The industry is still struggling to find products to entice customers into digital TV. The only country where this product has been really successful is the USA, which accounts for more than 80% of the global online video market – worth between US$600 and $650 million. Video-on-demand is still the main product.

However, all around the world entertainment companies are trialling new products and new formats. TV Norge in Norway is producing online episodes of their own FC Nerds football comedy; its business model is based on sponsorship. (They trialled pay-per-view and VoD but the viewers dropped by as much as 80%-90%, so they decided that the sponsoring model is a better way forward.)

In Spain viewers can watch Aida online. In other countries new episodes of series such as CSI can be viewed online one week earlier than on traditional TV.

The BBC in Britain launched the iPlayer that has been reported on. Interestingly, the BBC will enter the international arena with this service. Its first services are aimed at the USA, Germany and Australia. The British broadcaster certainly has money-making on its mind, and it will pursue business models that will involve advertising, subscriptions and pay-per-view.

To make video watching easier, US-based Veoh.com has launched a new browser.

In the meantime Sony has bought the reincarnated Grouper (now called Crackle) service, a YouTube clone. Aspiring filmmakers can use the service to launch short movies. Aiming for higher quality user-generated content, Sony will also assist these filmmakers financially.