• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, January 3, 2007

Welcome to 2007. This year it's all about Internet TV. No more focus on user- generated content. Nope--this year it's all about the evolution of television.

Time magazine may have made "You" the Person of the Year in 2006, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. In 2006 "You" highlighted the ease of programming and developing video content--but in 2007 I expect to see small- time studios and the big-time studios alike reach out and make something from this stage of media evolution. I expect to see more original programming being pushed to the Web and more being developed specifically for the Web, since the ease of distribution can help bring down the costs of production dramatically, lowering the bar for success in this world of fragmented narrowcasting.

So if 2007 is going to be the year of Internet TV, let me throw out some fun facts for each of you to snack on. I've been doing some homework over the last few weeks and though I can't publicly source where all this data came from, I thought these might be of use to you while you're planning how to spend the rest of the year (if you'd like to know where this data came from, please contact me individually)!

First off, let's just be clear and define what Internet TV is. Specifically, according to the wiki on the topic, Internet TV simply is "television content distributed through the Internet." That's pretty self-explanatory, isn't it? Very helpful.

According to the primary study I've been referencing, 69.5% of Internet users actively view video content online. Men are more likely to do so, at 76% versus 60.2% of women. All age groups were just as likely to watch video online, so though the audience slightly skews male, age is not a defining element. Everyone is watching!

According to the same study, 63% of the respondents who watch online video do so at least once per week, with men more likely to watch frequently as compared to women (maybe we have more free time). This number is most certainly growing as a result of the mainstream media beginning to highlight and inform general consumers where they can go to watch cool stuff (I cite the most recent video from "SNL" as an example).

News clips appear to be the largest draw, followed by movie trailers and ads, then comedy and music. What I found to be most interesting is that only 31% of those surveyed are watching TV shows or clips of their favorite shows. In much the same way we witnessed the rapid expansion of the UGC audience in 2006, I predict the rapid growth of this segment in 2007. People are beginning to become familiar with watching shows online, and new products such as Apple's iTV will make it even easier for people to bring their favorite shows from their computer to their living room. It really is inevitable, but it will certainly take some time. If one of the networks very publicly were to air a key episode of one of their hit shows online before TV, this would dramatically increase the audience almost overnight, so keep an eye out. Someone is most definitely going to do it in the next year.

As for how Internet TV is going to grow, the wiki does a great job of explaining the technologies that will help. The most obvious is via streaming, but there are also technologies you've heard of but weren't sure how to apply. BitTorrent and RSS are both very applicable in this environment and worth doing more research into.

So keep your eyes and ears focused on this topic in 2007. Since 1995 we've been promising change in consumer media consumption, and every year consumers continue to surprise. They took the reins last year and now comes the response from the traditional publishers of video content. How will they react and when will they act? Stay tuned... in a manner of speaking!