NEWS AND MUSIC STREAMS TO ACCOUNT FOR 5.1 BILLION VIDEO STREAMS BY 2005

            News and music video are two content categories forecast by AccuStream iMedia Research to reach a combined 5.1 billion streams accessed by year-end 2005, 63% of total streams served for the year.

            Music and news categories have remained the top two content segments since the first full year of streaming video data tracking in 1999, and with more sophisticated media players that queue up additional video clips once the first selection is played, the number of views per session is on a rapid upward slope.

This dynamic has been particularly taking place across large streaming channels and destinations such as Launch (owned by Yahoo) and Real’s SuperPass service.

For example, a couple years ago, Launch was streaming about 7-8 million streams per month, but that figure has risen to well over 100 million per month as a result of “always on” that string clips back to back to back within a branded media player environment that creates modular entertainment experiences.

            Film is forecast to hit over 1.3 billion streams served by 2005, driven by growing availability of Hollywood trailers and other film-related content, plus more aggressive development and publishing of micro-sites dedicated to strong franchises (witness Lordoftherings.net).

            Across all content categories, total video streams served are forecast to grow by about 41% in 2003, and 27% in 2004, but those numbers are conservative estimates, and based in part on the fact that major content brands (sports, Internet TV) have recently moved behind subscription services, and are also “hit” driven or have a seasonality aspect of the usage curve built into annual figures.

            The principal drive of stream growth is without question the adoption of broadband connectivity at the residential level.

            In fact, much of the streaming media accesses that take place on subscription services such as SuperPass are made between 4PM and 7 PM EST and PST, which indicates both a late afternoon office daypart, and an early evening (primetime fringe) daypart taking place on home PCs.

http://www.accustreamresearch.com