Content Loyalty
Bethany Larson, an Account Executive here at Opus , forwarded me a provocative article this morning about the growing population of people substituting their TVs with their PC or hand-held: The Great Debate – Do Tough Times Draw TV Viewers To The Web?
According to a media consumption habit study from Deloitte “of U.S. consumers aged 14 to 75 found that a majority of consumers already see their PCs as more of an entertainment device than they do TVs.” The prime reason sited for this shift was that “Forced to consider budgeting their once free-spending media habits, consumers may find getting better connected online to be the best way to cut their entertainment and communication costs.” This certainly is interesting data as it speaks to how much more we are weaving the web into our lives (like you needed me to tell you that?)
Of more interest to me though were the comments to the article. Many readers, young and old, cited specific examples of why they gave up on TV and are consuming web, DVD or homemade content/sources for entertainment (suggest you check all of them out).
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January 13th, 2009
9:00 pm GMT
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I’m a 28 single father. I ditched tv about 2 years ago. Cable is just a rip off. I watch all my shows online now, cnn.com, comedycentral.com, nbc.com, history etc. It’s good and a hell a lot cheaper than a 100 bucks more a mont.- Posted by edaward d |
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January 13th, 2009
3:34 pm GMT
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I own a 55? TV, but haven’t had cable in over 2 years. I took my old computer, put it in an amp-sized horizontal case, and use the net directly on it. There are several sites that offer decent quality streaming of all my favorite TV shows, past and present, and I don’t pay anything extra above my monthly internet bill. I can watch it whenever I want and there’s no commercials. Why would I pay $50 a month for cable to schedule my life around Heroes when I can download the episodes commercial free and watch them whenever? What we’re seeing now is exactly what my friends and I predicted almost 15 years ago in high school when high-speed internet was announced. The TV studios need to get on board with this ASAP. I would be more than happy to download a higher quality version of these shows with commercials if they made them available on the network sites. Then they wouldn’t lose marketing dollars, and I’d still be happy.- Posted by Steve West |
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January 13th, 2009
2:09 pm GMT
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There is so much rubbish on TV – most of it is just not worth watching – consequentially I spend most of my ‘TV time’ reading articles on the Internet . It’s got nothing to do with costs – I only watch free to air dogital terrestrial – however I would not pay for cable or satellite as I would be paying for much more rubbish .- Posted by Kim |
When I read between the lines and study what these folks are really saying, I’m reminded of the concept of CONTENT LOYALTY. The idea that people are increasingly more loyal to the content they consume rather than the brands and form factors from which they are delivered. I think this is worth pondering as brands align themselves with Hollywood and indpendent producers. It will be important, especially for gaming console and other display manufacturers to not confuse loyalty to their brand with that of the artist attracting folks to their wares.
- Keith Gerr
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