Thesis presentation about the introduction of new technologies like streaming of full episodes in the broadcasting industry and how they are changing people's viewing habits.

1. The evolution of on-demand media
An investigation into online video services and their
influence on college students’ viewing habits
WIM MULDER

2. Problem statement
What effect does the availability of full
streaming episodes on network
websites have on the viewing habits
of college students?

3. Definition of terms
Full streaming episodes
A full length episode of a TV show in the same
form as it was broadcast on television (with
exception of commercial interruptions).

4. Definition of terms
Network websites
The online on demand video services offered by
broadcast networks on their website

5. Definition of terms
Viewing habits
The media consumption patterns of a television
viewer (what shows are watched, how many times,
is the viewing consistent or just occasional, etc.)

6. Definition of terms
College students
Students enrolled at Kutztown University, taking
General Education HPD 110 classes or SPE 010
classes.

7. Quick topic overview
Since beginning of television more and more
programming has become available to viewers
As different technologies have become available
to viewers, the viewers’ use of the media has
changed

8. Quick topic overview
The VCR first
introduced the concept
of being able to view
programming at a
different time from its
original broadcast
Television viewers
became less
dependent on network
schedules

9. Quick topic overview
DVRs made personal video recording easier, but
are a potential disaster for advertisers and therefor
television networks
Networks started putting shows online around
2006 / 2007, to regain advertising money from
their programming

10. Quick topic overview
Online viewing has started to pick up, viewers are
watching more content online

11. Methods
14 Question survey distributed in General
Education classes
202 students from HPD 110 and SPE 010 took the
survey

12. THE SURVEY

13. Survey
Paper survey rather than online survey
Easier to control who answered the survey
Targeted at general education classes, because
the sample is not skewed towards a certain
major
Quicker turnaround

14. Survey
202 respondents
18 percent 18 or under, 53 percent 19 to 20, 19
percent 21 to 22
84 male (42 percent)
115 female (57 percent)

15. LOW TELEVISION CONSUMPTION

16. Television consumption
Relatively very low television consumption
Almost 90 percent (87.6%) of the students
watch under 10 hours of television per week
According to Nielsen, the average American
watches about 31 hours of television per week

17. Television consumption
Students have watched less television this year
than the previous year
Mostly due to the fact that most respondents were
freshmen, and going from high school to college
got a more demanding schedule
Students indicated that

18. THEY HAVE LESS TIME AVAILABLE THAN BEFORE

19. HANGING OUT WITH FRIENDS

20. STUDYING

21. WORKING A JOB

22. MOST STUDENTS WATCH TELEVISION ONLINE

23. Watching TV online
The majority of students watch television online
(60.9 percent)
Most important reasons for watching online are
the flexibility to watch any time of the day, fits in
with the students’ schedules
A lot of students like to catch up on older
episodes they haven’t seen yet (72.4 percent), or
watch episodes that they missed on television
(74.8 percent)

24. Reasons for viewing television content online
100
80
60
40
20
0
Number of respondents
Having to watch fewer commercials Getting better video quality than traditional television
Discovering new television shows that I haven’t seen before Being able to watch shows any time of day, on my own schedule
Catching up on older episodes that I haven’t seen before Watching an episode that I missed on television
Watching an episode again after it was broadcasted on television Other

25. Exclusivity
Most respondents use both internet and traditional
television (regardless of particular shows) to watch
programming (58.4 percent)
35 percent watches some of their shows
exclusively online, and others on television

26. Use of different online video services
80
60
40
20
0
Number of respondents
Hulu Network websites TV.com Youtube Fancast Others

27. Online viewing time
Students also spent a low amount of time
watching television online
88.6 percent of the respondents (who watched
television online) watch 4 hours of television online
or less
The amount of people watching online has
increased. 12 percent of respondents indicated
not watching online a year ago
Time spent watching online has increased. Most
common viewing time a year ago was less than 2
hours (52 percent)

28. WHY ARE STUDENTS NOT USING VIDEO ONLINE?

29. Online viewing time
Students don’t know how to use these services
They think it is too slow
They don’t have time for it
Or they like watching on a regular television better

30. TRADITIONAL TELEVISION

31. Traditional television
Most students still prefer a traditional television set
over watching programming online (74.8 percent)
Watching on a traditional television is more
comfortable
It allows you to watch with multiple people more
easily

32. LIMITATIONS

33. Limitations
Due to the low amount of television watched by
the students it was hard to discover any trends
Results were not nearly as clear as expected
Study only looked at use of online video services,
if DVR viewing were to be included the study
might have been able to provide a more complete
picture of the use of on-demand media

34. THE FUTURE OF TELEVISION

35. The future
Online video services are starting to get integrated
with traditional television through set-top boxes
(for example TiVo)
Media use is moving towards mobile
consumption, ownership of mobile devices that
allow for video playback is rapidly increasing
(iPods, iPads, Zune)
Television advertising is changing (more in-
program ads, integrated commercials)
Syndication of episodic television shows is
becoming obsolete

36. Research suggestions
Look at different on-demand media besides just
online viewing
Use a more varied sample that gives a more
general view of trends in media use

37. WIM MULDER | WIMMULDER@GMAIL.COM
KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA