Connected Viewing Initiative

The Connected Viewing Initiative began as a conversation with Warner Bros. Chief Digital Officer and Executive Vice President Thomas Gewecke about the changes in media distribution brought on by digital technologies and the value scholars may be able to provide with our unique perspective on these changes. It evolved into a multi-year international research project examining the future of connected viewing all over the world as it relates to new forms of engagement, production opportunities, audience expectations and behaviors, international privacy regulations, and big data.

Our initial inquiries into the multi-screen, socially-networked entertainment experience began with thirteen projects, ranging from a study of the collector’s mindset to projects focused upon connected viewing behaviors in the UK, Portugal, and Sweden. In the second year of collaboration with WB, we continued to explore international audiences with projects about China, India, South Korea, and Brazil, while also presenting findings about privacy regulation and the growing importance of the digital ecosystem, from business models to methods of content discovery.

Research in Year 1 of the CVI provides compelling evidence that consumers are resisting efforts by content companies to dictate audience behavior. Among the findings:

• The image of reckless consumers pirating content is far too simplistic; audiences are actually willing to pay for content. Researchers found that piracy is more a result of a failure by media companies to match supply to consumer demand.

• Content companies trying to stimulate ownership need to understand that consumers prize control over where, when, and how they access content most of all.

• For media collectors, the similarities between the physical and digital objects are stronger than researchers expected. For example, collectors want to display their media, whether on a shelf or a screen.

• International and domestic audiences share many priorities, including a desire to access content more quickly than studios make it available.

View the Year 1 Report here.

In the second year of collaboration with WB, CVI continued to explore international audiences with projects about China, India, South Korea, and Brazil, while also presenting findings about privacy regulation and the growing importance of the digital ecosystem, from business models to methods of content discovery.

View the Year 2 Report here.

Having delivered findings about the film, television, online media and gaming industries in eight different countries, including the U.S., this year’s dossier features projects focused on the following topics:

• Cross-platform gaming

• MCNs

• The emerging Russian market

• Content discovery among college students

View the Year 3 Report here.