Broadcast, Video-on-Demand, and Other Ways to Watch Television Content

Abstract

This paper presents an explorative investigation into households? uses of traditional broadcast television (TV) and more recently introduced video-on-demand (VoD) services. More specifically, we explain how each way of viewing TV and video content relates to different viewing situations in the home. We conducted in-home interviews with seven households in The Netherlands in order to obtain rich data that are required for understanding these phenomena. Our results elaborate on the uses of watching broadcast TV, catch-up services, and video-on-demand streaming services, the recording of content, and the downloading of content. While the traditional broadcast model is on the decline to some extent, our data still revealed essential uses of broadcast concerning certain types of content and specific viewing situations. Based on the results, a number of implications for the design of recommender systems and interfaces, service providers and broadcasters, and TV manufacturers are presented.