The evolution of on-demand mediaAn investigation into online video services and their influence on college students’ viewing habits

WIM MULDER

Problem statement

What effect does the availability of full streaming episodes on network websites have on the viewing habits of college students?

Definition of terms

Full streaming episodes A full length episode of a TV show in the same form as it was broadcast on television (with exception of commercial interruptions).

Definition of terms

Network websites The online on demand video services offered by broadcast networks on their website

Definition of terms

Viewing habitsThe media consumption patterns of a television viewer (what shows are watched, how many times, is the viewing consistent or just occasional, etc.)

Definition of terms

College students Students enrolled at Kutztown University, taking General Education HPD 110 classes or SPE 010 classes.

Quick topic overview

Since beginning of television more and more programming has become available to viewers

As different technologies have become available to viewers, the viewers’ use of the media has changed

Quick topic overviewThe VCR first introduced the concept of being able to view programming at a different time from its original broadcast

Television viewers became less dependent on network schedules

Quick topic overview

DVRs made personal video recording easier, but are a potential disaster for advertisers and therefor television networks

Networks started putting shows online around 2006 / 2007, to regain advertising money from their programming

Quick topic overview

Online viewing has started to pick up, viewers are watching more content online

Methods

14 Question survey distributed in General Education classes

202 students from HPD 110 and SPE 010 took the survey

THE SURVEY

Survey

Paper survey rather than online survey

Easier to control who answered the survey

Targeted at general education classes, because the sample is not skewed towards a certain major

Quicker turnaround

Survey

202 respondents

18 percent 18 or under, 53 percent 19 to 20, 19 percent 21 to 22

84 male (42 percent)

115 female (57 percent)

LOW TELEVISION CONSUMPTION

Television consumption

Relatively very low television consumption

Almost 90 percent (87.6%) of the students watch under 10 hours of television per week

According to Nielsen, the average American watches about 31 hours of television per week

Television consumption

Students have watched less television this year than the previous year

Mostly due to the fact that most respondents were freshmen, and going from high school to college got a more demanding schedule

Students indicated that

THEY HAVE LESS TIME AVAILABLE THAN BEFORE

HANGING OUT WITH FRIENDS

STUDYING

WORKING A JOB

MOST STUDENTS WATCH TELEVISION ONLINE

Watching TV online

The majority of students watch television online (60.9 percent)

Most important reasons for watching online are the flexibility to watch any time of the day, fits in with the students’ schedules

A lot of students like to catch up on older episodes they haven’t seen yet (72.4 percent), or watch episodes that they missed on television (74.8 percent)

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20

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Number of respondents

Having to watch fewer commercials Getting better video quality than traditional televisionDiscovering new television shows that I haven’t seen before Being able to watch shows any time of day, on my own scheduleCatching up on older episodes that I haven’t seen before Watching an episode that I missed on televisionWatching an episode again after it was broadcasted on television Other

Reasons for viewing television content online

Exclusivity

Most respondents use both internet and traditional television (regardless of particular shows) to watch programming (58.4 percent)

35 percent watches some of their shows exclusively online, and others on television

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Number of respondents

Hulu Network websites TV.com Youtube Fancast Others

Use of different online video services

Online viewing timeStudents also spent a low amount of time watching television online

88.6 percent of the respondents (who watched television online) watch 4 hours of television online or less

The amount of people watching online has increased. 12 percent of respondents indicated not watching online a year ago

Time spent watching online has increased. Most common viewing time a year ago was less than 2 hours (52 percent)

WHY ARE STUDENTS NOT USING VIDEO ONLINE?

Online viewing time

Students don’t know how to use these services

They think it is too slow

They don’t have time for it

Or they like watching on a regular television better

TRADITIONAL TELEVISION

Traditional television

Most students still prefer a traditional television set over watching programming online (74.8 percent)

Watching on a traditional television is more comfortable

It allows you to watch with multiple people more easily

LIMITATIONS

Limitations

Due to the low amount of television watched by the students it was hard to discover any trends

Results were not nearly as clear as expected

Study only looked at use of online video services, if DVR viewing were to be included the study might have been able to provide a more complete picture of the use of on-demand media

THE FUTURE OF TELEVISION

The futureOnline video services are starting to get integrated with traditional television through set-top boxes (for example TiVo)

Media use is moving towards mobile consumption, ownership of mobile devices that allow for video playback is rapidly increasing (iPods, iPads, Zune)

Television advertising is changing (more in-program ads, integrated commercials)

Syndication of episodic television shows is becoming obsolete

Research suggestions

Look at different on-demand media besides just online viewing

Use a more varied sample that gives a more general view of trends in media use

WIM MULDER | WIMMULDER@GMAIL.COMKUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA