Interviews with Digital Media Thought Leaders
Thinking the Unthinkable About Video
Podcast Video | Posted by Phil Leigh on March 17, 2009
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If you would like to learn how even primary market research can mislead, this video is for you.
Instinctively we tend credit consumer surveys with validity because they are based upon “primary research”. Our instincts are good, but if the questionnaire ignores reality the results can be worse that valueless.
For example a recent survey found that a third of broadband respondents want cable set-top boxes to provide Internet content. Furthermore it found that over half of such respondents wanted the connection so they could watch premium content. In our analysis, such points are misleading because they overlook the point that consumers basically want unlimited Internet access on the TV. Moreover, unrestricted access trumps a Walled Garden of premium content because the Walled Garden would merely be a subset of unlimited access. If given a choice between unrestricted access and the Walled Garden, the 50% interest level likely drops to zero by comparison.
When surveys are commissioned by industries that choose to ignore reality, then the research results are misleading. Clary Shirky cogently makes the point in Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable. Like the record labels, newspapers saw the Internet coming 10 years ago. But they could not permit themselves to “think the unthinkable” by recognizing that it would be nearly impossible to retain their prominence.
The question the industry’s researchers should have investigated was “How is news going to be distributed post-Internet and how can we fit within such a context?” Instead they essentially asked, “How can we transplant our product to the Net?”
A similar question should be posed by video distributors. Specifically, the question is “How are post-Internet consumers going to employ network endpoints (e.g. televisions) and how should we function within that context in order to provide value?” For CATV operators, the answer might imply that they concentrate on providing ultra-high-speed ISP service thereby permitting the consumer to optimize the endpoints for communications or entertainment depending upon his ephemeral needs.
In short, when reality is ignored even primary research is worse than valueless because it can lead to false conclusions.
This is Third Generation Television.
Categories: Podcast Video
Tags: Future-of-Television, Hollywood-Studios, Internet-video, New-York-Times, newspapers, television, TV, Video
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