Internet Video Subscriptions
Posted on March 2, 2010
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Today’s post is a reprint of an article I wrote for Online Video Insider on March 2, 2010.
By: Philip Leigh
Since Shawn Fanning launched the original Napster about a decade ago CD music sales dropped by 50%. Unfortunately, legitimate digital downloads recaptured less than half the total. Given steadily compounding improvements in computer, storage, and network bandwidth, video-centric media companies have been apprehensively awaiting the new media Tsunami on their own shores. Many industry executives conclude it is now arriving. It appears their response is to (1) charge new incremental monthly fees and (2) increase existing ones. In short, after a decade to prepare, it looks like the industry’s most imaginative solution is to raise prices. Read more…
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Apple and The Digital Living Room
Posted on February 23, 2010
About 20 years ago a character named Ray Kinsella in the movie Field of Dreams heard a voice urging him to plow under a portion of his Iowa farm to build a baseball field. Purely on faith he built it. Soon long deceased legendary players began to show-up for practice. Strangely, only Ray and his family could see the ghosts.
Later the same voice told Ray to visit a famous novelist who had mysteriously stopped writing after the 1960s. In the book upon which the movie is based, that author was J. D. Salinger. Ray brought him back to Iowa where he too could watch the players. Read more…
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The Future of Apple
Posted on February 20, 2010
The Need:
Since the turn of the century Apple evolved from a secondary computer company into the most potent force transforming media. It is the premier Digital Media innovator as evidenced by the iPod, iPhone and most recently the iPad. Basically each introduction defined a new product category or enabled an incipient one to “cross the chasm” into mass market acceptance. More of the same is expected in the future, not only from products but also from transactional services.
Most any business affected by the future of media will be directly impacted by Apple’s future innovations. Moreover, its existing product lines alone will carry the company past the $100 billion revenue threshold in less than five years.
Revenue Forecast - Percent Sales by Product Line
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Rewriting Apple’s History
Posted on February 6, 2010
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As Mark Twain put it, “Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest don’t happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects.” Normally the winners write history, but Apple’s success and lofty stock price has given a number of media executives a bad case of P/E envy. They’re distorting the past by accusing Apple of dictating terms of media consumption on the Internet.
For example, when Apple convinced the recorded music industry to sell digital downloads in 2003 it allocated seventy percent of the sales proceeds to the record labels and music publishers. One might suppose a business partner would be happy with a 70% share of incremental revenues, especially when that partner incurs almost no added cost. Perhaps they actually were smugly pleased with the deal originally. Maybe they figured Apple had been suckered into giving them more than twice as much as it kept for itself. Read more…
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Lessons from Early Radio
Posted on January 6, 2010
Today’s post is a reprint of an article I wrote for Online Video Insider yesterday.
Lessons from Early Radio
By: Philip Leigh
January 5, 2010
Much like today’s Internet, during its early years radio enjoyed a high intrinsic growth. For example, while most industries were shrinking during the Great Depression radio advertising alone grew from $27 million in 1929 to $185 million in 1939 translating to a compound annual growth rate of 21%. Radio entertainment during the era included mix of music, drama, comedy, and variety shows. However, music was considered essential. Read more…
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Content is King (Like Cotton)
Posted on December 12, 2009
Phil Leigh
Comcast bought NBC to gain control over content distributed by its CATV system. Time-Warner advocates that popular TV shows be made available on the Internet only to consumers already subscribing to conventional Cable and Satellite networks. Prominent publishers require that new book releases be hard-cover-only thereby delaying ebook versions by four months. Such actions reflect the spurious notion that “Content is King”. Unfortunately it’ll prove to be about as effective as King Cotton diplomacy was for the Confederacy. Read more…
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Cable Operators Will Abandon TV
Posted on December 5, 2009
Phil Leigh
If you would like to learn what will motivate the CATV and Telco industries to abandon traditional video services in favor of a video-centric Internet, this audio podcast is for you.
Since the release of our February ’09 Third Generation Television research report, we repeatedly emphasized that the future of television is Internet Video, period. Ultimately, the advantages to consumers, sponsors, content providers, and even network operators are simply too compelling. Read more…
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Television of the Future
Posted on November 28, 2009
If you want to learn what the future of television will look like, this video podcast is for you.
Despite recent publicity about favorable consumer response to services providing only limited Internet Videos at our TVs, ultimately nearly everyone will demand unlimited Internet access on televisions. Services like Amazon-Video-on-Demand, iTunes, and Netflix Watch Instantly via devices such as TiVo, Blu-Ray Players, and Xboxes are merely going to whet consumer appetites for unrestricted Internet access on TVs. Read more…
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