Jeff Richards' Demand Insights

One of the questions I frequently get asked is "If consumers are downloading videos to their PC, how do they get them to their TV?"

While there are several answers (including basic connection through the PC Input slot that most new tv's come with today), one of the cooler options will be via a USB flash drive (probably 2GB+) - enabling consumers to take digital media anywhere, any time and play it on almost any screen (television, pc, mobile phone, etc.).

Sandisk announced its USBTV product line at CES in January, and hasn't received much coverage since. When the products come out later this year or early next, I suspect they'll be a hit. Why? It's easy to use and makes downloading and viewing videos a cinch.

Posted by Jeff Richards at 05:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

As posted yesterday on the BBC News page, the BBC plans to launch its web video service, called BBC iPlayer, on July 27th. As with UK broadcasters Sky and Channel 4, the BBC iPlayer utilizes VeriSign's Kontiki content delivery platform.

Given the BBC's extensive content library and reach worldwide, this is a big step forward in the world of premium content online.

Posted by Jeff Richards at 05:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you enjoy wine and are interested in the history of Napa Valley as a winegrowing region and/or the Mondavi saga, Julia Flynn Siler's House of Mondavi is a great read. The book goes back to 1906 when Cesare Mondavi, Robert's father, arrived in the U.S., rolls through the public feuding between Peter and Robert over Charles Krug, and takes the reader right up through the acquisition of Robert Mondavi the public entity by the Sands Brothers. Siler is a former Wall Street Journal reporter, and she really appears to have been thorough in her work - the book presents a ton of data and is clearly the result of 100's of interviews with the principal players. It's well written and hard to put down.

I happened to be living in San Francisco at the time of the acquisition of Mondavi, and needless to say this presents a far more detailed story than seems to have emerged previously (though at times it does feel like we're reading an extended version of Us Magazine Napa Valley). It's also amazing to realize how Robert Mondavi the individual changed wine growing in the region. Mondavi was the most visible leader taking the region from its roots in the 60's and 70's as primarily low-end and jug wines to where it sits today - recognized at the top of the industry's great growing worldwide growing regions.

Additionally, stories about folks like Grgich, Barrett, Nickel, Harlan, Ramey and others are interspersed throughout the book, providing pretty interesting tidbits for anyone who follows the Napa Cabernet scene.

All in all, House of Mondavi is a great read. Enjoy.

Posted by Jeff Richards at 04:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This may have been widespread news, but I first read it on Cory Bergman's Lost Remote blog. NBCU projects $1B in digital revenue this year, with growth at over 50% to next year (>$1.5B).

If the numbers are accurate (and there's no reason they wouldn't be), it's a pretty significant signal to those who are still wondering how fast the digital/online/mobile content market is moving.

Posted by Jeff Richards at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

On Monday, I spoke at the DCIA P2P Media Summit (held on Monday before this week's Digital Hollywood conference in LA). You can view my presentation on SlideShare.

During the sessions, Eric Garland from BigChampagne presented some pretty interesting data related to hit content vs. "long tail" content. Eric presented download data on HBO's Entourage (aside: easily the best show on tv right now) from the night before on the major filesharing networks.

According to Eric, "overwhelmingly, the new content dominates," and the downloads drop off quickly, reinforcing much of what we're seeing with our VOD services (Ch4, Sky Anytime, AOL) in the US and UK. A few of the more interesting statistics:

Entourage Downloads from Sunday night (June 10th):
- Season 1: 18%
- Season 2: 31%
- Season 3: 51%
Of the Season 3 downloads, 88% are individual episodes.

There are 80 available torrents for Entourage:
- Only 11% have any activity
- The top 10 US metro markets = 45% of all activity (the Bay Area leads with 8%)
- The top 10 US states = 59% of all activity

And...what I found to be perhaps the most interesting statistic...22% of downloads are in the US, while 48% are in the UK! Why?

Simple - UK residents don't have HBO. So, they're increasingly turning to the Net for content they can't get in their own market. Pretty interesting, and worth noting if you are a content owner/producer putting content out on the Net.

Conclusions:
1) The majority of people still are focused on "hit" and new release content, even in a completely uncontrolled market (the filesharing networks).
2) Download activity still is highly concentrated in a few major markets.
3) The walls are coming down. People want content to be available beyond its controlled distribution environment, and they'll do what it takes to get it. Positive news if you've got a global distribution strategy and are thinking beyond traditional lines.

Posted by Jeff Richards at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

After a streak of 2 bad reads, I actually enjoyed reading John Feinstein's Tales from Q School: Inside Golf's Fifth Major. If you are a golfer, and you're a fan of Feinstein's books (The Open and Let Me Tell You A Story are two of my favorite all time reads), you'll enjoy this book.

The book isn't perfect - it feels a little jumbled at times, and I wish Feinstein had spent more time going into the personal stories about individual players - but it's a great way to get insight into what goes on at Q School. It also gives you some idea as to who the guys are that fill out the mid section of the PGA Tour leaderboard each week, as well as how they got there.

If you're looking for another great golf book, and you've already read The Open and Missing Links, read Bud, Sweat and Tees. The book profiles Rich Beem's first year on the Tour, the year before he won the PGA. A hilarious read.

Posted by Jeff Richards at 09:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)