Video on Demand (VoD) Vs Television – Hulu.com
Every product has a life cycle that determines how long a product could be in vogue in the market place. After that, the product would either cease to exist or would mutate into something more appealing or one that caters to a new demand. The best of products designed have to go through the inevitable product life cycle changes, which are not internal to the organization but are determined by a host of factors in the market.
Product Changes: Consumer taste and preferences change with time that makes it difficult for companies to plan their product and marketing strategies for the long term banking on a marketing strategy. Apart from changing consumer tastes, technological changes make most products redundant as technological developments, inventions and innovations create products of superior features that make consumer latch on to the new sensation. The way e-mails have virtually taken the air out of postal sails is witness to what technology can do to a product. While the product in its core remains the same when it comes to utility, which is conveying messages and communicating in this case, the medium of communication changes to threaten the basis of a product.
Video on Demand – Hulu.com: It is a similar change that is happening to the latest in technology, Video on Demand (VoD). Hulu.com, a joint venture between News Corp and Universal, has already released the VoD technology in the US market. With a huge chunk of consumers already subscribing to Video on Demand, Hulu.com offers such channels as ABC, Fox, NBC, Comedy Central and ABS among others. No prizes for guessing which other product is losing its market share to the new kid on the block, Video-on-Demand – it is Television, of course.
Cannibalizing Television: Players in television media industry are already fretting the new technology, where consumers would be able to watch their favorite shows over internet, is leading to cannibalizing of the same media products on television. The worst damage done is to advertising revenue as viewers increasingly go online to watch their shows. Yes, Video on Demand does feature advertisements that are at a premium to what is being charged on Television. But with more people willing to go online, advertisers would only show increasing interest on VoD.
Slowly but surely, the internet, with advances in technology, is eating into the prized market that Television values. Product Life cycle changes are universal with hardly any exceptions. The time frame may change, but life cycles apply to all products.
