(Image from ThinkBox.tv)
In my post about the Web of Things (like this, a post of findings into emerging trends in the Californian tech and media space), I made reference to the fact that 27% of TVs sold in the US in January were connected to the internet.
Whilst these internet connections allow for many possibilities, perhaps the most profound are simply how this will affect the way that simple, old-fashioned video content is viewed.
TV watching habits have already changed hugely, particularly amongst the young. Tivo boxes have led to many programmes being time-shifted. Sling boxes to them being place-shifted onto different devices. Services like the BBC’s iPlayer, SeeSaw, Hulu and Boxee (not forgetting good old YouTube) have introduced people to the concept of on-demand access to vast swathes of video content via their PCs. Virgin Media has offered on-demand services to your TV via cable since 2007, including BBC iPlayer content and films from FilmFlex. As the proportion of TVs connected to the internet grows, and the speed of that connection increases, we’ll see on-demand viewing explode.
My interviewees were almost unanimous: video (along with gaming) is the ‘killer app’ for superfast broadband (like Google’s 1 Gigabit per second trial). On-demand, multi-room video, broadcast in HD or super-HD, perhaps in 3D.
Will ‘schedules’ of programmes starting at specific points in time die? Probably, but not quickly, and not completely. ‘Channels’ will continue to play an important role as ‘curators’ of content, and will stick with schedules until they work out better ways to help consumers discover new content. Live sports and concerts, news and ‘premieres’ of new content will mean that not all content gets time-shifted, but eventually most of it will.
Think you’ve got problems choosing between the 694 channels on Sky? Now imagine that you can watch what was on any TV channel, ever, anywhere in the world. Oh, or anything on YouTube or anywhere else on the web. Or any film ever made. How consumers will discover new content they like was a topic that came up several times in my discussions in California, and will be the subject of my next post from that trip.
Whilst what we watch is changing, where we watch it is also changing. Again, look at the kids: over 20% of the ‘TV’ they watch isn’t watched on a TV set, it’s watched on their mobiles and laptops. As these kids grow up, and with the advent of tablets and further growth in smartphones, expect this trend to continue.
As for 3D? Well, it’s already here. My Californian hosts were somewhat indifferent, but perhaps that’s because there’s been a bigger push in the UK (and Japan) than over there. The glasses need to go (and will), and perhaps it’s not for watching everything … but for televisual feasts, will it come to be expected, or be regarded as a gimmick and a distraction?
Is your TV viewing already time- and place-shifted, or do you still stick to watching what’s on right now on your TV set? How quickly will 3D come, and would you wear those glasses? Comments below please.
