Desperately Seeking Content

January 2007

On a recent trip to Asia, I lost track of how many people told me that I must watch Life Isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee, the BBC’s mini-series adaptation of Meera Syal’s fantastic novel of the same name about three British Indian women, best friends, struggling with that oft talked-about clash between East and West, traditional and modern values.

For my circle of girlfriends in Hong Kong, where I grew up, this was the programming event to talk about in 2006—much like the post-Super Bowl episode of Grey’s Anatomy was for me. Bemoaning that no American broadcaster had yet scheduled the production, I had numerous offers to have the mini-series tracked down online and downloaded for me. I declined, of course, with my standard comeback about how wrong it is to download pirated content, but frequently my protestations fell upon deaf ears. Which had me wondering—in parts of the world where iTunes and Amazon Unbox and a range of other download platforms are not currently available, have we already lost the battle? If a television show is not on the air in your market and there is no other legitimate source for it, what other choice do you have?

Some international broadcasters have begun to experiment with day-and-date premieres simultaneous with a U.S. launch of a show. But not many. And if you’re a TV junkie, avidly following entertainment news out of the U.S., why would you want to wait anywhere from six months to a year, sometimes more, for the hot new American show to make it to your television screen, when you can download it to your PC overnight?

But just as audiences outside the U.S. are anxious to sample the best programming out of this country, I’m ready for immediate, easy access to non-American fare. Like AXN Asia’s fantastic regional version of The Amazing Race and STAR Plus’s Nach Baliye, a talent search that fuses an American Idol-like sensibility with the best of Bollywood. But I have other alternatives—access to hundreds of cable channels, on-demand services, and a wealth of content available on iTunes. Without all that, could I succumb to piracy? Perhaps.

Not that anyone is ringing the death knell for the online download market. Indeed, a recent report from the technology research firm Strategy Analytics says that online sales of TV shows, movies and other content will reach $1.5 billion in 2007, up from $298 million last year. And numerous content companies spent 2006 trying to get in on the act, shoring up deals with iTunes, AOL Video, Amazon Unbox, BitTorrent, CinemaNow and the slew of other players in the market.

But the big story of last year was user-generated content, particularly after Google shelled out $1.6 billion for YouTube. Even the venerable Time joined in, declaring that the person of the year was, well, “you,” the individual consumer deciding their own media consumption habits. So it’s not surprising that News Corporation, CBS Corporation and NBC Universal are in discussions to create a content website to compete against YouTube. The site being discussed would offer up both user-generated clips and shows from its parent companies, all streamed on an ad-supported basis.

One does have to wonder how iTunes and other platforms feel about the free streaming video popping up all over the web: NBC, FOX, CBS and ABC all allow viewers to watch certain shows online for free, in exchange for a few commercial breaks. How much that is going to cut into the projected $1.5 billion in revenues from online downloads, only time will tell. The reality is, however, that few content companies can afford to ignore this market. While I am skeptical that people who have become accustomed to downloading shows for free will actually be willing to pay $2 per episode, I do know that the iPod, and iTunes, have completely revolutionized my relationship with the shows I love. I don’t have to spend hours trawling the web looking for series on dubious websites. I’m never concerned about downloading a corrupted file. And there is nothing better than having an entire season of Sleeper Cell and a smattering of The Office episodes available in the palm of my hand on a 16-hour flight. But I am part of that generation that is used to immediate gratification. A DVR stores all my favorite shows. An iPod houses my entire music collection. An online DVD service delivers my rentals directly to my mailbox. And I’m greedy and I want more, from Asian reality shows to Bollywood movies to British series to American dramas. I want it all within reach and I’m actually willing to pay for it. The question is, does the rest of the world feel the same way? Most of the world’s biggest content companies are investing in technology that will help them protect their content. And platforms are going to need to play a role too, if they are going to convince content owners that their properties are safe and secure online.