research

TAG Networks--an interactive TV games company that has developed a games-on-demand channel, called TAG, which it says integrates with existing VOD infrastructures (note: the company has a history of working closely with ActiveVideo Networks and is involved in the latter's deployments with Time Warner Cable and Cablevision)--contacted [itvt] Tuesday to let us know that new TNS data, measuring daily time spent viewing per set-top box, show that the TAG channel topped 43 linear channels available through Time Warner Cable's Hawaiian arm, Oceanic Time Warner Cable, for the most minutes viewers spent watching.

Akoo, a Chicago-based company that operates a social music television network for out-of-home environments (note: earlier this month, the company announced that the US Patent and Trademark Office has awarded it a patent covering "an apparatus and method of using mobile devices to select on-demand content and socially interact with programming across networked digital video and Internet protocol television services through SMS text messaging or mobile applications"--see the article published on itvt.com, January 14th), on Monday announced the results of an advertising effectiveness study that focuses on the social TV space.

In a posting on a corporate blog last week, Microsoft's general manager of marketing and advertising strategy, Mark Kroese, announced that the company is teaming with the Nielsen Company on a pilot test to measure the effectiveness of in-game advertising. The test is launching with the second season of "1 vs. 100 Live," the avatar-driven interactive TV version of the Endemol-developed "1 vs. 100" game show format, that Microsoft offers on its Xbox Live service. (Note: Like a regular linear-TV game show, "1 vs.

According to a new survey commissioned by UK-based price comparison site, moneysupermarket.com, 20 million (i.e. 45% of) UK adults have never used any interactive TV services; and over 9 million (i.e. 19%) avoid free interactive TV services, such as the red button, TV programming guides and TV on-demand, due to fear of costs--all despite the fact that the UK has almost completed its nationwide digital switchover. The survey also found that over 6 million (13%) of UK adults admit to having a severe lack of awareness of the interactive TV services available to them and don't understand what the red button does, dismissing it as all "over their heads," moneysupermarket.com says.

Here is a round-up of some other interactive TV-related stories we didn't have room for in this issue:

The [itvt] editorial team is currently traveling in the UK, and, because of time restraints, we are covering a number of this issue's news stories in round-up/summary form. We anticipate some additional interruption of our regular news publishing schedule in the coming days, so we apologize in advance for any inconvenience to our readers. Here is the round-up:

According to Nielsen's latest Three Screen Report, 57% of consumers with Internet access at home watch TV and go online simultaneously at least once a month. On average, the report states (citing data generated by Nielsen's Convergence Research Panel), these consumers spend 2 hours, 39 minutes per month simultaneously surfing the Internet and watching TV; and their online experience at home is in front of the TV almost a third (27.9%) of the time.

[itvt] would like to alert our readers to two videos that were recently posted to YouTube by Will Kreth, senior director of advanced video strategy at Time Warner Cable and founder of OEDN.net (note: the name is an acronym for "OCAP/EBIF Developer Network), an organization which is attempting to drive application development efforts using the US cable industry's OCAP/tru2way and EBIF middleware standards and whose backers include Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Charter and Bright House.

Rovi (formerly Macrovision--for more on the company's name change and the repositioning it heralds, see the interview with Rovi chief evangelist, Richard Bullwinkle, that was published on itvt.com, July 16th) announced Wednesday that it is partnering with TNS Media Research to develop advanced TV and set-top box measurement solutions.

At the SIGGRAPH event in New Orleans this week, a team of researchers from the University of Tokyo is demo'ing a technology, dubbed the Airborne Ultrasound Tactile Display, that uses ultrasound technology to enable touchable holograms. "Although we can 'see' holographic images as if they are really floating in front of us, we cannot 'touch' them, because they are nothing but light," the team explains on SIGGRAPH's Web site. "This project adds tactile feedback to the hovering image in 3D free space. Tactile sensation requires contact with objects, but including a stimulator in the work space dilutes the appearance of holographic images.

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project released a report Wednesday that details how rapidly usage of online video services has grown over the past few years. According to the report:

Multiplatform music programmer, Music Choice, contacted [itvt] Wednesday to let us know that its free VOD service has been "confirmed as the number-one video-on-demand network" by independent media measurement and analytics company, Rentrak--having apparently generated close to three billion orders since its launch. Rentrak also found that, in 2008, the service generated more orders than all other VOD music services combined: currently, nearly three out of every four music-related VOD orders are for Music Choice content, according to Rentrak figures cited by Music Choice.

Research company, In-Stat, released a new report, Monday, on the increasing popularity among consumers of Web-to-TV streaming services. According to the report, entitled "Web-to-TV Video Changes Everything":
--Over 40% of young-adult (i.e. under-35) US households view Internet video on the TV at least once per month.
--Revenue from Web-to-TV streaming services will grow to $2.9 billion in 2013.
--Within five years, the number of US broadband households watching Web-to-TV content will grow to 24 million.
--29% of US 25- to 34-year-olds with game consoles use those devices to watch streaming video off the Internet.
--In five years, there will be 7.4 million US broadband households that use media center PC's for streaming Web-to-TV content.

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) released a study, Wednesday, which it says shows that demand for Internet-connected television sets is growing rapidly. According to the study, entitled "Net-Enabled Video: Early Adopters Only?," around half of prospective TV buyers say that they are likely to purchase an Internet-connected TV; nearly half (48%) of US adults who go online would use their Internet-enabled TV to find out more information on upcoming shows or to identify a song that played during a show; and 44% would also use it to find out more information about a show's actors.

--Company Launches VOD Measurement Service

Audience measurement company, Nielsen, recently announced that its
research shows that DVR playback is actually increasing the amount of
time people spend watching TV: by comparing total TV usage (live
viewing plus DVR playback) for 18 to 49-year-olds in November, 2007
to total TV usage in November, 2005 (before Nielsen measured DVR
households and when, the company says, DVR penetration was very
low), the company says it found that viewing had increased slightly
throughout the day, and was 3% higher at 9:00PM and 5% higher
between 11:00PM and midnight. The company says that these findings
have implications for primetime viewing levels in the future, because,
as the number of DVR households in the US grows, DVR primetime