Page 38 - AIB | The Chanel | Issue 2 2011
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38
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ISSUE 2 2011
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THE CHANNEL
applications, which are open
enough to allow third party
developers to create all kind of
experiences for viewers in the
living room from casual gaming to
education to interaction and
community. For instance, Lovefilm
has to share revenue with Samsung
and Sony on the Smart TV, Bravia
and Sony Playstation where their
apps sit on connected devices. As
does Netflix in the USAwho
recently surpassed all cable
companies in the USA for
subscription numbers (Source:
6/streaming‑video).
MULTIPLATFORM?
Let's look at some data from
appmarket.tv. According to
Nielsen’s recent survey of nearly
12,000 connected device owners,
70% of tablet owners and 68% of
smartphone owners said they use
their devices while watching
television, compared to only 35% of
eReader owners. And 61% percent
of eReader owners use their device
in bed, compared to 57% of tablet
owners and 51% of smartphone
owners.
Couple that with the fact
information technology research
company Gartner predicts that well
over 200 million tablets will be sold
by 2014, and by 2015 more than
one‑third of American consumers
(and likely Europeans) will use a
tablet PC, says firm Forrester
Research.
Triple that even with Coda
Research Consultancy predicting
that worldwide sales of
smartphones will total 2.5 billion
units throughout 2010 to 2015.
COMPANIONAPPS
Generations Y and Zed are ripe for
early adoption. But companion
apps, synchronised with TV
programming is the future – where
viewers not only interact with TV
but also take it one step further and
really learn by engaging in trivia
quizzes, predictions, voting, and
other game mechanics.
And they won’t have to do it
alone ‑ the virtual communities
around the shows will allow for co‑
operative experiences as well.
The main stumbling block with
broadcasters is their lack of agility
in terms of decision making and
propensity in keeping everything
close to hip and internal. Rather
than opening up to 3rd party
innovation and creating open
standards.
While broadcasters seem to sit
on their hands and mull over the
second screen interaction with TV,
carriers like Vodaphone and
Orange are trying to own that spot
with companion apps on the
second screen with Social TV Apps,
content producers are writing new
formats that integrate tightly with
the second screen so they can try
and own that spot (as well as
creating connected TV apps on the
single screen for VOD), CE
manufacturers like Samsung and
Toshiba who make tablets are
trying to marry it tightly and offer
API's and SDK's to third party
developers to co‑own that sweet
spot, third party developers in the
USA like Miso, Philo, Tunerfish,
Getglue and Intonow are trying to
own that space by building Social
TV on Apple and Android tablets
and smartphones ‑ Google TV
wants a piece of the action with
Android and Chrome plays on TVs,
smartphones and tablets, Apple is
in the fray and likely to tie in the
iPad and iPhone with a consumer
TV play soon as rumours have it...
Cable companies are slower than
broadcasters in terms of interactive
TV on the primary screen never
mind multiplatform for the better
part (Cable Labs is crawling along
in the USA) and European Pay TV
operators are not doing anything
much quicker... except perhaps Sky.
AGILEANDOPEN
Advantages for broadcasters
include access to the scripts prior to
broadcast, strong relationships with
the brands and agencies to
monetise the second screen, and
they can offer a one app does all
solution rather than a slew of
w.appmarket.tv
Companion
apps,
synchro-
nised with
TV
program-
ming, is
the
future
“
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CONNECTED TV
