Scratch difficult authentication from the list of speculative reasons why TV Everywhere isn't a widely popular consumer pay-TV product.
Polling 758 users of pay-TV's broad multiscreen initiative, research company The Diffusion Group (TDG) found that only 7 percent reported their experience to be unsatisfactory. About 19 percent found the TVE login process to be "very easy," and nearly 50 percent described the process as at least somewhat easy.
Polling pay-TV subscribers who are not using TVE, meanwhile, TDG found that only 11 percent of people who have given up on TVE blame their dissonance on the difficulty of authenticating channels on IP devices. About 9 percent said these challenges have kept them from using TVE in the first place.
"From a consumer's perspective, this is simply 'logging in,' like they do several times a day for a variety of web services," notes Michael Greeson, TDG's president and director of research. "It is a commonplace activity which is a normal part of using the Internet."
"Unfortunately," he adds, "authentication has been demonized by industry executives as a key reason TVE use is not more widespread. Unfortunately, pointing to authentication as the cause of slow TVE uptake is a red herring, distracting attention from the real culprits: poor marketing and the inconsistent availability of the newest shows."
For more:
- read this report from The Diffusion Group
Related links:
Four reasons why TV Everywhere isn't ready for prime time: A simple look at a complex problem
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