From Media Life Research
By Diego Vasquez
April 9, 2009

Two weeks ago, Nielsen released a study showing that time spent watching online video was nowhere near as significant as many had thought, with television accounting for 99 percent of screen time. It seems media buyers already knew that. A new study from The Convergence Consulting Group, an Ontario-based media consultant, finds that only a very small percentage of TV dollars are migrating to the internet, and that won’t change much in the coming years. Just 2.4 percent of U.S. broadcast/cable network TV advertising revenue in 2008 came from the internet, and that will rise to 4.6 percent in 2011. What’s more, we may see broadcast and especially cable networks putting fewer shows online for the public and instead walling them off for subscribers in order to protect their sales based on programming revenue. Still, the report predicts that viewers may simply be more interested in DVRs than online viewing anyway, as they can then fast-forward through commercials rather than being forced to watch them, as is the current online model. Convergence predicts that DVRs will be in half of all households by 2011. Brahm Eiley, president of The Convergence Consulting Group, talks to Media Life about growth potential for online TV, why it’s not that promising, and what impact DVRs will have on the marketplace. Read More…

Posted under DVR, Online, Research, TV & Cable