WASHINGTON D.C.—In a recent presentation to a FCC commissioner, Gray Television pitched the idea that the economics of local news could be strengthened by a variety of FCC actions, including a ruling on a 2014 proposal to apply retransmission regulations to online video. 

Gray Television counsel Robert M. McDowell made the proposals to FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington and his media advisor, Adam Cassady on May 21. The presentation is available here,

Noting that stations have increased local TV news by 60% since 2003 and that local news provides an extremely important source of information, McDowell argued that “to promote local journalism going forward, the FCC should be considering regulatory initiatives to permit efficient defensive business combinations and to further reduce outdated and counter-productive regulatory burdens that undermine broadcasters’ crucial revenue streams.”

McDowell also noted that “due to quirks in federal copyright law and the FCC’s regulations, online video distributors like Dish Sling, Hulu and YouTube TV currently are not required to negotiate retransmission consent with individual stations,” which reduces the revenue stations get to fund their newsrooms. 

To rectify this problem, McDowell argued that the FCC could move on a rule making action pending since 2014 that would classify linear online video distributors as MVPDs for retransmission consent purposes. 

MdDowell also pressed for regulatory relief in a number of areas that he contended would strengthen the economic viability of producing expensive local TV news. 

These include: small market duopoly relief; excluding local news from 15% programming limitation for local marketing agreements; expanding the Incubator Program to television with a focus on local news production; and reducing record keeping requirements.

BOSTON—Young consumers (aged 13-24) spend nearly as much time per week watching non-TV online video content as they do traditional TV programming, with the COVID-19 pandemic only increasing their online video consumption, according to a new report from Hub Entertainment Research.

According to Hub’s 2020 Video Redefined study, 13-24 year olds spend about 11.4 hours per week watching non-TV online video (i.e. YouTube, Twitch, TikTok) and 11.8 hours per week of traditional TV/streaming. No other age group is that close—25-34 year olds spend 17.9 hours per week watching traditional TV, compared to 10.3 hours for online video; 35 year olds and over watch more than three times worth of traditional TV (22.7 hours vs. 7.3 hours).

Unsurprisingly, the pandemic and subsequent stay-at-home orders have resulted in many 13-24 year olds increasing their online video consumption. Per Hub, two-thirds in this demographic say they are watching more online videos than prior to the pandemic. Older consumers have been less impacted, with only 29% saying they are watching more and 59% saying their habits haven’t changed.

Outside of YouTube, which is the top online video platform across all age groups, what sources age groups use to watch online videos strongly differ. Facebook is the only other source where more than 20% of those over 35 say they have watched an online video in the last seven days (44% say they have), however Facebook is actually tied for the second-least used service for those between 13-24. The young age group is more often watching content on Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok.

According to respondents, online videos serve a different purpose than traditional TV and major streaming services, Hub reports. People described traditional TV and a streamer like Netflix as a way to unwind or decompress, but YouTube, most notably YouTube Influencer videos, help consumers learn things, while TikTok is said to be a way to kill time.

“The rapid growth of platforms like Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, added to the continuing popularity of YouTube influencers, has made online video a leisure-time force to be reckoned with among 13-24 year olds,” said Peter Fondulas, principal at Hub and co-author of the study. “Of course, that popularity has major implications for marketers, especially considering that young consumers are more likely to trust product endorsements from their favorite online video personalities than traditional advertising.”

For more information, visit Hub’s website. 

ADDISON, Texas—Online video continues to grow in popularity, as a recent Parks Associates’ study shows that the amount of time spent watching online video per week has doubled since 2017.

The study, “Set-Top Box Innovations and Trends,” shows that viewers are currently watching nearly seven hours of online video per week; in 2017 the number was 3.6 hours per week.

Other findings of note in the Parks study includes that traditional pay-TV services have declined from an adoption rate of 75% in Q1 2017 to 62% in Q1 2020 among U.S. broadband households. Conversely, OTT continues to gain in popularity—74% of households have at least one OTT service and nearly half have two or more. 

Parks Associates says that this increase in OTT allows households to access premium content without a set-top box, causing a change in the relationship between set-top box makers and cable/satellite operators.

“The set-top box does have a role in this market, but it will have to adapt,” said Dr. Kenneth Wacks, contributing analyst at Parks Associates.

For more information, visit www.parksassociates.com. 

LiveU’s wireless video encoder, Solo, is being used by Isha Foundation – a non-profit, public service organization founded by Sadhguru – to connect with millions of well-wishers and volunteers in India and around the world. The Foundation uses Solo to stream live events, notably the night-long Mahashivaratri festival at Isha Yoga Center – which is watched by around 50 million viewers – and the Cauvery Calling and Rally for Rivers projects to revitalize India’s depleting rivers.

Rally for Rivers was launched by Sadhguru in September 2017 when he personally drove over 9300 kms in 30 days to raise awareness about the dire situation of Indian rivers. Today it is the world’s largest ecological movement, supported by over 162 million people, and is a major force in shaping river revitalization policy in national governments and world bodies such as the United Nations. Cauvery Calling is an on-ground implementation of Rally for Rivers, to revitalize river Cauvery, the lifeline for 84 million people in southern India.  

Swami Trika, a full-time volunteer at the Isha Foundation said, “We have been using LiveU Solo to cover this campaign since the beginning, spanning multiple outdoor activities. This year, we not only used Solo but also LiveU’s mobile app services, LU-Smart. From inception to execution, LiveU has played a major role in helping us live stream outdoor footage in the highest quality, which wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.”  

Solo is a compact video encoder for online media, bonding multiple cellular bandwidth with WiFi and LAN for a clear video output. Solo’s robust bonding technology facilitates outdoor and on-the-go live streaming – when getting a stable wireless connection can be a challenge. The device is built on LiveU’s patented LRTᵀᴹ (LiveU’s Reliable Transport) technology. Solo allows users to live stream seamlessly directly to Facebook Live, Twitter, YouTube Live and other popular social media and online video providers. 

Ranjit Bhatti, Director of South Asia, LiveU, said “The Isha Foundation team was one of our first LiveU Solo users in India and the relationship has been very strong ever since. We’re honored that they have placed their trust in us and to play a part in such a noble cause. Sadhguru has an uncountable number of devotees in India and beyond. Being able to reach out to them live has been a very enriching experience for the viewers.”

Switch Media, a world leader in online video technology has launched Watcha, a key new feature for its product suite, MediaHQ, which was unveiled at NAB this year. The Watcha tool provides broadcasters and content owners with a solution that automatically highlights and reports issues during the encoding process. It was designed to answer the changing needs of broadcasters as they continue to adapt to on-demand services.

Unlike other encoding tools, Watcha tracks the content at the same time it’s being encoded, reporting issues that may arise, such as pixilation. The report is immediately sent to the engineer detailing when and where those issues arise. This is particularly useful for 4K and CPU-intensive projects. If encoding fails, Watcha can automatically restart the process. As well as providing detailed reports, Watcha can encode and stitch together sections of content again, saving significant time and costs.

Project lead for the Watcha tool, Kevin Staunton-Lambert, Solutions Architect, R&D Department, Switch Media says, “Prior to Watcha, if a 4K movie took eight hours to encode, the report may take another eight hours to prepare. With Watcha the two work together simultaneously. That’s a huge time saving for broadcasters who are under pressure to get their content to multiple platforms quickly.”

Watcha also provides support in production environments. If a sports broadcaster is broadcasting a football match for example, Watcha can assist the vision mixer by detecting camera issues, automatically telling the operator to jump to another camera that can cover the pitch in the same area. Watcha will continue to monitor the cameras and will automatically revert to the previous camera if required.

Switch Media’s MediaHQ provides broadcasters flexibility based on individual requirements. Users can tailor their workflows, selecting any or all of the components in MediaHQ’s powerful product suite to manage and assist in the delivery of content for both online distribution and traditional broadcast. From ingest, media management and preparation to distribution and analytics, broadcasters can access everything they need under one roof, on one platform to improve or augment their video workflow.  

LONDON—YouTube remains by far the most popular online video destination worldwide, garnering more than 63% of online video viewing, compared to its nearest competitor, Netflix, which nabs 39%, according to a new report from Ampere Analysis.

YouTube has the largest reach in all countries surveyed except the U.K. (BBC’s iPlayer) and China (iQiYi). South Africans view YouTube more than any other country by proportion, and with the exception of the U.K. and France, more than six in 10 in each country viewed a video on YouTube in June.

The third most popular video site, Facebook Watch, makes up just over a quarter (27%) of worldwide video views, Ampere said, adding that since Q3 2016, the number of U.S. and European viewers of video on Facebook have declined from 28% to 23% of internet respondents. Ampere says Netflix has benefited from Facebook’s decline, with the percentage of online viewers increasing from 22% to 37% during the same time period.

Ampere didn’t include Facebook’s Watch video service in its analysis. Facebook claimed last month that the number of monthly viewers to its Watch video service nearly doubled in the past six months to 140 million.

DVRs are more popular in Europe than in the U.S., with 41% using “catch up” services in June compared to just 13% in the U.S. SVoD, however, is more popular in the U.S., with 64% of Americans subscribing to VOD services compared to 50% in Europe.

Ampere based its analysis on 41,000 internet respondents in 20 markets in Q1 2019.

LONDON—A pirate life no more for online video consumers? The trend seems to be heading in that direction according to a new study from Ampere Analysis. In a three-year period from Q1 2016 to Q1 2019, the number of consumers who say they regularly use pirate sites and services to watch online video have decreased, in large part due to the rise of legal SVoD services.

“On average, in markets where either catch-up or SVoD online video viewing has risen the most, piracy has experienced the biggest drop,” said Richard Broughton, director at Ampere. “With the growth in all-you-can-eat legal services, users no longer need to turn to illegitimate sources to get their viewing fix.”

In the U.S., Ampere identified a five point drop in the number of respondents using pirate services from Q1 2017 to Q1 2019 (9% to 4%). Similar size drops occurred in the Netherlands, France and Spain, which in 2017 had the largest percentage of piracy at 12%.

Ampere does issue a few words of caution, however. First, the mere presence of legal SVoD services isn’t enough to decrease piracy, consumers must actually use the services to have an impact. And second, what services content is available on could be a key factor in a resurgence of pirate services.

“The on-demand market is moving into a period of ‘siloization’ where producer and distributor brands go direct to the consumer, at the same time restricting the amount of content they license to third-party services,” said Broughton. “If the mainstream OTT players have less of the content users want to watch, when they want to watch it, there’s a genuine risk that usage of these SVoD and catch-up services could begin to slump, something that pirate operators will be quick to capitalize on.”