High street stores are grappling with the pincer movement of online retailers and on demand television, writes Julian Clover.
Broadband delivered catch-up TV services have become a staple part of many broadcasters’ output. The BBC iPlayer has gathered many of the headlines, leapfrogging the more established 4oD, and there are similar services available in France, Germany, Scandinavia and most recently South Africa. I must confess a small chuckle at the renaming of the PC-based version of Sky Anytime as the Sky Player – think about it.
ITV has recently begun a promotional campaign for ITV.com. The commercial broadcaster’s website also carries catch-up TV, supported by pre-roll advertising, and streaming of the four main linear channels is also available.
This week as Understanding and Solutions’ Driving Digital content conference began to discuss the effect of electronic retailing on bricks and mortar stores I began to wonder how TV services became a part of the mix.
Simon Morris, marketing director, Lovefilm explained that its customer base leaned towards earlier adopters. But while transactions of Blu-ray and downloads accounted for four million dispatches a month only a few thousand titles are available. The consequence is that the sale of DVDs is still growing at a faster rate. 50% of its client base is new to rental.
The UK is the European leader when it comes to expenditure on video content: $253.24 per year spent on average; the Nordic countries are a close second at $201.24; Germany is on $80.73.
In store, Gideon Lask, e-commerce Director, HMV explained that the traditional album format was far from dead, but there had been a reduction on floorspace in favour of tickets and videogames, and their players.
HMV’s move into hardware has blurred the distinction with high street electronic stores, such as Currys, already struggling in the current economic climate. But HMV faces another threat from manufacturers, such as Sony, who are beginning to offer games downloaded direct to players through their devices. Sony already offers TV content in the UK following an agreement with Sky.
Against online retailers HMV is not standing still. It is equipping its stores with Bluetooth connectivity that will allow it to sell content to mobile phones. HMV is also launching getcloser.com, a social networking site that allows customers to rate their purchases, building the sort of connection with the customer previously only found in online stores.
