such as Hulu and Youtube etc.

The reason for the big rise is a combination of aggressive advertising of connected TV. “Advertising campaigns from manufacturers such as Sony, Samsung, and VIZIO have boosted consumer awareness and interest, making connectivity a must-have feature for new CE products,” commented Tricia Parks, CEO of Parks Associates.

The other reason is that more people wanting to go social with a more interactive TV experience, Parks continued, “Younger consumers especially want the extra benefits on their new TVs of going to the web for social networking and on-demand video or subscription entertainment options.”

It is not just connected TV either, as users that want to keep their existing TV are looking at other connected devices such as game consoles, blu-ray players and set-top boxes.

And then we come to tablet PC’s, the survey showed that 19% of respondents plan on buying atablet in the run up to christmas. And when it comes to which make, Apple are running the show, Ms Parks said, “Apple is the preferred brand by far, capturing over 40% of planned tablet purchases for the rest of 2011.”

The dominance of the Apple brand will not be shaken up by the Amazon Kindle Fire this side of Christmas it seems. “Apple is reaping the benefit of being first to a very young marketplace, but it also has a very strong reputation in consumers’ minds, with over 70% of consumers familiar with the brand rating Apple as ‘innovative’ and ‘cool,’ although considerably fewer rate it as ‘affordable.’”

It seems that everyone is looking for streaming TV and movies on demand this christmas, whilst showing off about their new present to their Facebook friends.

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Online TV popularity soaring

The study by Ericsson ConsumerLab called ‘TV & Video Consumer Trend Report 2011′ was taken from over 13,000 viewers in Countries around the world including the US, UK, Australia, Austria, Brazil, China, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan and South Korea.

The study confirmed online TV is growing as now 33% of TV viewers are watching TV on-demand at least every week, up from the figure of 30% last year. And the figure is now higher than the number of people watching DVD says the report. Watching DVD and Blu-ray is falling though, down from 30% last year to 29% now.

It seems that TV via the internet is most popular in Spain with the report saying that 44% of TV watched each week is streamed. Watching short form video via video sites like Youtube is also up, 47% (44% last year) of respondents said they watch video sites every week.

Speaking about the results Anders Erlandsson, senior advisor at Ericsson ConsumerLab said, “With the advent of user-friendly set-top boxes such as Roku, Boxee and Apple TV – coupled with super-simple and affordable streaming services such as Netflix – the popularity and ubiquity of on-demand viewing is increasing rapidly.”

He also said that providers were making it easier to watch on-demand, he said, “Traditional TV companies are also offering better on-demand viewing by making more content available and simplifying their services.”

With the rise in streaming watchers, traditional TV is seeing a slight dip. Though still the most popular way of watching TV, watching traditional broadcasting fell from last years 88% to 84% now.

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Online advertising much more effective

But it seems that advertising on connected TV sets is where the action is. Recently research by IAB and GfK research showed that online advertising gives advertisers a much better brand awareness than advertising on TV, for a much lower price.

So TV advertising is expensive and viewers are ad blind, but online advertising is still new, fresh and effective. So how about putting the two together in the form of connected TV?

The combination of the web and TV advertising gives a 17.1% uplift in brand awareness says the IAB research. The number of connected or smart TV’s sold is still relatively small compared to standard sets, but sales are growing rapidly. Reports say that by 2014 most TV hardware will be internet connected.

A trial by electronic program guide creator Rovi had an amazing 13% Click-Through rate on Connected-TV Advertising during a 3 month period in the US. This number is over 10 times of typical Web banner ads.

Advertising was shown on internet-connected televisions and Blu-ray Disc players from Samsung Electronics and Sony. Speaking about the trial, vice president of Rovi worldwide advertising Jeff Siegel said, “We really feel we’re starting a new advertising vehicle.”

By the end of 2011, Rovi expects about 4.5 million to 5 million connected units to be part of its ad network, and more if the company signs up additional consumer-electronics partners for the advertising network, Siegel said.

Internet TV has been booming recently, thanks to the release of more connected hardware, quicker broadband and social interaction. Add the fact that internet TV can be watched anywhere, on smartphones, games consoles and tablets, and you get an attractive advertising medium.

The real money is still in TV advertising, but online is certainly becoming a viable alternative, especially as viewers actually seem to take some notice of the medium. Nielsen are launching a service that measures more correctly, online advertising campaigns.

When connected TV becomes the standard feature in nations living rooms, then something amazing will happen, there will be a merging of online and standard TV advertising. We will all live in a single internet-connected TV world. And advertisers can use the single all powerful connected TV platform.

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A new trend called “social TV” could be the key to keeping live TV audiences that the industry is looking for. Each night, more and more viewers are turning on the TV, then jumping on their laptop, tablet, or smartphone and chatting about the show on social networks.

TV operators have started to try to capitalise on the natural buzz, and Facebook is positioning itself to be the go-to solution for TV operators.

Generally, users log into Facebook to see what their friends are doing. The network focuses on personal relationships that may or may not include common interests. This means that integrating with Facebook offers TV executives a unique opportunity to personalise TV.

Facebook’s main benefit to TV comes from its extensive reach (600 million active users), and the sheer mass of data available.  Facebook boasts a huge social graph: the average user has 130 friends that the user has specifically chosen to interact with.  This means if a user’s friend has talked about a TV show recently, they would like to hear about it. Even if just one friend mentions the show, the comment is relevant because of the personal relationship.

Through the Facebook API, TV operators can build apps and interactive experiences around TV shows.

Additionally, TV operators are increasingly looking to use social media to enhance the EPG. Several companies such as Comcast, HBO, and TV Genius have starting experimenting with integrating Facebook into the TV experience. Comcast have included Facebook in their new Xfinity TV Guide and the logic is clear: if friends are chatting about The Apprentice, users may want to know so they can watch, too.

Instead of replacing the EPG, social media is provides the perfect tool for personalising the TV experience. While TV is a “lean back” medium, a significant proportion of viewers are starting to share their thoughts online while they are watching.

As of today, TV Genius has released Facebook-integrated EPG that personalises the TV Guide with your friend’s recommendations. (Give it a go here)

Facebook is suited to TV experiences that involve your friends and chosen brands, and could play a huge role in personalising TV and making it more interactive. Over the next year, expect to see the face of TV changing: it’s not just about sitting back and watching blankly anymore.

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So what shows topped the charts?

TV Genius’ Twitter analytics shows the top twenty shows that were tweeted about in the UK each night. Each top show can be clicked on, which reveals real-time tweets about the show, an episode summary, and a graph presenting how many tweets that show has received over time.

“There is no doubt that Twitter is complementing the TV viewing experience and our own research has shown that new media is increasingly having a direct effect on content discovery as people tune into social graph,” said Tom Weiss, CEO, TV Genius. “TV viewing figures tell us a lot about which shows are the most popular, but they do not give any indication towards people’s opinions and levels of engagement. If they are tweeting about a show, we know they are engaged and that it is relevant to them and not just playing in the background. Our new analytics service enables operators or content owners to learn more about their programming and make strategic decisions based on the knowledge they receive.”

This provides powerful information for TV executives, operators, and producers, and demonstrates a new way to discover popular TV content.

The social TV features will encourage viewers to find new content, and become more engaged, making TV a more social experience. Using TV Genius’ Twitter analysis tools, operators and content owners can quickly and easily implement social TV solutions on connected devices, tablets, mobile phones, and set top boxes to:

1. Serve social TV recommendations based on the social graph
2. Alert viewers in real-time when a TV show creates buzz on Twitter
3. Drive uptake of Video on Demand content
4. Create an interactive social TV guide based on what viewers are tweeting about regionally
5. Tap into real-time social TV data to create bespoke solutions.

A ResearchNow study, sponsored by TV Genius in September 2010, showed that while traditional media remain dominant over consumer decision making, newer media are also having an emerging influence, especially among the younger generation of ‘Digital Natives’.

TV Genius is already powering the personalised recommendation feature of the ITV Player app for ITV, the UK’s biggest public service commercial broadcaster, on Facebook.

Check out the top tweeted shows on Twitter here.

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The internet makes restricting contyent pretty unworkable

From connected TV sets to smartphones and tablets. Even the old pc can be used to access a myriad of online content, which can be free, paid for and illegal streams.

This new online access has though, brought up a variety of piracy and legal issues. Traditionally the content providers would sell or release their movies and shows into a Region, country or continent happy in the knowledge that the rest of the world could wait.

It has always been the case that the US gets the premium content first, then it trickles down to other areas at the providers discretion. Sometimes months have to pass before your country gets the movie, and is that fair or right?

But those restrictions are now being lifted. Providers are used to selling content with territorial broadcast restrictions. However, now that the web can be streaming a movie before or just minutes after release, the providers cannot dictate any more.

Now they may need to release simultaneously around the globe or risk losing all that revenue to piracy and illegal streaming. And with Wi-Fi spots, tablets and smartphones, chasing down offenders will get increasingly difficult.

So the only real way that broadcasters can protect themselves from the piracy epidemic is to release it everywhere at the same time. And for that, we should all take our hats off to the internet streaming revolution.

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Avatar, the last DVD i brought. Will i buy anymore though?

I mean, when was the last time you saw a movie and just had to watch it again? For me it was 3D extravaganza “Avatar,” but DVD in 2010 earned 44% less than 2009. So anyone can see that the DVD industry is on it’s knees right now.

But what is the reason for such a massive decline? Although the new instant streaming services from Netflix, Amazon and Hulu are an easy and convenient way to access movies, the real reason we all used to buy a DVD is because we wanted to watch it again and again.

Another possible reason that i can think of is that when DVD amd for oldies, VHS first came out, it was a novelty to be able to watch a movie over and over. Because of the ease we can now access content, maybe we don’t need the physical DVD sitting on a shelf anymore. We all know that we can access any movie we want when the urge hits us.

But the longevity and quality of the modern movie could also be a big factor. Maybe instread of blaming cheap streaming services, Hollywood should look to the quality of their new releases and give the public classic movies just like they used to.

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Online TV, same stuff but on-demand and cheaper

That’s pretty impressive for a streaming company, but it’s not where the surprise lies. That happens when you look at the current trend, which shows that Netflix gained more than 9 million new subscribers in the last 12 months while Comcast had a loss of 700,000 subscribers.

And though netflix is hardly a premium cable service, when you look at adding a few more online TV options the monthly cost is still amazingly less than a cable subscription. Netflix costs $7.99 monthly, and with DVD by mail thrown in costs just $9.99 monthly. This means you get the older yet massive streaming catalog added to the newer DVD rentals for under ten bucks.

Comcast’s startup costs are $29.99 monthly for the first 12 months, then it rises. The movies offered are a pretty small number that get reshown throughout the month. You do get latest TV show episodes, but then you can get those free from Hulu or buy via Vudu, Amazon or iTunes. And that would be a one off rental charge.

How many time do you hear cable and satellite subscribers moaning that there is nothing to watch? All the time if your like me, and that is where the beauty of online and on-demand kicks in.

It i want to go watch a Harry Potter movie or an old classic, i can find it on one of the online services and watch it today. Compare that to cable where i have to watch what they dish up.

As the online streaming market matures, improves and gets easier to access, more and more pay TV subscribers will follow those of us that have discovered the beauty of online video.

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The lines between digital media are starting to blur: TV can be accessed anywhere, on any connected TV. Additionally, the amount of available TV content has exploded with the birth of OTT, VoD, catch up, and streaming media.  Social TV is the natural child of this revolution: suddenly people are consuming content in new ways.

Social TV essentially makes everyone a curator, and empowers viewers to filter and recommend TV content themselves.  By voicing their opinions on Twitter and Facebook, suddenly viewers have a much bigger say in how content is curated, and what shows rise to the top.

Social TV is still a growing and important trend.  Key value is created by inviting everyone – not just the experts- to curate content, generating buzz and chatter. And socially curating content is becoming an increasingly popular activity – even if consumers don’t directly know they are doing it. And as a result, people are turning to Twitter and Facebook to find out what’s hot on TV that night.

However while  many viewers are actively curating content with their Tweets and status updates, does it have the desired results?

Social TV…with a caveat

However, while social is the buzz word of the moment, there is some evidence that social networks are actually starting to lose some of their holds over the hearts and minds of consumers.

Surprisingly, the typical Facebook user doesn’t even know 20% of their friends, and the authority of peers has notably declined 4% since 2009. Instead, consumers have increasingly placed their trust in the advice of experts.

Social TV also doesn’t always operate the way we expect to it. According to new research presented by Christy Tanner from TVGuide.com, the most social shows on TV aren’t necessarily those with the highest Nielsen ratings:

Top 10 Most Social Shows of the 2010-2011 TV Season

1. NCIS
2. American Idol
3. Criminal Minds
4. Glee
5. House
6. Fringe
7. Bones
8. Castle
9. Smallville
10. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Although some of these shows, like NCIS and American Idol, are also extremely popular in the Nielsen ratings, most TV shows in the list buck the trend. Programs like Glee, which have huge social media followings and a great web presence, barely rank in Nielsen’s Top 40.

This means that while social TV may not be driving new viewers to the show, it’s a great measure of audience engagement. In particular, 27-33 year old women on Facebook are the most active sharers, and drive the highest conversion rates.

Unsurprisingly, Twitter beats Facebook when it comes to engagement while a show is airing. 50% of users said they tweet about the show they are watching, compared with only 35% who said they post to Facebook.

Content Curation is King

During Mashable Connect, Steve Rubel, EVP of Global Strategy and Insights for Edelman, took the stage to talk about how consumers are dealing with consumer overload.

According to Rubel, consumers use a variety of sources – not just their social networks- to discover what’s personally relevant.

So in an era of content overload, how can TV operators get attention?

It’s essential to remember that each viewer decides what to watch a little differently; while some viewers know exactly what they want, others are simply browsing for something new to watch. Rubel pointed to Richard Edelman’s “Media Cloverleaf” as a solution. The Media Cloverleaf features four distinct spheres of media which should all be utilized to engage the public on a regular basis.

In other words, multiplatform strategies that include social TV are essential. Viewers are already actively curating TV content whether operators like it or not. It looks like social TV behaviour is only set to grow- how TV operators capitalise and innovate around the trend will determine their success.

Emma is Marketing Executive and blogger at TV Genius- keeping TV relevant with recommendations search, and enhanced TV guides since 2005. You can follow her on Twitter @TV_Genius or read her TV blog

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Traditional TV. How long has it got?

We have looked many times into the future, and see a connected and multi screen future. A TV on-demand future and one that frees itself from the iron grip of it’s existing leaders. But what do the people in the business think?

A report by the BBC looking at the effect of the Internet on the TV industry.Expert opinion comes from Blinx, Pace amongst others.

The opinion that seems to pervade, is that the screen of the future (which may or may not be called a TV) will become a media gateway. A hub that provides all entertainment, and all on-demand.

So you have it from the experts, they agree with World TV. Obviously very switched on guys they are too.

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TV of the future will be multi screened

Currently, the average connected TV set has a mix of convential over-the-top (OTT) TV (free broadcast channels), pay-TV (cable, satellite), pay-internet TV(Netflix, Hulu, Amazon), free Catch-Up TV and some social functions built in (Facebook, Twitter apps) . But the platform has not yet evolved into a cohesive or finished item.

A new report by Heavy Reading Insider says that the boom in Internet-enabled or connected TV will result in providers combining the elements of both conventional pay-TV with free over-the-top (OTT) in a hybrid offering that has yet to form.

Danny Dicks, author of the report said:- “Connected TVs clearly will have an impact on the pay-TV world and IPTV in particular,” but he also made reference to the slow takeup of this new technology by pay tv providers, not wanting to move with the times.

He continued, “The big question right now is how disruptive connected TV will be to the established business models of pay-TV providers and their ecosystem of suppliers, and to what extent connected TV will spur innovation in service design and delivery in what is already a very dynamic industry.”

appmarket.tv reports that when the Connected TV Summit gets under way next week, the talking will be about multi-room TV set-up. The talk will be of, “traditional platform operators, who can harness connected TVs to introduce multi-room TV with minimal expense, and the advent of multi-screen Connected TV, where CE vendors look to make their connected TV services available on tablets that can sync with the main connected TV.”

If we head over to Mashable, they are looking at the future of connected TV and see thatthe TV of the future will include social media, instant messaging as well as a media hub. They say that presently there are over 30 million US homes watching internet content from digital TV, Blu-ray players and games consoles and rising. According to Parks Associates, less than a quarter of HDTVs were connected to the Internet in 2010, but by 2015, that number will spike to 76%.

Today, early adopters are accessing full-length TV shows and movies, news and information, social networks, music, casual games and more from their connected setups. But how can the industry cross the chasm from early adopters to broad adoption?

For years the television has seen very little change, but we are on the verge of seeing a TV revolution. When you want to watch content in the future, you can choose from any show catch-up stream or movie ever made. You will seamlessly flip the movie from your tablet to your mobile and when your ready you can watch on the big screen tv. If you need to head out, just watch on your smartphone in the car or train.

If you want to tweet or post on your facebook page, check the weather, read emails, book a ticket etc. you can do that seamlessly and without interrupting the show. When you get back home you can send the stream your watching across to the TV again.

All it needs is for the TV of the future to evolve from what we have today, and that is a hotch potch of good ideas, emerging technology and rival providers trying to lure you in. But when it happens, it’s going to be great.

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Has Google TV missed the boat?

In fact it is starting to look a little like an overpriced turkey. The Street have put together a great comparison of connected TV options andhave picked a clear winner.

And not surprisingly it’s the low cost and feature packed Roku that comes out on top. For $150 less than a Google TV device at $99, the Roku offers 1080p HD, and gives the viewer access to pretty much everything.

No other devices seems to give everything that the Roku can. From Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon to special event offers from NBA, MLB.TV, UFC and NHL Game Center. Other devices all seem to fall short. nd Google TV falls very short.

It looks like Google are aiming to put the Google TV software onto tablets and other devices, which can then stream onto the TV set or larger screen. But for Google TV built into TV sets. It may just be too late to break into that particular market.

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Digital has left many behind

However, there is another theory that goes along the lines of – the digital switchover forced on viewers has been the real reason for the decline.

Although internet TV services such as Hulu and Netflix can supply streaming on a range of devices and hardware, negating the need for a television set. Phillip Swann, of TVPredictions.com, has another view of the decline:-

He said:-  “When the federal government forced the digital TV transition on our country, I predicted that as many as 5 percent of viewers could be left behind,” he continued “I believe that the drop in TV ownership can be attributed almost exclusively to the after-effects of the digital transition.

He is of the opinion that the expense and complexity of the switch has made many people just give up on the TV set. To watch TV in the US, viewers now need either cable TV or a converter box that costs $50.

So maybe digital did help with the figures, although i cannot finfd any official figures. However nobody can argue that all the free and low cost TV online has had no effect. And even more bad news for the TV market is that Swann does not belive those owners will be coming back anytime soon.

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Although the group blamed the drop on the timing of Easter and a demise of blockbuster DVD releases in early 2011 compared to four major DVD debuts in early 2010, many have predicted the demise of the soon to be silver coasters.

Perhaps attempting to lower the significance of the DVD drop, the group also mentioned that while DVD sales were falling, people still loved their discs. The industry organization quoted a recent NPD report that said that 75% of Americans still prefer DVDs and Blu-ray discs over alternative viewing methods.

It’s not that hard to see why Hollywood studios would be nervous about losing their DVD income. Even after a 20% drop, DVD sales accounted for more than $2 billion in revenue for the quarter. Digital purchases and video on demand not including streaming, by comparison, brought in a little more than $600 million. Subscription and streaming rental services accounted for nearly $700 million.

Overall, the entertainment sectors spending was down by around 10% in early 2011 compared with the same period last year.

While DVD sales were taking a dive, other entertainment choices were gaining in popularity. Subscription and streaming services such as Netflix grew by 33% compared with the same time last year, digital download purchases what trade groups call “electronic sell-thru” grew by 10% and VOD services from cable providers were up 8%.

Even though sales are dropping, the DVD is still holding its own against online streaming and rental services such as iTunes, Amazon, Hulu and Netflix. DVD rentals from kiosks such as Redbox grew by 30%, and the Digital Entertainment Group says DVD sales for the second quarter of 2011 are already up 20% compared with 2010.

Blu-ray is also huge, with the entertainment group expecting US folks to spend upwards of $100 million on Blu-ray 3D software in 2011.

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The forecast figures come from Nielsen and were released on Tuesday. They show that the switch over from analog to digital broadcast in 2009, and the economic downturn mixed with the trend among consumers to watch TV programs across other platforms, including computers and tablet devices, were the main reasons for the shift.

Still, it had been estimated that in 2012, around 96.7 % of US households will still own television sets, down from 98.9 % in 2011.

Nielsen, a division of Nielsen Holdings, based their preliminary estimates on the 2010 US census data, which showed an increase in the number of households and trends of TV ownership of the past few years. Adjusted estimates will be provided in August 2011.

Nielsen, which also keeps tabs on TV ratings and often determines the fate of programing, also said that a number of younger urban consumers are going without paid TV subscriptions, often referred to as “cord cutting.”

The effects of cord cutting for the long term are still unclear, Nielsen said. The findings mixed with the massive growth in connected TV sets show that the future for TV is one that gives access to both online and offline content.

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