Posts for 'Cisco'

  • Cisco Divestiture Could Be Final Blow for Traditional Set-top Boxes

    It's no secret that sales of traditional set-top boxes (STB) have been under huge pressure for a while now as IP delivery becomes more integral to pay-TV operators' technical architecture. But yesterday's news that Cisco, which is one of the biggest providers in the world of traditional STBs, is looking to divest its big STB plant in Juarez, Mexico, could be a final blow for the beleaguered devices, accelerating pay-TV operators' IP plans.

    Cisco has been getting hammered from all sides recently and the divestiture would no doubt have much-needed short-term financial benefits (coupled with an imminent layoff). The larger context behind the move is more significant: pay-TV operators want to gain more flexibility in delivering services to subscribers while reducing their capex. As more pay-TV subscribers turn to their iPads, Rokus, smartphones and gaming consoles for their video entertainment, pay-TV operators need to run harder than ever to innovate.

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  • Cisco Unveils System for Enterprises to Distribute Video Widely

    As online video consumption soars, enterprises have begun realizing that video is a key part of the way they communicate internally. But because video is a bandwidth-heavy application that can quickly drive up network costs while degrading quality, video is a whole new challenge for IT managers. That's the context for a set of products Cisco is announcing this morning called Enterprise Content Delivery System (ECDS).

    ECDS is a set of hardware appliances, software and management services that optimize both on-demand and live video to any device. Use cases for enterprises are varied, and include training, executive-level communications, meetings, events and customer interactions among others. Each one of these situations create different challenges such as which office video originates from, how many users will be involved, which other assets are part of the video package, etc.

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  • thePlatform Powering Telstra's BigPond TV Multi-Screen Rollout

    In another sign of how online video platforms (OVPs) are expanding the scope of their management and publishing services, this morning thePlatform is announcing a multi-year deal to power the big Australian telco Telstra's multi-screen BigPond TV service for TVs, set-top boxes and the web. The announcement follows news earlier this week that Ooyala will be supporting Yahoo! Japan's multi-screen video efforts and that Brightcove has integrated with LG connected Smart TVs for direct publishing. Marty Roberts, thePlatform's VP of Sales and Marketing caught me up on the BigPond details yesterday.

    The central component of BigPond TV, which Telstra announced last June, is what the company calls the "T-Box," a hybrid IP set-top box from Netgem that handles both linear channels and on-demand video. Telstra is promoting the T-Box in its bundles and it is meant to replace traditional set-tops over time. Importantly, Telstra doesn't impose any consumption caps for online video viewing via the Telstra broadband ISP. In addition to the T-Box, Telstra is also delivering the full BigPond TV service to connected TV and Blu-ray players from LG and Samsung. Telstra's goal is to have content selection on the T-Box, connected devices and online be completely synched up. For now mobile options, like an iPad or Android app aren't available, but they'll be coming soon.

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  • Cisco Feels Pain of Shifting Set-Top Box Landscape

    This week technology giant Cisco reported its fiscal Q2 earnings and once again sales of its set-top boxes to big pay-TV operators were a glaring weak spot. This business has practically gone off a cliff, falling 29% from last year's similar quarter, a loss which followed a 40% decline in North America set-top sales for the prior quarter. While Cisco tried to put a positive spin on things by pointing to stronger sales of its IP-enabled set-tops and international results, the problems reflect a significant shift in how pay-TV operators view set-top boxes in a larger IP-related context, trends which are likely to only accelerate going forward.

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  • Quite a Week for M&A In Online/Mobile Video

    It's been quite a week for M&A in online and mobile video. On Monday, KIT Digital announced it was acquiring Kewego, KickApps and Kyte. Then today Cisco bought Inlet Technologies to flesh out their Videoscape platform and Tremor Media reportedly acquired mobile ad manager Transpera. That's a lot of activity for just one week, and points to how key players are jockeying for bigger slices of the online and mobile video market. The trend will no doubt continue.

    What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).

     
  • VideoNuze Report Podcast #83 - Jan. 7, 2011

    Daisy Whitney and I are back this week for the 83rd edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for January 7, 2011, the first of this new year.

    Today we discuss 3 news items from CES this week: Netflix gaining a dedicated remote control button on 11 different CE companies' connected devices, Comcast launching live and on-demand TV on tablet computers and Cisco's new "Videoscape" TV platform. Enjoy!

    Click here to listen to the podcast (13 minutes, 43 seconds)


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  • Cisco Unveils Videoscape; But Can Customers Handle It?

    Watching the replay of Cisco CEO John Chambers presenting the company's new "Videoscape" TV platform yesterday at CES, I was reminded of the powerful, climactic courtroom scene in the movie, "A Few Good Men." In it, the tough-as-nails Marine colonel (expertly played by Jack Nicholson) barks at the cocky young Navy lawyer (Tom Cruise), "You can't handle the truth!"

    Why did I see a connection? Because in his remarks, Chambers, in his own gently persuasive way, both explicitly and implicitly sent a clear message to Cisco's pay-TV customers that executing the company's vision of "reinventing the TV" will be very, very tough work (as an illustration of how complex this is, check out the eye-chart below from Chambers' talk). By delivering this "truth" to Cisco's large and small pay-TV operators around the world, they received yet another reminder that massive new investments in both technology and people will be required to effectively compete in the future video industry.

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  • Cisco's "LOL" Ad Campaign Showcases Video's Potential

    Cisco is further personalizing its "Human Network" tag line with new "LOL" online ads (that's "Laugh Out Loud" for those of you not attuned to texting/tweeting/IM'ing shorthand), that demonstrate the power of video in our lives. I've seen the Cisco LOL banner ad in a number of web sites recently.

    The ad links to a video wall that features 10 videos ranging from 15 seconds to a few minutes, with all showcasing new ways that video enriches people's lives and makes work more productive. Specific Cisco products/services highlighted include distance learning, telepresence, Webex, digital signage, Flip videocameras and Show and Share. The only celebrities featured are Magic Johnson and Ellen Page, with the latter's video a replay of her TV ad. While it's tempting to think of online video as being all about media, the Cisco wall shows there are many other uses.

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  • Cisco's Kip Compton Explains ExtendMedia Acquisition

    This morning Cisco announced it intends to acquire ExtendMedia, whose OpenCASE software is used by multiple pay-TV operators and content providers for video content management and three screen delivery. I've been following Extend for years, and it was a portfolio company of Atlas Venture, where my former consulting partner Ahmet Ozalp (who's now the CEO of Telenity, a mobile services provider) led its investment. For more on Extend, see this VideoNuze interview with Extend's CEO Tom MacIsaac, who was brought in 18 months ago and was previously CEO of Lightningcast, an early online video ad network that was acquired by AOL.

    This morning I asked Kip Compton, Cisco's GM, Video and Content Platform about the deal and its implications, and Extend's founder Keith Kocho what it means for the company. Following is an edited transcript.

    VideoNuze: Why is Cisco acquiring ExtendMedia?

    Kip Compton:  We're seeing a market transition to IP video with our service provider customers which is driven by their desire to reach consumers on all different devices and wherever consumers are. We believe Extend's technology and team are one of the leaders in the industry and will fit well with our efforts to deliver IP architectures to our customers.

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  • VideoNuze Report Podcast #70 - July 30, 2010

    Daisy Whitney and I are pleased to present the 70th edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for July 30, 2010.

    This week Daisy first updates our podcast discussion from last week concerning the social media success of the Old Spice man campaign. Daisy cites Nielsen data that Old Spice Body Wash sales increased by 11% over the last 12 months (remember the campaign started in February around the Super Bowl). In last 3 months sales are up 55% and in the last month alone, when the campaign really caught fire, they're up 107%. Pretty dramatic results.

    Daisy adds that no doubt Old Spice's success will spawn many copycats. In fact, Cisco just tried a tongue in check knockoff this week, though it didn't get much traction. Daisy makes a great point that success always starts with great creative.

    We then segue to discuss my post from earlier this week, "Apple's New 27-Inch Display: Is a TV Next?" The new display showed once again how tantalizingly close Apple is to having its own high-end connected TV. In the post I suggested that Apple could offer any number of enhancements like integration with its "i" devices, access to apps and iTunes and other multi-platform features that at a minimum would make an "iTV" irresistible to Apple fans. The key issue is how to obtain the kinds of margins Apple's targets in the super-competitive TV industry. Daisy and I discuss the pros and cons. Listen in to learn more.

    Click here to listen to the podcast (13 minutes, 28 seconds)


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  • Cisco: Video will be 91% of All IP Traffic by 2014

    Cisco released its annual Visual Networking Index forecast today, a model based on a combination of analyst projections and data collected from Cisco customers. Cisco is forecasting that global IP traffic will increase 4.3 times though 2014 and that video will be the primary driver, accounting for 91% of traffic by 2014.



    Video's dominance is based on "Hyperconnectivity" which Cisco says is driven by the growing penetration of broadband, the increasing screen space and resolution on consumer devices, the proliferation of network-enabled devices and the increase in power and speed of computing devices. Mobile devices were also included in this list, but specific traffic was denoted separately and, in line with last year's forecast is set to increase 39 times, with video accounting for 66% in the year 2014.

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  • Cisco's New CRS-3 Router Strengthens Foundation for Online Video Delivery

    I've often remarked that one of the really impressive things about online video is that there's innovation at every level of the ecosystem; it's not just core infrastructure, delivery, "last mile," aggregation, applications, content, etc. - it's all of them at once that are rapidly advancing. This week's announcement by Cisco, of its new CRS-3 router, is further evidence of this dynamic. Though most online video users never think about them, Cisco's routers are one of the key building blocks on the broadband Internet. Cisco itself knows how important video is to its future; it has been publishing its "Visual Networking Index" Internet traffic growth forecast, which identifies video as the biggest single traffic generator in the future. Cisco CEO John Chambers has repeatedly said that "video is the next killer app."

    The CRS-3's capacity of 322 Terabits per second scarcely means anything to most people, so as always, Cisco translated it into real-world examples: the whole Library of Congress downloaded in just over 1 second, every person in China making a video call simultaneously, every movie ever made streamed in less than four minutes. (On the first point, coincidentally I just read in the terrific new book, "Startup Nation - The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle" that it took the CRS-1, introduced in 2004, about 4.6 seconds to download the Library of Congress, so the CRS-3 shows significant improvement.)  Next time you're watching something on Hulu, YouTube, Vevo or elsewhere, note that more than likely there's a whole lot of Cisco plumbing helping deliver the experience.


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  • 4 Items Worth Noting for the Nov 9th Week (Flip ads, YouTube ad-skipping, NY Times video, Nielsen data)

    Following are 4 items worth noting for the Nov 9th week:

    1. Will Cisco's new Flip Video camera ad campaign fly? - Cisco deserves credit for its new "Do You Flip" ad campaign for its Flip Video camera, a real out-of-the-box effort comprised entirely of user-generated video clips shot by ordinary folks and celebrities alike. As the campaign was described in this Online Media Daily article, finding the clips and then editing them together sounds like heavy lifting, but the results perfectly reinforce the value proposition of the camera itself. The ads are being shown on TV and the web; there's an outdoor piece to the campaign as well.

    Cisco acquired Flip for nearly $600 million earlier this year in a somewhat incongruous deal that thrust the router powerhouse into the intensely competitive consumer electronics fray. Cisco will have to spend aggressively to maintain market share as other pocket video cameras have gained steam, like the Creative Vado HD, Samsung HMX and Kodak Z series. There's also emerging competition from smartphones (led by the iPhone of course) that have built-in video recording capabilities. I've been somewhat skeptical of the Cisco-Flip deal, but with the new campaign, Cisco looks committed to making it a success.

    2. YouTube brings ad-skipping to the web - Speaking of out-of-the-box thinking, YouTube triggered a minor stir in the online video advertising space this week by announcing a trial of "skippable pre-roll" ads. On the surface, it feels unsettling that DVR-style ad-skipping - a growing and bedeviling trend on TV - is now coming to the web. Yet as YouTube explained, there's actually ample reason and some initial data to suggest that by empowering viewers, the ads that are watched could be even more valuable.

    One thing pre-roll skipping would surely do is up the stakes for producing engaging ads that immediately capture the viewer's attention. And it would also increase the urgency for solid targeting. Done right though, I think pre-roll skipping could work quite well. At a minimum I give YouTube points for trying it out. Incidentally, others in the industry are doing other interesting things improve the engagement and effectiveness of the pre-roll. I'll have more on this in the next week or two.

    3. Watching the NY Times at 30,000 feet - Flipping channels on my seat-back video screen on a JetBlue flight from Florida earlier this week, I happened on a series of highly engaging NY Times videos: a black and white interview with Oscar-winning actor Javier Bardem, then a David Pogue demo of the Yoostar Home Greenscreen Kit and then an expose of Floyd Bennett Field, the first municipal airport in New York City. It turned out that all were running on The Travel Channel.

    Good for the NY Times. Over the past couple of years I've written often about the opportunities that broadband video opens up for newspapers and magazines to leverage their brands, advertising relationships and editorial skills into the new medium. By also running their videos on planes, the NY Times is exposing many prospective online viewers to its video content, thereby broadening what the NY Times brand stands for and likely generating subsequent traffic to its web site. That's exactly what it and other print pubs should be doing to avoid the fate of the recently-shuttered Gourmet magazine, which never fully mined the web's potential. I know I'm a broken record on this, but video producers must learn that syndicating their video as widely as possible is imperative.

    4. Nielsen forecast underscores smartphones' mobile video potential - A couple of readers pointed out that in yesterday's post, "Mobile Video Continues to Gain Traction" I missed relevant Nielsen data from just the day before. Nielsen forecasts that smartphones will be carried by more than 50% of cell phone users by 2011, totaling over 150 million people. Nielsen assumes that 60% of these smartphone owners will be watching video translating to an audience size of 90 million people. Its research also shows that 47% of users of the new Motorola Droid smartphone are watching video, vs. 40% of iPhone users. Not a huge distinction, but more evidence that the Droid and other newer smartphones are likely to increase mobile video consumption still further.

    Enjoy your weekends!

     
  • 4 Items Worth Noting for the Oct 19th Week (FCC/Net neutrality, Cisco research, Netflix earnings, Yahoo-GroupM)

    Following are 4 items worth noting from the Oct 19th week:

    1. FCC kicks off net neutrality rulemaking process among flurry of input - As expected, the FCC kicked off its net neutrality rulemaking process yesterday, with all commissioners voting to explore how to set rules regulating the Internet for the first time, though Republican appointees dissented on whether new rules were in fact needed.

    Leading up to the vote there was a flurry of input by stakeholders and Congress. Everyone agrees on the "motherhood and apple pie" goal that the Internet must remain open and free. The disagreement is over whether new rules are required to accomplish this, and if there are to be new rules what specifically should they be. As I argued here, the FCC is treading into very tricky waters, and law of unintended consequences looms. Already telco executives are talking about curtailing investments in network infrastructure, the opposite of what the FCC is trying to foster. The FCC will be seeking input from stakeholders as part of the process. Even though chairman Genachowski's bias to regulate is very clear, let's hope that as the data and facts are presented, the FCC is able to come to right decision, which is to leave the well-functioning Internet alone.

    2. New Cisco research substantiates video, social networking usage - Speaking of the well-functioning Internet, Cisco released its Visual Networking Index study this week based on research gathered from 20 leading service providers. Cisco found that the average broadband connection consumes 4.3 gigabytes of "visual networking applications" (video, social networking and collaboration) per month, or the equivalent of 20 short videos. (Note that comScore's Aug data said of the 161 million viewers in the U.S. alone, the average number of videos viewed per month was 157.) I'm not sure what the difference is other than Cisco is measuring global traffic and comScore data is at U.S. only. Regardless, the Cisco research continues to demonstrate that users are shifting to more bandwidth-intensive applications, and the Internet is scaling up to meet their demands.

    3. Netflix reports strong Q3 '09 earnings, streaming usage surges - Netflix continues to stand out as unaffected by the economy's woes, reporting its Q3 results late yesterday that included adding 510,000 net new subscribers, almost double the 261,000 from Q3 '08. The company finished the quarter with 11.1 million subs and projects to end the year with 12 to 12.3 million subs. If Netflix were a cable operator it would be the 3rd largest, just behind Time Warner Cable, which has approximately 13 million video subscribers.

    Netflix CEO Reed Hastings also disclosed that 42% of Netflix's subscribers watched a TV episode or movie using the "Watch Instantly" streaming feature during the quarter, up from 22% in Q3 '08. Hastings also said in 2010 the company will begin streaming internationally, even though it has no plans to ship DVDs outside the U.S. He added that in Q4 Netflix will announce yet another CE device on which Watch Instantly will be available (just this week it also announced a partnership with Best Buy to integrate Watch Instantly with Insignia Blu-ray players). Net, net, Watch Instantly looks like it's getting great traction for Netflix and will continue to be a bigger part of the company's mix. Yet as I've mentioned in the past, a key challenge for Netflix is making more content available for streaming.

    4. Yahoo's pact with GroupM for original branded entertainment raises more questions - Shifting gears, Yahoo and GroupM, the media buying powerhouse announced a deal this week to begin co-producing original branded entertainment for advertisers. The idea is to then distribute the video throughout Yahoo's News, Sports, Finance and Entertainment sections. GroupM has had some success in the past, as its "In the Motherhood" series, created for Sprint and Unilever, was picked up by ABC, though it was quickly canceled. As I pointed out in my recent post about Break Media, branded entertainment initiatives continue to grow.

    Less clear to me is Yahoo's approach to video. CEO Carol Bartz said last month that "video is so crucial to our users and our advertisers..." that "there's a big emphasis inside Yahoo on our video platforms" and that "a big cornerstone of our strategy is video." OK, but these comments came just months after Yahoo closed down its Maven Networks platform, which it had only acquired in Feb '08. Having spent time at Maven, I can attest that its technology would have been well-suited to supporting the engagement and interactivity requirements of these new Yahoo-GroupM branded entertainment projects. Yahoo's video strategy, such as it is, remains very confusing to me.

    Note there will be no VideoNuze email on Monday as I'll be in Denver moderating the Broadband Video Leadership Breakfast at the CTAM Summit...enjoy your weekend!

     
  • 4 Items Worth Noting from the Week of September 7th

    Following are 4 news items worth noting from the week of Sept. 7th:

    1. Hulu's boss says it needs to charge for content - Bloomberg ran a story this week quoting Chase Carey, deputy chairman of News Corp (Fox's owner, and therefore a part-owner of Hulu) as saying at a BofA investor conference, "Ad-supported only is going to be a tough place in a fractured world....You want a mix of pay and free."

    VideoNuze readers know that while I've admired Hulu's user experience from the start, I've long been critical of its thin ad model, which falls well short of generating revenue/program/viewer parity with traditional on-air program delivery. That lack of parity has caused Hulu's owners to cordon off access to Hulu on TVs for most viewers. But the networks' fear of cannibalizing their own P&Ls only frustrates loyal Hulu users, who neither understand nor care about such legacy concerns. All of this and more led me months ago to conclude a subscription offering is inevitable from Hulu. The impending TV Everywhere launches, which further marginalize ad-only business models, and now Carey's public remarks, solidify my thinking. We'll soon see some type of Hulu subscription tier.

    2. Move Networks notches a win with Cable and Wireless deal - Score one for Move Networks, which this week announced Cable and its first tier 1 telco customer. Move enables C&W to deliver an HD, linear multichannel video service, plus on-demand and broadband content to its broadband customers, all through existing DSL connections. Move's repositioning, which I wrote about recently, obviates telcos' need to invest billions in upgrading their networks to get into the IPTV business. Indeed, Roxanne Austin, Move's CEO told me yesterday that C&W has for years considered all the various options for getting into video, but has never pulled the trigger until now. The deal covers up to 7 million homes and interestingly, rather than getting a license fee, Move will be paid a share of subscriber revenue. Roxanne says another big deal will be announced shortly.

    3. iPod Nano gets video, battle with Cisco's Flip escalates - As you likely know, Steve Jobs unveiled the new iPod Nano this week, which incorporates an SD video camera. Following the iPhone 3GS adding video recording capability, I think it's pretty clear that Apple has decided video is the next big thing for its devices. As I suggested recently, Apple's embrace is going to drive user-generated video - and YouTube, as the undisputed home for it - to a whole new level.

    But one wonders what this all means for Cisco's recently-acquired Flip video camera, and others from Creative, Sony, Kodak, etc? Cisco in particular has a lot on the line since it just shelled out almost $600M for Flip's parent Pure Digital. Granted Apple's devices are still SD, while Flip now emphasizes HD, but still, getting video recording "for free" as Jobs put it at the launch is pretty compelling for consumers. Even if the Flip deal doesn't work out as planned, Cisco will still be selling a whole lot more routers to handle all of this newly-generated broadband video, so it's a winner either way.

    4. AT&T Wireless adding 3G capacity - In last Friday's "4 Items" post, I noted a great story the NY Times ran showcasing the frustrations that AT&T Wireless customers are experiencing due to the millions of data-intensive iPhones clogging up the network. AT&T has been hearing complaints from all sides, and this week announced 3G network upgrades in 6 cities this year, with plans to cover 25 of the top 30 U.S. cities by the end of next year, and 90% of its current 3G footprint by the end of 2011. These upgrades can't come soon enough for iPhone users. Meanwhile the company's YouTube video, featuring "Seth the blogger guy" explaining how AT&T is addressing network issues itself came under attack, as AdAge reported. There's no pleasing everyone.

    Enjoy the weekend!

     
  • Mobile Video Continues to Crystallize as Clearwire Launches 4G Service in Atlanta

    The promise of high-quality video delivery to mobile devices continues to crystallize as Clearwire is officially launching its 4G service with Motorola in the Atlanta metro area today. It's the third official market launch (after Baltimore and Portland, OR), though Las Vegas was quietly kicked off a couple weeks ago. The company is calling Atlanta, with almost 3 million people spread over 1,200 square miles, "the largest Internet hot spot in the U.S." Clearwire still plans to roll out 80 U.S. markets reaching 120 million people by end of 2010.

    The company's CLEAR WiMax service aims to deliver download speeds in the 4-6 Mbps range, bursting up to 15 Mbps. That range would put CLEAR on a par with broadband speeds most Americans receive now from their cable companies. Recall that Clearwire, started by the wireless entrepreneur Craig McCaw, is now backed by 3 of the largest cable operators, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, along with other investors Intel, Google and Sprint.

    Of course there are lots of applications that benefit from high-speed mobile delivery, but video is right at the top of the list. This was the context for last month's alliance announcement between Cisco and Clearwire, whereby Cisco would become the primary IP network infrastructure provider and also build 4G devices. Cisco has made no secret of the fact that IP-delivered video is the key growth driver for the company in the coming years. Its recent research projects that almost 64% of the world's mobile data traffic will be video by 2013, based on an annual growth rate of 150% for the next 5 years.

    The proliferation of inexpensive smartphones, led by the iPhone, is creating a massive need for robust mobile broadband infrastructure that Clearwire and others are rushing to provide. Mobile video consumption will lag fixed broadband usage for some time to come, but all the elements are falling into place for it to grow rapidly.

    What do you think? Post a comment now.

     
  • 4 Industry News Items Worth Noting

    Looking back over the past week's news, there are at least 4 industry items worth noting. Here are brief thoughts on each:

    Time Warner starts to acknowledge execution realities of "TV Everywhere" - I was intrigued to read this piece in Multichannel News covering comments that Time Warner Cable COO Landel Hobbs made about its TV Everywhere's plans being slowed by "business rules." Though I love TV Everywhere's vision, I've been skeptical of it because it's overly ambitious from technical and business standpoints. This was the first time I've seen anyone from TW begin to acknowledge these realities (though Hobbs insists "the hard part is not the technology"). I fully expect we'll see further tempered comments from TW executives in the months to come as it realizes how hard TV Everywhere is to execute.

    VOD and broadband video vie for ad dollars - I've been saying for a while that broadband can be viewed as another video-on-demand platform, which inevitably means that it's in competition with VOD initiatives from cable operators. For both content providers and advertisers, a key driver of their decision to put resources into one or the other of the two platforms is monetization. And with VOD advertising still such a hairball, broadband has gained a decisive advantage. As a result, I wasn't surprised to read in this B&C article that ad professionals are imploring cable operators to get on the stick and improve VOD's ad insertion processes. Cablevision took an important step in this direction, announcing this week 24 hour ad insertion. Still, much more needs to be done if VOD is going to effectively compete with broadband video for ad dollars.

    Cisco sees an exabyte future - Cisco released an updated version of its "Visual Networking Index" which I most recently wrote about in February. Once again, Cisco sees video as the big driver of IP traffic growth, accounting for 91% of global consumer IP traffic by 2013. The fastest growing category is "Internet video to the TV" (basically the convergence play), while the biggest chunk of video usage will still be "Internet video to the PC" (today's primary model). Speaking to Cisco market intelligence people recently, it's clear that from CEO John Chambers on down, the company believes that video is THE growth engine in the years to come.

    iPhone's new video capabilities - Daisy reviews this in her podcast comments today. It's hard to underestimate the impact of the iPhone on the mobile video market, and the forthcoming iPhone 3G S's video capabilities (adaptive live streaming, video capture/edit and direct video downloads for rental or own) mean the iPhone will continue to raise the mobile video bar even as new smartphone competitors emerge. Nielsen has a good profile of iPhone users here. It notes that 37% of iPhone users watch video on their phone, which 6 times more likely than regular mobile subscribers.

     
  • VideoNuze Report Podcast #6 - Feb 13, 2009

    Below is the 6th edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for Feb. 13, 2009.

    This week Daisy Whitney and I discuss the growth of mobile video and specifically new research that Cisco released earlier this week indicating massive increases in traffic over the next 5 years.

    Of course mobile video has never suffered from a shortage of hype, but with the popularity of the iPhone and other smartphones, mobile video usage finally seems to be crystallizing in '09. Daisy and I discuss several apps, including one coming up this weekend from NBA.com and TNT whereby users will be able to watch 4 additional camera angles of the All-Star game on their iPhones.

    In addition, we also touch on thePlatform's announcement earlier this week of newly reduced delivery and storage pricing targeted mainly for its small-to-medium sized business customers. In this economic climate reducing customer costs is critical and we discuss what thePlatform's moves mean for the market.

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  • Surging Video Consumption Drives Cisco's Mobile Traffic Forecast

    Last summer I wrote about Cisco's Visual Networking Index, a model that the company originally built to forecast traffic for its own internal planning, but which it now releases externally as well. Cisco's methodology is to combine analyst projections with data that it collects from its own customers.

    Yesterday Cisco released an updated forecast focused on mobile traffic, which is an area of intense interest for many, in light of the huge success of the iPhone and the App Store. Once again Cisco has given me permission to make available the forecast slides for complimentary download. It was a pretty long deck so I've culled out the most salient slides.

    Click here to download slides

    Cisco is forecasting mobile traffic will grow 66x from 2008-2013 to 2.5 million terabytes/mo. The primary driver of that growth is video, which it believes will account for 64% of mobile traffic in '13, more than triple data's 19% share. Cisco believes that most of the mobile video consumed will be on demand, not streamed live.

    As for devices that will fuel all this growth, Cisco believes that handsets (primarily smartphones) will account for 53% of traffic, and portable devices (primarily laptops using aircards) will account for 40%. According to its analysis, smartphones generate at least 30x the mobile traffic that standard handsets do, while laptops generate 450x the traffic of handsets. The forecast slides also break out growth by traffic type in each region of the world.

    I've said in the past that although mobile video is lagging broadband fixed line video today, it is poised to quickly catch up. All of this traffic growth of course creates both issues and opportunities for wireless carriers. Soon enough consumers are going to expect that they can take their full video experience on the road with them. It's an exciting vision.

    What do you think? Post a comment now.

     
  • Surging Video Consumption Drives Cisco's Mobile Traffic Forecast

    Last summer I wrote about Cisco's Visual Networking Index, a model that the company originally built to forecast traffic for its own internal planning, but which it now releases externally as well. Cisco's methodology is to combine analyst projections with data that it collects from its own customers.

    Yesterday Cisco released an updated forecast focused on mobile traffic, which is an area of intense interest for many, in light of the huge success of the iPhone and the App Store. Once again Cisco has given me permission to make available the forecast slides for complimentary download. It was a pretty long deck so I've culled out the most salient slides.

    Click here to download slides

    Cisco is forecasting mobile traffic will grow 66x from 2008-2013 to 2.5 million terabytes/mo. The primary driver of that growth is video, which it believes will account for 64% of mobile traffic in '13, more than triple data's 19% share. Cisco believes that most of the mobile video consumed will be on demand, not streamed live.

    As for devices that will fuel all this growth, Cisco believes that handsets (primarily smartphones) will account for 53% of traffic, and portable devices (primarily laptops using aircards) will account for 40%. According to its analysis, smartphones generate at least 30x the mobile traffic that standard handsets do, while laptops generate 450x the traffic of handsets. The forecast slides also break out growth by traffic type in each region of the world.

    I've said in the past that although mobile video is lagging broadband fixed line video today, it is poised to quickly catch up. All of this traffic growth of course creates both issues and opportunities for wireless carriers. Soon enough consumers are going to expect that they can take their full video experience on the road with them. It's an exciting vision.

    What do you think? Post a comment now.