This two part story on the opportunities and challenges of TV
is written by BillingViews and presented by
High Definition
Television is fast becoming the most fiercely contested communications marketplace. It continues to change beyond recognition, ushering in new players, new devices, and new ways of interacting with content.
On one front, convergence and interactivity is luring traditional telecoms companies and the new communications giants to the contest, while the very definition of TV blurs. “TV is rapidly moving from being a one-way, linear activity to being more interactive in terms of subscribers’ ability to control where, when, and on which device they want to watch television,” says Jeff Heynen, lead analyst at Infonetics. Meanwhile, “telcos and cable companies are offering home automation, security, and video conferencing to subscribers in an effort to make the TV the hub of the digital home.” Infonetics predicts that we will spend a cumulative $43 billion on home networking devices by 2016. Juniper Research looks a year further and predicts ‘Smart Home’ revenues will reach almost $60 billion by 2017.
On another front, the increasing ease of buying products via the TV is bringing payments giants and innovators to our screens, handsets, and remote controls. Google, PayPal, Apple and a host of other innovative companies with deep pockets are vying for the customer’s attention – and money. Advertising is adapting fast, pulling viewers into personalized stores in ever more innovative ways and with unheard-of conversion rates. For example, the use of second screens while watching TV increases brand recall by 69% and purchase intent by 72%. So says research house Nielsen, which shows just how compelling and immediate the opportunities of the ‘new’ TV market are.
TV will continue to grow at an extraordinary rate, bringing challenge and opportunity in equal measure. The global Pay TV market was worth $261 billion in 2011, according to Infonetics, and is set to grow to $371 billion by 2016. Pyramid Research believes that the number of Pay TV accounts is set to pass a billion in the next two years, and Juniper says there will be $650 million internet-connected TVs by 2017.
The questions facing the industry, the new one that is home to a vastly wider range of players than just five years ago, are fundamental. They range from the philosophical, late night scrutiny of what TV actually is anymore to the more immediate and crucial challenge of what to do about it. The answers are not easy ones.
Some answers in part 2…
Tribold are appearing at IBC 2012
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