The UK has the biggest proportion of internet users that are getting their TV kicks from online streaming.

A new study by media company Ofcom reveals that One in three Internet users in the UK is watching TV online. And the main reason for the UK surge ahead in the online tv stakes is all down to the BBC’s iPlayer used and viewed by around 27% of the UK’s internet browsers.

Compare those data points to other countries in Europe, and you’ll get a significantly different picture. Online TV platforms are far less developed in Germany, for example, a country that just like the UK has a strong online population. DVRs are also much more popular in the UK than elsewhere.

The report is based on survey data from this spring, and Ofcom is currently in the process of getting additional data for a complete 2009 report to be published early next year.

The data currently available is already pretty revealing: 29% of all online Brits watch TV on the Internet, and almost all of those use the BBC’s iPlayer. Around 9 percent watch TV shows or download movies from other web sites. More than 40 percent of users between the ages of 16 and 34 watch TV or movies online.

Compare those numbers with a country that doesn’t have the iPlayer, and you’ll see the real impact the BBC’s online programming is having: TV networks in Germany have only recently begun to publish full-length shows on the web, and there isn’t any single popular platform comparable to either Hulu in the U.S. or the iPlayer in the UK. Around 62 percent of all German Internet users are watching online video, but only around 4 percent regularly, while some 17 percent occasionally frequent the media sites set up by TV networks, according to a study published by the German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF (Full disclosure: I occasionally contribute to programming aired by ZDF.) earlier this year. Most users instead go to video portals like YouTube or Germany’s Sevenload, presumably to watch short clips of their favorite shows that were uploaded by other users.

The gap between the UK and continental Europe seems to be even bigger when it comes to DVR use. Ofcom’s report reveals that 34 percent of UK households now own a TiVo-like device. Two years ago, roughly 23 percent of all Brits were able to time-shift TV content. In Germany, less than 4 percent of all households owned a DVR in 2008, according to a study published late last year.

And to think all those loveable online UK Catchup tv viewers in the UK STILL cannot get access to Hulu the greatest online tv service.

Source – http://newteevee.com/2009/11/01/uk-on-the-forefront-of-online-tv-dvr-use/

Epix has finally launched. See post New Free Online Movie Service Epix Coming Soon

When it was announced four months ago the rumors were that it would be free. That was a silly assumption. The only free thing about Epix is the free weekend pass handed out to give US viewers a taster. The new premium movie channel and Website is hoping to attract viewers across both the online and offline divides.

So what is Epix? Well its a premium movie channel from Lionsgate, MGM, and Paramount which can be viewed on cable and, if you happen to be a Verizon FiOS subscriber, on the internet also.

Available to US viewers only just like good old Hulu, but completely different because you will need a cable subscription. Although rumors are that Hulu will soon go that way.

Streaming quality is said to be great on fast broadband receiving streams at 720p HD. On offer at present are around 300 movies on the website, including recent releases such as Iron Man, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Indiana Jones and The Temple of The Crystal Skull.

The video is offered through Flash and is multi bitrate enabled so the player looks at your available bandwidth every few seconds to see if a larger or smaller stream is required. Epix currently creates six different encodings of each film which range from full HD support all the way down to 500Kbps.

Although the service isnt free, amazingly you cannot even pay for Epixhd.com currently! It is currently in beta mode with invitation only access, there is also a sign up form on the site for admission over the next few weeks/months.

Could Netflix benefit from the exodus of Hulu users when they start charging for content?

Whilst the unstable Hulu saga marches on, and the debate over whether they should charge continues. Hulu are still expanding their streaming service to many countries including the UK in early 2010.

Their 230 content deals, 400 advertisers, and 40 million users sounds impressive — but ads just aren’t enough to sustain free content. Earlier this week, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar underscored he was indeed a “capitalist” and said he was bullish on Hulu. News Corp.’s Chase Carey already hinted at subscriptions in 2010 and NBC Universal TV chief Marc Graboff told reporters that Hulu was experimenting with different models — more advertising or subscription-based windows.

So what happens to those 40 million users when they have to pay for content? I’m guessing they go elsewhere.

If people don’t want to hop from site to site looking for their favorite shows, why not go to Netflix? While cable operators are concerned about losing customers to Hulu, it’s Hulu that should be concerned — about losing customers to Netflix, its biggest, most under-the-radar competition.

Netflix has a lot less to lose than Hulu, not to mention bigger plans. Netflix just announced it will start streaming movies and TV shows overseas in 2010, and expand beyond the Xbox to Sony’s Playstation 3. Rumors suggest the Wii is next on Netflix’s hit list. Netflix has a huge user base to build on — somewhere between 14 million and 38 million, depending on whether you look at Comscore’s or Nielsen’s numbers, says Martin Olausson, an analyst at Strategy Analytics. On track for a record year, Netflix has a chance to steal away Hulu’s audience.

Subscribers shot the company’s earnings up 48% in the third quarter, and a Netflix representative says the company’s Watch Instantly service will evolve further once they start writing bigger checks to the studios. Right now 42% of Netflix members have already streamed a movie or TV show. As that number grows, Netflix stands to save a bundle in payments to the USPS — forecast at $600 million in 2010 and $700 million in 2011. As more people stream, that number drops and Netflix can pump that money into the studios to negotiate more and better rights.

Does that mean more TV shows? Netflix already made a deal with Disney/ABC in August for TV content, and chances are they’ll keep plugging the TV deals until they have at least as much as Hulu. Twenty percent of Netflix’s disc-based business is TV episodes, after all. Take ABC’s hit Lost as an example: On Hulu you get all of seasons 1-3, but only 13 episodes out of 14 for season 4, and 9 out of 17 episodes for season 5. Granted, it’s free, but who wants to miss a finale and skip 8 episodes of the previous season? At that point you’d probably get those episodes from Netflix — and why bother? If you’re already paying $9/month for Netflix, you can stream seasons 1-4 and order season 5 on DVD — and you won’t miss an episode.

Say you already pay $80/month for your cable bill. Are you going to dump another $10/month (as an educated guess) for a premium Hulu subscription when you can get a way better selection of movies streamed or via DVD from Netflix?

Seems to make sense from where im sitting. Think i might invest in some Netflix shares.

Source – http://industry.bnet.com/media/10004886/netflix-may-beat-hulu-at-its-own-game/

Thanks to consumer demand for catch up tv on demand, UK cable company Virgin Media have managed to halve its money loss.

Around 25 viewers every second are using Virgins service to catch up on missed tv shows like EastEnders on their TV set, rather than via a pc screen.

Coupled with faster broadband, Virgin customer numbers increased 8,100 to 4.74 million in the three months to the end of September.

That’s compared to a loss of 26,200 customers the previous quarter. Sales were also up 1.3% to £953m and losses down to £60m. However its a long way behind the 94,000 new customers at rival Sky TV had during the same period of time.

Neil Berkett of Virgin was delighted with growth in the tv-on-demand service, allowing users to watch BBC and Channel 4 shows as well as Hollywood movies. The service hit 66 million average views a month during the quarter, 46 per cent higher than the previous year.

He said: “We differentiate ourselves with the VoD product; it is really coming to the fore. It is a real growth prospect for us and we have barely scratched the surface.”

Virgin is set to face increased competition in on-demand programming next year. BSkyB is to launch a VoD service next year, while the BBC, ITV, BT and Five are working on Project Canvas, a move to bring internet TV into the living room. Mr Berkett was undaunted, saying: “Bring it on,” he said “This is a world that cable was made for.”

Revenues at Virgin Media rose 1.3 per cent to £953m in the three months to the end of September, up from £941m the previous year, and beating analyst expectations by 1 per cent. It added 17,800 net new customers to services excluding mobile over the three months. Jerry Dellis, an analyst at JP Morgan, called the results “very strong”.

Mr Berkett said: “The growth was really pleasing as it was not just through cost cutting.” He added pay TV services benefited from people staying at home more: “Pay TV is good value for money and broadband is a necessity.”

Also attributed to the rise in revenues is the group’s success in attracting “higher value customers, who buy more from us and stay with us longer”. Average revenue per subscriber grew 6 per cent to £44.24. Virgin’s services cost, on average, £18 each. Carphone Warehouse’s cost about £12. Mr Berkett said the rise in revenues shows viewers were happy to pay more for quality: “We are concentrating on value for money not on the cheapest.”