Entertainment Options – Personal, Family-Driven

Content Insider #807 – Family Views

By Andy Marken – andy@markencom.com

“We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then – explode.”  — Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, “Serenity,” Universal, 2005

The problem with all of the TV research reports is that they think singular family unit/household overflows with consensus, harmony and perfect equality.

You know, the family is through with dinner, helps each other cleanup/put things away, moves to the family/living room, dad takes the remote, picks a show and everyone spends the evening being entertained.

A recent Future Today study came to that conclusion.  

In its study, 94 percent of parents with younger children increased their co-viewing more because it helps them connect as a family and enables parents to monitor what content their kids consume.

The family makes the entertainment decisions together about what and when they want to watch specific content.  

That is SO Norman Rockwell!

Family Entertainment – The entire family sitting together enjoying the TV is so 1960s.  Or was that only on TV … who knows.  

We have four individuals in our house. Everyone has a different idea of what to watch, when to watch it, where to watch it and how to watch it. Sometimes, we go into the family room together, mom grabs the remote and picks the evening’s entertainment.

BAM! daughter goes to her room to watch stuff on her iPhone – YouTube, Tik Tok, whatever.  

Son flees to his room to play multiplayer games, watch sci fi/horror flicks.

We stick where we’re at and repeat Estelle Reiner’s line from When Harry Met Sally, “I’ll have what she’s having.”  

We’re dumb … not stupid.

The fact is there are 7.8B people in the world.

Home Again – People enjoy the idea of once again getting out and enjoying other people.  But they also like to relax, unwind and do nothing in front of the TV screen and just forget the outside world.  

Depending on whose numbers you believe, there are 5.5B TV users in 2B TV households.

Watching video content via a traditional or smart TV is the most popular viewing choice in nearly all countries.

Choice – While the preferred way for watching your home entertainment is on the big home screen, streaming has also made it possible to watch on whatever screen is close at hand.  

Roughly two-thirds of adults in the United Kingdom and America have indicated it is their preferred viewing choice.  Three in five consumers in Australia, Germany and Spain agree.   

But none of them said they really wanted to watch the same stuff as the person next to them on the sofa. Or, if they only had one TV in the house.

Handy Screen – In many parts of the world, the smartphone is the everything device to stay in touch with others, keep up with business/school, catch the news and enjoy content. These activities continue to grow while voice communications remain consistently low.  

There are about 6.5B smartphone subscribers around the globe but voice traffic has been almost insignificant, according to Ericsson. 

Data has grown 65 percent year over year for the past decade–especially in the Asia Pacific region where the smartphone is often considered an individual’s complete computing/communications/entertainment device.  

In India and China, mobile devices are clearly the most popular viewing option. More than half of the consumers in the two countries indicate that they primarily watch streaming content on their phones.

5G Boost – Thanks to the rollout of 5G wireless service, video traffic (news, ads, social media, etc.) is growing by leaps and bounds.  

By the end of last year, more than 550M 5G connections were in use, according to Omdia.  They estimate that 5G connections will increase to 1.3B by the end of this year.

The research firm’s senior director Maria Rau Aguete pointed out that while 5G is still in its infancy, the technology should gain rapid adoption and increase the use of video streaming services.

Omdia officials note that gaming and streaming video are the key drivers for consumers to move to 5G service.  

It’s almost to be expected.

Beginning to End – Smartphones like the iPhone have become so powerful and versatile that filmmakers have used them to shoot and produce projects, move the content to post production systems and deliver the video content to consumers to enjoy on the go.  

We’re not real fans of people creating good to great content with smartphones. We like to see folks using cameras and professional gear, but the leading devices have put quality content production in the hands of seasoned and up-and-coming content creators.

Superior lens production and advanced editing/production software have enabled a number of very good films to be produced using iPhones and other smartphones. 

Projects like Unsane, Tangerine, Uneasy Lies the Mind, Snow Steam Iron, High Flying Bird and a number of other critically acclaimed films have been created using iPhones.  So, watching your entertainment on smartphones isn’t a real stretch

Pay and OTT (over the air) appointment TV viewing continues to be strong around the globe. 

 Just not in the US.

Appointment TV – While Wall Streeters like to say pay TV is DOA, there’s still a slow but steady increase of home entertainment connects around the globe so, it will continue to exist for a long time to come.  

Appointment TV services aren’t gone, even though most streaming service researchers or Wall Street crystal ballers might indicate it.

There were more than 1.1B multichannel households last year.  The total number of global pay TV subscribers is expected to keep growing, according to research from Kagan; but the growth barely makes up for the accelerated cord cutting in the Americas, Western Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.  

According to Kagan, cord cutting is expected to cut $33.6B out of US pay TV revenues by 2025.  

Its apparent that US networks are focusing on the mature audiences when you see the projects networks canceled ahead of the Fall season – ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CW and others dropped more than 15 shows.

They kept a lot of the cop, fire, hospital, animated, reality shows while greenlighting a minimum of “trial” series.  

Traditional TV services are focused on the middle-age + and family stuff while their streaming services are putting all of their attention on reaching the younger, rapidly expanding IP viewing audiences.  

New Waves – Streaming services were a fantastic boost to the content creation industry as people continue to sign up for new, different, enjoyable video stories when, where and how they want.  

About 85 percent of the US households have at least one streaming service.

Half of the TV content consumers in the Americas now subscribe to three or more of the Big 5 streaming TV services – Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, HBO Max, and Disney+.  

To combat the slowing growth and churn in the increasingly competitive arena, services are making increased investments in international markets. To control their entertainment budget and increase the variety of content they can view services are being told they have to add ad supported services to their mix.   

Ads are Good – While streaming video seemed to take off because folks didn’t like ads, the more powerful reason was they wanted unique content on their terms.  So, if you can give it to them along with “a few” ads they are happy to save money.  

The one-size fits all approach doesn’t work for streamers that want to grow – as Netflix found out. Consumers in most countries spend $30/mo. or less on their streaming services. 

In the US, as well as most countries around the globe, twice as many households would prefer low-cost streaming services with ads compared to ad-free services.

Digital TV Research predicts that ad-supported services’ revenues will reach $70B by 2027. In addition to pricing options, users feel the second most important reason for choosing services is the ability to access a large content library.

Really – The key video streaming service people want is choice.  Choice in content, cost, when/where to watch the material and well … choice.  

Original or exclusive content will get folks to sign up for a streaming service but it’s the library that will keep them.   

While old and new content is a reason families choose the source of their entertainment, the major question we have is which service(s) will deliver the excitement for the world’s largest audience – sports?

Fan Base – While people may think nothing about watching a movie on one service and dropping it for another movie/service, sports enthusiasts stick around for the next game/event.  

With the exception of having to catch the ads squeezed into the Super Bowl and my wife insisting we watch the Golden State Warriors, we can take or leave most sports viewing.

But with the contest viewing options available today – pay TV, Hulu, Peacock +, YouTube TV, FuboTV, Dazn, ESPN +, SPOTV, and other DTC livestreaming services, it’s pretty easy for enthusiasts to have access to contests 24/7. 

While entertainment viewing may be approaching its saturation point, it seems to have a long way to grow when it comes to sports. 

Because of the dedicated following of sports, Amazon Prime Video is spending $1B annually to livestream NFL Thursday Night Football.  

Premier League (football) international rights sold for $6+B this year.

Live sports (basketball, hockey, baseball, cricket, soccer, motorsports, golf, tennis, boxing, MMA, esports and other contests) are easily the most popular and often overlooked type of content entertainment service.

Sports subscribers can be classified as super streaming users, responsible for almost a third of connected TV streaming.  Disney has already committed a third of its content investment budget to major sports licenses in areas such as the US, Latin America and India.  

SVOD subscriptions are projected to reach 1.75B by 2027, increasing three-fold over the total number last year.  

F1 Boost – Formula One racing has been a popular sporting event in Europe for years and now, with the ability to live stream the action, it has shown a remarkable increase in viewership and enthusiasm around the world.  

Adding sports to a services lineup can be a way to rapidly build a robust and loyal subscriber base. There’s still plenty of room for growth opportunities for the industry because there’s no one family viewing taste.

Source – “Serenity,” Universal

Fortunately, the content/creation industry is working on delivering variety and options because our family needs it.

When it comes to evening entertainment at home, we firmly agree with Capt. Malcolm Reynolds when he said, “She is fine! Except for still being crazy! She’s the picture of health.”

There are plenty of options, plenty of screens.

Andy Marken – andy@markencom.com – is an author of more than 800 articles on management, marketing, communications, industry trends in media & entertainment, consumer electronics, software and applications. Internationally recognized marketing/communications consultant with a broad range of technical and industry expertise especially in storage, storage management and film/video production fields. Extended range of relationships with business, industry trade press, online media and industry analysts/consultants

By Andy Marken – andy@markencom.com

“We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then – explode.”  — Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, “Serenity,” Universal, 2005

The problem with all of the TV research reports is that they think singular family unit/household overflows with consensus, harmony and perfect equality.

You know, the family is through with dinner, helps each other cleanup/put things away, moves to the family/living room, dad takes the remote, picks a show and everyone spends the evening being entertained.

A recent Future Today study came to that conclusion.  

In its study, 94 percent of parents with younger children increased their co-viewing more because it helps them connect as a family and enables parents to monitor what content their kids consume.

The family makes the entertainment decisions together about what and when they want to watch specific content.  

That is SO Norman Rockwell!

Family Entertainment – The entire family sitting together enjoying the TV is so 1960s.  Or was that only on TV … who knows.  

We have four individuals in our house. Everyone has a different idea of what to watch, when to watch it, where to watch it and how to watch it. Sometimes, we go into the family room together, mom grabs the remote and picks the evening’s entertainment.

BAM! daughter goes to her room to watch stuff on her iPhone – YouTube, Tik Tok, whatever.  

Son flees to his room to play multiplayer games, watch sci fi/horror flicks.

We stick where we’re at and repeat Estelle Reiner’s line from When Harry Met Sally, “I’ll have what she’s having.”  

We’re dumb … not stupid.

The fact is there are 7.8B people in the world.

Home Again – People enjoy the idea of once again getting out and enjoying other people.  But they also like to relax, unwind and do nothing in front of the TV screen and just forget the outside world.  

Depending on whose numbers you believe, there are 5.5B TV users in 2B TV households.

Watching video content via a traditional or smart TV is the most popular viewing choice in nearly all countries.

Choice – While the preferred way for watching your home entertainment is on the big home screen, streaming has also made it possible to watch on whatever screen is close at hand.  

Roughly two-thirds of adults in the United Kingdom and America have indicated it is their preferred viewing choice.  Three in five consumers in Australia, Germany and Spain agree.   

But none of them said they really wanted to watch the same stuff as the person next to them on the sofa. Or, if they only had one TV in the house.

Handy Screen – In many parts of the world, the smartphone is the everything device to stay in touch with others, keep up with business/school, catch the news and enjoy content. These activities continue to grow while voice communications remain consistently low.  

There are about 6.5B smartphone subscribers around the globe but voice traffic has been almost insignificant, according to Ericsson. 

Data has grown 65 percent year over year for the past decade–especially in the Asia Pacific region where the smartphone is often considered an individual’s complete computing/communications/entertainment device.  

In India and China, mobile devices are clearly the most popular viewing option. More than half of the consumers in the two countries indicate that they primarily watch streaming content on their phones.

5G Boost – Thanks to the rollout of 5G wireless service, video traffic (news, ads, social media, etc.) is growing by leaps and bounds.  

By the end of last year, more than 550M 5G connections were in use, according to Omdia.  They estimate that 5G connections will increase to 1.3B by the end of this year.

The research firm’s senior director Maria Rau Aguete pointed out that while 5G is still in its infancy, the technology should gain rapid adoption and increase the use of video streaming services.

Omdia officials note that gaming and streaming video are the key drivers for consumers to move to 5G service.  

It’s almost to be expected.

Beginning to End – Smartphones like the iPhone have become so powerful and versatile that filmmakers have used them to shoot and produce projects, move the content to post production systems and deliver the video content to consumers to enjoy on the go.  

We’re not real fans of people creating good to great content with smartphones. We like to see folks using cameras and professional gear, but the leading devices have put quality content production in the hands of seasoned and up-and-coming content creators.

Superior lens production and advanced editing/production software have enabled a number of very good films to be produced using iPhones and other smartphones. 

Projects like Unsane, Tangerine, Uneasy Lies the Mind, Snow Steam Iron, High Flying Bird and a number of other critically acclaimed films have been created using iPhones.  So, watching your entertainment on smartphones isn’t a real stretch

Pay and OTT (over the air) appointment TV viewing continues to be strong around the globe. 

 Just not in the US.

Appointment TV – While Wall Streeters like to say pay TV is DOA, there’s still a slow but steady increase of home entertainment connects around the globe so, it will continue to exist for a long time to come.  

Appointment TV services aren’t gone, even though most streaming service researchers or Wall Street crystal ballers might indicate it.

There were more than 1.1B multichannel households last year.  The total number of global pay TV subscribers is expected to keep growing, according to research from Kagan; but the growth barely makes up for the accelerated cord cutting in the Americas, Western Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.  

According to Kagan, cord cutting is expected to cut $33.6B out of US pay TV revenues by 2025.  

Its apparent that US networks are focusing on the mature audiences when you see the projects networks canceled ahead of the Fall season – ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CW and others dropped more than 15 shows.

They kept a lot of the cop, fire, hospital, animated, reality shows while greenlighting a minimum of “trial” series.  

Traditional TV services are focused on the middle-age + and family stuff while their streaming services are putting all of their attention on reaching the younger, rapidly expanding IP viewing audiences.  

New Waves – Streaming services were a fantastic boost to the content creation industry as people continue to sign up for new, different, enjoyable video stories when, where and how they want.  

About 85 percent of the US households have at least one streaming service.

Half of the TV content consumers in the Americas now subscribe to three or more of the Big 5 streaming TV services – Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, HBO Max, and Disney+.  

To combat the slowing growth and churn in the increasingly competitive arena, services are making increased investments in international markets. To control their entertainment budget and increase the variety of content they can view services are being told they have to add ad supported services to their mix.   

Ads are Good – While streaming video seemed to take off because folks didn’t like ads, the more powerful reason was they wanted unique content on their terms.  So, if you can give it to them along with “a few” ads they are happy to save money.  

The one-size fits all approach doesn’t work for streamers that want to grow – as Netflix found out. Consumers in most countries spend $30/mo. or less on their streaming services. 

In the US, as well as most countries around the globe, twice as many households would prefer low-cost streaming services with ads compared to ad-free services.

Digital TV Research predicts that ad-supported services’ revenues will reach $70B by 2027. In addition to pricing options, users feel the second most important reason for choosing services is the ability to access a large content library.

Really – The key video streaming service people want is choice.  Choice in content, cost, when/where to watch the material and well … choice.  

Original or exclusive content will get folks to sign up for a streaming service but it’s the library that will keep them.   

While old and new content is a reason families choose the source of their entertainment, the major question we have is which service(s) will deliver the excitement for the world’s largest audience – sports?

Fan Base – While people may think nothing about watching a movie on one service and dropping it for another movie/service, sports enthusiasts stick around for the next game/event.  

With the exception of having to catch the ads squeezed into the Super Bowl and my wife insisting we watch the Golden State Warriors, we can take or leave most sports viewing.

But with the contest viewing options available today – pay TV, Hulu, Peacock +, YouTube TV, FuboTV, Dazn, ESPN +, SPOTV, and other DTC livestreaming services, it’s pretty easy for enthusiasts to have access to contests 24/7. 

While entertainment viewing may be approaching its saturation point, it seems to have a long way to grow when it comes to sports. 

Because of the dedicated following of sports, Amazon Prime Video is spending $1B annually to livestream NFL Thursday Night Football.  

Premier League (football) international rights sold for $6+B this year.

Live sports (basketball, hockey, baseball, cricket, soccer, motorsports, golf, tennis, boxing, MMA, esports and other contests) are easily the most popular and often overlooked type of content entertainment service.

Sports subscribers can be classified as super streaming users, responsible for almost a third of connected TV streaming.  Disney has already committed a third of its content investment budget to major sports licenses in areas such as the US, Latin America and India.  

SVOD subscriptions are projected to reach 1.75B by 2027, increasing three-fold over the total number last year.  

F1 Boost – Formula One racing has been a popular sporting event in Europe for years and now, with the ability to live stream the action, it has shown a remarkable increase in viewership and enthusiasm around the world.  

Adding sports to a services lineup can be a way to rapidly build a robust and loyal subscriber base. There’s still plenty of room for growth opportunities for the industry because there’s no one family viewing taste.

Source – “Serenity,” Universal

Fortunately, the content/creation industry is working on delivering variety and options because our family needs it.

When it comes to evening entertainment at home, we firmly agree with Capt. Malcolm Reynolds when he said, “She is fine! Except for still being crazy! She’s the picture of health.”

There are plenty of options, plenty of screens.

Andy Marken – andy@markencom.com – is an author of more than 800 articles on management, marketing, communications, industry trends in media & entertainment, consumer electronics, software and applications. Internationally recognized marketing/communications consultant with a broad range of technical and industry expertise especially in storage, storage management and film/video production fields. Extended range of relationships with business, industry trade press, online media and industry analysts/consultants