Question 7: TV series download

On one hand it makes sense to pay after watching the show, because then consumers can evaluate the quality of the show and how much they're willing to pay for it. On the other hand though, even when we rent/buy a DVD, we pay first and then watch it, so why should this be any different? I think the motivation to pay for many consumers is bigger before watching, because paying means getting what they want... psychological, I guess.

Yes, it's true. There is also another risk if the customer pays after having watched the series: he/she can pay more if he/she enjoyed it but he/she can also pay a small amount if he/she is really disappointed. So maybe it's more profitable then to make the customer pay first

We also have to consider that when we pay the TV show online, we pay the website that is providing it and not the producer of that TV show. And we know that it is often not very good quality on the internet, subtitles are not always available ...
Then I think the paiement should be based more on the quality provided by the website, whether there were subtitles, the quality of the sound ...
So in the case we ask the viewer if he/she wants to pay for the TV show after he/she watched it, maybe we should ask him/her to evaluate the TV show trough few questions with mutliple choices answers AND THEN ask if he/her wants to give some money for it. Indeed if he/she liked the TV show, chances are higher he/she wants to pays for it afterwards because the small questionnary will have make him/her really think of the value of the provided service.

If this were happening, I don't believe anyone would pay mainly because, as mentioned previously, many websites offer these TV series for free.

I could think of other ideas though, maybe a "membership fee" for these Studio Websites which would allow you to access these programs in HD and comercial free and also give the feeling of doing something "ethical" to the consumer (not watching free episodes somewhere else)... for that service I believe people would pay (including myself).

We also have to consider that when we pay the TV show online, we pay the website that is providing it and not the producer of that TV show. And we know that it is often not very good quality on the internet, subtitles are not always available ...
Then I think the paiement should be based more on the quality provided by the website, whether there were subtitles, the quality of the sound ...more than on whether he/she liked the TV show !
So in the case we ask the viewer if he/she wants to pay for the TV show after he/she watched it, maybe we should ask him/her to evaluate the TV show trough few questions with mutliple choices answers AND THEN ask if he/her wants to give some money for it. Indeed if he/she liked the TV show, chances are higher he/she wants to pays for it afterwards because the small questionnary will have make him/her really think of the value of the provided service (and not about he/she liked the TV show)
What do you think about this? Do you think it would work?

To answer your questions Julie, if we take the same customer and ask him/her to put a price before and after the TV series, the amount of money will not be the same. First of all, before watching TV series you feel excited to see your favorite stars on TV => payment is thus link to your emotional feelings and because of that emotional marketing strategy, you will probably pay an higher price because you are expecting new elements in the TV series story.
However, after watching TV, you know the end of the story or episode, you are not interested in it anymore,you will maybe think twice : "I liked it but anyway I'm not ready to put a high price on it" => market strategy will thus be less effective and less money will be generated.

Like Julie said, I would prefer to determinate the amount after to watch the serie.

I think the companies should think not just in selling one chapter of the series, but the whole serie. So to determine the price before hand is not a good strategy, it's better give the option to the customer to bay after it, because the company can gain loyalty from that customer and don't sell just one chapter (after the customer's deception) but continue selling to the same customer, because even he/she was dissapointed, if he/she feels that has paid the fair price, then him/her will be still a customer!

Just a quick question, is it USD or NTD or any other currency?

Jeffreymchen wrote:

If put in a corner, I would say, Yes I would pay, but at an extremely low cost, such as .50-$1 per episode.

After watching the TV-series I assume, since credit card bills always come later.

julie wrote:The question is also when will the customers pay? After having watched the TV-series? Or before watching the TV-series?

Alexandra_Engel wrote:If your favorite TV series are available to be downloaded from the TV website, e.g. BBC provides Merlin series (www.bbc.co.uk/merlin/) or NBC provides Heroes (www.nbc.com/heroes), directly to your computer through a credit card payment. Are you interested in this kind of service? How much will you pay (for each episode, a whole season or how u want it to be paid)?

I will be interested in this kinf of service, because this a convenient way to obtain the content and the quality of the video from the official website should be good. I would pay around NT25 for such a service per episode.

To those who say that " I won't pay cos' I can see it on the web for free" - it is illegal! TV series are properties of some channel (this is also to Aurelie), but the problem is, that there are so many countries, so many languages, that you have to come up with some kind of approach to satisfy all consumers, not only English-speaking ones.

As I watch a lot of TV series, I think that the price should be reasonable, but at the same time not to high, so it would encourage me to watch more... But there are definitely series that I would buy/rent the whole season without knowing anything about it - like House MD. so I would pay beforehand.

kathia Morano wrote:To answer your questions Julie, if we take the same customer and ask him/her to put a price before and after the TV series, the amount of money will not be the same. First of all, before watching TV series you feel excited to see your favorite stars on TV => payment is thus link to your emotional feelings and because of that emotional marketing strategy, you will probably pay an higher price because you are expecting new elements in the TV series story.
However, after watching TV, you know the end of the story or episode, you are not interested in it anymore,you will maybe think twice : "I liked it but anyway I'm not ready to put a high price on it" => market strategy will thus be less effective and less money will be generated.

Kathia, I agree with you. I think that is why many information goods have a plastic clover when you buy them. If you have read through/watched/ used the content already, you completely lose the curiositiy. I think it is the drive for paying ahead.

For me TV series are not something which i would like to buy online,neither before they occure in tv nor after if i missed to watch in tv some episodes, because i dont have much value for me.
I would be more willing to pay for science or documentary films up to 8$ per movie.

Before the company starts to charge for it they should be aware of websites like www.surfthechannel.com that provides tons of TV shows for free, or softwares like PPS that provide high quality streamming videos of shows like Heroes

Rather than paying for one episode at a time (when viewers have to constantly keep in mind that they have to pay for each show), a flat monthly rate might work better because consumers would not have to worry about paying each time.

Maybe you were prefer paying one episode at a time?

I think it's better to pay before, as you chose the movie you're gonna watch you're pretty sure it's a good one so you're ready to pay, but if you're disappointed you won't wanna pay for it, or at least not a lot