Is net streaming killing the TV Set?

Posted by Karen on Jan 16, 2012 12:00:00 AM

A technology report by Accenture, based on television viewing and purchasing habits, has highlighted some interesting figures - emphasising the shift towards Internet based television streaming. Discussion of the swing towards ‘on demand’ television is by no means a new topic, but the speed of this change will come as a shock to many television makers and broadcasters. The report shows that the number of consumers who watch broadcast or cable television in a typical week plunged to 48% in 2011 from 71% in 2009. Accenture’s explanation for the trend is that the TV is losing ground to other devices – smart phones, laptops and tablets – in the battle for consumer eyeballs. The survey does not conclude that everyone has suddenly stopped watching video and starting reading books and listening to the radio; rather, consumers are simply doing their watching in different places, on different devices. It is interesting to note that of the 1,000 people surveyed over a wide range of countries 53% own a Smartphone, (up from 28% in 2010) tablet ownership jumped to 12%, from 8% in 2010. The percentage of the survey group that intends to buy a Smartphone jumped to 27%, from 24%. For tablets, the number of consumers who plan to make a purchase jumped to 16%, from 8% a year ago. I would be intrigued to see the affects the tablet and live online net streaming will have on broadcast figures for the 2012 games. Will viewing figures be ‘down’ based on trends as detailed above? If we are all watching online how will connectivity networks cope? We wouldn’t want to miss those Golden Olympic moments due to a spluttering contention effected streaming signal... if that is the case I will happily re-establish my relationship with TV, as I’m sure millions of others will too.

Topics: News