The document discusses trends in how people consume media and information. It notes that screens have become the primary medium for consumption, with people accessing content on their phones and tablets in addition to computers. It also discusses how the world is becoming increasingly mobile-centric, with more activities taking place on and content being optimized for mobile devices. Several links are provided to external reports and case studies on these trends.
The Study: Today’s Couch Potatoes.
We start our examination of the future of TV by taking stock of where we are today. What behaviors
surrounding this beloved medium are in the very DNA of television? To find out, Razorfish embarked
on a study broken into three parts: Deprivation, Youth and Technogeeks.
Part 1: Deprivation: In this experiment, we wanted to see what it was like for the average
American family to live without TV for an extended period of time, as a way to gauge how
important it is in our collective daily lives.
It was a simple concept: eight average American families, no TV for a week, and we’d pay
them each $350 to keep photo diaries of their experience.
Then, we got a call from our researchers. No one was going for it. We reduced the timeframe
by a couple of days and tried again. Still, no takers. After a few more back-and-forths, we
asked the question: How long would you be willing to give up TV for $350?
The answer? Just 2 days.
The study had determined its own headline: Three days without television was too long, a
week was unimaginable.
Part 2: Youth: We interviewed kids who are most tied to interactive convergence, meaning
they participate in digital activities like gaming, and have no sense of distinction between
short-form content (five minute video) and longer-form content (30 minute sit-com). We asked
them to draw out their vision of what TV should be.
One of the most interesting themes from these findings was that our young subjects believe
that TV should be able to react to you – for example, offer you appropriate viewing
suggestions based on your mood. What was most important to this audience though?
Portability. No matter where you go, whether it’s your mobile device, your hotel room in
Shanghai, the screen on the back of the seat on a plane, you should be able to get your
personalized TV experience -- whatever that is, wherever you want.
Part 3: Technogeeks: This last part of the study revolved around people commonly referred
to as “bleeding-edgers” or “early adopters.” This group is the segment of the public who are
comfortably ahead of the technology curve in screen-based entertainment.
For example, one woman in the study could commonly be found VJing (having friends over to
view videos from her Apple TV). Another man streamed the NBA finals from his Slingbox to
his phone while he was at an amusement park.
One of my favorite examples came from a woman who called up The Wiggles videos on
YouTube based on her two-year-old’s requests of songs. In this case, YouTube is really just
one voice-recognition code away from a two-year-old becoming able to navigate the site.
Ultimately, we’ve determined that TV is going digital and portable. In other words, it’s getting
“Internetty.” So, what do we think it will it look like 10 years from now?
The Study: Today’s Couch Potatoes.
We start our examination of the future of TV by taking stock of where we are today. What behaviors
surrounding this beloved medium are in the very DNA of television? To find out, Razorfish embarked
on a study broken into three parts: Deprivation, Youth and Technogeeks.
Part 1: Deprivation: In this experiment, we wanted to see what it was like for the average
American family to live without TV for an extended period of time, as a way to gauge how
important it is in our collective daily lives.
It was a simple concept: eight average American families, no TV for a week, and we’d pay
them each $350 to keep photo diaries of their experience.
Then, we got a call from our researchers. No one was going for it. We reduced the timeframe
by a couple of days and tried again. Still, no takers. After a few more back-and-forths, we
asked the question: How long would you be willing to give up TV for $350?
The answer? Just 2 days.
The study had determined its own headline: Three days without television was too long, a
week was unimaginable.
Part 2: Youth: We interviewed kids who are most tied to interactive convergence, meaning
they participate in digital activities like gaming, and have no sense of distinction between
short-form content (five minute video) and longer-form content (30 minute sit-com). We asked
them to draw out their vision of what TV should be.
One of the most interesting themes from these findings was that our young subjects believe
that TV should be able to react to you – for example, offer you appropriate viewing
suggestions based on your mood. What was most important to this audience though?
Portability. No matter where you go, whether it’s your mobile device, your hotel room in
Shanghai, the screen on the back of the seat on a plane, you should be able to get your
personalized TV experience -- whatever that is, wherever you want.
Part 3: Technogeeks: This last part of the study revolved around people commonly referred
to as “bleeding-edgers” or “early adopters.” This group is the segment of the public who are
comfortably ahead of the technology curve in screen-based entertainment.
For example, one woman in the study could commonly be found VJing (having friends over to
view videos from her Apple TV). Another man streamed the NBA finals from his Slingbox to
his phone while he was at an amusement park.
One of my favorite examples came from a woman who called up The Wiggles videos on
YouTube based on her two-year-old’s requests of songs. In this case, YouTube is really just
one voice-recognition code away from a two-year-old becoming able to navigate the site.
Ultimately, we’ve determined that TV is going digital and portable. In other words, it’s getting
“Internetty.” So, what do we think it will it look like 10 years from now?
Google TV Ads
New platforms such as Google TV Ads seek to aggregate and monetize the impending growth
of the fragmented television landscape.
How it works: This tool allows for psychographic contextual targeting by providing
advertisers with detailed information used for programming and search tools. Advertisers
are able to reach their targeted audience across hundreds of channels (rather than the
typical 10-15 with traditional TV advertising buys) in a relevant context. Google then
measures all channels, and only charges the advertiser when the ad makes its way onto the
viewer's TV – whether in real time or time-shifted – and when the viewer actively watched,
not when they fast forwarded through the ad. Google sends results back the next day, so
advertisers can quickly adjust their TV buying, similar to online advertising
The significance: The ability to measure across all channels, and bill advertisers only
for the TV sets that are tuned into the ad, allows advertisers to effectively employ the "long
tail" of media.
The Birth of T-Commerce
What if you could order a Domino's pizza from your TV, or get movie tickets from Fandango?
What if getting additional product information on that hot new BMW was just a click away? TiVo
subscribers already enjoy those capabilities thanks to TiVo's new deep functionality ad units.
How it works: Direct-to-consumer ads are created based in T-commerce (commerce
conducted over TV) or in this case, TiVo-commerce. Advertisers who buy in this medium
can capitalize on TV interaction and try to engage an audience that tends to fast forward
through advertisements. It utilizes a real-time measurement platform that, like Google TV
Ads, uses set-top box data to report actual audience views and interactions with ads.
The significance: It provides marketers with higher accountability in television
advertising and greater insight in creating more effective ads. Additionally, it provides a
direct-to-consumer channel that can be fully monetized.
Rethinking Prime Time with Social Media
The idea of appointment-based TV may very well be saved by the very medium that is driving
the changes in television across the board—the Web. Social media has shifted "time-shifting"
back to real-time for select events, and advertisers should take note.
Future of TV: Part 1, Changing Channels 3
How it works: Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are becoming integral
to our television experience. Now, during major events, viewers are texting, IMing and
tweeting about the events as they happen—with their friends or "tweeps" – which means
they have to be watching the same thing at the same time.
The significance: As TV becomes more social this collaborative aspect becomes one of
the best arguments for event programming. Social media capabilities bring a segment of
viewers together at a certain time, to discuss and debate the content they are watching.
Think American Idol finale, the Superbowl, Lost, and Facebook/CNN's collaboration during
the U.S. Presidential Inauguration—these events all represent spikes of activity surrounding
a captive and, some would argue, more engaged audience than those in the past.
As the television ecosystem continues to expand and evolve, the TV set is well on its way to
becoming a vibrant, social, interactive platform combining the most compelling aspects of the
Web with that of traditional TV. And, the ability to monetize the long tail of TV gives the industry
an adequate revenue stream to continue to produce compelling content that will drive audience
preferences and reinvigorate the ad-supported ecosystem. But, the future of TV is even brighter.
Conclusion
In the coming weeks, we'll explore the next steps for television innovations, including results
from a brand new Razorfish study on television usage, and share a sea-change prediction of
what TV will look like in 2019.
http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/16/youtube-nielsen-light-tv-viewers/
Want To Reach Light TV Viewers? Put Ads On YouTube, Says YouTube
Ryan Lawler
Wednesday, May 16th, 2012
1 Comments
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: The children are our future. You can learn a lot about the future by watching them, particularly by watching how they use technology and how they consume media, and how that will translate into future business models.
Take newspapers, for instance: Somewhere along the line the younger generation stopped reading newspapers, opting instead to get their news online. (This idea seems quaint, now, for those of us who make our livings writing for web-only publications.) Or take my generation, which somewhere along the line decided that it didn’t want land lines — who wants a phone that only rings in a place you’re rarely at?!?! — and went mobile-first, and in most cases, mobile-only.
I thought about this trend when I saw a study YouTube did with Nielsen, seeking more information about the elusive “light TV viewers.” So what do we know about them? They’re generally younger — under 49 years old — and they tend to be well-off, college-educated, and highly influential due to their interest in social networking. In other words, they’re a highly coveted demographic among marketers.
These aren’t the people who just sit in front of a TV for five hours every day. In fact, they average only about 39 minutes of TV viewing a day, according to the study. But it’s not like they’re great outdoorsmen. Instead, they are finding their entertainment elsewhere — online, on mobile devices, on social networks, etc.
YouTube’s goal was to help advertisers better understand and target messages to this strange beast. The cross-media study with Nielsen looked at how effective ads were across TV, YouTube, and the Google Display Network. (GDN) And not surprisingly, the study found that advertisers can better reach kids who don’t really watch TV by also putting their ads on YouTube and GDN.
Here are the stats to back those claims up: According to YouTube (and Nielsen), campaigns that included YouTube and GDN added four percentage points of incremental reach to light TV viewers. More importantly, it cost 92 percent less to achieve those results online versus on TV. The study also found that putting ads only on TV didn’t reach some 63 percent of light TV viewers — because duh, they don’t watch TV.
But for me, the most interesting thing about this research around the “light TV” segment is that it’s growing, with the number of households opting for broadband Internet over cable TV increasing 22.8 percent over the past year. Granted, that’s 22.8 percent over a very small number, but it’s a much bigger percentage than the increase in the number of people who signed up for cable last year.
The point is that, just like the kids who stopped reading newspapers or paying for landlines, we can probably expect this young generation of people who aren’t really that into TV to continue to not really be that into TV. And if that happens, the $100 billion TV advertising industry will need to find other ways of reaching that audience.
As seen in the study, YouTube will be one of those channels, and an important one — but frankly, not the only one. We can expect to see TV ad spending shift to multiple new outlets as time goes on and marketers seek to reach an ever-growing number of viewers who are on their mobile phones, tablets, and PCs instead of watching TV.
http://cellphones.about.com/od/smartphonebasics/a/what_is_smart.htm
While there is no standard definition of the term "smartphone" across the industry, we thought it would be helpful to point out what we here at About.com define as a smartphone, and what we consider a cell phone. Here are the features we look at:
Operating System: In general, a smartphone will be based on an operating system that allows it to run applications. Apple's iPhone runs the iOS, and BlackBerry smartphones run the BlackBerry OS. Other devices run Google's Android OS, HP's webOS, and Microsoft's Windows Phone.
Apps: While almost all cell phones include some sort of software (even the most basic models these days include an address book or some sort of contact manager, for example), a smartphone will have the ability to do more. It may allow you to create and edit Microsoft Office documents--or at least view the files. It may allow you to download apps, such as personal and business finance managers, handy personal assistants, or, well, almost anything. Or it may allow you to edit photos, get ]driving directions via GPS, and create a playlist of digital tunes.
Web Access: More smartphones can access the Web at higher speeds, thanks to the growth of 4Gand 3G data networks, as well as the addition of Wi-Fi support to many handsets. Still, while not all smartphones offer high-speed Web access, they all offer some sort of access. You can use your smartphone to browse your favorite sites.
QWERTY Keyboard: By our definition, a smartphone includes a QWERTY keyboard. This means that the keys are laid out in the same manner they would be on your computer keyboard--not in alphabetical order on top of a numeric keypad, where you have to tap the number 1 to enter an A, B, or C. The keyboard can be hardware (physical keys that you type on) or software (on a touch screen, like you'll find on the iPhone).
Messaging: All cell phones can send and receive text messages, but what sets a smartphone apart is its handling of e-mail. A smartphone can sync with your personal and, most likely, your professional e-mail account. Some smartphones can support multiple e-mail accounts. Others include access to the popular instant messaging services, like AOL's AIM and Yahoo! Messenger.
http://mashable.com/2012/09/17/shazam-for-tv-any-show/#view_as_one_page-gallery_box7673
Shazam, best known as a music-identification app, is venturing deeper into the social TV sphere Monday with the expansion of its Shazam for TV second-screen experience.
Shows and advertisements have already been compatible with Shazam via partnerships — notably the London Olympics and Super Bowl commercials — but now Shazam works with all shows on 160 channels in the U.S. except for some local programming.
When I used Shazam while watching Friends, for example, the app pulled up cast details, music from the episode, celebrity gossip about the actors, trivia, Twitter messages, the show’s web pages (i.e. official, IMDB and Wikipedia), merchandise and the option to share Shazam’s information on Facebook and Twitter.
For sports broadcasts, the app aggregates schedules, scores and statistics (check out the gallery below).
Doug Garland, Shazam’s chief revenue officer, tells Mashable that the “much richer experience” will encourage users to return to the app. The celebrity buzz data alone combs 140 sites, while Facebook integration pushes Shazam activity to users’ Timelines.
SEE ALSO: Food Network’s ‘On the Road’ App Dishes Restaurant Tips for Trips
Users will soon be able to like and comment on Facebook friends’ tags in-app. And first-time users can now log in using their Facebook accounts. Shazam also notes that 250 million people have used the app worldwide.
Simultaneous watching and shopping, with instant gratification for consumers and measurable results for brands, is an old idea that never quite came to fruition beyond home shopping networks. New technology looks to be changing that. While the second screen isn’t vital here—e.g., services like Delivery Agent’s TV Wallet operate via cable providers and the remote control—mobile apps offer an easy route to purchase. This could be through a TV spot that syncs to e-commerce options on mobile devices or by using the second screen to surface info on how to buy in-show products.
• Watch With eBay This U.S. app lets users “shop your favorite shows.” You input your zip code and cable provider to set it up, then enter the channel number in order to see live auctions linked to what’s on-screen. In theory, the app brings up products related to the TV content: a basketball jersey during March Madness, a Jessica Simpson brand T-shirt during the show Fashion Star. In practice, however, it turns up just as many unrelated items (CW hit Ringer, for example, summoned a bounty of ringer T-shirts; Fox’s Bones turned up unaffiliated Bones brand skateboard wheels). eBay ultimately aims to match up its listings with specific items viewers are seeing (or lookalikes) by accessing a product database that various shows would provide. A secondary feature, “Shop Like a Star,” allows app users to choose from among an actor’s favorite eBay categories,
Top 12 digital predictions for 2012 Millward Brown
Many of us take our cell phone everywhere; it never
leaves our side. It goes where we go – to the cinema,
a friend’s place, out to dinner, to the local gym. It’s become
a necessity that we carry with us, just like our wallets.
So what if we combined the two?
Over the years, the way we pay has changed from coins
to paper money to plastic cards. We’re now on the brink
of the next era—mobile payment systems. In 2012,
we will see the rise of the “Mobile Wallet.”
There are currently several ways to pay on a mobile
phone, but one of the most exciting technology
developments is Near Field Communication (NFC).
NFC enables the transfer of data between two devices
in very close proximity.
Imagine a simple trip to the grocery store. After rummaging
the aisles and filling your basket, you want to check out,
fast. Rather than fumbling with cash or trying to get the
machine to read your damaged magnetic-card-strip,
you simply pull out your phone, tap it on to the payment
reader and you’re ready to go.
What does this mean for brands and marketers? The rise
of mobile payment systems is one of many indications
the mobile phone will become “the hub and center” of
our busy lives. Not only is it a social enabler – bringing us
text, calls, email, and Facebook – it enables practicality.
Payment systems are just the beginning. In a couple of
years we’ll be using phones as identification – license,
passport, office pass - as keys to unlock our car and
apartment, as boarding passes and subway tickets
– all from a simple tap.
For this reason, brands and marketers need to pay
more attention to mobile and continue to leverage
the medium to connect with consumers in a
compelling and meaningful way.
Marie Ng
Just Tap It!
Wide spread adoption
of the mobile wallet
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Opinion
1st Shopable Music Video
http://www.jordantfwilliams.com/1st-shopable-music-video/
Posted by Jordan on May 15, 2012 in Opinion | No Comments
Have you ever seen a piece of clothing in a music video and wondered where you could get it? Well, now you are just a click away from the wardrobe donned by your favorite musical artists.
The Canadian retailer, SSENSE, brings us the first ever fully shopable music video. Featuring music by FKI, Iggy Azalea, and Diplo, the video content lets viewers click on hovering boxes reading, “Shop This Look” or “S.” Clicking pauses the video and displays the curated look. The viewer can then click on a specific item and be whisked away to the online store (in a new tab/window).
Click the image below to view the video on the SSENSE site. Some more analysis follows the video.
Many have questioned the value of branded entertainment, and SSENSE is showing us just how much content can do. Soon content will not be separated from, or only tangentially connected to, the product itself. Red Bull logos appearing in the background while some skateboarder kickflips are going to be antiquated soon enough.
This type of branded entertainment will be replaced by content that encourages users to click, participate with the brand, and make purchases. Content will be become a direct means of selling.
Content must drive action, and SSENSE does a great job of facilitating that next step while entertaining the viewer.
Top 12 digital predictions for 2012 Millward Brown’s Global futures group
The idea of gamification is a simple one: to motivate
and engage people by applying game design techniques
and mechanics to non-game situations. Points, level
progression, badges, achievements, power-ups, virtual
currency, quests, puzzles, loss aversion – all of these game
concepts are involved in this growing trend that spans
areas from education and work to keeping fit and green
actions to improved brand experience and loyalty schemes.
While the principle of gamification may be simple, effective
execution is not, as people’s motivations and approaches
vary so widely. The crudest forms of gamification such
as Foursquare-style badges and points-based reward
schemes have been subject to an intense backlash from
marketers and game designers alike. They tell us that this
is not gamification but mere “badgification”—a one-sizefits-
all solution to a far more complex problem.
Right now gamification in marketing is uneasily balanced
between hype and reality. 2012 will see a lot of great
examples but also a broader understanding of its limits.
Brands that create their own closed-badge systems are
likely to fail, as gamification is inherently social, either by
some element of competition or collaboration between
you and your social network friends and contacts. The true
winner will be the first massive multi-player multi-brand
multi-channel real-life game system, a “World of Purchasecraft”
where you and your friends will combine purchasing
habits to unlock branded benefits.
Perhaps a program like Nectar, in the UK, will be the
pioneer? Soon enough I would unlock my Super Dad
achievement for purchasing Pampers five weeks in a row
(earning me a 10% discount for life), get 50 bonus points
each time my friends and I buy Special K in the same week
(worth 50 pence), and level to Master Environmentalist
(giving me access to special green offers from selected
partners) for reducing my car’s weekly mileage while
refuelling at BP.
Jorge Alagon & Maarten Peschier