Are DVD rentals by mail on the way out as streaming media becomes more common? Interpret, a market research firm, says that Netflix subscribers using streaming content only increased substantially with TV programs making up a larger proportion of what people are watching.
Interpret’s “2012 for Netflix: Where It Can Succeed and Where It Can Fail,” report analyzes three key factors that will be in play to determine Netflix’s outlook for the year.
The report examines the shifting entertainment consumption trends among Netflix subscribers and how these relate to Netflix’s future strategy.
According to Interpret’s New Media Measure, the share of subscribers that only consume Netflix content via streaming has increased by 72% from the 4th Quarter of 2010 to the 4th Quarter of 2011.
Television has become a larger portion of subscribers’ streaming content, as the number of TV shows they have streamed online has increased 10% over the past year; on the other hand, the number of movies streamed online has decreased 6.4%.
“Netflix’s venture into the world of original programming is a good fit for its television-enthusiastic subscribers,” said Stephanie Sutton, Interpret analyst and author of the report.
“And despite the fact that consumers are streaming fewer movies than a year ago, there is still strong demand for new content. The addition of recent movie releases, along with the current and upcoming original programming, can help Netflix retain customer satisfaction and, more importantly, its customers.”
Click here for more information about this report.
Growing user satisfaction with mobile TV on tablets will push average monthly viewing times to 186 minutes per month in 2014, according to Juniper Research.
The Ideal Device
The report, ‘Mobile TV: Applications, Devices and Opportunities 2012-2016′ finds that as users become more accustomed to viewing content on tablets, and as a wider range of content becomes available on tablets, consumers will increase their viewing times.
This increase will be most apparent in North America where there is already significant mobile TV usage, and where internet TV services such as Hulu and Netflix are extremely popular.
A tablet is the ideal device on which to consume mobile TV content — their large screen sizes and intuitive user interfaces allow almost everyone to browse for and watch content.
We find even the smaller 7-inch size of the Amazon Kindle Fire fine for watching online video – whether full movies or from YouTube or other services. In fact, the first thing we did was watch Eleanor Powell dancing with Fred Astaire on a YouTube video to show it off to a friend. It’s the convenience, portability and ease of use that makes tablets so handy.
Videos generally look great on the small screens, too.
TV Everywhere
Another driver for this growth is the continued integration of mobile services into pay-TV packages. Tablets can offer a richer viewing experience when used alongside traditional television by allowing the user to access supplementary information such as plot synopses and actor biographies. These devices also enable users to view pay-TV content or to watch catch-up services when away from home, extending the reach of traditional TV services.
According to report author Charlotte Miller, ‘Consumers are already accustomed to timeshifting thanks to DVRs such as TiVo and Sky+; what mobile TV allows them to do is placeshift. This allows users to watch their pay-TV content anytime, anywhere and on any device — the TV experience is no longer confined to the home.’
The number of users of streamed mobile TV services on smartphones will increase by 2.8x between 2011 and 2016.
The majority of broadcast mobile TV users will be from the Far East & China.
Subscriptions will make up the vast majority of mobile TV revenues.
The ‘Mobile TV ~ What’s On?’ whitepaper is available to download from the Juniper websitetogether with further details of the full study, ‘Mobile TV: Applications, Devices and Opportunities 2012 – 2016′.
March Madness may be an exciting time for college basketball fans around the country, but it is a stressful season for IT professionals whose job it is to maintain network security and functionality.
In fact, in a recent survey of 500 IT professionals conducted by Braun Research on behalf of Modis, 42 percent of IT professionals say March Madness historically has impacted their network. Of those affected, 37 percent report their networks have slowed down, while 34 percent report March Madness activity has essentially shut down their networks for a period of time.
Starting in the second week of March and extending through the first week of April, March Madness is the NCAA‘s Men’s Division I Basketball Championship. It ranks as one of the most popular annual sporting events in the nation.
Because many games occur during standard business hours, fans often attempt to monitor their favorite teams real-time by watching the games online at work. The increase in web usage can put added stress on the stability and operation of office networks.
Increase in streaming content a problem
In response to the increase in streaming content, some IT departments institute procedures that block or slow down web video. Other IT professionals, specifically those who do not block or slow down/throttle streaming content and video within their organizations (35 percent) say March Madness has impacted their network (55 percent) with 48 percent saying it has slowed it down and 43 percent saying it caused their network to shut down.
“With the increasing popularity and availability of streaming video, it has become easier than ever for workers to watch sports games at their desk—and March Madness is a time when streaming sports content consumption is at an all-time high,” said Jack Cullen, president of Modis.
“It’s an event that boosts office morale and builds camaraderie for many American workers, but it can put a significant burden on office networks, and the IT professionals responsible for maintaining them.”
Many IT departments prepared
Many IT departments are already prepared for the risks March Madness can pose to their network. According to the survey, 65 percent of respondents report their department takes action to hinder or prevent the consumption of streaming video.
This includes blocking streaming content (64 percent), throttling/slowing down streaming content (64 percent), and instituting a company policy that bans streaming (62 percent). Perhaps to help mitigate disappointment among employees, almost half (45 percent) of IT professionals say their company offers workers an alternate location to watch games.
Some other findings include:
IT professionals keep an eye on employees. To protect the office network, 42 percent of respondents say they monitor employees who are trying to access March Madness video streams. A smaller number (27 percent) simply trust employees to be honest and not visit sports sites while at work.
IT departments in different regions handle streaming content differently. Interestingly, IT departments in the South are more likely than those in other regions to not take any action against streaming content (58 percent) compared to the Northeast (14 percent), Midwest (27 percent) and West (26 percent.)
IT professionals’ personal opinions also vary by region. Three in four (75 percent) IT professionals say employees should not be allowed to watch sporting events like March Madness during the workday. When divided by region, IT professionals in the Midwest (49 percent) are less likely to feel this way compared to other regions (96 percent in the Northeast, 79 percent in the South, 75 percent in the West.)
March Madness can be maddening to IT professionals. The preparation, execution, and consideration for March Madness season adds stress to the lives of 29 percent of IT professionals.
Network stability is a key reason for blocking content. Of respondents, 82 percent block streaming content primarily to maintain a stable office IT network, while 71 percent do it to remove any distractions in the workplace.
Networks are vulnerable during other online activities. Throughout the year, there are other key moments and web activities that cause concern for IT professionals. Respondents said networks can be negatively impacted by Cyber Monday/holiday shopping (43 percent), general daily usage of social media sites (42 percent), as well as major tennis championships (37 percent).
The employee/IT relationship is still healthy. Though 54 percent of IT professionals often or sometimes receive feedback from employees complaining about their content-streaming, or specifically March Madness policies, 71 percent still believe employees find their respective content-streaming policy to be fair.
“To ensure that the office network remains operational for the workforce as a whole, IT professionals need to make tough decisions,” said Cullen. “In the end, a fully functioning network with streaming video restrictions is better than no network at all. When users can’t access the web, it’s the IT department who has to be on task to fix the situation.”
The University of Southern California at Los Angeles and M.I.T. are the top two schools for studying video game design.
So says The Princeton Review (www.princetonreview.com) — one of the nation’s best-known education services companies, which today reported its third annual list naming the schools with the best programs to study video game design.
The new list, “Top Schools to Study Video Game Design for 2012,” recommends 50 schools in all. It names 10 undergraduate and 10 graduate schools in rank order to its respective “top 10″ lists and 22 undergraduate and 8 graduate schools as Honorable Mentions. The Company’s full report on the 2012 list is accessible now at http://www.princetonreview.com/game-design.aspx.
The Princeton Review chose the schools based on a comprehensive survey it conducted in the 2011-2012 academic year of administrators at 150 institutions offering video game design coursework and/or degrees in the United States and Canada.
The survey, which included more than 50 questions, covered a wide range of topics from academics and faculty credentials to graduates’ employment and career achievements.
Criteria for The Princeton Review’s school selections covered the quality of the curriculum, faculty, facilities and infrastructure. The Company also factored in data it collected from the schools on their scholarships, financial aid and career opportunities.
The Princeton Review’s top 10 undergraduate schools to study video game design for 2012 are:
University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)
University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT)
DigiPen Institute of Technology (Redmond, WA)
The Art Institute of Vancouver (Vancouver, BC)
Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY)
Shawnee State University (Portsmouth, OH)
Savannah College of Art and Design (Savannah, GA)
University of New Mexico (Albuquerque, NM)
Becker College (Worcester, MA)
The Princeton Review’s top 10 graduate schools to study video game design for 2012 are:
University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)
Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)
Bradley University (Peoria, IL)
Champlain College (Burlington, VT)
Columbia College Chicago (Chicago, IL)
DePaul University (Chicago, IL)
Drexel University (Philadelphia, PA)
Ferris State University (Grand Rapids, MI)
Full Sail University (Winter Park, FL)
Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA)
Miami University (Oxford, OH)
Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI)
New Jersey Institute of Technology (Newark, NJ)
New York University/NYU POLY (New York, NY)
North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC)
Northeastern University (Boston, MA)
Ohio University (Athens, OH)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY)
University of Advancing Technology (Tempe, AZ)
University of California, Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz, CA)
University of Maryland, Baltimore County (Baltimore, MD)
The University of Texas at Dallas (Richardson, TX)
Vancouver Film School (Vancouver, BC)
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester, MA)
DePaul University (Chicago, IL)
Full Sail University (Winter Park, FL)
Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA)
New York University/NYU Poly (New York, NY)
Parsons - The New School for Design (New York, NY)
Sacred Heart University (Fairfield, CT)
The University of Texas at Dallas (Richardson, TX)
University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT)
Visitors to the Princeton Review website area on this list http://www.princetonreview.com/game-design.aspx can access additional information about the schools’ programs and click on links to the schools’ websites.
“Academic and professional programs in video game design studies – from very specialized college majors to highly concentrated graduate degrees – have evolved tremendously over the past 10 years,” said Robert Franek, Princeton Review’s Senior VP/Publisher. “We salute the schools on our list this year for their commitment to this burgeoning field and the innovative programs they offer. For students aspiring to work in this more than $10.5 billion industry and for the companies that will need their creative talents and skills, we hope this project will serve as a catalyst for many rewarding connections.”
The Princeton Review is also known for its annual rankings of colleges, law schools and business schools in dozens of categories which it reports on its website and in its books including The Best 376 Colleges and the recently published book,The Best Value Colleges.
The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University and it is not a magazine.
As TV networks struggle to find the right balance between digital and traditional access to their content, new research from Knowledge Networks, a GfK company, shows that online access wins favor with consumers in ways often overlooked by standard metrics.
The study, TV’s Web Connections 2012, is conducted annually to track the interplay between on-set and online interaction with TV network content.
Topics covered include the use of TV-related (network and program) websites, differences between “streamers” and “downloaders” of TV network content, favorability toward advertisers and sponsors of online TV content, and interaction with that content via social media and smartphone apps.
“The gains from making TV content available online are significant and growing, but they may pass under the radar of traditional metrics,” said David Tice, Senior Vice President (Client Service) at Knowledge Networks and director of The Home Technology Monitor.
“Few advertisers would pass up the chance to be seen more favorably by consumers; yet that benefit may be missed if we are focused solely on metrics such as audience size.”
“To truly understand the ROI of online content, we need subtle, more expansive measures that reach across digital platforms.”
Results from the latest wave of the study – conducted in November 2011 among 1,505 Internet users on KnowledgePanel– indicate that, among streamers and downloaders of TV network video,
42% say the availability of this video makes them think more highly of a TV network – up from 30% in 2008
22% report they would never have watched some shows if they were not accessible online, compared to 10% in 2008
20% say they spent more time watching a network’s content after it became available online, up from 9% in 2008
The new study also shows that, among streamers, TV network sites are the preferred source of network content, cited by 57% of those who watch streaming network video; this compares to 37% who cited non-network sites (such as Hulu) as their preferred source. Downloaders are more likely than streamers (30% versus 20%) to say that they spend more time watching TV network content after it becomes available online.
Finally, according to the study, the availability of online TV network video – full episodes or clips – is the best website feature for increasing program involvement and sponsor consideration.
If content is King, then distribution of that content is King Kong, says Grab Media’s CEO Alvin Bowles.
Dulles, VA-based Grab Media, formerly Grab Networks, evolved from from the merger of Anystream and Voxant in September of 2008.
Grab Media is a leading premium video distribution company. It connects premium video content from a wide collection of professional sources and brand-name advertisers to ideal viewers. Marketers rely on Grab Media to position their message in front of large-scale, engaged audiences, so they can focus on brand promotion.
The company is one of 60 innovative firms presenting to investors representing billions in capital at the Southeast Venture Conference today (Feb. 29) and tomorrow (March 1) at Tysons Corner, VA. Bowles says the company is interested in strategic relationships, not just raising growth capital. “We can go bigger,” he says.
The 32-employee company has an overall audience 350 million video views by 27 million uniques a month from 80 to 100 million short video streams and was cited as the second fastest growing online video firm by comScore last year.
The company gets video content from180 media firms such as Martha Stewart, Yahoo and Conde Nast. It uses only professionally produced short videos – no user created content.
It provides 140,000 Web sites with a one-line of code video player to stream relevant content with advertising from movie firms, HBO, and other clients. “We stream the right content on the right site next to the right advertising,” Bowles says. It shares revenue from the advertising with the video producers and the publishers.
The whole concept is similar to TV syndication of shows, in which a station licenses content and sells advertising against it.
“The value proposition is about engagement, selling contextual relevance, behaviorial targeting and psychographic profiling,” Bowles says. Any ordinary content – sports, weather, news – is enhanced by video, he notes.
No squirrels on skates
He emphasizes that he’s not talking about “The squirrel on skates running across your living room” variety of user produced videos. “People will watch professionally produced video,” he says. “Whether they’re video-snacking or watching full-length shows.”
That’s why Google’s YouTube, Netflix, and others are launching original content channels.
It’s a huge market – estimated at $3 billion a year, with great growth potential, particularly in mobile. “Mobile is the only medium where there is more ad demand for quality content than there is supply.”
Only a few people are doing video the right way, Bowles says. What is the right way?
Thinking about adding online video to your marketing mix? Ydraw offers these five tips for creating successful Video Marketing content:
Inform a Customer: Demonstrate products and services that are provided. Explain and informed customers are much more likely to invest in a product when they completely understand it.
Testimonial Friendly: Always use testimonials from clients and fans, rating the company for experience, telling how the company has helped them and changed their lives, and comparing other companies.
Introduce Staff: This can create a great bond with customers, especially if they are cartoon based, like the animations in video scribing, where everything is introduced in a fun environment, making a company seem warm and inviting with personality and a sense of humor.
Call to Action: Add a process for customers to get to know how to connect with a company for more information, and what the next step would be for them to interact.
Relax: Make the video script relaxing, do not make it too complicated, and try to keep it brief. Make sure to have two or three key points in a video, ones that are most important to the company above all else, and keep it simple.
Video marketing is becoming increasingly popular with the online population, and will continue to do so for many years. Creating a successful video marketing strategy is crucial for any small business eager to succeed.
Ydraw specializes in making amazing Whiteboard Animation Videos, where artists explain topics by going through the process of sketching art right before the viewer’s eyes.
The average volume of video traffic on mobile networks has risen by 10 percentage points since this time last year – up to 50% from 40%. In certain networks, video traffic is up to 69% of total traffic, according to the Bytemobile, Inc., Mobile Analytics Report.
Also, while the average subscriber uses YouTube and Facebook for roughly the same amount of time – about nine minutes per session – YouTube generates a staggering 350 times more traffic.
“The report also demonstrates very clearly that carriers use optimization techniques to keep up with exploding traffic demand, while continuing to deliver a superior user experience.”
iPad users gobble bandwidth
According to Bytemobile’s report, an iPad user generates three times the data traffic that an iPhone subscriber does.’
Also of note, mobile social networking is taking off, as smartphone users spend an average of 4.57 minutes per session on Twitter, 8.51 minutes per session on YouTube and 9.06 minutes per session on Facebook.
The report also shows that a majority of traffic generated by iOS devices – 83% – comes from just three native Apple apps – Media Player, Safari and App Store/iTunes, at 47%, 21% and 15%, respectively. The single most used app is Safari, which accounts for over 60% of transactions between the device and the network.
Android devices generate more advertising transactions and corresponding data volume on mobile networks than iOS devices. In addition, Google is far and away the most dominant source of mobile data traffic produced by advertisements, with an average of 75% of the total ad-generated data.
Traffic and the User Experience
“Our latest Mobile Analytics Report substantiates anecdotal evidence that demand for mobile content continues to grow. As devices continue to get smarter – with faster processors, more memory and bigger, sharper screens – content consumption, particularly video, continues to grow aggressively,” said Chris Koopmans, chief operating officer, Bytemobile.
“The report also demonstrates very clearly that carriers use optimization techniques to keep up with exploding traffic demand, while continuing to deliver a superior user experience.”
The findings in the Mobile Analytics Report are generated from Smart Capacity™ Mobile Analytics, Bytemobile’s mobile data traffic reporting solution.
The Mobile Analytics Report anonymously sources data traffic statistics from the 3G and 4G networks of Bytemobile’s global tier-one customer base and provides insight into the current state of the mobile ecosystem. Its findings have been cited widely by industry market research firms and the media.
Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in January with 152 million unique viewers, followed by VEVO with 51.5 million, Yahoo! Sites with 49.2 million, Viacom Digital with 48.1 million and Facebook.com with 45.1 million.
Nearly 40 billion videos views occurred during the month, with Google Sites generating the highest number at 18.6 billion, followed by Hulu with 877 million and VEVO with 717 million. The average viewer watched 22.6 hours of online video content, with Google Sites (7.5 hours) and Hulu (3.2 hours) demonstrating the highest average engagement among the top ten properties.
Top U.S. Online Video Content Properties Ranked by Unique Video Viewers January 2012 Total U.S. – Home and Work Locations Content Videos Only (Ad Videos Not Included) Source: comScore Video Metrix
Property
Total Unique Viewers (000)
Videos (000)*
Minutes per Viewer
Total Internet : Total Audience
181,115
39,995,849
1,354.7
Google Sites
151,989
18,633,743
448.7
VEVO
51,499
716,608
62.2
Yahoo! Sites
49,215
538,260
57.4
Viacom Digital
48,104
507,046
58.0
Facebook.com
45,135
248,941
22.0
Microsoft Sites
41,491
558,017
51.3
AOL, Inc.
40,991
419,783
51.4
Hulu
31,383
877,388
189.0
Amazon Sites
27,906
86,705
19.7
NBC Universal
27,096
95,034
17.2
*A video is defined as any streamed segment of audiovisual content, including both progressive downloads and live streams. For long-form, segmented content, (e.g. television episodes with ad pods in the middle) each segment of the content is counted as a distinct video stream.
Top 10 Video Ad Properties by Video Ads Viewed
Americans viewed 5.6 billion video ads in January, with Hulu delivering the highest number of video ad impressions at 1.4 billion. Adap.tv ranked second overall (and highest among video ad exchanges/networks) with 652 million ad views, followed by BrightRoll Video Network with 598 million, Tremor Video with 580 million and Specific Media with 398 million.
Time spent watching video ads totaled more than 2.3 billion minutes during the month, with Hulu delivering the highest duration of video ads at 540 million minutes. Video ads reached 47 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 38 times during the month. Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 43, while ESPN delivered an average of 20 ads per viewer.
Top U.S. Online Video Ad Properties Ranked by Video Ads* Viewed January 2012 Total U.S. – Home and Work Locations Ad Videos Only (Content Videos Not Included) Source: comScore Video Metrix
Property
Video Ads (000)
Total Ad Minutes (MM)
Frequency (Ads per Viewer)
% Reach Total U.S. Population
Total Internet : Total Audience
5,558,261
2,329
38.4
47.3
Hulu
1,446,618
540
43.1
11.0
Adap.tv†
651,531
395
10.8
19.8
BrightRoll Video Network**
598,353
370
6.1
32.3
Tremor Video**
580,302
314
12.6
15.0
Specific Media**
397,941
187
5.6
23.2
Auditude, Inc.**
386,702
151
9.7
13.1
Microsoft Sites
385,581
149
11.2
11.2
SpotXchange Video Ad Marketplace**
356,755
207
10.3
11.3
ESPN
343,801
131
20.0
5.6
Viacom Digital
286,024
123
12.8
7.3
*Video ads include streaming-video advertising only and do not include other types of video monetization, such as overlays, branded players, matching banner ads, homepage ads, etc. **Indicates video ad network †Indicates video ad exchange
Top 10 YouTube Partner Channels by Unique Viewers
The January 2012 YouTube partner data revealed that video music channels VEVO (50.6 million viewers) and Warner Music (29.7 million viewers) maintained the top two positions. Gaming channel Machinima ranked third with 23.8 million viewers, followed by Maker Studios Inc. with 12.5 million, FullScreen with 11.6 million and Big Frame with 8.2 million. Among the top 10 YouTube partners, VEVO demonstrated the highest engagement (62 minutes per viewer) and highest number of videos viewed (696 million), while Machinima exhibited the second highest engagement (60 minutes per viewer) and number of videos viewed (347 million).
Top YouTube Partner Channels* Ranked by Unique Video Viewers January 2012 Total U.S. – Home and Work Locations Content Videos Only (Ad Videos Not Included) Source: comScore Video Metrix
Property
Total Unique Viewers (000)
Videos (000)
Minutes per Viewer
VEVO @ YouTube
50,563
695,947
61.8
Warner Music @ Youtube
29,718
187,672
27.5
Machinima @ YouTube
23,799
347,380
60.4
Maker Studios Inc. @ YouTube
12,505
135,301
47.4
FullScreen @ YouTube
11,579
50,292
17.6
Big Frame @ YouTube
8,167
42,106
18.8
BroadbandTV @ YouTube
8,016
29,695
15.8
Bigpoint @ YouTube
7,864
43,146
21.1
Blizzard @ YouTube
7,572
13,021
4.1
Demand Media @ YouTube
7,296
19,804
9.4
*YouTube Partner Reporting based on online video content viewing and does not include claimed user-generated content
Other notable findings from January 2012 include:
84.4 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
The duration of the average online content video was 6.1 minutes, while the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes.
Video ads accounted for 12.2 percent of all videos viewed and 0.9 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online.
Social media trends are evolving as I write. Convergence, the “cult of influence,” social television, and what seems like a new major player in the social media field every month, among them.
I just joined Pinterest, latest of the hot social startups out there (so, we hear, did Facebook founder/CEO Mark Zuckerberg. He’s been active on the new site for about seven weeks. He liked a colorful photo of lemons and his three pins include the movies “Bridesmaids” and “Moneyball.”
I found Pinterest useful right away, perhaps because a handful of my Facebook friends who already share numerous interests with me are already on the site and pinning away.
I’m finding Google+ useful for insight into tech, marketing, social media, and other topics, although it is a less personal social site for me, at least. Facebook, of course, remains the mainstay of actual social interaction with friends for me. How about you?
Twitter always steers me to a browser bar full of links that interest me, but again, it is as useful to me professionally, or more so, than it is personally. It is continually interesting to see how some celebrities use Twitter, though. For a while, movie director Kevin Smith, who has a new show called “Comic Book Men,” made Twitter almost a second career for a while. You may recall his dustup with an airline that removed him from a flight for being too fat.
I haven’t gotten into social TV much yet, but it’s obviously coming down the media superhighway at high speed, whether people use connected sets or second screens.
Last night I was checking out free videos available from Amazon Prime on my Kindle Fire tablet. My widescreen TV was on with the sound muted as I checked out an old “Star Trek” episode and then an NPR documentary about Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency. I could as easily have watched the videos on the TV set. But a new study shows that when it comes to watching TV, the big screen doesn’t always win.
A new study of over 1,400 consumers, from market research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey, uncovers major changes in how people are watching TV and movies, and the choices they make when it comes to the content they watch online.
Once the domain of early adopters, more than half (54%) of all consumers have already tried alternatives to pay TV (i.e. Netflix, Apple TV, or a network’s website).
An even greater shift is expected, with 16% of all pay TV customers saying they are likely to reduce their level of pay TV service in the next year. In addition to the notable findings below, a summary report is available for download from Chadwick Martin Bailey’s website.
This study finds consumers of all stripes would adopt online TV viewing more broadly once providers develop a simple, reliable, and cost effective solution. According to this study, many of the prerequisites for this shift are already in place.
The biggest screen doesn’t always win, even at home. Core viewing behaviors are changing; 63% of people who recently watched TV on a tablet say they used a tablet even though they had access to a television with the very same content availabl
Streaming content is not only acceptable, it’s preferred. If mainstream consumers had an attachment to physically owning their content, they’re losing it. Respondents found streaming video twice as appealing as downloading and storing content on their own devices.
All of this is happening in the midst of a cost-cutting consumer mindset. Cost concerns came up again and again in the findings, as the main reason for dropping pay TV, for cutting back on pay TV, and for never signing up for pay TV in the first place. Even 1 in 5 of pay TV’s most valuable subscribers (highest ARPU) say they are likely to cut back in the year ahead.
Online viewing is already more common than one might think. Over half of all consumers, not just early adopters, have gotten a taste of viewing TV and/or movies online via services like Netflix, Apple TV, Hulu, or a network website.
“These findings show every part of the consumer TV and movie watching experience is up for grabs,” says Jon Giegengack, Director at Chadwick Martin Bailey. “In the digital music revolution, the primary shift was in how music was bought and stored. When it comes to TV and movies, everything has the potential to change: whom consumers buy from; how much they pay (if they pay at all); and the range of times and places offering viewing opportunities.”
“Consumers are ready to embrace a new method of accessing TV content,” agrees Peter Fondulas, CMB’s co-author on the project. “They’ve got motive, they’ve got interest, and a majority have already begun kicking the tires. What’s missing now is the right platform and offer—something easy to use, understandable, reliable, and affordable. Various players are working hard to come up with that solution; as we learned from the music industry, the first one to offer it effectively will be in an extremely strong position.”
Facebook-led social media are redefining communication, Bing is gaining ground in search, brand dollars are shifting to online, the video boom, and rise of the smartphone and tablet markets are among the trends examined in digital measurement firm comScore’s new 2012 U.S. Digital Future in Focus report.
“2012 promises to be an exciting year for the digital media industry as the explosion of available content and proliferation of web-enabled devices drive the evolution of the digital consumer, creating new opportunities and challenges for the entire digital ecosystem,” said Linda Abraham, comScore CMO and EVP of Global Product Development.
“In order to be successful in this new paradigm, digital marketers must understand the key trends shaping the current marketplace and what that means for the future of their businesses.”
Key insights from the 2012 U.S. Digital Future in Focus include:
Facebook-Led Social Media Market is Redefining Communication in the Digital and Physical Worlds
Social Networking accounted for 16.6 percent of all online minutes at the end of 2011 and is on track to surpass Portals as the most engaging online activity in 2012. Facebook continues to lead as the driving force behind this shift in consumer behavior, accounting for the largest share of online minutes across the entire web in 2011.
Bing Gains Ground in Search
Although Google maintains a strong lead in the U.S. search market, one of the most notable stories in search in 2011 was Bing’s positive growth trajectory. Bing closed out the year by surpassing Yahoo! for the #2 position among core search engines for the first time in its history, bolstered in part by its social search partnership with Facebook implemented in early 2011.
Online Video Boom Signals Sea Change in Video Ecosystem
Online video viewing witnessed impressive gains across a variety of measures in 2011, signaling a behavioral shift in how Americans are consuming video content. More than 100 million Americans watched online video content on an average day to close out 2011, representing a 43-percent increase versus year ago.
Digital Advertising Enters Era of Increased Accountability as Brand Dollars Continue to Shift Online
A staggering 4.8 trillion display ad impressions were delivered across the U.S. web in 2011 as brand advertisers continued to shift dollars to the digital medium. This shift in ad dollars has magnified the need for greater transparency and accountability in ad delivery across the digital advertising ecosystem.
Smartphone and Tablets Fuel the Rise of the Digital Omnivore
The rise of smartphones and tablets has drastically altered consumers’ digital media consumption. In 2011, the majority of all mobile phone owners consumed mobile media on their device, marking an important milestone in the evolution of mobile from primarily a communication device to also a content consumption tool. At the end of the year, more than 8 percent of all digital traffic was consumed beyond the ‘classic web’ via devices such as smartphones and tablets.
E-Commerce is Back and Better Than Ever
Despite the backdrop of continued economic uncertainty, 2011 was a strong year for retail e-commerce. Throughout the year, growth rates versus the prior year remained in double-digits to significantly outpace growth at brick-and-mortar retail. Total U.S. retail and travel-related e-commerce reached $256 billion in 2011, up 12 percent from 2010.
Amazon.com is planning a video subscription service to compete with Netflix, according to Reuters.
The news service reports that Amazon Inc. is about to disclose a web video deal with Viacom Inc. that is one of the final steps in its move to compete with the Netflix streaming video service.
Viacom owns TV shows and movies from MTV, Nickelodeon and Parmount Studios.
Amazon has already inked deals for its Prime Instant Video service with CEBS, Time Warner, News Corp.’s Fox, Sony, Coimcast’s NBC Universal and Walt Disney.
We purchased Amazon’s $79 Prime service after our Kindle Fire free trial ran out. We’ve found the free video offerings thin and the $1.99 an episode pricing for TV shows a bit much. We can rent a DVD with 2-4 shows for that or less at the local Blockbuster across the street. The Prime books you can borrow free are similarly very limited. The free tw0-day shipping is nice, don’t know if it’s worth $79 a year.
Still, Amazon is hot to create a separate stand alone video service available to non-Prime members.
Amazon says the number of videos bought or rented from Amazon Instant Video downloads doubled in the 4th quarter of 2011.
Lots of firms are vying for your video streaming dollars. Others getting into the lucrative video streaming market include Verizon, which has formed a joint venture with Coinstar Inc.s Redbox kiosk rental service to offer streaming and DVD rentals by year’s end.
Google Inc. also has plans for a video streaming service.
Facebook is expected to file for a $5 billion (or more) IPO this week, reports saying sometime today (Wednesday, Feb. 1). Here a Forbes video rundown on the possibility of the most anticipated IPO of the year and likely to be one of the largest in history:
AOL sees 10 percent gains in ad revenue
Is AOL finally on the right track? The one-time major force in the Internet world has had a rough time for years now. CEO Tim Armstrong’s strategy of making it a media powerhouse with ad revenue replacing its once lucrative Internet access business.
The company reported a Q4 2011 increase in ad revenue of 10 percent, primarily from gains provided by Patch, it’s local news blog effort. Still, the company saw its overall revenue drop 3 percent to $576.8 million, from $596 million in the same period last year.
It’s big acquisitions have not fared so well. It’s $315 million acquisition of The Huffington Post and $25 million TechCrunch buy have not proved all that wise so far. After TechCrunch’s founder Michael Arrington and some of its top talent departed, the site lost much of its bite and luster, it seems to us. Huffington Post has serious competition from The Daily Beast, which we like better, personally.
An old law, the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), prohibits companies like Netflix or Blockbuster from sharing a person’s movie-rental history. Although the House passed an updated version of VPPA, some Senate Democrats are balking at allowing streaming media services such as Netflix to share user rental histories on social media such as Facebook.
Those questioning the wisdom of passing the updated House bill include Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who also authored the 1988 VPPA act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) that drew enough protests to halt its progress. Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) chair of the subcommittee hearing considering the revised House bill, questioned the bill’s clarity.
From some of the things we’ve read that Sen. Leahy has said in regard to the SOPA and PITA acts, we’re not sure he doesn’t need a remedial course in digital technologies and the Internet economy.
You can hear Marc Randolph, co-founder of Netflix, in person at the upcoming 2012 Southeast Venture Conference in Tysons Corner, VA, Feb. 29-March 1.
Is social media a waste of time? If it is, we’re wasting a lot of it. Nielsen reports that Americans spend more time on Facebook than on any other site, Twitter has sparked and nurtured global revolutions, and Google+ is forging ahead.
Schools.com, though, says social media is not a waste of time and created this infographic to show why:
Despite the brouhaha last year over Netflix splitting its streaming and DVD rental services, effectively doubling the cost of having both, the company posted better than expected Q4 results this week.
Netflix needed the boost. It saw its stock price slide 60 percent after the price hike and a failed attempt to split itself into two companies last year.
But Netflix earned revenue of $876 million in Q4, compared with $596 million in the same period the year before, although net earnings actually dropped to $41 million or 73 cents a share compared with $47 million and 87 cents a share a year ago.
Despite a loss of 800,000 subscribers in Q3, the company saw Q4 subscriber numbers rise to 24.4 million, up from 23.7 million last year.
The company faces competition from Amazon, Hulu, and other streaming video sources.
We find Netflix particularly useful to watch those novelistic TV series, especially when they’re available to stream. We caught Downton Abbey, Spartacus, and a bevy of older BBC productions that way.
You can hear Marc Randolph, co-founder of Netflix, at the upcoming Southeastern Venture Conference, Tysons Corner, VA, Feb. 29-March 1.
The first-ever comprehensive study on how consumers embrace video in a retail context, reveals that many of the common perceptions about how video is used in shopping are actually incorrect.
Conducted by Invodo, a full-service video partner for businesses, in partnership with the e-tailing group led by President Lauren Freedman, the research shows consumers care more about the quality and content of the video than the actual length of the clip – a departure from the widely accepted notion that retail-related videos should stick to approximately 30 seconds in length.
The results demonstrate consumers expect video as part of their shopping experience, and rely on it when making purchase decisions.“Up until now, retailers have had to make decisions about video without getting information from the most important stakeholder – their customers”
“Up until now, retailers have had to make decisions about video without getting information from the most important stakeholder – their customers,” said Craig Wax, CEO of Invodo.
More effective video insights
“In learning from consumers themselves, it’s clear that shoppers are comfortable with video, they watch it when they find it, and it can play a significant role in the buying process. This research delivers powerful insight that will help us create even stronger and more effective video content for our clients.”
In a surprising turn, Invodo’s survey revealed that a variety of common assumptions about video are off-base, as video is far more critical in aiding purchasing decisions than previously shown:
Myth: 30-seconds is the sweet spot for video; shoppers will abandon videos after a certain time because they have very short attention spans.
What the research shows: Length of videos doesn’t matter as much as the quality and type does. People don’t abandon a video because it’s gone past a certain time; they abandon the video when it’s not telling them something that’s useful for their decision-making. Videos that educate and demonstrate are given the greatest attention and consumers will watch them multiple times prior to purchasing a product.
Over a third of consumers (37%) spend more than three minutes watching product videos that educate or demonstrate.
66% of consumers watch videos on information-intensive products two or more times.
Myth: The use of video on websites is a -nice-to-have- feature to help improve the user experience.
What the research shows: Video plays a significant role and is a more important investment than many brands realize, given how much of an impact it has on purchasing decisions. Shoppers want, expect and watch videos to increase their understanding of a product or service they’re considering buying, and to feel more confident about their purchase.
66% of consumers report seeing a product demonstrated in a video makes it much easier for them to understand how it really works.
52% of consumers shared that watching a product video before purchasing an item online makes them more confident in their decision and less likely to return that product.
Myth: More casual, YouTube-style, videos produced in-house can be seen as authentic, and are effective in building credibility and demonstrating products.
What the research shows: Professionally-produced videos with quality lighting and sound matter a lot to shoppers. Consumers appreciate high quality video production, and professionally generated videos receive greater engagement and are seen as more reliable when making purchase decisions.
More than half of consumers (54%) cited a preference for watching more “polished” professionally produced videos.
While only 30% of respondents indicated they were inclined to buy a product as a result of watching user-generated videos from peers, more than 47% of consumers called professionally produced videos “more reliable” in helping make purchase decisions.
Russ Somers, director of marketing for Invodo, and the e-tailing group’s Freedman will present key findings from the study and release the full report during a webinar on Wednesday, February 8, 2012. The webinar, entitled “Captivating Consumers through Cross-Channel Video,” will highlight insights uncovered by the study and what the implications are for online and multichannel merchants. To register to attend, visit: http://bit.ly/CaptivateConsumersWebinar.
As video technology is being used by retailers and brand manufacturers to inform, entertain, educate and aid in selling product, the goal of the survey was to understand current product video consumption habits and the role these videos play in consumers’ online browsing and buying behaviors. The study explores data from a November 2011 online survey conducted by the e-tailing group, which was fielded to 1,039 consumers (50% female / 50% male) who have watched product videos on retail or brand manufacturer websites.
To learn more about how brands are using video, and to see examples of videos created by Invodo, visit www.invodo.com.
Usage of the term “big data” has exploded online, according a Cutsomer Relationships Metrics study, but despite the buzz, a lack of workers with the skills needed analyze big data, it’s tough turning it into business action that drives results.
The study was conducted by analysts at Customer Relationship Metrics using Nielsen McKinsey’s NM Incite technology, which collects user-generated content from over 180 million sites worldwide, including blogs, message boards, usenet groups, Twitter, Facebook and Video/Image sites (e.g., Youtube, Flickr).
“Ironically, use of the term big data grew significantly in mid-2011 when McKinsey & Co. issued its seminal research report Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity. The report warned of a growing shortage of talent to leverage big data and make decisions based on data trends.”
Virtually unheard of at the beginning of 2010, big data has quickly become one of the hottest buzzwords in IT circles. In the past three months, big data was the topic of discussion over 20,000 times per month in the press, blogs, and social networks, as measured by NM Incite. See accompanying chart.
Big Data? Big Problems!
But here’s the rub: even world-class enterprises are struggling with getting real value from big data, solely because knowledgeable workers are in short supply: those with the skills necessary to analyze and understand what the data is saying; translate the data into real business action that drives bottom-line results; and communicate recommendations to senior executives.
Dr. Jodie Monger, founder and president of Customer Relationship Metrics, said, “Right now, big data is nothing more than a buzzword. Everyone in IT knows that the enterprise cannot afford to overlook the massive data sets they create. They know that these data sets contain a plethora of information that can help them better serve their customers. But nobody knows how to actually reach this Holy Grail.”
Dr. Monger continued, “Ironically, use of the term big data grew significantly in mid-2011 when McKinsey & Co. issued its seminal research report Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity. The report warned of a growing shortage of talent to leverage big data and make decisions based on data trends.”
Big Problems? Big Solution!
So enterprises are caught in a jam: they need to analyze and act on data trends, but don’t have people who can do the job. Increasingly, these enterprises are outsourcing the job to Customer Relationship Metrics.
Dr. Monger continued, “Customer Relationship Metrics serves many of the most recognizable consumer brands on the planet. We help these companies dig deep into their data, spotting trends that emerge from daily interactions with customers through call centers, email dialogues, chat functions, and social media interactions.”
By focusing on data embedded within real customer interactions, companies can easily identify those service issues which lead to the most customer dissatisfaction. Once these problems are fixed, reputation grows and customer satisfaction increases organically.
Dr. Monger added, “Analyzing big data can be overwhelming. But we make it simple for customers by pointing our solutions at the most meaningful data sets that can deliver the most significant customer service results in the quickest timeframe possible. We eliminate blind alleys and avoid time and resource vampires, while making big data solutions easy to implement.”
Big Data as a Managed Service
Customer Relationship Metrics is a SaaS-based end-to-end big data solution. It includes data integration, software, and analytics that can be up and running within 60 days.
Dr. Monger concluded, “Deployment is where big-data-based BI solutions break down most frequently. Custom solutions and complex software development timelines mean delays, cost overruns, and intense frustration across the chain of command. By structuring our solution as a managed service, we deliver real value from big data and business intelligence in an abbreviated timeframe, with no significant capital costs. That’s a win/win for all involved.”
In just the first weeks of its release, 15,135 Android apps have been created using Andromo – the free online ‘App Maker for Everyone’. Ease-of-use, advanced functions, and reliable app production are driving Andromo’s popularity. To date, 17,495 people have signed up to make Android apps using the service.
Andromo is a Web 2.0 cloud service for creating Android apps without having to be a programming genius.
Users can customize the appearance of their apps and add features by picking and choosing from a list of popular activities, like RSS feeds (Twitter, Facebook, WordPress, Blogger etc), interactive maps, Flickr photo galleries, websites, HTML 5/Javascript pages, YouTube videos, custom pages, music players, soundboards and more.
Andromo then builds a professional Android app that can be uploaded to the Android Market – and seen by millions of people searching for Android apps.
With over 700,000 Android devices being activated each day, apps are an ideal way to reach a large audience.
Small business owners realize that apps are necessary to stay competitive, and offer huge advantages such as free advertising and a way to communicate with customers.
Entrepreneurs can make money by turning their original ideas into apps and posting them in the Android Market. By eliminating the need to know how to program or hire an expert, Andromo makes it possible for anyone to make their own app.
“Signups at http://www.andromo.com have literally been doubling in the past few weeks, even though we’re still in beta. People find it very easy to use, and love the fact that Andromo makes pro-quality Android apps – with real Android looks and features,” says Andromo founder, Colin Adams.
“We’re already seeing some really successful apps showing up in the Android Market that were made with Andromo – apps with hundreds of thousands of installs. It’s great to see what people are coming up with.”
While still in beta release, Andromo is producing market-tested apps today. New features and functions continue to be added.
Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in December with 157.2 million unique viewers, while VEVO ranked second with 53.7 million, according to digital measurement firm comScore.
Yahoo! Sites ranked third with 53.3 million viewers, followed by Viacom Digital with 45.8 million and Facebook.com with 42 million.
More than 43 billion videos views occurred during the month, with Google Sites generating the highest number at 21.9 billion. The average viewer watched 23.2 hours of online video content, with Google Sites (7.9 hours) and Hulu (3 hours) demonstrating the highest average engagement among the top ten properties.
Top U.S. Online Video Content Properties Ranked by Unique Video Viewers December 2011 Total U.S. – Home and Work Locations Content Videos Only (Ad Videos Not Included) Source: comScore Video Metrix
Property
Total Unique Viewers (000)
Videos (000)*
Minutes per Viewer
Total Internet : Total Audience
181,669
43,472,412
1,389.8
Google Sites
157,188
21,897,734
471.9
VEVO
53,674
801,334
68.0
Yahoo! Sites
53,328
630,605
61.0
Viacom Digital
45,764
506,140
57.5
Facebook.com
42,024
238,671
23.9
Microsoft Sites
41,133
587,842
44.8
AOL, Inc.
40,375
451,496
55.1
Hulu
31,242
776,999
181.2
Amazon Sites
27,818
95,444
17.4
Turner Digital
26,692
211,662
27.3
*A video is defined as any streamed segment of audiovisual content, including both progressive downloads and live streams. For long-form, segmented content, (e.g. television episodes with ad pods in the middle) each segment of the content is counted as a distinct video stream.
Top 10 Video Ad Properties by Video Ads Viewed
Americans viewed 7.1 billion video ads in December, with Hulu generating the highest number of video ad impressions at nearly 1.5 billion, followed by Adap.tv in second with 1.1 billion. Tremor Video ranked third with 942 million, followed by BrightRoll Video Network with 872 million and Specific Media with 496 million.
Time spent watching video ads totaled more than 3 billion minutes during the month, with Adap.tv delivering the highest duration of video ads at 636 million minutes. Video ads reached 51 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 46 times during the month. Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 46.
Top U.S. Online Video Ad Properties Ranked by Video Ads* Viewed December 2011 Total U.S. – Home and Work Locations Ad Videos Only (Content Videos Not Included) Source: comScore Video Metrix
Property
Video Ads (000)
Total Ad Minutes (MM)
Frequency (Ads per Viewer)
% Reach Total U.S. Population
Total Internet : Total Audience
7,115,272
3,009
45.6
51.4
Hulu
1,493,649
621
46.1
10.7
Adapt.tv†
1,116,051
636
13.8
26.7
Tremor Video**
941,875
525
16.8
18.5
BrightRoll Video Network**
872,188
536
7.9
36.4
Specific Media**
495,869
235
6.1
27.0
Videology**
455,733
256
8.1
18.6
AOL, Inc.
330,446
212
7.6
14.3
Undertone**
311,226
150
10.3
9.9
Auditude, Inc.**
309,981
136
8.7
11.7
Microsoft Sites
297,531
119
10.4
9.4
*Video ads include streaming-video advertising only and do not include other types of video monetization, such as overlays, branded players, matching banner ads, homepage ads, etc. **Indicates video ad network †Indicates video ad exchange
Top 10 YouTube Partner Channels by Unique Viewers
The December 2011 YouTube partner data revealed that video music channels VEVO (53.5 million viewers) and Warner Music (31.7 million viewers) maintained the top two positions. Gaming channel Machinima ranked third with 22.7 million viewers, followed by Maker Studios with 10.4 million, FullScreen with 9.7 million and Big Frame with 8.3 million.
Among the top 10 YouTube partners, VEVO demonstrated the highest engagement (67 minutes per viewer) and highest number of videos viewed (782 million), while Machinima exhibited the second highest engagement (64 minutes per viewer) and number of videos viewed (340 million).
Top YouTube Partner Channels* Ranked by Unique Video Viewers December 2011 Total U.S. – Home and Work Locations Content Videos Only (Ad Videos Not Included) Source: comScore Video Metrix
Property
Total Unique Viewers (000)
Videos (000)
Minutes per Viewer
VEVO @ YouTube
53,464
782,292
66.9
Warner Music @ Youtube
31,665
206,538
29.2
Machinima @ YouTube
22,737
340,057
63.9
Maker Studios @ YouTube
10,404
81,115
29.7
FullScreen @ YouTube
9,698
41,523
18.1
Big Frame @ YouTube
8,336
43,418
19.3
Collective @ YouTube
7,328
59,485
24.6
Demand Media @ YouTube
7,299
19,646
9.3
IGN @ YouTube
6,967
28,035
17.5
Bigpoint @ YouTube
5,772
29,015
19.8
*YouTube Partner Reporting based on online video content viewing and does not include claimed user-generated content
Other notable findings from December 2011 include:
85.3 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
The duration of the average online content video was 5.8 minutes, while the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes.
Video ads accounted for 14.1 percent of all videos viewed and 1.2 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online.
Are DVD rentals by mail on the way out as streaming media becomes more common? Interpret, a market research firm, says that Netflix subscribers using streaming content only increased substantially with TV programs making up a larger proportion of what people are watching.
Growing user satisfaction with mobile TV on tablets will push average monthly viewing times to 186 minutes per month in 2014, according to Juniper Research.
March Madness may be an exciting time for college basketball fans around the country, but it is a stressful season for IT professionals whose job it is to maintain network security and functionality.
The University of Southern California at Los Angeles and M.I.T. are the top two schools for studying video game design.
As TV networks struggle to find the right balance between digital and traditional access to their content, new research from Knowledge Networks, a GfK company, shows that online access wins favor with consumers in ways often overlooked by standard metrics.
It provides 140,000 Web sites with a one-line of code video player to stream relevant content with advertising from movie firms, HBO, and other clients. “We stream the right content on the right site next to the right advertising,” Bowles says. It shares revenue from the advertising with the video producers and the publishers.
Thinking about adding online video to your marketing mix? Ydraw offers these five tips for creating successful 
The average volume of video traffic on mobile networks has risen by 10 percentage points since this time last year – up to 50% from 40%. In certain networks, video traffic is up to 69% of total traffic, according to the 
Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in January with 152 million unique viewers, followed by VEVO with 51.5 million, Yahoo! Sites with 49.2 million, Viacom Digital with 48.1 million and Facebook.com with 45.1 million.
Last night I was checking out free videos available from Amazon Prime on my Kindle Fire tablet. My widescreen TV was on with the sound muted as I checked out an old “Star Trek” episode and then an NPR documentary about Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency. I could as easily have watched the videos on the TV set. But a new study shows that when it comes to watching TV, the big screen doesn’t always win.
Facebook-led social media are redefining communication, Bing is gaining ground in search, brand dollars are shifting to online, the video boom, and rise of the smartphone and tablet markets are among the trends examined in digital measurement firm comScore’s new 
Although Google maintains a strong lead in the U.S. search market, one of the most notable stories in search in 2011 was Bing’s positive growth trajectory. Bing closed out the year by surpassing Yahoo! for the #2 position among core search engines for the first time in its history, bolstered in part by its social search partnership with Facebook implemented in early 2011.
Amazon.com is planning a video subscription service to compete with Netflix, according to Reuters.
Usage of the term “big data” has exploded online, according a Cutsomer Relationships Metrics study, but despite the buzz, a lack of workers with the skills needed analyze big data, it’s tough turning it into business action that drives results.
In just the first weeks of its release, 15,135 Android apps have been created using 
Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in December with 157.2 million unique viewers, while VEVO ranked second with 53.7 million, according to digital measurement firm comScore.
