For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

US Pay-TV Forecast, 2009 To 2014

by Bobby Tulsiani, November 16, 2009

The pay-TV category is a nearly fully penetrated market, reaching 82% of US households today. With little room to increase the market, cable, satellite, and telecom TV providers are fighting an intense battle for market share. Forrester expects telecom . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

European Digital TV Forecast, 2009 To 2014

Competitive Pressure In The Western European TV Market Is Going To Intensify

by Laurence Meyer, October 2, 2009

2009 to 2014 will see the end of the TV digitization process and an intensification of competition in the Western European TV market. Although the basics of TV reception in Europe will not change a great deal during that period, TV service providers will . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

European IPTV Forecast, 2009 To 2014

IPTV's High Growth Rates Are Coming To An End

by Laurence Meyer, September 23, 2009

IPTV adoption in Western Europe will continue to enjoy dynamic growth between 2009 and 2014 — 19% per year — resulting in 20.3 million IPTV households in 2014. However, during that period, the dynamics of the IPTV market will change: The main growth factors . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Five Things We Want From Social TV

Why And How Social Networking Will Take Over The Living Room TV

by James L. McQuivey, Ph.D., August 7, 2009

Thanks to Verizon, the first meaningful Facebook widget in the US has come to the TV. Some question whether the active Social Computing experience has any place in the so-called "lean back" living room experience. Those people are wrong. Once Facebook, . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Case Study: The Weather Channel Pushes Mobile As A Developed Media Outlet

A Mobile POST Case Study

by Julie A. Ask, Seth Fowler, July 13, 2009

US media company The Weather Channel has a mobile strategy that is based on an understanding of the cell phone as an additional media channel that can reach its audience. Mobile complements its cable and satellite TV, radio, and online channels. The Weather . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

The Recession's Impact On US Media Consumers

by Sarah Rotman Epps, July 8, 2009

Eighteen months into the US recession, consumers are feeling the pain. They're cutting back on certain forms of media and entertainment, such as buying music CDs, DVDs, and magazines from a store or kiosk. But other forms of media show stability: For . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

We Are All Media Companies Now

How Brands Can Benefit From The Media Meltdown

by Nick Thomas, July 7, 2009

The media meltdown — where traditional media business models based on scarcity and control are fundamentally challenged by the new realities of digital media consumption — is creating huge problems for media companies that create and distribute content . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Enhance Your Product Strategy With Convenient Customer Service

by Doug Williams, June 22, 2009

Customer service has become an integral part of product strategy, and, as such, it should now be a primary concern of consumer product strategy professionals. Customer service has also grown more complex: Consumers used to simply bring the product back . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Customer Experience Index 2008 Snapshot: TV Service Providers

TV Service Providers Deliver Poor Experiences And Head In The Wrong Direction

by Bruce D. Temkin, June 11, 2009

Forrester asked more than 4,500 consumers about their interactions with a variety of companies, gauging the usefulness, usability, and enjoyability of those experiences. Based on these consumer responses, we calculated the Customer Experience Index (CxPi) . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Verizon Becomes A Lean, Mean, FiOS Machine

by Doug Williams, May 15, 2009

From a consumer product strategy perspective, Verizon's decision to sell its remaining rural wireline properties to Frontier Communications will free the carrier to focus on its FiOS and wireless products in more strategic, densely populated areas. By . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Competing With Hulu

The Battle To Be The Internet TV Destination

by Bobby Tulsiani, May 11, 2009

In just one year since its public launch, Hulu has climbed to the top of the video site rankings and is becoming one of the Internet's premier brands. However, numerous competitors are lining up to challenge the young company in a battle to control the . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Competing Against Fiber In The Most Competitive Markets

US Customer Satisfaction Data Reveals Cable's TV And Broadband Vulnerabilities

by Doug Williams, April 23, 2009

Cable operators are facing stiff competition from telcos that have upgraded their networks with fiber, enabling them to deliver pay TV and faster tiers of broadband service. Customer retention is now critical for cable operators, but where should consumer . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Preserving Commercial TV Revenues In A Down Economy

Use The Internet, Interactivity, And Consumer Participation To Offset TV Advertising Budget Cuts

by Laurence Meyer, March 27, 2009

Western commercial TV broadcasters are currently facing an apparent paradox: While consumers will stay home and watch more TV during this recession, TV advertising will experience a worsening downturn anyway. With their budgets also tightening, commercial . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

The Filmed Entertainment Economy In A Recession

Tracking US Consumer Behavior In The Theatrical Movie, DVD, And Pay-TV Markets

by Bobby Tulsiani, February 25, 2009

Even though 39% of US online consumers believe their economic situation will remain the same and one-third actually think it will improve in the next 12 months, most are taking a cautious approach to entertainment spending. While filmed entertainment . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Over-The-Top VOD Boxes: An On-Demand TV Strategy For New Market Players In Europe

by Laurence Meyer, February 18, 2009

Until December 2008, Microsoft's Xbox360 and the Apple TV were the only way for Europeans to benefit from over-the-top (OTT) video-on-demand (VOD) services delivered to the TV set. In the short and medium term, standalone OTT VOD offers will become increasingly . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

The Downturn Delivers Upsides For TV Placeshifting

by Ian Fogg, February 6, 2009

Placeshifting enables consumers to watch their home TV anywhere, inside or outside the home. It offers TV providers and wireless carriers an inexpensive way to extend their product portfolios, which will prove an attractive addition to their strategies . . .

For Consumer Market Research Professionals

Technographics® Survey Highlight: North American Technographics Customer Experience Online Survey, Q4 2008  (457 KB PPT)

by Jacqueline Anderson, January 23, 2009

This highlight deck summarizes the key findings from Forrester's North American Technographics Customer Experience Online Survey, Q4 2008.

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

The Science Of Churn: When And Why Consumers Switch Service Providers

Consumer Product Strategists At Telcos And Cablecos Can Help With A Proactive Churn-Prevention Strategy

by Sally M. Cohen, January 16, 2009

Churn — the rate at which consumers switch service providers for their home TV, phone, Internet, and bundle services — is a constant concern for product strategists at telcos and cablecos. A better understanding of when and why consumers abandon their . . .

For Consumer Market Research Professionals

Benchmark 2008: Pay TV Is Growing Through Digital Upgrades

North American Consumer Technographics

by James L. McQuivey, Ph.D., July 23, 2008

TV is now firmly digital — nearly 60% of US households with TVs get their service digitally in the form of satellite, digital cable, or telco TV service. Analog cable takes the biggest hit in the transition — which is exactly the way cable companies planned . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Competitive Product Ranking: Picking A Winning Set-Top Box

by James L. McQuivey, Ph.D., July 17, 2008

Between 2007 and 2008, manufacturers announced or deployed significant new set-top box products, each of them building on slightly different assets but all targeting the same goal — establishing an early foothold in at least a million living rooms. Because . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Client Virtualization Enables Green Customer Care Centers: A Cox Communications Case Study

Hosted Application Virtualization Allows Workers To Bring The Call Center Home

by Natalie Lambert, Christine E. Atwood, July 11, 2008

As part of an initiative to differentiate its customer care centers to attract top talent, Cox Communications turned to hosted application virtualization to enable its care agents to work from home. Over the past three years, Cox has embraced home workers . . .

For Consumer Market Research Professionals

Technographics® Survey Highlights: Hispanic Technographics Consumer Technology and Marketing Phone Survey, Q1 2008  (437 KB PPT)

by Tamara Barber, June 23, 2008

This highlight deck summarizes the key findings from Forrester's Hispanic Technographics Consumer Technology and Marketing Phone Survey, Q1 2008.

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

The State Of Service Provider Customer Service

Improve Service — And Reduce Churn — By Looking To Other Industries

by Sally M. Cohen, Chris Townsend, March 31, 2008

Service providers of all types — cablecos, telcos, satellite companies, and mobile carriers — face a mounting dilemma: The number of services that they offer is on the rise, resulting in increasingly complex and disparate customer service needs. At the . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Rich Internet Applications That Build Brands

by Ron Rogowski, March 27, 2008

Compared with HTML, rich Internet applications (RIAs) offer greater interactivity, improved user experiences, and better differentiation. But most firms miss out on the brand-building potential of RIAs. To help companies that struggle with this problem, . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Canal+ Group Bets on Excellence in Marketing and Communications Alongside Premium Content to Keep Customers Loyal

by Laurence Meyer, March 19, 2008

Canal+ Group is the leader in pay TV in France, with more than 10 million subscriptions to a wide range of TV services including Canal+ (premium general-interest TV channel and Canal+ Group's flagship service), Canal+ Le Bouquet (multichannel premium . . .