How Do You Like Your Video? Fried, scrambled, or poached?

Implications: The merging between television and internet video is already here, and there are indications that many viewers are opting to see content on the internet, when they want to see it, even choosing dated content to watch.  The advertising dollars that support the internet video pale in comparison to the advertising dollars that support regular television.  So, there are many things happening today that will gradually modify how, when, where, and what we watch.  Along with that change comes opportunity, some more positive than others.  It behooves us to be aware of the changes going on today to prepare for tomorrow.

Analysis: The New York Times article of March 10, 2008 points out that video viewing in the US includes tv and internet media. It says that watching tv shows on the internet "has become mainstream behavior in an extraordinarily quick time" quoting Alan Wurtzel, research head of NBC. It goes on to point out that there is a great cultural shift in video watching, with "one in four internet users streaming full-length television episodes online in the last three months." 

So, what can we conclude from this article that this shift in video from tv to internet tv is happening?  We intuitively know that more broadband capability makes this kind of thing happen, with the CATV MSOs and RBOCs/RLECs all building as much broadband as they can muster.  We also know that Americans want what they want when they want it, and they pay for it with credit most of the time, according to the evening news programs.

We also know that televisions can be monitors for computers and act as tv's, and that computer monitors can do the same, with many computer manufacturers such as HP are adding televsion tuners as features, with coaxial connections for video from sources like cable tv.  It seems there are many things afoot that we need to consider as the tv merges with the internet/computer.  Consider please these summary points:
 
1.  New opportunities abound for technology that facilitate this phenomena, and one could question how much longer the normal television set is just a tv set.  Don't forget Sling Media's Sling Box as well, which helps marry internet and tv already.
2.  Advertising dollars between tv and internet are not equal.  Are they really going to be different as we move forward, with more and more tv content being viewed on the internet?  Should they be the same?  Is network tv going to lose advertising dollars in that medium and gain in the other?
3.  We all dream of truly interactive video, perhaps via IPTV,  that will allow us to control what we see, and the time that we spend seeing it, and even creating our own tv channel for our kids' birthday parties.  TiVo and DVR's allow us to speed past the commercials and an hour long show becomes a 30 minute video, free from commercial interruption as long as one can push buttons on a remote properly. Nice.
4.  Bandwidth at the customer location is a limiting factor. If the customer is served by Uverse, FIOS, or CATV MSO broadband, they will have the ability to do what this article says:  watch what they want when they want it, and on whichever medium is best suited for their need.  Anyone in dial-up heaven will never catch on to this, though.
5.  Demographics (age, location, etc) do not seem to be a factor as to who uses the internet to stream their favorite shows.  For example, is there a market for the old "Combat" series among both the aged baby boomers  who used to watch it as kids and the kids of today, who may have one or two parents in the Mideast?

The article causes us to think that there are significant things that can come down the technology road to give us video consumers what we are looking for both in content and technology:  viewing what we want when we want it.  The service providers and advertisers should be figuring out how this equates to profits and viewership.  I know they are all working to provide more video choices, more high definition channels, more bandwidth speeds, and interactive capabilities.  We also cannot forget that there actually may be a market for video on your wireless devices as well.  Maybe your wireless device needs to get the video download from your own tv set or internet connection as well as from off-the-air, wirelessly.