Posts for 'Downloads'

Yesterday YouTube TV announced a new add-on feature called 4K Plus, which includes the ability to download recorded DVR programming to mobile devices for subsequent offline viewing. Diehard VideoNuze readers know that since October, 2012, when I wrote “TiVo Stream’s Downloading Feature is a Bona Fide Killer App” I have been an unabashed proponent of downloading/offline viewing.

As I wrote then, downloading offers multiple benefits to users, and to the services offering the feature. Though mobile connectivity is far better today than 9 years ago, there are still plenty of times when a cost-effective, high-quality Internet connection isn’t available (e.g. planes, trains, rural driving, etc.). At those moments, if you want to watch video, you’re out of luck. Downloading enables viewers to be untethered from the Internet and yet still have access to their DVR library.

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Netflix has introduced “Downloads For You,” a clever feature that automatically downloads recommended TV shows and movies to users’ mobile devices. For now the feature is available on Android devices globally, with iOS devices being tested soon (I’m an iOS user so I haven’t been able to try it out yet). Netflix users opt in to Downloads For You and then choose how much space they want to allocate on their device for recommended downloads - 1GB, 3GB or 5GB. 

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A reminder to join Colin Dixon from nScreenMedia and me for a free webinar next Tuesday, March 24th, “TV in Your Pocket: The Do’s and Don’ts of Mobile Video Downloading.” We will be joined by Josh Pressnell, CTO of Penthera, a leading provider of download solutions.

In the webinar you’ll learn the best practices that leading video services use to drive download success. We’ll explore key features such as selectable quality, Wi-Fi only downloading and auto-restart that distinguish some video download experiences from others. Importantly, we’ll dive into the business considerations of mobile video downloading - it can reduce churn, increase share of view time, create new monetizable ad inventory, etc.

Colin and I recently completed research and a white paper on the mobile video downloading, where we analyzed 80 of the top video service providers. We found that 28 of them support downloading, including virtually all of the most popular services, yet their implementations vary widely. During the webinar we’ll discuss some of our specific findings. I have long been a huge fan of downloading, so it’s been really cool to see the market begin to embrace it.

The white paper is available as a complimentary download.

Register Now for this timely and relevant webinar!

Join Colin Dixon from nScreenMedia and me for a free webinar on Tuesday, March 24th, “TV in Your Pocket: The Do’s and Don’ts of Mobile Video Downloading.” We will be joined by Josh Pressnell, CTO of Penthera, a leading provider of download solutions.

In the webinar you’ll learn the best practices that leading video services use to drive download success. We’ll explore key features such as selectable quality, Wi-Fi only downloading and auto-restart that distinguish some video download experiences from others. Importantly, we’ll dive into the business considerations of mobile video downloading - it can reduce churn, increase share of view time, create new monetizable ad inventory, etc.

Colin and I recently completed research and a white paper on the mobile video downloading, where we analyzed 80 of the top video service providers. We found that 28 of them support downloading, including virtually all of the most popular services, yet their implementations vary widely. During the webinar we’ll discuss some of our specific findings. I have long been a huge fan of downloading, so it’s been really cool to see the market begin to embrace it.

The white paper is available as a complimentary download.

Register now for this complementary and relevant webinar!

I’m pleased to present the 494th edition of the VideoNuze podcast, with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

This week Colin and I discuss “TV In Your Pocket: Mobile Video Downloading Report,” which we just released. We analyzed 80 top video services, and found that 28 of them offer mobile video downloading. We did 9 different tests probing further for specific features and implementations. In the podcast we share some of our key takeaways and surprises from our research. We also look ahead and make a few predictions about where downloading is going to go. Many thanks to Penthera for sponsoring the report.

We then briefly discuss Roku’s upcoming Stream-a-thon, which we both believe is a very smart move for Roku and its various partners, including HBO, Showtime, Starz and others. Stream-a-thon will expose millions of Roku users to premier programming (“Game of Thrones,” “Billions,” etc.), no doubt driving lots of new subscriptions. It’s a real win-win and once again illustrates how the video landscape is being rearranged.

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I’m very pleased to share results of a complimentary new report, “TV In Your Pocket: Mobile Video Downloading,” which my colleague Colin Dixon, Chief Analyst, nScreenMedia and I have created. For the report, we analyzed 80 of the top video services. Of the 80 we found that 28 have enabled mobile video downloading, with all of them supporting iOS and all but four of supporting Android.

Top video providers such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, CBS All Access, Showtime and Starz offer downloading. Hulu recently added support for its ad-free SVOD subscribers. Disney+ and Apple TV+ launched with it (though as our testing found, with quite different capabilities). Major services that don’t yet offer downloading include HBO Now, ABC Go, Comedy Central, Univision Now and all of the vMVPDs.

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I’m pleased to present the 486th edition of the VideoNuze podcast, with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

Colin and I were both excited to see Hulu launch a mobile video downloading feature this week. Hulu had teased the feature over a year ago. As Colin notes though, because it’s only available with the Hulu (No Ads) service and only on iOS devices, just around 15% of Hulu’s overall subscribers will gain access to downloading (at least for now).

We then discuss reports that Disney doesn’t yet have an agreement with Amazon for its forthcoming Disney+ service to be included in Fire TV devices. The deal is held up due to Amazon’s attempt to wrangle more ad inventory in Disney’s other apps. The situation is typical of the complex and sometimes competitive relationships between big media and technology companies today.

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Hulu announced yesterday that video downloading is now available for its Hulu (No Ads) subscribers. For now the feature will only work with iOS devices, though Hulu said it will be coming soon to Android users. The download feature was first teased at Hulu’s NewFront presentation in May, 2018.

Hulu said at the time that downloading would be available for subscribers to its $5.99/month plan that includes ads. Hulu’s head of ad sales Peter Naylor confirmed in his keynote interview at the VideoNuze Ad Summit this past May that about 70% of its subscribers are on the ad-supported plan. So that means only the 30% taking the Hulu (No Ads) service, which is $11.99/month will be able to use the download feature, at least for now. There was no word on whether downloading will come to Hulu with Live TV, the company’s virtual pay-TV service.

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Longtime VideoNuze readers will recall that nearly 7 years ago I started espousing the benefits of being able to download long-form video to mobile devices, so consumption could continue when offline or when only spotty or expensive wireless connections were available.

TiVo pioneered this capability with its Stream device, which initially let users download programming from their TiVo to an iOS device. As a user, this presented the valuable benefit of unlocking all my recorded content to watch on my iPad or iPhone wherever I was (planes, trains, etc).

Over the years a variety of SVOD providers have enabled downloading; Amazon was an early adopter and Netflix a reluctant, but ultimately innovative, adopter. Others like HBO Now, Showtime, Starz, CBS All Access, CuriosityStream and Crunchyroll all now allow viewers to download and watch offline. At the recent launch event for Disney+, company CEO Bob Iger said everything in the service will be downloadable (which is going to make long car trips with kids far more pleasurable!). I’m assuming downloading will be a staple of Apple TV+ too.

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Advertising in mobile video is an important revenue stream for many content providers, so understanding how to optimize the viewer experience is essential.

At the 9th annual Video Advertising Summit on May 29th, mobile video advertising was the subject of a panel including Henry Embelton (Head of Ad Products and Revenue, Ellation), Dan Hurwitz (Chief Revenue Officer, Penthera), Bobby LaCivita (VP of Research and Measurement, Group Nine Media), and Colin Dixon (Founder and Principal Analyst, nScreenMedia) moderating.
 
Among the topics discussed were mobile video distribution in social vs. owned and operated properties, which video ad units work best in mobile video, how offline ad-supported mobile video experiences are being enabled, how mobile drives video consumption for younger audiences and key challenges in mobile video given the fragmentation across many different apps/services.

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I’m pleased to present the 432nd edition of the VideoNuze podcast, with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

Colin is eating some crow on this week’s podcast, because he’s finally (!) come around to understanding the value of video downloading, which I’ve been promoting for nearly 6 years. Colin has a new white paper out in which he cites his research finding 55% of U.S. and 58% of U.K. viewers saying downloading functionality is very important to them. We discuss all aspects of downloading’s value proposition.

Then we segue to talking about Verizon’s announcement this week that when it rolls out 5G to 4 U.S. cities later this year it will include an Apple TV and discounted YouTube TV (exact terms weren’t released). Noting the caveat that we haven’t seen 5G perform, we both believe it has a ton of potential to disrupt the wired broadband business which cable TV operators have dominated. As Verizon’s announcement shows, it also presents interesting opportunities to bundle pay-TV with 5G and wireless service.

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Yesterday Netflix announced a very cool new feature called “Smart Downloads,” which automatically deletes an episode you’ve downloaded and finished watching on your mobile device, triggering the download of the subsequent episode. The process happens as soon as you’ve connected to WiFi and occurs invisibly in the background. Smart Downloads is available for Android devices now and for iOS devices later this year.

Smart Downloads is a clever way of automating a manual process, so that users always have something downloaded and ready to watch (although having to manually download a TV episode clearly falls in the category of “first world problems”). Smart Downloads is a a savvy move by Netflix to increase subscribers’ engagement time, which in turn leads to higher satisfaction and better retention. But perhaps most fascinating about Smart Downloads is that it illustrates how fully and quickly Netflix has evolved from an avowed downloading skeptic to an impressive innovator.

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Hulu had a lot of updates at its NewFront/Upfront presentation this morning, but among the most interesting for me was that Hulu will offer downloading of its content, but with ads included. Since the vast majority of Hulu’s 20 million+ subscribers are on the ad-supported plan, this means Hulu is going to be breaking some new ground in downloading, relative to its ad-free SVOD peers Netflix and Amazon, both of which have been offering downloading for a while.

VideoNuze readers know I’ve been a huge fan of downloading for years since TiVo first offered it, seeing it as way for time-starved viewers to gain full access to the compelling content available on SVOD or DVR when they’re either not online (e.g. in airplanes), enduring spotty carrier connections (e.g. in trains and cars) or on expensive capped mobile data plans (as most wireless subscribers still are). Since many of us are in these modes very frequently, downloading is essential for allowing us to maximize the value of our monthly subscriptions, which in turn leads to higher satisfaction and reduced churn.

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Penthera, which makes software to power video downloading to mobile devices, has raised $6 million from Liberty Global Ventures, the venture investment arm of Liberty Global International, which is the biggest international cable company and chaired by John Malone. Liberty Global is also a Penthera customer.

Penthera’s Cache&Carry software enables video providers to let their viewers download video to their iOS and Android mobile devices. Cache&Carry includes DRM support, configurable business rules, download queuing options, mobile DVR and “FastPlay” which launches buffer-free viewing.

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Viewers’ interest in being able to download videos, as well as stream them, is strong, though awareness of a downloading feature in streaming services remains modest, according to new research from software provider Penthera. In a poll of U.S consumers 18-44 years-old, Penthera found that one third or more of subscribers to major SVOD services like Netflix weren’t aware downloading was available (Netflix officially launched downloading for select titles last November after consistently saying it didn’t believe it was a valuable feature). Dan Taitz, Penthera’s COO told me in a briefing that the relatively low awareness reflects downloading still being in an “early adopter phase.”

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Downloading video for offline playback continues to gain momentum with Showtime announcing late last week that it has enabled downloading of its entire roster of programs from its standalone subscription and TV Everywhere apps at no additional cost. Downloading is available on iOS and Android phones and tablets plus Amazon Fire tablets.

Loyal VideoNuze readers know that I’ve been an enthusiastic downloading proponent for 4 1/2 years, back to when I first experienced TiVo’s implementation of it via TiVo Stream. I immediately saw downloading as a killer app because it allowed high quality out-of-home viewing independent of shaky or non-existent WiFi hotspots and/or eating up expensive mobile data plans (if they could even support video streaming).

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In a move that was long, long overdue, Netflix announced yesterday that it was enabling downloading of content to iOS and Android mobile devices. Not all shows and movies are available for download, but importantly, it looks like most, if not all, of Netflix’s original productions are included. I tried downloading  last night and it worked perfectly.

I’ve been saying since 2012 that downloading is a bona fide killer app, after I first started using TiVo’s excellent downloading feature to watch recordings on my iPad when traveling. Amazon totally understood the value of downloading as well, enabling it back in September, 2015. In a press release that both touted the new feature and implicitly tweaked Netflix, Amazon proclaimed it as “The First and Only Subscription Streaming Service to Offer This Feature.”

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I'm pleased to present the 341st edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

Over the past few years, online video viewing has become a completely mainstream activity. There are no better indicators of this shift than viewers’ adoption of mobile and connected TV devices for watching increasingly long-form entertainment programming. Yesterday’s FreeWheel VMR for Q2 ’16 revealed key data around these trends, which Colin and I dig into today.

Critical for mobile video viewing (which we explored in depth on last week’s podcast) to expand further is improving viewing experiences. This is being addressed in lots of ways, and I continue to believe that downloading, for offline viewing, is one of the main solutions. Colin and I also discuss the value of downloading, in the context of YouTube Go, a new offline viewing app launched earlier this week.

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