Comcast said that it has over 6 billion views for its video on-demand (VOD) service after four years from it first launched. This year alone, Comcast has over 1 billion hours of on-demand content watched, which comes out to 250 million views a month and 100 views every second.

In fact, Comcast touted how it is beating Apple’s iTunes by 2 to 1, with its 100 views every second.  iTunes has had over three billion music downloads so far or about 58 downloads a second, said Comcast.

That’s an interesting comparison. I mean, there are obvious differences. Such as:

Number of Customers. As of September 30, 2007, Comcast has over 24.2 million cable subscribers. Numbers on iTunes aren’t easy to find, but it is probably over 10 million. So this comparison doesn’t really mean much. Comcast subscribers are already paying a monthly fee. iTunes customers buy a la carte songs or shows, without a monthly fee.

Content. iTunes sells mostly music. Comcast sells mainstream VOD Hollywood movies.  Many more people are likely to buy VOD from their TV screens, than buy digital music over the Internet. Not a very good comparison as far as content.

Computer vs. TV.There’s also the case of the screen. With Comcast, it’s people watching TV. With iTunes, it’s computer users. Naturally, VOD usage will be higher. At least for now. iTunes is getting more Hollywood hits. And iTunes is available in 19 countries, as opposed to Comcast’s 1 country.

Comcast has over 6 billion VOD views because it is a cable giant in the U.S. And because VOD is much easier and more convenient than renting videos at a store. And because people are seeing the benefits of watching TV on your own schedule, like Tivo DVRs.

So expect VOD trends to continue to grow, but keep an eye out for iTunes. They’ll be growing too.

Technorati Tags: Comcast, VOD, iTunes, Apple

Popularity: 40% [?]

Forbes has a story that says that Radiohead’s new album, which is priced at whatever fans want to pay, is popular on file-sharing networks like BitTorrent.

“On the first day that Radiohead’s latest became available, around 240,000 users downloaded the album from copyright-infringing peer-to-peer BitTorrent sources, according to Big Champagne, a Los-Angeles-based company that tracks illegal downloading on the Internet. Over the following days, the file was downloaded about 100,000 more times each day—adding up to more than 500,000 total illegal downloads.”

Reports say that legal downloads of Radiohead’s album are at 1.2 million now, but everyone is predicting that illegal downloads will surpass the legal ones. Why? Is it the illegality of BitTorrent? Is it easier to find illegal songs rather than look for where to get it legally?

That’s what some people are saying. Some people are already familiar with BitTorrent and LimeWire, but they don’t know where to go to get the album directly from Radiohead. (For the record, here is Radiohead’s site.)

Says Forbes:

“With popular album releases, illegal download volumes normally outstrip sales, says Garland. But more surprising is that fans chose to steal music they could legally download for any price they choose.”

Another answer is that fans may be turned off by having to register and offer their name and snail mail address to Radiohead.

Nevertheless, this pay-what-you-feel-like-paying gimmick is having a great effect on Radiohead’s awareness. Everyone’s talking about their album and the new pricing system. So even if they don’t make much money on this album, they’ve at least made a lot of noise.

Popularity: 31% [?]

Yesterday, NBC Universal unveiled its online video venture with News Corp., called Hulu.com. It got lots of press everywhere and they’re even keynoting the next Streaming Media show. Today, NBC Universal said it was pulling its video content from iTunes so they can put it into Hulu instead.

Today’s New York Times said that NBC Universal wants more control over pricing and packaging of its TV content. From the Times:

“The media conglomerate — which is the No. 1 supplier of digital video to Apple’s online store, accounting for about 40 percent of downloads — notified Apple of its decision late yesterday, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked for anonymity because negotiations between the companies are confidential”

I’m sure all the other iTunes content providers would like a better deal too. In July, Universal Music Group said it was pulling most of its music out of iTunes and just allowing certain content for sale. Does that mean that there will be a mass exodus from iTunes now? The New York Times says that talks between Apple and NBC Universal are still ongoing. Over at All Things Digital, they say NBC may be just playing hardball.

But I still have questions about Hulu. Will it be a free ad-supported, user-generated site like YouTube? Or is it going after the more mature “pay for play” iTunes market? 

Not much is known, so it’s wait and see about Hulu.

Technorati Tags: Hulu, NBC, YouTube, iTunes, Apple, NBC Universal

Popularity: 22% [?]

IBM released results of a survey into the habits of consumers around the world and found that people are using the Internet more and watching less TV. Nineteen percent said they spend 6 hours or more per day using the Internet versus 9% who spent the same time watching TV.

The survey looked at other digital media usage, inculding mobile TV, online video, music and DVRs.  (I’ll be posting data on DVRs over at my sister blog, DVR Bulletin soon.) Some data highlights:

• 66 percent reported viewing between one to four hours of TV per day, versus 60 percent who reported the same levels of personal Internet usage.
• 81 percent of consumers said they’ve watched or want to watch PC video
• 42 percent said they’ve watched or want to watch mobile video
• 23 percent reported using a portable music service
• 7 percent reported having a video content subscription for their mobile phones
• 11 percent reported subscribing to a PC-based music service
• 18 percent reported an online newspaper subscription

People are increasingly turning to the Internet, where they have a variety of media, such as music, photos, movies and games and watching less TV. Among young consumers, TV is taking a back seat, said Saul Berman, IBM Media & Entertainment Strategy and Change practice leader.

“Just as the ‘Kool Kids’ and ‘Gadgetiers’* have replaced traditional land-lines with mobile communications, cable and satellite TV subscriptions risk a similar fate of being replaced as the primary source of content access.”

In Germany, users that have watched mobile video, 23 percent prefer to view user generated content, and 21 percent prefer video trailers or promotions.

Overall, nothing most of us don’t already know, but it’s nice to have the numbers to back it up and put in our PowerPoint slides and business plans.

* Marketers love to invent ridiculous words like “Gadgetiers” and “Kool Kids” to describe various groups, much like people use “Millenials”, “Generation X” and “Generation Y” to describe certain demographic segments. IBM says “Gadgetiers” are drawn to the latest devices and are interested in participating and controlling the time and place of their media experiences; while “Kool Kids” prefer interactive content and rely heavily on content sharing and social interaction. Enough fine print.

[Via Monsters and Critics and NewTeevee]

Bonus: Here’s a direct link to the IBM study on U.S. consumers. There are also individual reports for the U.K., Japan, Germany and Australia.

Bonus #2. IBM walked around the street with a video camera and asked kids whether they prefer TV or the Internet and the results won’t surprise you.

Technorati Tags: IBM, research, YouTube, online music, mobile TV, mobile video, Internet video

Popularity: 68% [?]

Relatively unknown software company Applian Technologies announced the release of new software that can record Flash and streaming audio. The software, called Replay Media Catcher, lets anyone capture content from sites like MySpace and YouTube.

What’s the legality of this? It’s pretty sketchy. I think that a content provider or digital media company will try to settle this with an injunction and a lawsuit. But the legislative process can take a while. And Applian seems to have a whole suite of products that do this, and they’re not out of business yet.
I haven’t tried it yet. But I will soon. It’s for Windows only and costs $39.95. And yes, there’s a free demo. If you’ve tried this out, please let me know.

From the press release: “Replay Media Catcher is the first-ever production software to be able to capture RTMP Streaming Flash streams used by many of the top-tier content sites,” said Bill Dettering, CEO of Applian Technologies. “These unprotected, unencrypted files have been previously impossible to record for your personal use, and now Replay Media Catcher makes it possible to archive and enjoy more great online video without having to be connected to the Internet.”

Popularity: 12% [?]