Good news for suppliers of on demand digital content services. The UK public are eager for what you have to offer. Bad news for suppliers of on demand digital content services. They don't want to pay for it. Or at least that is the conclusion of a survey of 1500 13-55 year olds conducted by London law firm Olswang.
The survey found that video-on-demand services, especially those delivered to TV sets, were popular with consumers, with 38% expressing an interest in them, on top of the 12% who said they already used them. The interactive Sky+ TV system, meanwhile, was rated the second favourite 'device' after the mobile phone. In the internet domain, 40% of those surveyed said they already downloaded or streamed audio visual content, like TV shows or films, and there was a generally positive reaction to these services, especially where full length programes were on offer.
The only bad news is that many surveyed were currently using free to access services, and 50% said they would not be willing to pay for them. A further 40% said they would pay, but not more than £5 per month. Which means this survey provides a mixed blessing for those companies developing interactive content services - there is a hunger for their content, but they will have to offer competitive pricing to succeed.
Although those surveyed cited the mobile phone as their favourite device, few wanted to receive TV services through their phones, despite the growth in mobile TV services. Only 10% said they had streamed or downloaded video content to their mobiles, and 70% said they had no interest in doing so in the future. This trend may be affected by another finding that suggested consumers would prefer to access full length films or TV programmes rather than clips or trailers whatever content services they are using - and some mobile TV services have tended to provide clip based content.