Subscribers are so enthusiastic about caller ID on their TVs, that the service has them ready and willing to pay anywhere from $1 to $3 a month each for other new converged services that blend voice, video, data and wireless features.
The data comes from a survey conducted by Integra5 of subscribers of Hargray Communications, a quad-play service provider in South Carolina. The survey was mailed to 4,000 Hargray subscribers, and got a respectably high response rate of 14%.
Sixty-five percent of the respondents said they “love” the caller ID on TV feature; 91% said they either love or like it. Four out of five have told friends and neighbors about the feature, and 58% have shown it to friends or neighbors; 94% said they leave TV caller ID active all the time, even though it is possible to disable it.
Hargray also asked about other converged services:
* 60% of respondents were interested in e-mail and voicemail alerts to both TVs and PCs.
* 55% in service provider customer care messaging to TVs and PCs.
* 51% in services tying in wireless devices, e.g., Web content alerts to cell phones.
* 50% in services that incorporate personalization like TV and PC picture caller ID, setting caller ID preferences and a personalized network address book.
* 47% in interactive services like “click-to-call” and other applications that would allow them to control and manage their calls and user experience, such as automatically diverting calls to voicemail and controlling how and which TVs and PCs in the home display caller ID.
* 42% in content alerts, which incorporate RSS and Web-based technology to display local, national, and international news banners on TVs and PCs in real time.
As important, people are willing to pay for additional features. Interested households with annual incomes from $25,000 to more than $100,000 were willing to spend $3 for TV caller ID per month, and $2 for PC caller ID per month. An average of 80% of interested households were willing to pay $1 or more each month per incremental converged service.
