While Facebook, MySpace and Twitter grab the fast growth headlines in English-speaking markets, in France it is video sharing, rather than just blogging or messaging, sites, which are leading the way. The leader in the field is DailyMotion, and Strategy Analytics research indicates that four million people in France are uploading videos to video sharing websites on a weekly basis. There are still more people in France - 5.3 million – who are checking social network sites such as Facebook at least weekly. And 7.7 million people are using social network sites at least a few times a year. But the overall user base is higher for video sharing sites at 10.8 million. The contrast with the UK is stark. Here there are 15 million people – three times the number in France, with a similar population – checking social network sites at least weekly. And while 10.6 million people in the UK claim to upload videos to video sharing websites like Youtube at least a few times a year – similar to France - only 1.3m people in the UK do so at least weekly, a third of the level of activity in France. The early entry (in 2005) of Dailymotion to the French market is one obvious explanation for this difference. But I can’t help wondering if broadband connection speeds are also part of the story. Any UK broadband user who has tried to upload video will be familiar with the frustrations of slow upload speeds, which are typically well below 500Kbps. In France Free offers upload speeds of 1Mbps, which may not seem like a big difference but can halve the time spent uploading videos. Twitter: twitter.com/DavidMercer_SA Client Reading: Digital Media Survey: France Country Profile

LG kicked us off this morning with a bullish presentation after announcing 16% US revenue growth in 2008. A variety of new technologies were confirmed, including 60GHz WirelessHD connectivity, 3D processing chips that will be ready for future 3D formats, TruMotion 240Hz (which combines 120Hz with backlight switching to create a 240Hz effect), LED backlighting (which gives a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio), and 25mm thin LCD TVs. The hot LG story is around its deals with internet content providers. Netflix, Youtube, Yahoo and other providers will appear as menu options on a range of connected devices, including TVs. LG also introduced an 802.11n BD player, one of the few integrated wireless enabled BD players on the market. Netgear also gave a strong performance, centered around its ITV2000 internet TV player, launching in summer 2009 at $199. This is a compact, pocket-sized set-top box which will give access to web content, including the inevitable Youtube, without the need for PC connectivity. Netgear also introduced its Digital Entertainer Elite, priced at $399 and available in February. This device incorporates a 500GB HDD and plays HD video at “up to Blu-ray quality”. I suppose that means something close to Blu-ray if the wind is blowing in the right direction. Toshiba, rather strangely, began their press conference by highlighting their leadership in “TV combos”, ie combined TV/DVD players. Not exactly technology innovation, but I suppose they had to find a market leadership story to start with. The new stuff focused on the introduction of internet widgets in TVs and other devices from the likes of Intel, Yahoo and Microsoft. Toshiba highlighted a number of content service providers on their presentation material, including Myspace, CinemaNow, Yahoo and CBS, but the fine print indicated that these names were shown “for demonstration purposes only”, suggesting that partnership deals are still at the negotiation stage. Toshiba’s approach to internet content is based on Microsoft platforms such as the Media Center PC, which is not surprising given its stronghold in the PC market. In the TV space, Toshiba announced the introduction of Dolby Volume, which balances volume levels across different TV channels so that viewers don’t have to keep adjusting volume levels. Dolby told me the technology has been a success in Japan for the past year and is now making its way to the US and Europe. Toshiba also indicated that the long-awaited Cell TV is on the horizon. Using the Cell processor at the heart of the PS3, this will be launched in 2009. Cell TV could allow 6 simultaneous HD streams to be recorded, support the next generation of 4k x 2k panels and allow for 3D graphical interfaces. Client Reading: IFA 2008: Internet and 3D Offer Hope During Europe's CE Recession

Social network services have boomed in the last couple of years, led by now well-known brands such as Facebook, Myspace and Bebo. I profess to finding the whole thing a little bemusing, but that’s doubtless down to my unsuitable demographic. Perhaps if I’d been born 20 years later I’d now be spending hours every day updating my social pages and checking out the latest activities of “friends” I never thought I had or needed. Strategy Analytics’ own survey data confirms that I’m in the wrong age group to appreciate the value of these services. Of online users across the US and Europe, 63% of 15-24 year-olds and 52% of 25-34s use a social network. Once we reach middle age the proportion drops below a third: 30% of 35-44s and 25% of 45-54s. Only 15% of those lucky enough to have reached or be approaching retirement (55 and over) have discovered the delights of MySpace and Facebook. In actual fact, as an occasional user of Linked-in I do classify as a “user”. I did also register with Facebook and receive invitations to “connect” from “friends” I have never heard of. I suppose grumpy old men just aren’t cut out for all this friendship. It’s good to know today’s youngsters have so many options ahead of them… Other findings from our study: UK internauts are most likely to maintain a social network, with just over half claiming to be users. The proportion in the US is 44%, and 37% in Italy, but in France and Germany only just over 20% of internet users are networking socially. Our findings suggest that social networks are attracting huge daily audiences. In the US more than 30 million people are using a service every day, while in the UK the number is more than 8 million. That’s a lot of young people being pulled away from more traditional pursuits like watching TV. In spite of that, 69% of 15-24 year olds still claim to watch TV (ie TV shows or movies on the TV set) on a weekly basis, compared to 74% of the population on average. But the term “watch” should probably be applied loosely: anecdotally it is clear more and more people are tapping away on PC keyboards or cellphones while the TV show runs on the big screen ten feet away. Client Reading: Social Media: Brits Lead in Social Network Usage

Social networking is not just about the teenagers on Myspace and Facebook. Younger children are spending hours in online worlds like Club Penguin, as I can testify from personal experience. Club Penguin was set up by Canadian company New Horizon Interactive in 2005, and has just been acquired by Disney for $350m. It has 12 million activated users, 700,000 of which pay nearly $60 a year for the premium service (my daughter, or rather her parents, being one of them) - that's $50m in revenues from a measly kids' game site. Club Penguin is terrific. If I was nine years old again I don't see how Lego or Subbuteo would get a look-in. It can be nerve-wracking for adults to imagine that younger children are interacting in real time with other real people, but, inevitably, they think nothing of it, and happily explore the cartoon landscape making "friends" at the drop of a hat. One can only wonder at how the social skills of tomorrow's adults are changing relative to those of previous generations. Disney recognises Club Penguin as a safe-kid zone, and I've seen nothing in the game to dispute that. It's something many concerned parents are prepared to pay for, dreading the time when penguins become babyish and Facebook, or whatever next year's hot site is, takes over their children's lives.

Disney's ABC Networks has recently beta-launched its new online HD service. US surfers can now stream HD versions of popular shows such as Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy and Ugly Betty. ABC is using Move Networks technology, a company it invested in December 2006. Other technology providers are also moving into the online HD space. In terms of video performance, we have been most impressed with Vividas, whose approach involves downloading video players on a one-time basis to the user's PC and thus, the company claims, avoids many of the pitfalls associated with traditional peer-to-peer streaming approaches. Itiva is another company to watch out for. ABC claims to be the first network to stream HD on a regular basis, but Fox has also been offering HD shows at www.myspace.com/fox. It seems clear that online HD, in spite of the obvious network and technology challenges, is firmly on the roadmap for media conglomerates. As they explore this new approach to reaching and keeping customers, they are likely to find that traditional access providers, such as cablecos and telcos, may resist their attempts to bypass their carefully managed HDTV services. The net neutrality debate is not dead yet. Strategy Analytics clients can read more here.

The BBC has announced the launch of its iPlayer for July 27th, several months earlier than expected. The iPlayer will be free to use (for UK licence fee payers) and will allow broadband Internet users to watch TV or radio programmes broadcast on the BBC's TV and radio channels in the previous seven days. Programmes will be available for streaming or download up to seven days since first broadcast. Downloaded programmes can be used up to 30 days after broadcast. The iPlayer is only Windows-compatible at launch but a Mac version is in preparation. The BBC says it is in discussions with distribution partners such as MSN, Telegraph.co.uk, AOL, Tiscali, Yahoo, Myspace, Bebo and Blinkx. There will doubtless be plenty of hype around this news for the next few weeks, not least from the BBC news service itself. The real news story is the availability of TV programmes rather than radio, which have been available online for many years. The iPlayer should be a slick application, and it is another step forward for the UK market in the global drive towards web TV. But as I have often pointed out to Strategy Analytics clients, broadcasters in other countries have offered this sort of service for some years. I usually cite NRK, the Norwegian public broadcaster, which offers vast archives of TV programmes available for online streaming (eg here). So while the BBC has been lagging behind other players in recent years, it could now leapfrog competitors with a powerful application and a wide range of valuable content. The concept of "always available" is gradually changing the TV industry as broadcasters wake up to the threat and potential of broadband, but business models still reflect the era of scheduled broadcasting. That will surely begin to change as we learn more about the demand for "catch-up TV" and other emerging digital services.