Do tough times draw TV-viewers to Web?
— Eric Auchard is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own –
In the first global recession of the Internet Age, budget-conscious consumers are showing they no longer have an endless appetite for every new gadget or media service.
Many users are looking to eliminate overlapping services that offer more of the same old formula entertainment in a different package or on another device.
With iPods, digital TVs, video recorders, multimedia PCs and broadband connections in many households, consumers considering their options now find a range of cost-effective online substitutes for broadcast, cable or satellite TV.
TV programming, not just short-form entertainment, is served up on video sites in markets around the globe at Google Inc’s YouTube, Daily Motion, Joost or at Hulu in the United States.
Could 2009 then be the year we seriously ask “What’s on the internet?” rather than “What’s on television?”
A study released last week by the consulting group Deloitte on media consumption habits suggests that this digital switchover may be occurring before our eyes.
This makes perfect sense. I just graduated from college recently, and spent three of my four years there without a TV, only my wireless connection to the school network. Nowadays, it makes less sense than ever before to even own a TV. All of my favorite news sources are online, and movies and TV shows can be rented and watched online (I’m in the habit of renting movies on iTunes and then watching them in my living room on a 21″ flat screen monitor that I can connect to my laptop).
Frankly, it’s becoming difficult for me to imagine that television as a medium won’t become obsolete and abandoned in my lifetime.