Wheres consumer behavior heading?
Nobody can be sure of what’s going to work for consumers when it comes to new video options. So while it’s cliché to say consumers want content anytime, anyplace, and at the exact price they’re willing to pay, when you dig deep into this question there are still far too many variables to define a clear answer to what consumers specifically want. This is likely to remain the situation for some time to come. Smart content people know this, and that’s what’s behind the recent flurry of video distribution announcements. This is a time of massive experimentation with market participants eager to do lots of low-cost, low-risk learning, while keeping a vigilant eye on content protection. Even when data begins to emerge, it can be far from conclusive. One recent example is in the market for $1.99 video downloads from iTunes. Apple says that iTunes has done 8 million of these. While many people interpret that amount as a leading indicator of an emerging business model for $1.99 downloads, many
