ITV to spend more on video over broadband content

[kona]

ITV has plans to be generating £150m of revenue from online sources by 2012. To this end it is increasing the amount it spends on online video to bring viewers to its website, interestingly some of the video content is produced exclusively for consumption online.

A three minute web video entitled 'The Gloryhunter' was the channels first made-for-broadband sports commission, and averaged 500 views per day for the first 20 days it was online. This is just behind the numbers viewing more mainstream shows such as The X Factor and Coronation Street via the ITV website.

New Media Age quotes some consumer research from the firm Essential that consumers preferred to watch long-form video on-demand through TV sets rather than laptops or PCs. Hardly rocket science, watching a 45 minute show in a comfy armchair with reasonable sound, or sat on a spare chair listening to tinny computer speakers and others crowded around to see it on the small screen.

One further conclusion from the research seems to be that consumers want a single stop shop for on-demand video, rather than having to go to the various TV stations sites. The fact that file sharing services have content from a myriad of places available through one interface is one of the things that keeps people using them, even when the content is available free via fully legal channels. What is not mentioned, and people often raise as another reason for using file sharing services is that they often offer better quality video, and the lack of DRM (Digital Rights Management) means people can download it and play the material on a wide variety of devices.
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