Isn’t it ironic? A company puts out a press release with the results of a survey showing that over half of respondents are not familiar with the term IPTV. Yet they themselves don’t know what the term IPTV means.

The survey said that more than half of respondents didn’t know what IPTV meant, yet 92% have watched YouTube.

For the record: YouTube is not IPTV. IPTV means broadcast TV delivered over a managed network (or walled garden) using Internet protocols (IP). Thus the term IPTV. YouTube is Internet video. That’s because it’s delivered over the public Internet. Internet video is just a “best effort” delivery since it’s not managed.

But really, it’s not the fault of the company. The term IPTV is often mis-understood by lots of people. I would have thought, however, that a company doing a survey on Internet video would understand the difference.

Another way to distinguish IPTV from Internet video: IPTV is about delivering linear broadcast TV. The survey talked about Internet user-generated content and YouTube. It’s just not the same, and one way to keep the two sides different is not to mix up the terms.

The company that did the survey, WebsEdge, is a content creator that’s in the business of putting videos on the Internet. However, since they barely understand the difference between IPTV and Internet video, how can their customers? Or a regular consumer?

I had a call with Stephen Horn, the CEO of WebsEdge where he admitted that they may have mixed up the terms. But he held fast to the results of the survey and didn’t think he got anything wrong.

I think the press release and the survey are invalid and don’t make any sense.

It just makes me wonder how companies can put out press releases like this that claim any kind of validity.

I even am beginning to wonder about how the survey was conducted. Did they use scientific methods? The press release simply says:

“The survey, conducted in late 2007 in New York City, asked 225 residents about their attitudes and knowledge of IPTV.”

At the end of the press release it states:

“The survey was conducted in midtown Manhattan, New York.”

What kind of questions did they ask? When I asked Stephen about how the survey was conducted I got a vague answer that they’d get back to me. It’s been a few days, and I still haven’t heard anything about how it was conducted. Did they simply walk up to people in the streets? Who knows.

It doesn’t really matter, really. Yet another reason not to take this “survey” seriously.

Bonus: If you feel like reading it, you can see the PDF of the full press release here.

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I always warn my friends: Don’t buy a DVR! Especially if you’re addicted to TV. Because you’ll never want to leave the house.

That’s my warning to people because I’m addicted to TV. I can watch pretty much anything like random home decorating shows, any given episode of Mythbusters, UFC fights that I know I’ve already watched years ago, countdown shows on VH1 or E! Plus I closely follow lots of prime time shows like American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, 24, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Lost, or Heroes. I barely have time to do anything else.

I bought my first DVR, a Panasonic ShowStopper ReplayTV, around 2002. Immediately, my addiction to TV grew even scarier. I watched shows I never could before. Plus I watched any random show suggested by my DVR. I didn’t care.

So I scoffed when I saw this story saying that DVRs increase prime-time TV viewing by 3%. My viewing overall, has increased, oh, 100% probably.
This data is from Nielsen Media Research, who also found that those that use DVRs the most are middle-income women aged 18 to 49, who record and watch 26 hours of TV a week. The demographic with the fewest uses of DVRs are men 18 to 34.

Other factoids:

• Mid-range users of DVRs watch more TV overall than the average person; about one-third of their TV viewing being time-shifted.
• Light DVR (70 percent of all DVR households) watch less TV than the average viewer. Most in this group have higher incomes (over $100,000 a year) are are likely to own an HDTV set.
• Most recorded shows are top-rated scripted dramas, as well as high profile reality shows
• Heavily recorded daytimes shows are soap operas and talk shows like Oprah.

Other than the 3% increase finding, the second most interesting result from this study is that women use DVRs as much as they do. This is s somewhat surprising since DVRs were initially only for the tech-savvy geeks, which were usually men or those in the tech field. Now, I think this shift in demographics means that DVRs are finally hitting the mainstream. They’re getting easier to use and are more popular, perhaps as more people shift to HDTV.

What do think?

Technorati Tags: DVR, Nielsen, Tivo, HDTV, HD, HD DVR

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According to a report by AccuStream iMedia Research web-based music radio services generated 4.85 billion total listening hours in 2007, a 26% increase over 2006.

The report breaks down listenership by month and hourly usage and includes listening share by site and brand.

According to the report, AOL’s Shoutcast was the top site for Internet music radio, claiming 48% of total listening hours for the year. The next popular brands were Clear Channel Online, Yahoo Music, AOL Radio Networks and Pandora.

• The Internet music radio ad market was worth approximately $92 million in 2007, including $80 million in audio ads; that’s a 194% increase from 2006.
• About $12-$15 million was generated through video ads placed within radio sites.
• The top ten radio sites still captured over 90% of total listening hours monthly.
• Total listening hours averaged 404.2 million hours per month, compared to a 320.5 million hour average in 2006.
• Clear Channel Online had 6–8 minutes per listening hour dedicated to ad inventory

Technorati Tags: Internet radio, web radio, streaming, Shoutcast, AOL Radio, Pandora, Yahoo Music, Clear Channel, AccuStream iMedia Research

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A survey by some company called Ensequence found that TV viewers want to interact with their TVs. In fact, 70% said that they would consider signing up to another TV provider if they offered advanced interactivity at no extra charge. Apparently, people aren’t just talking back to their TVs–they’re searching on-screen guides, viewing on-demand programming or using DVRs.

• 72% of viewers watching reality shows want the opportunity to interact with TV
• 65% said the same of sporting events
• 66% wanted to interact with commercials.

People should get ready for interactivity because it’s coming via IPTV–that’s essentially TV broadcasts delivered over managed IP networks.  Here in the U.S., AT&T and Verizon have been rolling out IPTV services around the country. Verizon’s FiOS TV service is rolling out fiber to customer homes and now has over 1 million subscribers, which is pretty good for a new TV provider. However Verizon is just using IP for their VOD, not for broadcast TV. Essentially, Verizon is just using cable-type delivery for broadcast. AT&T’s U-Verse, on the other hand is using IP for both broadcast TV and VOD.

Adding IP to TV essentially means bringing the Internet to your TV. Imagine a future where viewers will be able to get scrolling tickers, interactive commercials, e-mail on TV, multiple video angles of a sporting event, phone calls on TV screens, and lots more. That’s the promise of IPTV, however neither AT&T or Verizon have added much interactivity yet.

Technorati Tags: interactive TV, survey, research, Ensequence, IPTV, U-Verse, FiOS TV, AT&T, Verizon

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According to ABI Research, there will be 462 million mobile TV users by 2012 driven by the increased use of video, flat rate content plans and speedy 3G networks.

Specifically, the Asia-Pacific region will have the biggest expansion with with more than half of the 462 million mobile TV customers.

“South Korea and Japan will continue to lead worldwide, while some countries in Western Europe will also continue to see strong growth,” Wolf said. “North America will also see some strong uptake as more services become available in 2008 with the launch of AT&T’s MediaFLO service, the continued expansion of Verizon Wireless’ MediaFLO subscriber base and the growth of on-demand mobile video services.”

Bonus: Press release

Technorati Tags: mobile, mobile TV, mobile video, mobile content, ABI Research, research, MediaFlo

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