Showtime is going to stream shows on Yahoo! to promote them and attract subscribers, according to this AdWeek article. Meahwhile, Fox will stream new shows on its affiliates’ websites and on MySpace, says Reuters and MediaPost (reg. req’d). This effort is part of the larger, “Fox on Demand” initiative.
The otherwise ad-free effort on Fox is being sponsored by Toyota, Lionsgate Films and Burger King. The only problem is that users (per the WSJ) don’t like video “pre-roll” ads, which are the dominant form of video advertising at the moment.
Here are conflicting data (Hitwise vs. comScore) on who’s in the lead in terms of broadband video market share. And here’s an AP-AOL survey that shows consumers’ general unwillingness (so far) to watch full-length online video.
