Why wait to get home before you watch your favorite TV show?
As more and more people invest in smart phones, Mp3 players, laptops and netbooks, mobile electronic devices that provide viewing capabilities with a Wi-Fi connection, companies are finding ways to entertain people on the go. Web sites like You Tube, Hulu and Joost are providing a platform for that entertainment. Internet users in the US viewed a record 14.3 billion videos in December. A recent survey by Integrated Media Measurements Inc. found that of the 3,000 prime-time TV watchers they tracked, they found 20 percent had watched some TV online. People watched over 24 million videos on Hulu in December, a record for the company. And Joost users viewed 818,000 hours of video in January, up 25 percent from the previous month.
In late January, Joost announced that more than one million iPhone and iPod Touch users had downloaded their free application from Apple’s App Store. It enables users to enjoy thousands of hours of anime, comedy, drama, movies, music, documentaries, sci-fi and sports over their Wi-Fi connections. Joost has more than 400 television series, 1,200 movie and short film titles and 18,000 music videos. Mike Volpi, CEO of Joost, explained why he thinks their app has become so popular. “The Joost iPhone app has taken off because people want to be entertained, and there are many situations – like standing in line, waiting at the airport or doctor’s office or commuting on a train – when TVs and computers can’t be found.”
People will be able to take their entertainment with them everywhere. There will be no cables tying you down to your favorite television shows, movies or music videos. Though the industry is still in the early stages, people are confident that this technology will be embraced. “The Internet as a TV provider is in its infancy. We believe that [in the future] the majority of TV will be viewed over the Internet. It’s mostly cost, but it’s also convenience. People want to be able to travel and move about while watching TV,” said CEO of Joost, Mike Volpi.
Even as TVs are getting bigger and bigger, people are finding that mobility and convenience are as important to their entertainment experience. Why wait to watch your favorite show at home, when you can watch it on your commute home from work? Why pay for cable and a DVR, when you can watch online content for free? These and other questions will be answered in the next few years as Internet Protocol Television players continue to fight for the eyeballs of an increasingly tech savvy and mobile audience.
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