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Tag: ABC.com

  • ABC to give ‘Lost’ fans a Valentine’s Day treat

    ABC to give ‘Lost’ fans a Valentine’s Day treat

     MUMBAI: Today 14 February 2007 US broadcaster ABC.com is giving Lost fans a Valentines Day surprise with the first installment of four video back stories (Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Locke).

    Created to provide new viewers insight into the lives of the series characters and to give fans an opportunity to see characters back stories in chronological order, each video combines scenes from previously aired episodes. Every Wednesday four back story segments will debut on ABC.com until the end of the season.

    Fans need to go to ABC.com for this seasons previously aired episodes on its broadband video player. ABC.com has also added several new features on its Lost site, including a new video podcast with executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, which offers a special sneak peek at extra content from the series Season Three DVD, to be released later this year.

    Additionally, visitors to ABC.com will find a new feature called Writers Rotation that showcases music and listening selections of members of the Lost production team, plus an updated version of Lost and Found. This highlights not-to-be-missed moments in upcoming episodes, as well as excerpts from the official Lost magazine, updated games, photos and video clips.
     

  • Online video streaming increasingly being used by TV viewers to play catch up: NBC Study

    Online video streaming increasingly being used by TV viewers to play catch up: NBC Study

    MUMBAI: NBC.com has released new research on its NBC Rewind streaming video player. 78 per cent of its online users have watched an episode they had missed on broadcast television, expanding the reach of NBC Entertainment programming on the Net.

    Further, 26 per cent have re-watched an episode after watching the broadcast and 34 per cent used the online player to watch a show they had never seen before. In addition, Rewind users built upon NBC Primetime’s already upscale audience by skewing younger, more male and higher educated than average television and internet audiences.

    NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, digital content, cross network strategy president Jeff Gaspin says, “Our viewers responded strongly to the streaming video on our site. Contrary to conventional wisdom, consumers are ready to watch long-form entertainment on the web and we plan on making more available. We’re especially encouraged by this research and believe that we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg on this new platform.”

    Since NBC Rewind’s debut on October 1, 2006, 6.9 million unique users have streamed nearly 42 million full-episode videos. The average time spent per visit in December 2006 averaged 35 minutes for NBC Rewind — the third straight month the figure had increased. Usage of NBC Rewind helped make NBC.com the number one broadcast network website in December 2006 and the third ranking television site overall, behind AOL TV and MSN TV and ahead of Yahoo!TV and ABC.com, according to comScore Media Metrix.

    From an advertising perspective, 81 per cent recall the pre-roll ads after two or more exposures. And 72 per cent agree that Rewind ads are less disruptive than traditional advertising while over 40 per cent agree that ads are easy to remember, seamlessly integrated and caught their attention.

    More than 60 per cent of users always watch the full episode when viewing in on Rewind.

  • IBM study predicts 23 per cent rise in new media sales

    IBM study predicts 23 per cent rise in new media sales

    MUMBAI: The sales of media on the internet and cellphones are expected to rise 23 per cent over the next four years, according to a IBM study. The upsurge is largely driven by TV networks and film studios putting more of their content online.

    IBM researchers estimated new media sales to grow at nearly five times the rate of traditional media. The biggest surge, they claim will come from the internet syndication of professionally produced programming, which is expected to jump 33 per cent to $25 billion.

    The research cites examples of Walt Disney Co. offering episodes of hit prime-time shows “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives” for free on ABC.com and Sony Corp. offering a Star Wars-themed multiplayer game on its Web site.

    The IBM report comes in the wake of Google Inc.’s stalled talks with U.S. television networks to provide TV show programming to online video service YouTube.

    Media companies like Viacom Inc. and General Electric’s NBC Universal are making their programming more widely available on the Internet, but have failed to land distribution deals with YouTube over deal terms and copyright concerns.

    Viacom in early February demanded that YouTube remove more than 100,000 video clips from the service.

    Still, the internet syndication of traditional media companies’ programming will be a small part of the estimated $655 billion of annual media revenue in 2010.

    The IBM report estimated the music industry will have lost a staggering $85 billion to $160 billion in revenue between 1999 through 2010. It also concluded that the music industry will have to sort out the legal fights regarding use of digital media.

    “Doing nothing is not an option,” according to the report’s findings.The growth rates are on a compounded annual growth basis.”We’re not moving from black and white to color TV — from one steady state to another,” said IBM’s global media and entertainment strategy leader in an interview to the media last week.”We’re moving from an era of stability to an era of constant change.”

    Growth rates are higher for new media businesses, but traditional media sales will still play the biggest role with estimated annual sales growth of 5 percent to $340 billion by 2010.

    So called “walled communities,” or networks such as cellphone and cable networks that offer viewer-created programming and revenue from cable and satellite subscriptions and advertising, will rise by 10 percent to $240 billion by 2010.

    ‘New platform aggregators’ such as YouTube and MySpace, are expected to rise by 16 percent to $50 billion.

  • ABC.com streaming trial provides Disney with consumer insights

    ABC.com streaming trial provides Disney with consumer insights

    MUMBAI: US media conglomerate Disney-ABC Television Group has announced key findings from its ABC.com streaming video trial.

    The two-month-long trial this year offered ad-supported, full-length episodes of Lost, Desperate Housewives, Commander in Chief and Alias. This marked the first time a channel made multiple series available for viewing online, free of charge to consumers. 10 US advertisers including AT&T, Cingular and Ford took part in the test.

    In May and June, ABC.com’s broadband player served over 5.7 million episode requests, totaling 16 million video streams. Based on survey research conducted for ABC by Frank N. Magid Associates during the trial, 79 per cent of those surveyed had a positive online viewing experience and 87 per cent responded that they were likely to recommend the site to others.

    The broadband player attracted a young, highly educated audience. The average age of users was 29, and more than half were college graduates. Users of the broadband player were almost equally split between males (47%) and females (53 per cent).

    The majority of online viewing for episodes occurred within the first 24 hours of their broadcast on ABC. Approximately two-thirds of those surveyed watched complete episodes, with partial viewing of episodes occurring mainly because viewers had already seen the episode on TV or were interrupted. The majority of users viewed from home, using a desktop computer. The number one reason given for viewing online was because users had missed the episode on TV.

    On average, 87 per cent of users surveyed were able to recall the advertiser who sponsored the episode they viewed. Those viewers embraced the interactive advertising, with over 50 per cent rating the advertising experience positively and 84 per cent believing that they were getting a great deal by being able to watch the episode online for free in exchange for watching the ads.

    Disney-ABC Television Group president Anne Sweeney says, “The launch of ABC.com’s broadband player was a huge step for us as we strategically reposition our websites from marketing tools to rich entertainment platforms. The research that has come out of the trial helped prove true several hypotheses regarding our consumers and their online viewing patterns.

    “With the data we have collected, we are better equipped to move forward with our advertisers and affiliates to create new multiplatform opportunities for our consumers.”

    Disney-ABC Television Group executive VP, digital media Albert Cheng says, “The research we gathered from this trial has been invaluable as we move forward with next phase of the broadband player. We have been extremely pleased with the consumer feedback from the trial, and are busy working on some minor adjustments to the broadband player in order to again make full episodes available to consumers this fall. When we relaunch, the basic concept of ad-supported, free to the consumer full-length episodes will return along with some added features to enhance the consumer experience.”