The momentum Apple created when it announced last year that it would sell videos online through iTunes continues into 2006. While the push to online video had started well before the launch of the video iPod (demonstrated by skyrocketing advertising rates for broadband video impressions throughout 2005, and the launches of various online channels by large content companies) the online video “big bang” started with Apple’s announcement and continued through the Consumer Electronics Show.
“At this year’s CES, gadgets took a backseat to the bevy of announcements by large online and content players,” notes Mike Wolf, principal analyst of broadband and multimedia with ABI Research in the press release. “The flood of online content announcements from Google, Yahoo and others shows that after years of hesitation from the larger media players, the market for premium content online is finally beginning to take shape.”
New offerings include those from Starz and Google. Nearly two years after announcing its Starz Ticket on Real, Starz launched its own premium movie subscription plan as Vongo, a $10 a month all-you-can-eat video download service. With Vongo, Starz is partnering with Microsoft, using WMV and Windows DRM to deliver the content, which will be available on Windows MCE PCs and Windows Portable Media Center devices. Google announced its premium video download service, Google Video Store. The new service uses Google’s own video player and will offer content from partners such as CBS and the NBA.
As ABI Research noted in its recent report, Broadband Video and Internet TV, although the online premium video market will continue to be dwarfed for the next five years by traditional distribution channels such as broadcast and cable, it will nevertheless grow rapidly, as large content providers offer their crown jewels for purchase over the Internet, and new platforms enable consumers to watch this video in whatever format they choose.
“As both content and platform providers enable an online video distribution chain, ABI Research believes that the premium online video market should grow 89% annually through 2010,” says Wolf. “When companies such as Intel, with their new Viiv entertainment PC platform, and other large stakeholders such as Apple and Microsoft, focus their attention and resources, the combined impetus will force this market to expand, and consumers to open their wallets.”
Broadband Video and Internet TV forms part of several ABI Research subscription Services: the IP Video Research Service, the Home Networking Research Service, and the Digital Media Distribution and Management Research Service.
http://www.abiresearch.com/home.jsp
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I guess the funny thing to me is economists tout “ownership” of property as one concept that makes it hard for developing nations to grasp. When they grasp that concept of ownership they establish themselves leaving their “developing” status in the dust.
I think the same applies to online sales of digital content. Apple has it right on several fronts, but especially in the area of ownership. When you think about it, the burn limits, et. al. in iTunes are pretty severe for something you own. (Yes, I know those limits can be overcome.) But Apple has held fast in making digital content an “ownership society” while most other companies have swayed and gone the other way.
MW: “almost” as in “Well, they almost got it right, but Apple always does it right the first time.”
I have never run up against the wall of “burning limits” with any songs I’ve purchased from iTunes. Honestly, I’m just glad I can burn the music. And if I ever do run into that wall, well, change a couple songs around and voila! New List, and it’s burnable again. Sorry, I just don’t see what people are complaining about. I can even use the songs in the videos I edit, through iMovie, so it’s not like I’m limited there, either.
same as always…
Apple leading the pack!
…the rest, follow like lemmings.
Subscription works for video.
Have you ever rented a video more than once? There are a hand full of movies I can watch over and over. Everyone has a list of a dozen or so movies that they must own and watch over and over again but most of us watch a movie once and that’s it. Look at your premium movie channels. How often do you watch this months new releases more than once?
Subscription is ideal for video.
I hope this is the end of poor service, over charging, and limited choices from the cable and satellite compainies.
What a boon for consumers if we could order what we want and when we want it 24/7.
I agree Big Al: subscription is ideal for video. Just one thing: the current $1.99 download price is cheaper than renting a video at Blockbuster. For that reason, I don’t have a problem with deleting my iTunes video downloads once I’m through with them. So at that price, you can think of iTMS video as a cheap alternative to Blockbuster with unlimited viewings.
Oh God…here they come. You just had to mention the words Big Bang in the headline.