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May 29, 2009

Is "Crossing the Chasm" Relevant to Online Video Consumption?


New research conducted by The Nielsen Company reveals the “extreme techies” segment stream significantly more online video content, watching up to 91 minutes (1.5 hours) per week, compared to the mean of 44 minutes for all broadband viewers.



 
Representing eight percent of the total adult 18 and older broadband population, which equals 4.6 million viewers, this group is the most advanced of all segments in consumption of online video. Furthermore, they are technology innovators, with 38 percent connecting their computers to their televisions via devices such as a Media Center PC or direct connection to view TV and movie content.
 
Some 63 percent are male, with a mean age of 31 and an average annual income of $67,000; 47 percent are married and 57 percent have children in the home under the age of 18.
 
About 74 percent report accessing video content over their computers using the Internet; 64 percent (compared to  30 percent for the total sample) say that watching TV shows online adds to their regular TV viewing and 60 percent say they typically know what they want to watch online before they sit down at their computer.
 
About 55 percent (compared to 23 percent of the total sample) report they have found shows online and watched them on TV. Extreme Techies have the highest ownership of cross-platform devices used to view TV or movie content, with an average of slightly over four devices, compared to average of two for the total sample.
 
They also have the highest video viewing behavior on devices such as console gaming systems (46 percent), cell phones (33 percent), and set top media boxes (17 percent).
 
About 26 percent of extreme techies report planning to add additional channels or services in the next six months. They see themselves as ambitious, adventurous, tech-savvy and spontaneous.
 
The study identified eight distinct broadband user segments, determined by their levels of engagement with video content across TV, online and mobile platforms, the devices they used to consume content and their motivations for and attitudes toward using multiple platforms.
 
"Extreme Techies" correspond to the "innovators" segment of the "crossing the chasm" concept of technology adoption, where lead product characteristics must change as successive buyer segments adopt a new innovation.
 
Innovators are seen as technology developers, while early adopters are first to try out the new things. But while there are differences between the values of each of the adopter groups, there often is an especially huge gap between early adopters and the rest of the market, which is not intrinsically interested in technology for its own sake.
 
The point is that many disruptive technologies, and the firms pushing those technologies, will stall in the huge chasm between technology enthusiasts and "early majority" adopters who are pragmatists.
 
But one has to be careful about overplaying the analogy. Chasm crossing is crucial for "disruptive" technologies, but does not, or typically does not, apply to continuous technologies that do not require a change of behavior on the part of users. You can make your own decisions about whether online video is disruptive or not.
 
In fact, you might even dispute the categories. If the "chasm crossing" analogy is used, "extreme techies" are more akin to “innovators,” the creators of video content, rather than early adopters.  "Extreme techies” in this analogy would be “early adopters” in the chasm crossing framework.
 
It also is possible that the more traditional product lifecycle applies, without the need to "cross a chasm." That there are different psychographic groups within the TV-watching public is probably not disputable. The issue is likely whether online video is "disruptive" or "continuous."
 
If online video consumption is "disruptive," there is a danger of an adoption stall between the early adopters and the early majority. If it is not, adoption will scale linearly.

Gary Kim (News - Alert) is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Gary’s articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Jessica Kostek




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