Streaming video’s rapid expansion — fueled by explosive growth during the COVID-19 outbreak — will continue to increase in coming years, along the way finding a new equilibrium with traditional broadcast and cable TV.  

That was the consensus of three virtual sessions at CES 2021 that examined the evolving media relationships of the digital ecosystem. (For  more from CES, including WiFi and smart set upgrades, see Tech, page 16). 

Data from Nielsen Global Media showed that the pandemic encouraged viewers, especially in older demographics, to learn how to use streaming technology, Nielsen senior VP of product strategy and thought leadership Brian Fuhrer said.  As a result, the audience measurement firm’s year-end assessment showed that total streaming audiences at all age categories were very similar to the segmentation of traditional (broadcast and cable) viewing.  But the assessment also showed that older viewers (age 55 and up) are now among the biggest users of linear, rather than on-demand, streaming services — reflecting their comfort level with linear, ad-supported formats, Fuhrer said. 

Despite the growth of streaming viewership from December 2019 (117.7 billion minutes) to last December (132 billion minutes), the percentage segmentation of preferences, topped by YouTube and Netflix, remained relatively consistent.

Moreover, Nielsen’s findings underscored the continuing crossover between programming on traditional media and over-the-top platforms.  For example, reruns of sitcom The Office attracted 10 million viewers on Netflix (before the show moved to Peacock this month).  But The Office also attracted 11 million viewers for episodes airing in syndication on Comedy Central, local stations and from other sources. 

“That is really important when looking at content,” Fuhrer said, emphasizing “the long-term life in multiple platforms simultaneously.” 

Nielsen’s research also identified emerging release protocols, such as the value of offering all episodes of a series simultaneously (thus allowing immediate bingeing) versus regular rollouts, such as weekly release. Fuhrer noted that Disney Plus’s The Mandalorian had very high viewership during every weekend release, while series unleashed all at once showed steep viewership dropoffs after a one-time spree. 

Fuhrer’s data was reflected in the discussions on two separate CES panels dealing with streaming.  In particular, panelists said, the role of original content versus “acquired” programming such as off-network series is a work in progress.  Speakers also looked at the role of content in consumer acquisition and retention.

At a session titled “The Great Unbundling in Video,” Philo CEO Andrew McCollum predicted cord-cutting would continue to accelerate the viewer shift toward streaming. He expects the streaming companies will “offer new options to people who cut the cord long ago and are looking for new options,” he said. 

Five to 10 years from now, McCollum said, consumers won’t consider OTT options to be “cutting the cord,” but rather “a better way to get the content they care about.” 

Both McCollum and fellow panelist Scott Reich, senior VP of programming at AVOD platform Pluto TV, cited the growth their services experienced during the early COVID crisis. For Philo, it was a surge of attention to kids’ content, while Pluto TV’s “massive influx” came as the 2020 political campaign heated up.  

As PlutoTV, owned by ViacomCBS, had a lot of political and health information, its channels offered “an interesting combination” of political and pandemic news, plus “a whole lot of escapism” from its entertainment channels, including cross-selling of Showtime programs via streaming teases of selected shows. 

Reich and McCollum agreed that streaming isn’t a winner-take-all marketplace, though both said there are lots of questions about how many entrants the SVOD market can support. 

Finding Shows Still a Challenge

Predictably, data is at the heart of video navigation and search. At the “Streaming’s New Era” session, Sandeep Gupta, VP and GM of Amazon’s Fire TV, acknowledged his company — known for its algorithmic awareness of customer preferences and usage — is not sharing what it knows, even with partners such as co-panelists from Starz and WarnerMedia. 

“The key thing is helping them discover content in ways that [the programmers] didn’t think of before,” Gupta said. 

Viewers know what they want to watch and can find it some two-thirds of the time, said Sarah Lyons, senior VP, product experience at WarnerMedia. “We believe in a blend of human curation with underlying data to facilitate that curation,” Lyons said.  

“We are all in this battle to make sure our customers can find our content as easily as possible,” said Starz senior VP of distribution Stefanie Meyers. “We’re just trying to make sure that we make it as easy as possible for our consumer on whatever platform … so they can engage.” λ

The biggest upgrade to Wi-Fi technology in decades doesn’t come cheap.

Tied to the virtual CES conference, Netgear on Monday introduced one of the first routers built around the new Wi-Fi 6E standard, the tri-band enabled Nighthawk RAXE500.

Price: $599.

Also Read: Wi-Fi Gets Its Biggest Upgrade in Decades

Introduced in 2019, Wi-Fi 6 represented a major evolution in the way routers communicated with devices, making signal exchanges much more efficient. The just-introduced Wi-Fi 6E standard (the “E” standing for “extended”) uses an additional 1,200 MHz of unlicensed spectrum recently freed up by the FCC.

As more people communicate with more devices than ever in densely crowded areas, the additional spectrum is crucial for keeping signals from bumping into one another. 

As the “tri-band” capability suggests, the RAXE500 supports the traditional 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, in addition to 6 GHz. 

It has five gigabit ports and two USB 3.0 ports, and contains a quad-core 1.8 GHz processor.

Korea’s LG Electronics, the No. 4 seller of smart TVs to the U.S., controlling around 12% of the market, announced Monday a major upgrade to the operating system controlling those sets. 

Version 6.0 of webOS will power LG’s OLED, QNED Mini LED, NanoCell and UHD smart TVs. The software will be paired with an upgrade to the remote control packaged with these sets, dubbed Magic Remote. 

The previous iteration of webOS featured a simple shortcuts bar with apps, HDMI destinations and other key data on the bottom of the screen, letting users see the programming as they worked the OS. Users could select, say, a specific streaming app from the shortcuts bar, and another row of data would appear, highlighting what was on that service.

For webOS 6.0, the software now has a full, dedicated home screen, like most other OS platforms--a homogenization notably lamented by a reviewer for The Verge, who preferred the simplicity of the previous iteration. 

Also read: Roku Touts North American Smart TV Supremacy Over Samsung

Programming recommendations sit above a horizontal row of favorite apps. Other horizontally configured lists, such as live TV picks, unfurl below the apps list. 

"The new home screen provides faster access to the most frequently used apps and streamlines content discovery with the ability to receive recommendations based on the user’s preferences and viewing history,” LG said in its announcement. 

WebOS 6.0 will support voice commands for both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. 

The new Magic Remote, meanwhile, includes dedicated buttons for Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus and LG’s curated channel. 

“The latest version of our user-friendly open TV platform webOS 6.0 represents the most significant update since we first introduced webOS in 2014,” said Park Hyoung-sei, president of LG Home Entertainment, in a statement. “With the new edition of webOS, LG is demonstrating its commitment of offering services, products and technologies that respond to the needs and wants of our valued customers.”

With an appropriate emphasis on broadband – especially 5G wireless technology – along with a timely focus on cybersecurity, streaming media and an expanded examination of content, the first-ever all-virtual CES 2021 is ready to roll next month. 

The Consumer Technology Association, producer of the electronic extravaganza, which is usually held in Las Vegas in early January, is still cobbling together details for the Jan. 11-14 online convention. It has not yet revealed details, for example, of its public policy program, which usually features top FCC, FTC, Transportation Department and Congressional officials and staff members.

However, in keeping with the current developments in cybersecurity – such as the alleged foreign hacking of U.S. government and corporate networks – CTA just announced a keynote presentation by Microsoft President Brad Smith, who has been a highly visible spokesman during recent weeks discussing the digital intrusion; Smith has also been Microsoft’s face for its push to convince the FCC to allocate broadcast white spaces for a “Rural Broadband Initiative.” 

Other cybersecurity speakers will include Damien Kieran, Twitter’s chief privacy officer, Keith Enright, Google’s chief privacy officer and Anne Toth, director-Alexa Trust at Amazon.

Verizon Chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg will deliver the CES 2021 kickoff keynote address, discussing 5G as the framework of the 21st century. Other sessions include “Broadband for All,” “Connected Cities” (examining smart cities, a favorite CTA objective) plus detailed sessions about 5G and mobile communications.

 Karen Chupka, CTA’s Executive VP, CES, calls “CES the hub for 5G” and characterizes 5G as “driving innovation.”

On the content front, Ann Sarnoff, chair/CEO of WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group has just joined the CES line-up. On a separate program, iHeartMedia will run a conference session on how technology is enabling talent to continue to create and introduce music and immersive experiences during the pandemic. Ryan Seacrest (producer and on-air host) will run the session, which will include a “fireside chat” with singer/songwriter Dua Lipa and a special performance by Billie Eilish.

The “C Space” track of conference sessions will examine content development from both the advertiser/marketer viewpoint as well as “next-gen” consumers.

Also Read: CES 2021, a Work in Progress, Explores How Tech Is Reshaping Post-Pandemic World

Chupka along with CTA President/CEO Gary Shapiro and Jean Foster, senior VP of marketing and communications, explained the design of CES 2021, at an online news conference in mid-December. Microsoft has created the platform which will enable virtual booth visits, private meetings and a simulation of random corridor encounters. The “live” on-demand conference sessions and booth visits will be available from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET daily. Recorded versions will remain available through Feb. 15.  Both time frames give global visitors more time to check out the array of CES “digital activations,” according to Foster.

Instead of bumping into friends in the convention center or hotel corridors and aisles, CTA and Microsoft said they have set up an attendee directory which will enable random encounters in hallways that are comparable to the live environment. In addition, the entire platform will be searchable by keywords.

The CES program will be produced as a combination of live and pre-recorded presentations, many of them to be produced during the coming week to make them as timely as possible before “show dates.” Using automated and real-time translation systems, the presentations will be available in 16 languages, including American Sign Language.

The CTA leadership team continually encouraged “early registration” (until Jan. 3).  The flat fee to attend all CES 2021 programs (including about 100 conference sessions plus access to exhibits and private meeting rooms) is $149, which will go up to $499.

No Sore Feet, But Scaled-Back Event

Reflecting the online environment, most CES sessions will be much shorter than at in-person events – often about 20 to 30 minutes long, even for panel discussions. 

CTA seems to be adjusting the expected turnout for the scaled-down virtual event.  Shortly after announcing initial plans, the association indicated that the online programs would attract about 150,000 attendees and 1,500 exhibitors (both numbers significantly smaller than the 180,000 and 4,500 comparables last January).

Recent announcements suggest about 100,000 virtual visitors and “more than 1,000” exhibitors.

The agenda calls for Monday Jan. 11 as a Media Day for reporters to receive new product briefings from about two dozen exhibitors. Virtual exhibits and conference sessions will be spread out over Tuesday through Thursday (Jan. 12-14) and most videos will remain available on-demand through Feb. 15.

The CES package will feature a live anchor desk with four tech journalists operating a “central command” to help attendees navigate the digital experience, hear the latest news and watch interviews.  The featured anchors are Justine Ezarik (iJustine), host and tech content creator; Rich DeMuro, tech reporter for KTLA-TV/Los Angeles; Naomi Kyle, actress, producer and host of Star Trek’s The Ready Room on CBS; and Brian Tong, tech host and content creator.

CTA said it made a “seven-figure investment” to develop the platform, which includes artificial/mixed reality components.   

“We wanted to invest in the value of the connections,” Chupka explained.  “You will see artificial intelligence enabling the platform, including streaming videos. We really wanted this to be an easy user experience, so we didn’t go into the technology that would be interesting to see” but may have been confusing.

Looking toward 2022, Shapiro predicted that “We’ll go back to Las Vegas,” but he also expects CES will continue as a hybrid digital event.

“The pandemic has demonstrated value of tech, especially broadband – not just for home office but for everything in your home that has to do with technology,” Shapiro said. During the video briefing session, he made several references to the need to develop public policies to support broadband, citing the nature of smart cities.

Shapiro acknowledged that this first effort “won’t be the best possible [but] we’ll learn from it. 

Exhibitors for CES 2021 include tech giants such as Canon, Hisense, Intel, Lenovo, LG Electronics, Panasonic, Philips, Sony, Samsung Electronics, TCL and Voxx, as well as non-traditional tech companies including Bridgestone, Caterpillar, Indy Autonomous Challenge, John Deere, L’Oréal and Procter & Gamble.

Disclosure:  I have been a paid consultant, managing CES programs for several years; I have no involvement in the CES 2021 agenda.

The Consumer Electronics Show has become perhaps the biggest trade event to move online in the COVID-19 era.

Event producer the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) announced Tuesday that the 2021 event, originally set to unfurl in Las Vegas Jan. 6-9, will be moved to an online-only format.

Also read: Coronavirus Cancellations: Everything You Need to Know About How the Outbreak Is Impacting the Global Media-Tech Events Business

"Amid the pandemic and growing global health concerns about the spread of COVID-19, it's just not possible to safely convene tens of thousands of people in Las Vegas in early January 2021 to meet and do business in person," said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CTA. "Technology helps us all work, learn and connect during the pandemic – and that innovation will also help us reimagine CES 2021 and bring together the tech community in a meaningful way. By shifting to an all-digital platform for 2021, we can deliver a unique experience that helps our exhibitors connect with existing and new audiences.

"We plan to return to Las Vegas for CES 2022, combining the best elements of a physical and digital show," Shapiro added.

CES 2020 drew 170,000 attendees and more than 4,400 exhibitors, spread out over 2.9 million square feet of floor space, CTA said. Attendance was down by 175,000 from 2019.

It's only the latest media tech convention to succumb to the pandemic, with the 2020 iterations of NAB Show, IBC and SCTE-ISBE's Cable-Tec Expo all moving online.

The Consumer Electronics Show has become perhaps the biggest trade event to move online in the COVID-19 era.

Event producer the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) said Tuesday that the 2021 event, originally set to unfurl in Las Vegas January 6-9, will be moved to an online-only format.

Also read: Coronavirus Cancellations: Everything You Need to Know About How the Outbreak Is Impacting the Global Media-Tech Events Business

"Amid the pandemic and growing global health concerns about the spread of COVID-19, it's just not possible to safely convene tens of thousands of people in Las Vegas in early January 2021 to meet and do business in person," said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CTA. "Technology helps us all work, learn and connect during the pandemic – and that innovation will also help us reimagine CES 2021 and bring together the tech community in a meaningful way. By shifting to an all-digital platform for 2021, we can deliver a unique experience that helps our exhibitors connect with existing and new audiences.

"We plan to return to Las Vegas for CES 2022, combining the best elements of a physical and digital show," Shapiro added. 

CES 2020 drew 170,000 attendees and more than 4,400 exhibitors, spread out over 2.9 million square feet of floor space, CTA said. Attendance was down by 175,000 from 2019. 

It's only the latest media tech convention to succumb to the pandemic, with the 2020 iterations of NAB Show, IBC and SCTE-ISBE Cable-Tec Expo all moving online.