the connected world supplement special report Supplement sponsored by
The world of TV is rapidly evolving and over recent months we have seen a huge shift in the way TV manufacturers sell TVs and TV-centric devices. From a focus on screen size and image quality, every marketing campaign is filled with brands and icons of different kinds of ‘apps’ that consumers can use on the TV. We’re clearly at the start of something new. Will this new trend be a disappointment like many previous interactive TV experiments or will there be a true shift of consumer behaviour going forward? Michael Lantz, CEO of Accedo Broadband - a leader of apps and app store solutions for Connected TV and IPTV - reports.
Changing the TV paradigm with Connected TV
V went mass market in the 40s and 50s and from then we haven’t looked back. From the initial scepticism of the ‘radio with pictures’, consumer demand quickly proved the attraction of the new media consumption device. Of course, TV has evolved significantly from these humble beginnings to today’s immersive living room experience. Today, I believe that we are seeing a paradigm shift of TV, which I think is similar in importance to the two major paradigm shifts of the TV industry we have seen over the years.
T The first one was the introduction
Consumers can now share their TV experiences with other viewers, which will expand and improve the future TV
experience. So far, we have seen the first experiments in this area with the launch of social media applications on TV, such as Facebook
connections. Stand- alone connections to Facebook feeds are the start, but we will see plenty of innovation in this area.
of commercial TV. This includes both pay TV and ad-funded TV, which has transformed the TV experience from public service to an industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars on a global basis. The second one was the introduction of multi-channel TV, with the digital distribution technologies first introduced in the 90s. The first shift defined the TV value chain as we know it today, where the second changed consumer’s perception of TV from a clearly defined media outlet with maybe between five and ten channels, to something with apparent endless choice and hundreds of channels. With multi-channel TV, came the programme guide with a search and discover behaviour, which is key for driving consumer interest in the current paradigm shift.
What makes us love TV?
Some people have long talked about the coming demise of the current TV industry with its clearly defined aggregators (TV channels) and distributors (TV operators). However, TV has proven very resilient and TV viewership is higher today than it has
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ever been before. Globally, pay-TV is still a growing market and new TV channels are launched regularly. Why do consumers love TV so much? Today, you can find most of your content online in some form and you don’t need a TV to keep up to date with the latest programmes. My personal belief is that it’s all about the consumer experience. Once consumers sit down in the living room in front of the TV they have a different mindset than if they use the PC or the phone. They want simplicity, convenience and structured content available in a social context, the living room. This is not going to change anytime soon and is very important to remember for any future services. In addition, TV is a social medium, where the ‘campfire behaviour’ of family and sports entertainment is still very important today, despite the rise of long tail online video consumption. People love to share and discuss their TV experiences with friends and family, regardless of whether they watch a movie, the final of American Idol or maybe the latest Champions League football game.
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