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Understanding
the home learning market and its business
opportunities. by
Ken
Freed Now
that we've considered the educational television
market in schools and organizations, we come to the
third market segment, the home learners. Here we
have two major categories of learners. First, the
people who study on their own time at home for
academic or career growth. Second, the people who
study on their own time at home for the pure joy of
learning, what the experts like to call "lifelong
learners." Expanding the total market of lifelong
learners expands the audience for educational
television and all education commerce. DESCRIPTION
OF THE HOME ETV MARKET In
some ways, this is the most measured audience on
earth, given the massive demographic research
undertaken to learn every aspect of modern
homelife, especially our secret home television
viewing habits. On the other hand, home learners
are one of the least understood markets because
most of the research has been focused on consumer
behaviors motivated by advertising, but not the
behaviors arising from an inner choice to learn
something new through the television
receiver. Home Learner
Demographics Europe, from the UK to the
new republics on the east, has about 165 million
television households. Virtually all are capable of
receive terrestrial antenna television broadcasts.
Among these TV households, according to the Societe
Europeenes des Satellites, 28 percent or 46 million
homes subscribe to cable television services and
another 16 percent or 26 million homes subscribe to
satellite television services. Generally,
subscription TV is more popular in the industrial
nations. Old patyterns persist.. Germany has more
than 30 percent satellite penetration while Italy
has only 3 percent.
(See
Table 7.1
below) Looking at the British
Isles, the United Kingdom has 22.2 million
television households, says the 1997 Cable and
Satellite Yearbook, with 10 percent or 2.3 million
cable subscribers, 17 percent or 3.8 million
satellite subscribers. Ireland has about 1 million
TV households with 47 percent or nearly 500,000 on
cable, 7 percent or 75,000 on a satellite, and 14
percent or 150,000 on wireless cable. The UK has a
total population of 58.5 million, 20 percent below
the age of 14 years and 65 percent between the ages
of 15 and 64, those older than 65 comprising the
last 15 percent, reports the World Fact Book.
Ireland has a population of 3.5 million, 15 percent
below age 14, 68 percent between the ages of 15 and
64, and 19 percent over age 65. Conceivably, all of
them could be home learners, yet even a fraction of
them is a solid market. Looking at North America,
the United States has about 100 million television
households with about 65 percent on cable, ten
percent on satellite services, reports the National
Cable Television Association, with 1 percent on
wireless cable. The population of 267 million has
22 percent below age 14. 65 percent between the
ages 15 and 64, and 13 percent over age 65. There
are about 215 million TV sets in the USA for 95
percent penetration. In contrast, Canada has a
population of about 30 million with 21 percent
below age 14, and 67 percent between ages 15 and
64, leaving 15 percent over age 65. Curiously,
there are only 11 million TV households in Canada,
reports the TBI Yearbook, so only a third of all
Canadian homes contain potential ETV home learners.
A relatively small
percentage of all home viewers care about anything
more than entertainment. An optimistic guesstimate,
drawn from several sources, sets the number of home
learners at about 85 percent for children under age
10, about 65 percent from ages 10 to 14, about 45
percent for teens in high school, 35 percent for
college students, about 25 percent for young
adults, about 10-15 percent for working adults, and
about 35 percent for adults past age 65. Happily,
the higher the household income and leisure time,
the higher the interest in educational television
programming. Imagine if all TV viewers increased
their viewing of educational TV content by just one
hour per week, maybe as a share of existing TV
viewing hours
(see
Table 7.2
below).
Breathtaking. Kinds and Sources of
Home Learning As already suggested, home
learners tend to use the television for educational
reasons because they need or want the knowledge
offered. Home educational TV learning activities
can be broken into these categories: Academic: Young
children viewing "literacy" programmes from
Teletubbies to Sesame Street. Also students seeing
news, documentaries or school-related programmes.
This content mostly is distributed by broadcast or
subscription services. A small portion of the
content is distributed by videotape or
DVD. Vocational: Adult
learners watching skill-development courses.
Content is distributed as a videotape or DVD, but
some niche pay TV channels offer specialized
vocational programming, like a chef watching The
Food Channel. Knowledge TV offers vocational
programs in areas like computer science. Recreational &
Hobby How-to: Adult learners watching
skill-development courses. Content is distributed
as a videotape or DVD, but some niche pay TV
channels offer how-to programming. The Learning
Channel in Europe offers content like home repair,
unlike the TLC focus on academics in the
USA. Social Concerns:
Mostly involves adult learners watching
broadcast and pay TV documentaries or factual
reports on topical issues. The Discovery Channel
and The History Channel are two pay TV services
delivering such content. Videotape and DVD delivery
is less common for learning in these
areas. Personal Growth:
Self-improvement and inspirational content tend
to arrive on videotape (and now DVD) or via public
service broadcasting. Much of this programming is
produced by celebrities, like the Jane Fonda or
Oprah Winfrey fitness videotapes, or the health and
wellness videos by Dr. Deepak Chopra. Only a fraction of all ETV
content viewed at home was produced initially for
home viewing. Most of the academic-oriented content
was first produced for schools, colleges and
universities, then later made available to the
independent home learners. Similarly, most
vocational or professional training videos first
were produced for the further education or the
organizational training markets, then made
available to home learners after-the-fact. The
primary exceptions to this schema are the
educational programmes produced solely for
subscription services offering educational
channels, such as Discovery, Knowledge TV, The
Learning Channel, or The History Channel. Lifelong
learners love tuning in quality educational
channels for the sake of learning something
new. Home Learner ETV
Content Selection Self-motivated home
learners chiefly select content because of its
relevance to their concerns, the reliability and
scope of the material, plus the price (often an
intuitive cost-benefit analysis). Other factors may
include the compatibility of the content with the
learner's cultural or moral values (e.g., Bible
study tapes) or the popularity of particular
subject matter (a hit BBC or PBS documentary)
prompting home learners to seek more information on
the inviting subject. Home learners select the
format of their educational content according to
the technologies available to them. Those with a
pay TV subscription may look to the
education-oriented channels first, then to the
public broadcast stations, and then look for tapes
(assuming they own a VCR) as the final recourse.
Those with a computer may seek out a relevant
multimedia CD-ROM, and those with Internet access
will open a browser, go to a search engine, and go
exploring! Interestingly, home learners still
prefer print materials over videotape for any kind
of information they wish to archive for ready
reference in the future. A BBC study ten weeks
after launching The Learning Zone (TLZ) revealed
the viewing patterns for the six BBC educational TV
services (see Table 1.2). Most popular among the
general public were Open University programmes. The
most popular content among self-motivate learners
were the language instruction programmes. The most
popular content among further education learners,
predictably, were the vocational programmes offered
by FETV. The point is that people
watching their television sets at home choose to
watch educational programming because they want to
learn, they are motivated. This means that the
commercial and nonprofit ventures creating content
for home learners can enjoy a measure of loyalty
not afforded those producing content that students
or workers must watch for academic or career
survival. When the content can be viewed in the
comfort of one's own home, assuming a relative
degree of relaxation surrounds the viewing
experience, educational content can "soak in"
deeper than if the programming is viewing in a
classroom. When people feel fulfillment from their
learning, they feel grateful to the providers of
that experience. How many product or service
providers enjoy this boon? HOME
LEARNER ETV TRENDS &
OPPORTUNITIES The
educational television picture is like a fruitful
landscape in bright sunlight bound by scudding
clouds with dark underbellies. Look first at the
landmarks. In the United Kingdom, for
instance, the BBC in 1998 intends to launch BBC
Learning, an educational channel on digital
satellite, funded by license fees. BBC Learning
also will be distributed on digital cable, and
eventually digital terrestrial television (DTT).
With an annual budget of about £10 million,
BBC Learning will carry content for children and
adult viewers, initially in six-hour blocks of
daily programming. BBC Learning will "tie in"
educational material on BBC Online, the new
Internet service. Expansion of educational
television services marks recognition in the BBC of
our growing demand for knowledge. Next, the European
Commission recently announced plans for a new
European educational network and other initiatives
to bring educational content over television into a
stronger market position in member nations. This
trend excites Robert Winter, the head of the
Educational TV Unit of the European Broadcasting
Union, who's long foreseen a pan-European
educational channel. Yet Winter voices some grave
concerns about the realization of his vision. "The
problem," he says "lies in the practice rather than
the theory." Availability of Home
ETV Content Educational television in
the UK and Europe, the same as in the USA, faces
reduced funding, reduced airtime and faint support
from television executives. Whatever one may say
about the social, cultural or personal benefits of
ETV, the baseline truth is that ETV does not win
high ratings. Without sufficient ratings, how can
public service broadcasters justify educational
programming? Many leaders on both sides
of the Atlantic find today's situation deplorable.
Public service broadcasters prosper through
entertainment programming while educational
producers are forced to cut back the staff they
have available to use their inadequate equipment.
British ETV content creators must rely on global
co-production deals just to secure seed money and
airplay on the BBC. Quips Winter, "Whatever
happened to the Royal Charter?" The situation on the
independent commercial broadcast services is worse,
for there is little evidence to persuade
advertisers that sufficient numbers would watch a
media literacy programme over a report in the
latest scandal involving the royals. The same holds
true in the USA. Commercial TV networks use the
dinner hour and prime-time to deliver news,
magazine shows, games shows, and melodramas. If a
situation comedy ever airs a show with any
substance, the hypemeisters swing into high gear
about the "very special episode." The subscription services
in the USA and Europe have a better track record,
but mostly because of the niche services created
with home learners in mind, like Discovery Channel,
The Learning Channel, Lifetime, and Knowledge TV.
Although ETV content comprises less than five
percent of all content entering the homes of the
160 multichannel subscribers in Europe and North
America, think about the total hours of ETV
programming needed
(see
Tables 7.1,
7.2). Subscription cable and
telecom services are pushing high-speed modems for
home Internet links on the computer, and some offer
set tops with web access on the TV screen. As
interactivity migrates from the PC to the TV, the
dream of two-way interactive TV is becoming a
routine reality. Consider the impact on the
education industry when we can learn "anywhere,
anyplace, anytime." Expanding the
Popularity of Educational TV Home delivery of
educational content in the new universe of "500
channels" likely will stay a lower priority than
the escapist entertainment programming that
generates the most revenues. Within this admittedly
dour picture there is a bright ray of hope. The
reality of the market in our increasingly
interdependent global village is that people are
seeing the need to become better educated for the
sake of their personal and family survival. Parents
are demanding more and better educational
technologies and services for their children at
home, and parents awant content for both the PC and
TV. Parents and adult learners also are showing
increased willingness to lobby for government and
corporate support of the educational programmes
they desire. If necessity is the mother of
invention, expect a boom in educational TV. Why not
plan ahead? As the demand for home
educational programming grows over the next few
years, will there be enough content to supply
demand? If just 5-10 percent of the new channels
made possible by digital compression could be
consecrated to educational programming, thousands
of hours of content would be required. The
expanding networks of ETV production coalitions in
the USA and Europe suggest that the content may be
on-hand or in the pipeline for the multichannel
two-way services. Education could be the "Killer
App" for interactive TV. PROFITABILITY
ISSUES IN HOME ETV All
the encouragement and caution offered for ETV in
schools and workplaces also applies to investing in
the production, delivery or display of educational
content in the home. Yet a few additional
considerations need to be addressed. Foremost, where education
fits into the business plan of any television
service varies on their revenue sources.
Broadcasters reliant on license fees or similar TV
user taxes, just like advertising-supported
broadcasters, can begrudge ETV as a public service
obligation, or they can embrace ETV as an
opportunity for growing the venture, enriching
popular channels with uplifting "edutainment."
Subscription TV services already offer educational
channels for niche markets, and they can work to
build these local to global audiences. Interactive
ETV providers can gain footholds by interacting
with Internet and pay TV services. One must sell a lot of
tapes and disks to recover the millions spent upon
any content with high-end production values, like a
major documentary series. Yet the costs are
recoverable, with profit, or why would ETV shows be
produced? Favor "evergreen" programmers with an
enduring capacity to earn revenues. While not as much of an
issue in the United States, language barriers pose
a challenge in Europe. Programmes only produced in
only one tongue limit their reach. Translation is
vital, so the wise investor seeks opportunities
where the leading players support multilingual
productions. Also, be sure ETV content demonstrates
a multicultural and cross-cultural sensitivity to
audience values. dispelling the risk of backlash
threatening the profitability of an ETV
business. Remember, too, that the
whole concept of television and mass media is going
though an alchemical transmutation. Beware of
getting stuck with ETV programmes or delivery
services that depend on outmoded technologies.
Visualize rows of warehouses filled with unsold
videotapes in Beta format. Whenever possible,
support the creation of educational content that
can be "re-purposed" down the road for delivery by
whatever manner of interactive media may emerge.
A reliable rule of thumb
is to plan on producing a product for every
platform. After the educational television series
comes the videotapes and DVDs along with the
website or the CD-ROM, and soon comes the version
that combines all of these formats into a programme
for delivery on interactive television. Finally, in evaluating any
educational television venture targeting the home
market, or the schools or workplace market, for
that matter, keep in mind these words from AMI
president Art Bauer, "What motivates people most is
the opportunity to learn and grown, to achieve and
feel good about themselves."
TV Cable % Satellite % MMDS % VCR Austria 2,991 1,320 43 520 17 n/a - 69 Belgium 4,088 4,020 96 40 1 n/a - 46 Bulgaria 2,876 500 17 100 4 n/a - 30 Canada 10,815 780 7 100 1 30 .03 83 Croatia 870 n/a - 400 46 n/a - n/a Czech Rep. 3,904 650 18 511 13 C-n/a - 27 Denmark 2,296 1,470 65 340 15 n/a - 64 Estonia 485 140 29 25 22 C-n/a - 10 Finland 2,057 828 40 65 3 n/a - 55 France 20,897 1,424 22 1,500 7 T-n/a - 64 Germany 33,100 18,220 56 10,000 30 T-n/a - 60 Greece 3,161 n/a - 10 .3 n/a - 50 Hungary 3,802 1,400 37 424 11 120 3 35 Ireland 1,030 490 47 75 7 150 14 60 Italy 20,200 n/a - 680 3 C-n/a - 48 Latvia 826 58 7 91 11 C-n/a - 16 Lithuania 1,300 145 11 25 2 n/a - 9 Luxembourg 160 140 88 4 3 n/a - n/a Malta 100 12 12 2 2 C-n/a - 60 Netherlands 6,280 5,790 93 300 5 T-n/a - 68 Norway 1,760 800 45 270 15 n/a - 49 Poland 11,000 2,500 23 1,400 13 C-n/a - 50 Portugal 3,100 150 5 300 10 n/a - 52 Romania 7,000 2,000 29 300 4. n/a - 37 Russia
(Euro) 31,300 4,350 14 900 3 C-NA - n/a Serbia 2,200 150 8 220 11 n/a - 80 Slovakia 1,900 458 24 150 8 n/a - 24 Slovenia 650 295 45 160 25 n/a - 10 Spain 11,722 2,590 22 260 2 C-n/a - 58 Sweden 3,983 2,050 51 530 13 n/a - 72 Switzerland 2,880 2,080 80 200 7 T-n/a - 65 Turkey 15,000 450 3 300 2 C-n/a - 17 Ukraine 17,000 n/a - 500 3 n/a - n/a UK 22,295 2,240 10 3,790 17 T-n/a - 74 USA 100,000 66,000 66 6,000 6 1,100 1 81 TOTALS 353,028 123,500 30,492 1,400* . Sources:
TBI Yearbook 1997, SkyReport June 1997,
Cable and Satellite Yearbook 1997, World
Fact Book Online, Wireless Cable Assn.
International. ©1998 by Ken
Freed. Minutes Hours Minutes Hours German Switzerland 128 2.1. France 181 3.1 Sweden 133 2.2 South Belgium 184 3.1 Norway 143 2.4 Ireland 188 3.1 Roman Switzerland 149 4.2 Canada n/a 3.2 North Belgium 149 2.5 Greece 194 3.2 Netherlands 151 2.5 Hungary 195 3.2 Finland 151 2.5 Spain 211 3.5 Italian 157 2.6 Italy 215 3.6 Denmark 157 2.6 United Kingdom 216 3.6 Portugal 169 2.8 Turkey 219 3.6 Germany 174 2.9 United States n/a 4.0 For
More Information on Distance Learning: (c)
1998-2005
by
Ken
Freed.
Based on the book, Financial
Opportunities in Educational
Television, by Judah Ken Freed. . New
in the CASTING
THE NET OVER GLOBAL
LEARNING An
comprehensive overview of critical advances in k-12
and higher education along with corporate training
and lifelong learning.
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