Sullivan,+T+Focus+Group+Report

Sullivan, T

To: Proxmity video team From: Tommy Sullivan Date: March 29, 2010 Subject: Focus group report

This is my report from my focus group session that I ran with five Towson University students concerning their thoughts and feelings on watching videos online and on a television screen. I was able to cover all five questions developed by the team. All reported that they have downloaded video illegally before, but the concerning fact is that most don't see it as doing anything wrong.


 * Focus Group Rationale**

Premium video content is increasingly being delivered through the Internet, giving Gen-Y many different was to access TV shows and movies. As a result broadcast TV audiences are being fragmented and the movie industry can no longer assume that box office revenues alone will pay for the production of new movies. The rationale for our focus group sessions is to determine how Gen-Y currently watches premium video and which broadband technologies they prefer. This information will allow us to advise Proximity clients on how best to target Gen-Y using ads associated with premium content.


 * Setting and Participants**

The 45 minute session was held in my friend Pat's house on Saturday, March 20, 2010. The Towson University students that participated were:


 * Pat, 20, a junior marketing major;
 * Will, 22, a junior business major;
 * Katherine, 21, a junior education major;
 * Bella, 20, a junior music major;
 * Billy, 21, a junior business major;


 * Session Topics**

__Where do you primarily watch movies/ tv shows?__

When talking about TV shows, all of them said they usually watch on TV but on occasion will watch a show on Hulu.com if theres something the want to watch thats not on TV or on demand for free. However, when we were talking about watching movies, it was mixed. Billy and Will said if they are watching the movie alone, the will watch it illegally online,unless the DVD is already available to them at no cost. The other three all prefer to watch it on DVD on a television screen.

__Movies at home compared to movies at the movie theatre__

This topic was also mixed. Billy and Will said they never go to the theatre and watch all the new movies online so they don't have to pay for them. Pat said he always go the the theatre to watch the new movies because he says he wants to support the movie. Bella and Katherine said they only go the theatre if its a movie they really want to see otherwise they will just wait until it comes out on DVD.

__Buy, Rent, or Digital File__

It was the same split for this topic as it was in the last. Will and Billy both said they usually get the movie online for free through a digital file, while the other three normally will buy or rent a video and watch it from there television screen where they said they can enjoy it a lot more.

__Importance of size and quality__

All of them said they would rather watch a video or a tv show on a large screen with good quality, but in this topic the question became whether or not they would pay for all that extra. When this became the question, Billy and Will said most of the time they wouldn't pay extra for the larger screen if they can watch it on a computer screen for free. The other three said they wouldn't mind paying a little bit extra for the larger screen and better quality because they said its worth it and they enjoy it more with it.

__Have you illegally downloaded video?__

All of them said they have illegally downloaded a video from the internet before. Only Pat said that he doesn't like doing it and thinks that its wrong because he feels that illegally downloading it for free is not really supporting the movie or show. The others don't really mind because they feel that its there available to everyone so why not.


 * Findings**

The session revealed that the Towson University participants:


 * mostly don't find anything wrong with illegally downloading video online
 * prefer watching movies and shows on a tv, although its not a big deal to watch them on a computer screen if its more convienent and less expensive

These findings should be compared with the results from the other sessions to see if the views of my group are similar to the views of other groups. If the views are similar, TV and movie producers are going to need to figure out a way to capitalize on this before companies stop paying them so much for advertisments and commercials, and which will leave them unable to cover the cost of producing a premium product.