Highlights of 2008 On Demand Study

Marquest Media & Entertainment Research conducted its fifth annual U.S. national On Demand Menu Planner Study in April 2008. 945 persons age 12+ were surveyed to explore interest and usage of On Demand television services, via cable, internet or otherwise, and a variety of other new entertainment and information options. A central feature was examination of On Demand potential for 51 programming genres and 125 television networks.

One respondent per household completed online questionnaires from advanced services households, defined as having one or more of these: broadband Internet, digital cable television or a digital video recorder (DVR).

Marquest estimates that “advanced services households” accounted for approximately 60% of the households in the U.S. at the time of the survey.

These were the principal results:

Menu Planning – 51 Programming Genres

The study evaluated the On Demand order potential for 51 programming genres, whether such programs might be accessed via digital cable, internet or satellite. Marquest has developed a proprietary statistic called the On Demand Score, which takes into account both a survey respondent’s interest in ordering content in a particular genre and that respondent’s interest in using On Demand as a means of accessing that content. This is intended to reduce the effect of respondents scoring content as though it were a simple popularity contest without really considering how they would acquire it. The highest possible score is 100, with any item scoring lower than 1 being considered to have no significant On Demand potential within a reported audience segment.

Results from the 2008 study indicate that movies, recent TV show episodes, crime/police dramas, nature programs and local news/events are likely to perform best as On Demand offerings.
Talent competitions, classic cartoons/animated features and reality shows were the three genres that showed the greatest increases in rank across the 2006 to 2008 surveys in their levels of on-demand access interest.
The three genres with the greatest declines in rank were movies from the 1940s/earlier, movies from the 1950s/1960s and musical theater.

On Demand Scores and indices from the 2008 survey for the 51 programming genres, reported for 25 audience segments, will be found in the full report for the study.

On Demand Attractiveness of Television Networks

Premium channels and the largest broadcast and cable networks dominated the top positions as targets for consumers desiring the networks’ content On Demand.

These were the top 20 networks among the total sample of persons age 12+:

HBO
Discovery Channel
Showtime
ABC-TV
Cinemax
NBC-TV
(tie) CBS-TV/USA Network
TNT
Fox TV Network
Fox Movie Channel
The Movie Channel
Starz
TBS
History
A&E
Comedy Central
National Geographic
Animal Planet
TLC

On Demand Scores and indices from the 2008 survey for 125 networks in 25 audience categories will be found in the full report for the study.

On Demand Usage and Interest

• Interest in On Demand is highest among Persons 12-34, with Adults 55+ having sharply lower interest levels. Persons in above-average income households are more enthused with On Demand.

• Cable On Demand household penetration and incidence of having ever used the technology increased in 2008 compared to the 2007 Marquest study, which had shown increases over 2006.

• Usage of cable On Demand is greatest during the 8 p.m.-11 p.m. primetime hours, followed by the early fringe-primetime access period and late night.

• 81% of persons age 12+ in cable On Demand-enabled households have used the service at least once, with 42% of those users using it at least once per week.

• 20% of persons 12+ across the entire sample reported using the internet at least once per week to watch or download video content.

Real-time Viewing vs. Other Modes

• Linear real-time viewing accounted for 52% of television exposure among persons age 12+, not notably different from 55% in 2007, but down sharply from 63% in 2006.

• In DVR households linear was 37%, comparable to 2007, but down eight percentage points from 2006. At 31%, time-shifted DVR viewing is approaching the linear viewing level among people in those homes.

New Entertainment and Information Options

• Viewing amateur video clips, watching movie trailers, exploring additional material on websites about TV shows and viewing full-length TV shows were the most popular video-related Web uses. One-third reported having viewed full-length TV shows on the internet, up from a little less than one-fourth in 2007.

• While usage of mobile phone information services and video content showed marginal increases from 2007 and 2006, no mobile video application had been used by more than 8% of survey respondents.

Mobile video usage concentrated heavily in the 12-34 age group.
The “Start Over” feature now offered by some cable systems sparked a high level of consumer interest, but using a remote control to gain more information about an advertised product or place an order during a commercial was less attractive.

Additional Topics Covered in the Full Report Include:

Cable On Demand Interest/Penetration/Usage
Internet Video Usage/Interest (multiple content categories, such as full-length TV shows, movies, user-generated clips, etc.)
Mobile Phone Video Usage/Interest (multiple content categories, such as news/sports, short films, music videos, etc.)
Audio Services Usage/Interest (various platform categories, such as internet radio, satellite radio, audio podcasts, etc.)
Interest in routing internet video to TV sets
Perceived suitability of various types of companies as providers of bundled video, voice and data services.

For more information or to inquire about ordering the complete 160-page report, call or send an e-mail:

MARQUEST Media & Entertainment Research

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Beaufort NC 28516-1821

Phone: (252) 728-4047

Toll-free: (800) 381-5847

Fax: (915) 200-1850

E-mail: paul.rule@marquest.net

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