Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

Joining a crowded market, NBCUniversal launches $4-a-month online comedy service in January

NBCUniversal's latest effort to target millennials is coming: An online video service focused on comedy that costs $4 a month.

The service, Seeso, will have original content and NBC shows like "30 Rock" and "The Office," ''Saturday Night Live," standup and the "Monty Python" movies. It will be available for most people in January.

NBCUniversal and its owner, cable and Internet giant Comcast, have been trying different ways to get young people's attention as live TV viewing declines. If Seeso had been born 15 years ago, it would have launched as a cable channel, said Evan Shapiro, Executive Vice President of NBCUniversal Digital Enterprises. But online viewing today is "clearly part of the mainstream," and to reach comedy nerds, Comcast is launching Seeso as an online subscription service.

Comcast has also launched a YouTube-like video service, Watchable; is trying out an Internet-based basic cable TV alternative that doesn't require a cable box in some markets; and invested in new media outlets like BuzzFeed and Vox.

But Seeso will have to compete for attention in a crowded market.

"In the past year we keep seeing more and more services coming up, more niche services," said Glenn Hower, an analyst with market research firm Parks Associates.

From the article "Joining a crowded market, NBCUniversal launches $4-a-month online comedy service in January" by Tali Arbel.

Previously In The News

Roku's Lead in the Streaming Device Market Keeps Growing

In the first quarter of 2016, one-third of streaming devices owned in U.S. broadband households were manufactured by Roku. That is a pretty substantial chunk, given the big names making up the competi...

Parks: ‘UK cord cutters could double’

Research from Parks Associates finds that the percentage of UK broadband households stating that they are likely to cancel their pay-TV service has increased to 24 per cent in late 2018 from 12 per ce...

Research: 6% US broadband homes have gigabit-speed services

New research from Parks Associates finds that 22 per cent of US broadband households have a service speed of 100-999 Mbps, the most common service tier, although 39 per cent of US broadband households...

What do people who don’t have smart home products want from them? Savings

Smart home devices are basically everywhere now, but some people are still holding out on inviting internet-connected appliances into their home. So what would finally get them to adopt the Internet o...