Following up yesterday's post by Peter Marino reporting from The Engadget Show where Google TV was demonstrated is the release of the results of a survey on Internet TV carried out by
Radius Global Market Research. The survey indicated that although people are increasingly interested in Internet TV, there are two significant issues that are slowing the actual rate of adoption.
The ability to see TV programs whenever they wish is the most valued benefit that survey respondents who currently access TV over the Internet identified, followed by the flexibility of being able to stop, pause, and replay. Many also like the access to content not easily seen on regular TV. However, for those who do not currently watch Internet TV, almost two-thirds saw no clear benefit to watching TV over the Internet.
Second, for those who do currently access it, the major concern is a "lack of smoothness in streaming or buffering of content." More than 40% indicated that they do not have access to the kind of high-speed Internet connections that would solve this problem for them. Likely even with the access available, the price point may be higher than they wish to pay at the present. In fact, about two-fifths of those surveyed said they don't download more content currently due to its cost.
Google TV's entry in the market doesn't solve these problems. However, it does bring the massive technological and financial power of the Google corporate behemoth to the table to help alleviate them -- including the presence of more reasons to access Internet TV, increased visibility of the existence of Internet TV, and increased pressure on ISPs and others to provide faster and cheaper Internet access.
For more details on the study, visit
www.radius-global.com.
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