All television episode consumption in our household is done via the Internet site Hulu.com , yet often hooked to the television’s bigger screen. Movie consumption done by us adults in the household is split approximately 50/50% between streaming and DVD (usually watched on a television even when streaming) and for the children is 100% DVD (95% watched on television and 5% on laptop, however both the 7 and 9 year old often stream small videos through YouTube).

Within the past months I have seen a couple write-ups by the KenRadio newsletter discussing the PC’s gain on television.

While TV’s place as the preeminent channel for Americans to watch video content remains safe for now, the PC is slowly encroaching on the TV’s dominance, capturing an increasing amount of screen time among those who download or stream video online, according to a new study by Ipsos Media. The percentage of video consumed on a TV among video downloaders and streamers declined from 75% in February 2007 to 70% in February 2008 – a small, yet significant drop in overall ‘share of screen time’ with the growing contingent of digital video users. In addition, the percentage of total screen time captured by movie theaters also declined significantly in the past year. Streaming video online has become an activity many Americans aren’t just experimenting with, but enjoy on a regular basis. About half of all Internet users aged 12 and up have streamed a video file online in the past 30 days. The growing sophistication of home PCs, as well as the ubiquity of high-speed Internet connections in the home and outside, really facilitated the experimentation process with the digital video medium, and subsequently caused many to adopt the PC as a channel they rely on for video entertainment.

Coinciding with the drop in these more traditional channels’ share of screen time is an equally significant year-over-year gain in overall screen time for the PC, which nearly doubled its overall share (19%) with digital video consumers since early in 2007 (11%). Today, among the 52% of American’s age 12+ whom have ever streamed or downloaded a digital video file online, about one out of every five hours spent watching movies, TV shows and/or other types of videos is done so on a PC. Perhaps just as interesting as the PC’s ascent in video entertainment is the relative lack of growth in the overall share of screen time being allocated to other, more portable video devices such as portable DVD players, digital media players and mobile phones. Wright goes on to explain why growth in share of screen time with portable devices may be limited. While the number of device options are growing for consumers to access and watch their favorite video content, what isn’t necessarily changing is the location where we enjoy this video content – our homes. This, combined with the growing demand for digital video content, is why we’re seeing the shift in share of screen time away from traditional video channels to the PC right now.

Interesting write up as I fall into this category of users. In accordance with the article, most of my video and episode consumption is done in my home and even when Rob and I do decide to take a movie with us to watch while camping, it is a laptop we take rather than my portable DVD player.

It seems that a big reason for the shift to PC from television is the want for on-demand without the need of cable (and Tivo). Prior to the NBC loading its Office episodes to their network site, I gladly paid the $1.99 weekly charge through Apple to download each weekly episode. The want of on-demand and the ability to re-watch each episode was worth the minimal $1.99 charge. When NBC pulled the shows from Apple and put them on the network site, I gladly transitioned as the episodes were free, though rudely interrupted by completely annoying commercial breaks. However, the viewing on Hulu is the best of all worlds with the free episodes and seamlessly integrated advertisements. From my consumer viewpoint Hulu is:

• substantially easier to navigate than the network sites, definitely easier to find full episodes versus clips
• the ad placements are better integrated, not as intrusive and actually quite interesting (a point discussed below)
• consumer friendly due to its aggregation of partner content on one site, allowing the user to jump from different episodes and movies, simply enjoying the content rather than worrying what network produces what content.

Looking at the users who do shift to online viewing, Hulu has been able to capture a significant amount of viewers in comparison to the network landing page. Hulu (according to the numbers below) is able to hold the interest twice as long (in comparison to the network landing pages) for users seeking comedies, while users seeking drama usually revert to the network sites.

Plus, the commercials on Hulu are definitely not as intrusive and actually quite interesting, lately integrating a cyber ethics theme. For instance, one of the last advertisements I viewed showed a teenage girl highly criticizing another teenager girl in a face-to-face confrontation. The commercial then flashed to text stating if you wouldn’t criticize a person in a face-to-face scenario what makes it alright online. Another commercial focused on the idea of piracy being theft and how a user wouldn’t steal a purse or a car, so why would it then be ok to pirate music online.

The most amazing takeaway for me is I have noticed that now that Hulu has launched I watch substantially more television episodes than when I owned cable television. It just seems so easy to quickly watch an episode after a long day at work. =)

What is the feedback from you readers? What is your watching behavior? Have you checked out the network sites or Hulu?

]]> http://www.wasatchgirl.com/2008/07/24/pc-gaining-television-audience/feed/ 1 http://www.wasatchgirl.com/2008/07/06/personal-financial-management-options/ http://www.wasatchgirl.com/2008/07/06/personal-financial-management-options/#comments Mon, 07 Jul 2008 04:20:04 +0000 WasatchGirl http://www.wasatchgirl.com/2008/07/06/personal-financial-management-options/ I have been actively managing my finances (i.e. budgeting, investing, etc.) for the past 4 or 5 years and have noticed that the process is substantially easier through the deployment of a personal financial management solution.

For the past 2.5 years I have been using the Utah-based start-up mVelopes for my financial management needs. I have really enjoyed the product, finding the user interface intuitive and complementary of my financial management strategy of budgeting first and spending only the allocated capital. Because mVelopes allowed me to support a local company, I truly tried to be an outstanding customer answering every survey sent my way and suggesting the product to numerous friends, a handful of which joined the service. However, in the last couple months the service has become patchy, ridden with connectivity and transaction issues. I am hoping that this is due to an increase in the user base, resulting in business growing pains. Yet, at the same time I can only wait so long for the engineers to resolve these problems as I am a paying customer .

The worst part about the mVelopes issues is the naïve attitude of the customer service. I have had to contact customer service at least 6 times in the past two months, resulting in the customer service agents tip-toe-ing around a real solution to the problem. It seems that they offer a temporary fix, but never offer me an end date for the actual solution nor compensate me for my loss of time and troubles. The connectivity issue is just a pain, but the missing transactions is disconcerting. For instance, once I noticed that I was missing a transaction and so contacted customer support to learn that in reality I was missing 28 transactions over the past 2 months that had hit their servers but weren’t being pushed through to my user interface. No apology, just a simple "we don’t do refunds due to our terms and services."

I would really like to continue using this product; however, I also need a solution that will consistently work.

As I contemplate switching offerings I noticed that the product characteristics that are a necessity for me, include:

• User Interface – I want an user interface that is intuitive. Sure there is a learning curve with any new tool, but I am hoping for something I can figure out relatively quickly that allows me to slice and dice my data (for example I really like being able to see spending over custom time ranges, not just month-to-month).
• Bank Access – When I first checked out Mint last year I couldn’t get access to a regional bank I use. That has now changed, but was obviously a major no when I first looked at the company.
• Security – Many companies in this realm are start-ups, which makes me nervous for two reason. First, have they accurately approached security, encryption and storage? Second, will they still be in business in a year or two and if not, where will my data end up?
• Reliability – These companies are dealing with my financials and must be reliable. What is the point of using a PFM solution if it doesn’t pull all my transactions?
• Live-Chat Customer Service – Customer service is a necessity and live chat is just my personal preference. I personally like "on-demand" help, if needed.

Product characteristics I don’t care about:

• Community – Does the whole web experience need to be social? Many of these companies tout the community aspect and I can see why this might be a draw to some people, but it just isn’t a priority for me to talk to strangers concerning my finances. Aggregation of articles and sites, sure. Random strangers giving me advice, not so important.

Players in this space include the following:

Company: Mint
Software / Online: Online
User Interface: Very good
Bank Access: 6,500 banks
Budget Capabilities: Yes, but as a goal section rather than priority
Reporting: Yes
Investment Monitoring: Yes, but still in private beta
Community: No
Security: Verisign, HackerSafe, Truste, plus they do not record the user’s actual name, only email address. Mint provides a whole video of their CEO speaking solely to security plus a scroll down page with each point thoroughly discussed.
Reliabilty: Unkown as I have had limited use
Customer Service: Email only.
Comments: This company has been hyped, but for some reason has never quite worked for me the four times I have given it a shot. Today was the first time I could successful add accounts, only having problems with one regional bank that has image verification security. I figured I would try contacting customer support with the issue. No live chat, but an email function that automatically responded back to me with a “help is on the way” kind of thing (nice). The email said they would contact me concerning the issue within 24 – 48 hours, yet over-promised and under-delivered as I have yet to hear back after 72 hours. One interesting feature is the user can input in his/her zipcode and get a benchmark of what others in the area spend in each category.
Price: Free

Company: mVelopes
Software / Online: Online
User Interface: Very good. The layout structure works really well for me but the company could make it look a little more professional.
Bank Access: 14,459 banks
Budget Capabilities: Yes, with a focus on the user sticking to a budget. The user sets asides the money in envelopes and when it is gone it is gone, unless the user pulls money from other envelopes.
Reporting: Yes, but I wish it had more features.
Investment Monitoring: No
Community: Yes, but quite separate from the main user face, which is nice
Security: Verisign, BBBOnline Reliability Program, Security Metrics Certified. The company provides a whole page discussing SSL, Session Management, Firewall Protection, etc.
Reliability: For the first couple years the product was fantastic. Within the past 3 – 4 months it has been have some issues.
Customer Service: A user can call, email or use live chat.
Comments: The company has been having some technical difficulties, specifically with connectivity (as mentioned earlier in my post). I really like the structure of the user interface as it makes the user think in terms of budgeting and staying within that budget. I wish their reporting capabilities where a little bit better and offered custom time frames. I do like supporting a local team, but their customer service has been hard to work with and would be the breaking point on why I switched services.
Price: ~$5 – 10 depending on the years of commitment.

Company: Wesabe
Software / Online: Online
User Interface: Ok. A downloadable toolbar or software is necessary to add banks. I have given this company a try on two occasions and this step has temporarily stalled me from continuing to the next phases both times.
Bank Access: Unsure on exact number, but both my regional banks were listed.
Budget Capabilities: Yes, in a goal tab. I wish they had budgeting set up as a priority rather than an afterthought.
Reporting: Yes
Investment Monitoring: No
Community: Yes, but too much. The community is mixed in with the interface and I want my financials to seem private.
Security: The company implements “industry-standard encryption” and strips each user account of personal identifiers.
Reliability: I have not used enough to comment in this area
Customer Service: Email only.
Comments: When adding a bank account it re-directs to the bank page and then back to the Wesabe site. I think I read this had something to do with keeping the passwords straight between the banks and community. I don’t thoroughly understand the technicalities of why they do this, but I don’t like that I feel as if I am leaving the main Wesabe site.
Price: Free

Company: Buxfer
Software / Online: Online
User Interface: Very Good
Bank Access: Unsure on number of banks, but both my regional banks were listed.
Budget Capabilities: Yes, but once again an after thought, not a priority
Reporting: Yes
Investment Monitoring: No
Security: A little hard to track down on the site. They state that they follow “industry standard encryption techniques and practices”, plus comment that passwords are encrypted prior to storage, transferred through SSL and decrypted only during authentication.
Reliability: I have not used enough to comment.
Customer Service: Email only.
Community: Unsure. It says you can add groups, but it appears that it adds people you know through email.
Comments: None.
Price: Free

Company: Yodlee Money Center
No demo was available and I didn’t want to just cough up my information. No review.

Company: Intuit Quiken for Mac (I am a Mac user so this would be the one of interest to me)
Software / Online: Both
User Interface: Very good but perhaps a little too technical that it isn’t completely user friendly
Budget Capabilities: Yes
Reporting: Yes, plus allowing custom date ranges
Investment Monitoring: Yes
Community: Yes
Bank Access: Unsure on actual number, but both my regional banks were listed.
Customer Service: A user can call, request a call back, email, chat, or check out their social media sites of Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.
Comments: This is definitely the most professional option for personal finance that also includes reminders for bills and a tax tracking area. I am unsure if it autosyncs transactions or if the user must actually download into the software.
Price: $69 for software ($53 with very accessible coupons) plus $2.99 for online version

After looking at this breakdown, it seems that many of the web players focus on limited functionality but with a free price tag. When it comes to my finances, I would happily pay if I felt the solution was helping me to save money, assisted in thoroughly tracking my finances and still allowed me access to customer service when needed. Looking at the competitors I still lean towards mVelopes, of which my subscription expires in January and at which time I will re-assess. I am truly hoping that their technical issues are resolved at that point, otherwise, I might have to make the move towards Intuit.

A couple days ago I watched my first full episode and found it highly entertaining. It took me awhile to get used to Garyvee’s enthusiasm and lingo, but grew more and more interested as he started tasting the wines and providing his feedback. Below is today’s episode.

Del.icio.us (acquired by Yahoo in 2005) has been making some changes to their product. I like the new user interface on the pop-up box, think the suggested tags are “smarter” than previously, and like the new firefox toolbar that shows my recently tagged links. However, I don’t understand why they now have a limit on the length of the description. I find value in bookmarking all the recently funded companies in specific sectors I watch, clipping the raise press release into the description field and updating when I see news about that company. But now, I have to ensure that the description is less than the allotted length of 255 characters. What is the advantage of them putting a cap on the length?

Twitter in a conference setting is invaluable! Everyday I met all these people and wanted to catch up at panels, meetings, dinner, etc. Rather than putting a phone number in my phone, I could easily connect on twitter and follow their updates by phone during the duration of the conference. Then on the way home, I switched the settings so that I could still see their updates by web only.

Yet I continue to see the value on a daily basis, which is increased by the more folks I follow. I notice that through my updates I get good leads (in real time) about something I might find useful. Or I see interesting feedback if I throw out an open ended question. For instance, the other day I threw out the following questions (I am @WasatchGirl) and received the following answers:

@WasatchGirl “ I just learned in a company pitch that 20% of cell phone users do not have a land line. I fall into this group. What about you?”

@CharlieOliver No landline here, same for at least a dozen people I know (they do have cells)

@yuricake totally

@MelissaKing I got rid of mine over a year ago & I can’t say I missed it all that much

@tamineedham I have to have a land line, no service bars in my house…

@tweetipFH re : no land line ~ no voice landline for 8 years…

@Kalei I have 5 cell phones, no land lines.

@humancell I have a landline … that is the number that I give when I have to provide a number, but I really don’t want to hear from them

@selves somewhat, company pays my landline/inet/&cell, so i don’t really count.

@WasatchGirl “ What type of value do you derive from Twitter? Examples?”

@Kalei From Twitter I get: real-time news events, news from Hawaii, new links/websites, keep in touch w/family, & entertainment!

@tweetipFH ~ realtime truth on breaking news, where ever it is in the World…
~ twitter helps restore our gut “filtering” of what doesn’t feel right…
~ within a few tweets of 140 chars, the truth emerges, from earthquakes to twitter ads

And then I learned the other day how to start doing searches on Twitter and read this post by Charlie on how to actually track certain words.

If you haven’t checked out Twitter yet, here is an easy to understand video to get you started.

Friday was the first day of SXSW so the lineup of events was quite small, providing only two panels for the day. After waiting in the line for my badge and meeting the EchoDitto crew, I headed over to the Dabble, Dabble Toil and Kick Ass career related panel. Nothing new or novel there, but no biggie as it was the first panel of the event. Next I headed off to the Bankrupt Your Startup Panel with panelists Andrew Hyde (startupweekend.com and the recent vcwear.com), Joshua Strebel (Obu Web Technologies), Sean Tierney (Jumpbox) and a unicorn. Yes, you read that right. A unicorn. The panel had so much potential, but none was achieved as the whole event was a joke with Godzilla slides and money being thrown around. Once again, no biggie. Still just the first day at SXSW.

That night I hit up the Friday Night Mix at Six and met some great people such as Michael Pilla of Indie Flix, Robb Wood of an uber stealth project and the Path 101 team consisting of my blogger friend Charlie O’donnell, Danielle Collins and Alex Lines. The crew of us headed over to grab some dinner with some friends of Charlie’s at Opal. The dinner gang included Josh Guttman of Sphere, Jason Falls of Doe Anderson, Richard McGinnis of Radian6, Shawn Morton of CNet and Profilactic, Nick Huhn of Yum! Brands, and Todd Earwood and Nicky “Lindy” Key of DailyIdea.tv. Good times!

Danielle Collins and me.

Jason Falls and Richard McKinnis.

Nicky (Lindy), Todd and Charlie.

Over the years I have built up a crew of contacts and have continued to keep an eye on the listings that were being posted, logging in probably once a month. Yet, all of a sudden the site no longer recognizes my log-in information and my email is mysteriously not on file. I asked a friend of mine to send me a new invitation, but that never reached me either. I have reached out to the company through three different email addresses and have not heard a response.

Hello… hello… hello… Doostang founders, are you out there? Don’t make me find you through VentureSource, Twitter or LinkedIn. =)

Needless to say, I checked out CrunchBase, a listing of web2.0 company profiles. Out of curiousity I looked up some of the Wasatch companies to see what information was listed.

• The Generations Network – listed under MyFamily.com, The Generations Network and Ancestry.com. Information was different on every page, even though each page mentioned the others and how they were all interrelated. The acquisition news was only listed on The Generations Network.
• Mozy – information on company and acquisition were accurate. For some reason Tim Draper and Drew Majors were listed as the only investors even though Wasatch was the only one listed under the financing information.
• Lignup – not included, but I don’t believe it has even been covered on TechCrunch
• BungeeLabs – not included, but I don’t believe it has even been covered on TechCrunch
• Medsphere – not included, but I don’t believe it has even been covered on TechCrunch

Hmmm… definitely not perfect… yet, I can’t be too hard on the author Mike Arrington as there are a bazillion (note that this is not an actual count) web2.0 companies out there. If anything, Crunchbase can be a good starting point to find companies already noted by Arrington as movers and shakers, as his viewpoints result in a definite increase in site hits. Then perhaps researched on one’s own after that.