New services needed to capitalise on connected TV sales boom

More than every third flat-screen TV set sold this year in Europe (37%) will be Internet-compatible, according to recent figures compiled by the European Information Technology Observatory. But with connected TVs now set to boom across Europe, manufacturers and retailers are constantly having to up their game. One way to do this is to offer the consumer market more innovative features so that they remain ahead of their competition.

These latest figures show that connected TVs are becoming increasingly popular, and as a result, everyone wants a piece of the pie. This year, we’ve already seen the entry of Netflix into the UK market, the launch of Google TV 2.0, and an Apple TV is rumoured to be hot on its heels. So in an increasingly crowded marketplace, manufacturers are having to become more savvy by harnessing developments in new technologies and offering consumers a greater range of digital TV services. For a glimpse of future connected TV services it’s worth tracking the connected set-top box market: with a shorter development cycle it’s often where TV innovation can be seen first.

Multiscreen TV is set to shape the viewing experience of the future, with connected devices talking to each other to deliver truly personalised TV. By embracing new services such as tablet and smartphone viewing, connected TV sales will continue to thrive.

By Simon Woodward, CEO of digital TV specialist ANT Software

BBC R&D investigate mood-based content discovery

With the explosive growth in the amount of content available to viewers, especially through connected TVs, the importance of finding good ways of discovering and navigating that content has grown as well. A personalised experience has gone from being a “nice to have” feature to being vital for helping viewers find what they want to watch.

Personalisation is not a new topic, and there are already many companies offering products that support a personalised experience or technologies to provide that experience. Traditionally, personalised content recommendations are based around factors such as genre, keywords or aggregated viewing habits.

BBC Research and Development is studying this issue from a slightly different perspective, using the user’s mood to steer the recommendation process as well as more traditional factors. This may help users discover content in a way that’s more suited for the “lean back” TV experience, in the same way that streaming audio services such as Pandora do. The BBC use five separate “mood scales” for classifying a TV show, and while this may not seem very high this additional level of classification may be enough to offer new opportunities for recommendations. One of the most powerful features of a good recommendation system is serendipity – those times when it throws up something unexpected that happens to be exactly what you want to watch or listen to. This additional information may give recommendation services better ways of making these less-obvious connections between programmes.

The BBC are the first to admit that mood alone is not enough to drive recommendations, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a valuable tool in the toolbox.

Predictions for the year ahead…

From ANT CEO, Simon Woodward

With CES over for another year it’s clear that 2012 is shaping up to be another exciting year for the TV industry. Connected TV was very much a key theme at the show alongside some 3DTV advances and some pretty stunning new TV’s including the 55 Inch Samsung Super OLED.

TV technology has undergone a huge amount of transformation in recent years, with the evolution of screen form factors, display and image definition; and it’s not going to slow down in 2012. We’re seeing growing demand for connected TV services and consumers are turning their attention to the features of their set-top box (STB) and the services it provides to them.

2012 will be a tipping point for the connected TV market. Multiscreen TV services are the next step towards the ‘TV everywhere’ vision that the industry aspires to, where consumers will be able to access content whenever and wherever they want. Multiscreen services undoubtedly offer new opportunities when it comes to features and content – for consumers, device manufacturers, broadcasters and brands.

With some of the world’s biggest technology players looking to stake a claim in digital TV services during 2012, new doors are opening for brands when it comes to engaging with consumers. Up until now, we’ve been stuck in a chicken and egg situation when it comes to the development of interactive TV advertising. Marketers have been slower than expected when it comes to exploiting the direct-to-consumer presence that connected devices offer, with many waiting for consumers to show an interest. But without engaging content, the fact of the matter is that consumers have nothing to interact with.

The next generation of STBs is set to deliver a wealth of new services that will enable brands to interact in innovative new ways with consumers while they watch their TV. This means bringing to the table a greater variety of services that will enable viewers to shape their own viewing experience. For advertisers it’s important to remember that there’s a fine line between personalisation and ad-overload, so they must work with broadcasters to take advantage of these new technologies and deliver intelligent connected TV strategies.

It’s important that the experience we value most about TV watching – that opportunity to sit back, relax and escape – remains at the heart of these new services.

TV viewers want more personalised content

Sky has announced its commitment to using targeted advertising to give viewers a more personalised marketing experience when watching TV. With Sky AdSmart, viewers will give permission for Sky to take customer information such as postcode, age and viewing packages to divide viewers into segments, meaning they get the content most relevant to them.

Consumers are increasingly comfortable in personalising their viewing experience with the use of on-demand content. The advertising proposition is also evolving and remains an important part of this personalised TV experience.

Personal TV is the next TV - ANT’s CEO, Simon Woodward discusses this topic further in the video below:

TiVo Returns to the UK

Virgin Media’s eagerly anticipated TiVo set-top box was made available for pre-order last week, and it’s up take will be carefully monitored by many industry analysts. The set-top box will enable consumers to access an interesting mix of applications, content and services.

TiVo is a leading brand in the US, however its previous UK partnership with SKY in 2000 was short-lived. So Virgin Media will be hoping for a more positive response from the market with this new offering.

The TiVo service makes recommendations to viewers based on their previous programme choices. The new box also has a ‘Wish List’ feature where the consumer can add keywords and then all relevant programmes will be added to their personalised list. It also boasts an EPG that goes back 7 days, a feature that YouView also hopes to roll out in 2011. In a market where the level of media content is rapidly rising, personalisation is a key strategy in harmonising broadcast and broadband content for viewers. By working with TiVo Virgin Media is addressing this growing need for ‘personalised’ TV.

Virgin Media commented that the UK audience was perhaps not ready for the full internet experience on their TV screens, a concept that we’ve discussed many times on this blog – the internet experience needs to be tailored for the TV. Virgin Media appear to have addressed this by ensuring consumers can easily navigate the new user interface with preinstalled TV widgets such as YouTube, eBay and iPlayer.