THE DIGITAL DOMAIN Better picture quality ranks as most important attribute of digital TV service

Advanced digital television services such as video-on-demand (VOD), personal video recorders/digital video recorders (PVRs/DVRs), and interactive television (iTV) – once considered killer applications – are ranked relatively low in importance by Canadian digital TV subscribers, according to results from the 2004 wave of Decima Research Inc.’s syndicated consumer research study on digital TV service. Digital television subscribers rank Better picture quality; the Ability to pick and pay for the channels you want; and An on-screen, interactive TV guide as the top three most important digital TV services, benefits, or features evaluated. Digital TV subscribers were asked, "How would you rate the importance of each of the following services, benefits, or features that may be provided by the digital television service you currently subscribe to?" Using a five-point scale from "extremely important" to "not at all important," digital TV subscribers were asked to rate a total of 14 services, benefits, or features. The table shows the ranking of these results based on those digital subscribers who say these features are either "extremely important" or "very important" to them. For many of these digital TV services, benefits, or features a detailed explanation for that attribute was given so that Decima could more accurately gauge the importance subscribers place on it. For example, the Time-shifting feature included a definition that explained it more fully as Time-shifting – that is, the ability to watch the same show at various times from different time zones. In other cases, some examples were given so that respondents could more clearly understand the concepts. For example, Access to Premium Sports Packages such as NHL Centre Ice or NFL Sunday Ticket. The younger generation – those aged 18 to 33 years old – rate most of these 14 digital services, benefits, or features as being "extremely important" or "very important." The exceptions to this are Access to high-definition television programming; Better picture quality; Commercial-free digital audio music channels; and An on-screen, interactive TV guide. The latter is more important for those 55 years of age and older. Respondents between 34 and 54 years of age are more likely than older respondents to place importance on Access to more channels, Greater variety of packages, Ability to pick and pay for only the TV channels that you want, Time-shifting, Access to Pay-Per-View movies and events, and Can order movies or other types of programming through Video-on-Demand. The 2004 survey found that digital cable subscribers are more likely than satellite TV subscribers to rate Better sound quality, Can order movies or other types of programming through Video-on-Demand, and Access to high-definition television programming as more important. Conversely, satellite TV subscribers are more likely than digital cable subscribers to rate more important the Time-shifting feature. Decima also asked analog TV subscribers who expressed an interest in subscribing to a digital TV service within the next two years to rate the importance of the 14 digital services, benefits, or features to their decision to subscribe to a digital television service. Digital TV intenders rank Ability to pick and pay for only the TV channels that you want, Better picture quality, and Greater variety of packages as the top three most important digital TV services, benefits, or features to their decision to subscribe to a digital TV service, providing ratings of 82%, 78%, and 72% respectively. The survey also evaluated awareness of, interest in, and penetration of six unique services and features associated with digital TV service among digital television subscribers. These six include digital specialty TV channels, pay-per-view, VOD, PVRs/DVRs, HDTV, and iTV. Awareness of PPV is the highest among digital subscribers at 90% and it is also the service most used. Awareness of VOD increased considerably to 63% in the 2004 wave of THE DIGITAL DOMAIN study from 37% in the 2003 survey. The higher awareness level for VOD is to be expected since more cable operators (including telco TV provider SaskTel) now offer VOD and the service has been available for a longer period of time and is more widely marketed today than a year ago. Yet this higher awareness has not yet begun to translate into much greater usage. Awareness of HDTV is relatively high. About two-thirds, or 65%, of all digital TV subscribers say they are aware of HDTV, yet HDTV penetration is very low. Decima Research’s The Digital Domain: Consumer Attitudes on Digital Television Services, Benefits, and Features in Canada examines Canadian household television use; cable, satellite TV, wireless cable, and telco TV market share; television service satisfaction levels; and awareness of, interest in, and penetration of various digital television services, benefits, and features. Advanced digital TV services evaluated include digital specialty TV channels, pay-per-view, VOD, PVRs/DVRs, HDTV, and iTV. The 2004 wave of The Digital Domain syndicated consumer research study is based on a national telephone survey of 2,002 adult Canadians who subscribe to a TV service conducted in May/June 2004. A survey of this size drawn from the population provides results accurate to within plus or minus 2.2%, 19 times out of 20. Mario Mota is VP Broadcast / Media Research at Decima Research. For more information on Decima’s The Digital Domain syndicated consumer research study, visit www.thedigitaldomain.ca or contact Mario directly at (613) 751-5089 or by email at mmota@decima.com.

THE DIGITAL DOMAIN Better picture quality ranks as most important attribute of digital TV service

News | 10/08/2004 4:00 am EDT

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