Faster than Ever Away from Traditional TV

Verizon to launch Streaming TV service


From Washington Post

All part of the massive improvement in the ecosystem for MicroVision's PicoP. The change will be incredibly profound when those streaming services can be watched and shared easily on big screens with portable devices.

Traditional television watching is declining faster than ever as streaming services become a mainstream feature in American homes, according to new research by Nielsen.

Adults watched an average of four hours and 51 minutes of live TV each week in the fourth quarter of 2014, down 13 minutes from the same quarter of 2013, according to Nielsen’s fourth-quarter 2014 Total Audience Report. Viewing was down six minutes between the fourth quarter of 2013 and 2012. And between 2012 and 2011, viewing time actually increased for live TV.

At the same time, more homes turned to online video, with 40 percent of U.S. homes subscribing to a streaming service such as Netflix, Amazon Instant Video or Hulu compared with 36 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to Nielsen. Netflix is by far the most popular streaming service, in 36 percent of all U.S. homes, and Amazon Instant Video is in 13 percent of homes.

The trends have rattled the entertainment industry, with broadcast and cable networks scrambling to take on new competitors on the Web. Cable networks have seen steep ratings declines, which got much worse in the last six months of 2014. Cable ratings among adults fell 9 percent in 2014, three times the rate of decline over 2013, according to Michael Nathanson, an analyst at Moffett Nathanson research.

“It’s hard to ignore our belief that technology is disrupting viewer consumption of linear network programming,” Nathanson wrote in a recent research note.

In response, companies such as HBO, NBC and CBS are launching their own streaming services. The moves could unleash a fast demise of the cable and satellite industries that have fed TV networks with licensing fees.

Drudge Report: Shock Study, 7 in 10 viewers stream content

It's a world that is being made for Microvision's success!!

BroadcastingCable.com (full article)

Las Vegas, Nev. (January 8, 2015) – While the television continues to provide the best quality picture and viewing experience, the way content is being discovered and consumed is changing dramatically, especially for millennials. According to the preliminary results of the second NATPE||Content First and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)® joint research study on consumers’ attitudes toward television viewing, just 55 percent of millennials use TVs as their primary viewing platform, while streaming devices – laptops, tablets, and smartphones – are poised to dominate their viewing preferences....

“Our study confirms that the paradigm for TV content discovery has changed dramatically with increased availability and use of TV content streaming options,” said NATPE President & CEO Rod Perth. “With more than seven in 10 viewers in broadband households having streamed full-length TV programs in the past six months, there are opportunities for networks and content producers to reach and build audiences.”

“While the vast majority of consumers continue to watch television programming on their TV, many consumers, particularly millennials, increasingly are turning to a variety of devices to view their TV content,” said CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro. “This has profound implications for the way CE manufacturers market their products as they try to reach diverse markets.”

Although many viewers of streaming programs say they are watching more TV programs overall, the joint study shows a decline in the amount of time spent watching live television programs during their scheduled air time. This is particularly true of the younger, millennial demographic which has some distinctive, common characteristics, including the regular use of multiple sources of program content.

Among the study’s findings:

·         Portability is the trend. About half of millennials say they watch TV programming on a laptop, and for 19 percent, it’s their preferred TV viewing screen. Another 28 percent watch television on a tablet and 22 percent on a smartphone. Portability and the ability to watch anywhere is a key benefit in their use of multiple screens due to a greater comfort level with smaller screen sizes compared to older generations.

·         Millennials shifting to devices rather than TVs. While nine in 10 viewers say they watch TV programming on a television set, millennials are significantly less likely to do so (85 percent). In terms of preference, only 55 percent of millennials select a television set as the preferred screen for viewing television content.

The full study and additional findings will be released later this month at the NATPE||Miami conference (January 20-22, 2015).