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Survey Indicates 25 Percent of U.S. Adults Are Interested in Adopting IPTVTMCnet Associate Editor
According to a recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive, the United States is ripe for large scale deployment of IPTV. Despite its limited availability in the U.S., more than half (56 percent) of the adults who responded to the survey said they have heard of IPTV - and about a quarter indicated an interest in adopting it for use on their TVs and home PCs. The survey, conducted online Dec. 2-8, 2005, among 1,039 U.S. adults, also shows how the adoption of IPTV may impact cable and satellite providers – as well as the types of providers best positioned to capitalize on this new technology. Respondents to the survey said they were interested in adopting IPTV for the following reasons: The ability to save money, since IPTV should be far less costly than cable or satellite (42 percent); the ability to select the time you watch a program (on demand) (33 percent); the ability to receive a broader array of programming content to meet your particular interests (24 percent); high-definition viewing (20 percent); digital video recording (18 percent).; interactive program guide with navigation and search functions (15 percent). Of those respondents who said they wanted to try IPTV, 26 percent said they wanted it for their TV, while 19 percent said they wanted it for their computer. Only 4 percent said they were interested in adopting the technology for use on their cell phones. Indicating some there is still some in trepidation among adults considering adopting IPTV, only 12 percent said they would sign up and try IPTV immediately if it were only available for their PC, while 57 percent say they would wait and see how others like it. Almost one in five (18 percent) say they would try IPTV immediately if it were available for their PC and could be sent to TV’s in their house using a set-top box, and 59 percent said they would wait and see how others like it. Interestingly, minorities said they would ignore IPTV for their home PC (31 percent) or their TV (23 percent) as they are happy with their current service. The survey results suggest that the development of IPTV could pose a threat to cable and satellite services. Among those saying they will sign up for IPTV (or that they would wait and see how others like it), almost one in five (17 percent) said they would cancel their existing cable or satellite TV service and go with IPTV, while two-thirds (66 percent) said they would keep their existing cable or satellite TV service and give IPTV a trial run. Only 7 percent say they would keep their existing cable or satellite TV service and add IPTV, and one in 10 (10 percent) said they don’t currently have cable or satellite TV, but would adopt IPTV. Getting into a slightly more subjective area, respondents were asked what types of providers they would feel most comfortable with delivering their IPTV service. In response to this question, 33 percent said they would prefer a cable company like Cablevision or Comcast ; 25 percent said they would prefer a “new company that has no baggage;” 15 percent said they would prefer a technology company like Cisco or Microsoft ; 13 percent said they would prefer a telephone provider like Verizon or SBC; 11 percent said they would prefer an Internet provider like AOL or Earthlink ; and 4 percent said they would prefer a content provider like Disney or CNN. “It’s no surprise to find that consumers want to save money on their cable or satellite bill, but the survey results also show that many consumers are quite interested in having access to a broad range of content to watch, at a time they determine,” said Milt Ellis, vice president and senior consultant for the Technology Research Practice at Harris Interactive, in a news release. “When consumers are able to watch their favorite shows at a time of their own choosing, ‘prime time’ may need redefining, network program schedules may have little meaning, and TV ad rates will have to be recalculated. If and when IPTV becomes a mainstream reality, it could be the best of times for consumers and IPTV providers and challenging times for the networks, as well as cable and satellite providers.” Harris said its survey is accurate to within three percentage points. For more information about Harris Interactive, or to see the survey results, visit www.harrisinteractive.com. Patrick Barnard is Associate Editor for TMCnet and a columnist covering the telecom industry. To see more of his articles, please visit Patrick Barnard’s columnist page. |