We’re entering an era of truly “on demand” media – where individuals are able to choose what they want, from an ever-expanding universe; when and where-ever they want it, in terms of physical location and device.
The Web was born this way; not so other media. But the “on demand” ethos is gradually spreading to engulf them too as they become 'digitised' and consumers realise what they can expect and demand.
Arguably the first to be affected was music and radio. The music revolution started back in 1999 with Napster. Within a few years, a new approach to finding, acquiring and listening to music was born. Today, a legal (and profitable) business model is emerging for digital music downloads - although, let’s not kid ourselves, there’s still a whole lot of file swapping out there too. The latest digital development to affect radio is podcasting, which is effectively 'radio on demand' - except that it's not limited to only the official radio broadcasters, but to anyone who wants to do it.
At the moment, IMHO most iPods could justifiably be said to deliver on-demand audio. Even though they have no network connection to download stuff in real time, once you've loaded them up they hold such a vast amount that it's like you've got your entire record collection in your pocket. (OK, I know that doesn't help when you hear a brand new release and want it instantly but it's at least 80% on-demand). There are also phones emerging in some markets that take it all the way and have the connection to let you download in real time, and the capacity to store songs downloaded.
Online, on-demand is now spreading to audiovisual content of all guises, fuelled by the rise of broadband as well as the increasing availability of content. It seems every day there's a new announcement about a TV broadcaster or movie studio doing a deal to offer their programmes online, and of course, DVDs are an 'old fashioned' form of video on demand (VOD). PVRs, like TiVo and SkyPlus, provide a mechanism for timeshifting TV, which is effectively a form of on-demand TV watching, albeit limited to things that can be recorded from broadcast. There's also all the other VOD services being offered by IPTV and cablecos. Unlike the record labels, TV and movie content owners have moved more quickly to establish legal means of downloading their content. (This is not to say they've moved fast; but even moving at a snails pace is faster than the record labels did!)
On-demand video is also starting to spread beyond the home, through portable devices and direct downloads to mobile phones. This is still at the early stages however. 3G is still in its infancy and portable video devices remain very new and expensive, so relatively few have them yet. There's also the issue of content. At the moment, almost all mobile TV content is akin to the equivalent of watching radio shows on TV. That is, it's not been created with the unique capabilities of mobile media in mind.
In the past, media content such as a TV or radio show was tied to a schedule and point of access. In the digital on-demand world
that’s fast approaching, it becomes un-tethered. Not only that, people can get 'beyond the hits' and have a far greater choice than ever possible before (the whole long tail thing). On Demand, more than any other factor, is the driving force behind the breakdown in the interruption model of advertising. But that's a whole other story. :-)
Some other slides:
More info and thoughts that i've not yet put into slides:
An February 2006 eMarketer study showed just 3 million Americans are active podcast listeners and only 10 million have ever accessed a podcast - link