TV Applications Evolving in 2011

It's still early days but already it looks as though 2011 is set to be an important year for TV applications. There have already been several significant announcements following CES earlier this month. Samsung announced the two millionth download from its app store, which they say took just 53 days to reach. Although it took Samsung 268 days to reach its one millionth download, there is a clear benchmark that reflects the growing demand for TV apps.

Yahoo has also developed its widgets strategy by adding functionality that enables it to recognise programming. This enables broadcasters to develop and deliver content linked to what the consumer is watching, a prospect which is also naturally attractive to advertisers. It's something we're already familiar with in the European market with HbbTV services delivering similar functionality. At CES, Yahoo demonstrated multi-device connectivity, moving TV and widget content to and from a tablet device, something that Samsung also discussed during a keynote speech during the show.

Applications are fast evolving but content developers and service providers need to remain focused on the prime goal - to enhance the TV experience, not detract from it.

TV gets connected

As I mentioned at the beginning of the week, connected TV and 3D TV have been heavily featured at CES this year. Today I spent some time looking into the various connected TV’s on show. What’s immediately apparent is that there is a great deal of similarity between many of the devices. This raises an obvious question which relates back to one of the main reasons that TV manufactures added connectivity in the first place – differentiation. If they all feature the same content they’re back to square one.

There are some good examples of VoD services such as Netflix and LOVEFiLM, where the revenue stream is clear. However, it’s harder to see how Sudoku style games will excite the consumer and generate revenue for an app developer or device manufacturer. Yahoo was demonstrating perhaps the most complete solution, confirming that its business model will rely on ad funding, although this was the one area that was not demonstrated.

There is certainly widespread acceptance of connected TV from device manufacturers, which is good news for the consumer. It will be interesting to see which of the device manufacturers will publically disclose its sustainable business model first.

CES goes 3D...

Day 2 of CES has proved to be as hectic as the first. In between various press and analyst briefings I managed to fight my way through the crowds to see both Sony and Samsung’s latest 3D TV developments. Sony had invited ESPN to talk about its experiences one year on from the launch of ESPN 3D. In an impressive presentation, ESPN showed some stunning 3D content, not least the extreme sports. They also took the opportunity to announce that from 14th February 2011 they will be showing 3D TV content 24/7.

The majority of demos on both the Samsung and Sony booths required either passive or active glasses. However, I was interested to see the glasses-free (autostereoscopic) implementation that Sony had on show. While it was delivered in carefully a controlled environment – dark room, small viewing area etc it was far better than previous attempts I’ve seen in the past. Toshiba has a product in the field in Japan, however Samsung believes that this technology is still at least five years away from being ready for mainstream deployment and Sony did not disclose release plans.

3D TV remains a hot topic for the industry, along with connected TV. However when I’m asked by friends whether it’s time to invest in a new 3D TV set my advice remains the same – wait just a little bit longer.

Greetings from Vegas

Happy New Year and Greetings from Las Vegas, we’re at CES and those who have attended in the past will know just how big the event is and the broad range of technologies on show. First impressions are that it’s bigger than ever, I’ve yet to see official attendance numbers but it certainly feels busy – the three hour taxi queue at McCarren Airport was a giveaway. This, I hope, represents optimism for the market. It’s a big event for the TV industry with 3D TV and Connected TV sure to be heavily featured. I’m looking forward to seeing the latest developments from across the market over the next few days.

I was disappointed not to get the opportunity to see many Google TV implementations up close, after it asked TV makers not to show Google TV demos. But, I was able to see what Intel had to offer. My initial reaction was why had it included the on-screen cursor, URL and search dialog? The presentation stressed that the aim is not to bring the PC to the TV. However, it seemed to be doing exactly that. Do consumers really want to navigate their TV content with a cursor and keyboard? It seems to me that Intel and Google are missing the point here, the TV is not another device to surf the Web on – we already have laptops, phones and iPads that do this perfectly well from the comfort of the living room sofa.

UK consumers left confused by new TV technology

ANT recently conducted a mystery shopper exercise in 10 of the UK’s leading high street retailers to see how consumers are advised on TV purchasing. The results of the experiment were announced today.

The study brought to light the problems shoppers face when looking to buy a new TV. For example, only half the stores were aware that their shops sold connected televisions, meaning that customers could be missing out on new TV technology because shop representatives haven’t received sufficient product training. Not only this but a third of shops visited, despite actively promoting bargain deals on TVs, had no staff members available to advise customers on the benefits of the different types of TV technologies.

Freeview HD has been heavily promoted this year but when asked whether an HD television with built-in Freeview would deliver Freeview HD, not one member of staff identified that in order to take advantage of this the viewer must live in a HD-enabled area.

It’s an exciting time for TV with technology constantly evolving, but inaccurate advice from shop staff is fuelling consumer confusion. Retailers need to understand the type of features that are important to customers, and must train staff in order to support customers when they turn to them for advice.

About the mystery shopper experiment:
ANT conducted a mystery shopper experiment, visiting 10 of the UK’s leading high street retailers: Argos, Comet, Dixons, Curry’s, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, John Lewis, Selfridges, PC World and Richer Sounds. The experiment was conducted in December 2010. The same experiment may yield different results if repeated at a different time.

Humax HD Fox T2: One to watch for 2011

As it nears the end of 2010, the annual ‘best of’ lists are being unveiled and Humax’s latest product enhancements haven’t gone unnoticed. The Register has picked its HD Fox T2 for its ‘The Years Best’ list and draws attention to the imminent arrival of BBC iPlayer and Sky Player to the Humax Portal. ANT has been heavily involved in the addition of both of these services to the Humax Portal which, based on the ANT Galio Platform, will be hitting the UK market very soon. Watch this space for more information in 2011.

Press the ‘Yellow button’ for personalised Local TV news services

UK On-demand TV services could soon be personalised to deliver consumers content targeted at local communities. Under new government plans, local TV news services could be tailored to towns and cities as well as larger regions currently covered by programmes such as ‘South East Today’ and ‘East Midlands Today’.

The services could be rolled out as early as 2012. Initially they will be start on ordinary channels such as 6 or 106, however they could soon be available through the ‘yellow button’. Delivery through an application or widget will provide users with much more flexibility to browse content, and if successful, the ‘yellow button’ could become synonymous with news as the ‘red button’ has with on-demand.

These types of new services represent a new era in how we consume TV content. At the same time it’s essential that broadcasters keep the viewer in mind when developing these new applications. With 118 million TV’s predicted to ship in 2014, broadcasters and services manufactures now have the opportunity to deliver targeted on demand services that haven’t previously been possible. It’s an exciting time for consumers as long as we strike the right balance.

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.

Christmas dinner on the box

Most of us have our favourite TV advert – one that we remember from childhood or one which has particularly stuck in our mind. The Bisto advert for example, or the classic Coke Christmas advert are ones which instantly spring to mind.

Today, in a world saturated in brand advertising, the challenge for marketers is a little different. As consumers become more familiar with technology, brands need to go beyond nifty straplines or a happy Santa Claus to stand out from the crowd. As a result, experiential advertising is on the rise.

This Christmas Waitrose is taking TV advertising to the next level and giving consumers something more, with its series of adverts with celebrity chefs Delia Smith and Heston Blumenthal. Rather than just watching and absorbing, TV viewers can now engage with the brand by taking a photo on their mobile of a Quick Response code, which will appear at the end of each advert. The barcode will allow them to download a new Christmas app for free, to access recipes, an advent calendar and other tools.

This is an interesting step away from traditional TV advertising and an attempt to interact with audiences beyond the 30 seconds of an advert and after they switch off their TV.

Global growth for on-demand services

Global revenues from on demand video services are set to rise by as much as 24 per cent by the end of this year, despite the decline in TV subscriptions. This is according to new research from Informa Telecoms & Media this week.

On-demand services have enjoyed a phenomenal success in the UK this year, the BBC iPlayer received 139 million requests for TV and radio programmes last month. Not only this but viewers have been accessing the content across a wide range of platforms, including Virgin Media, Wii, PS3, computing and mobile platforms, confirming that viewers want to consume their content in more than just the traditional formats.

The majority of on-demand services still come from cable TV subscriptions (around 51%), which is expected to rise as more viewers make the switchover to digital services. However, there are likely to be changes in the platforms viewers can access on-demand content. At the recent Morgan Stanley TMT conference, ITV’s chief executive Adam Crozie, commented on its plans to create a new micropayments system, so it can sell its content across a wider range of platforms and reduce its dependence on advertising revenues.

But, to be successful in any of its target platforms, ITV will need to invest in creating popular new content. Something they are clearly keen to address, with the recent appointment of Denise O’Donoghue to lead commercial strategy at production arm ITV Studios.

What would you vote for?

As TV viewers get to grips with a new era of interactive TV delivered by hybrid STBs and connected TV’s we’re also seeing developments in the smartphone market. A new ruling by Ofcom means that viewers will now be able to vote on their favourite TV Shows via mobile applications.

TV shows such as the X Factor and Big Brother have always encouraged viewers to interact via telephone and text voting. But now smartphones are set to get in on the action too, with the development of voting apps.

Ofcom is keeping a close eye on developments. Viewers will be clearly notified of the costs and in order to keep everything fair, the app should only be one of several voting possibilities so that consumers are not pushed towards a particular platform.

It’s almost a surprise that this has taken so long, although the highly publicised fake phone-in scandal in 2007 may well have played a part in the delay.

This is another interesting new development for the mobile and TV industries and as app developers look to create new content, perhaps more interactive apps can be shared between the TV and mobile. What new apps would you like to see?

Every penny counts – credit crunch helps drive digital TV sales

18 months ago, as consumers we were being inundated with credit crunch survival tips – how to save more, go out and spend less, or make our nights in more entertaining. For the digital TV market at least, it seems, the latter has proved extremely fruitful.

New research released by Informa Telecoms & Media has found that despite the global economic downturn, the uptake of digital TV around the world has continued to grow. By December 31st this year, Informa calculates that approximately 85 million TV households will be added bringing the global total to 517 million. It predicts the digital TV universe to be one billion digital households strong by the end of 2015.

Staggering stats like this bring to life the huge transformation taking place in the TV industry today as new technologies change the way in which we receive and consume TV content. But what also really strikes me is how the results of this study highlight the prominence of the TV in global society.

In the interests of saving money, more people have turned to nights at home in front of the box, especially in the last couple of years. But with the rise of digital, our viewing experience has changed significantly to include on-demand, interactive red button features and tailored content – a world away from the TVs of old. Making staying in, the new going out.

Who’s in control of connected TV?

Google is the most recent brand to target the connected TV market, with its ‘Google TV’ offering announced earlier this month. The FT featured an interesting review of its hardware solutions this morning, raising the issue of navigation between TV and web services via both the user interface and TV hardware. Do consumers want a computer style keyboard to navigate connected TV services, or would they prefer a more traditional remote control?

One of the first Google-based products to reach the market requires a keyboard to navigate its interface but it’s unlikely that consumers want another piece of technology hardware cluttering up their sitting room when in other areas, technology devices are becoming increasingly streamlined.

Service providers should look to make the convergence of broadcast and broadband media as seamless as possible. This is an area that Dr Rob commented on in a previous blog earlier this year. It’s about quality not quantity, consumers don’t want more choices, they want better choices. As television becomes increasingly interactive, the key is to make navigating the features as simple as possible, to enable the customer to get the most out of their viewing experience.

Service providers prepare for the increasing demand for on demand

On-demand players such as iPlayer and 4OD have enjoyed huge success in the last couple of years; catering to viewers’ increasingly busy lifestyles, on-demand content allows people to watch what they want, when they want. But the growing popularity of broadband delivered TV has led to a large increase in the volume of data traffic and concerns over net neutrality.

This week Alcatel-Lucent Velocix and TalkTalk have been the first to announce that they are developing a new dedicated Content Delivery Network (CDN) ahead of YouView’s launch next year. The CDN built by Alcatel-Lucent Velocix will run over TalkTalk’s existing high speed IP network.

The move by Alcatel-Lucent Velocix and TalkTalk indicates another turning point in how we as an industry are working to address the evolving landscape of TV. Is the roll-out of new CDNs something that all service providers should invest in or is it just a precautionary measure?

Sky kick start new era with 3D TV

Sky today announced the launch of its 3D channel, marking a turning point in the TV viewing experience as 3D is well on the way to becoming a TV staple.

This shows that 3DTV is not just a flash in the pan and it’s now a force to be reckoned with. It has made the leap from the Big Screen into our living rooms transforming TV viewing for the future. However, whilst the 3D TV experience is impressive, it’s still a fairly expensive technology and viewers might need some convincing before they’re prepared to invest.

Recent research from Deloitte shows that only two per cent of British consumers plan to buy a 3D TV in the near future. And many viewers will have recently bought a new TV surrounding the HD TV hype.

In order to convert the mass market, content is key. And with promises to broadcast 14 hours a day in 3D, Sky are clearly in a strong position to kick start this new TV era. With TV fast gaining pace with the technologies of the Big Screen, the way is paved for an all encompassing viewing experience.

Digital killed the video star

The Institute of Engineering and Technology announced the results of a new survey today, which indicates that vinyl, film and video tape are in decline, as British households become dedicated to digital.

We don’t think that the death of vinyl, film and video tape is something that should be wept. A new and exciting entertainment era is emerging, with television at the heart. The TV is no longer just a box in the living room that plays out programmes dictated by the broadcaster. Today’s TV experience is an opportunity to interact with an explosion of content created for the digital world. Viewers can shape their own viewing experience – whether through video-on-demand and catch up TV services, red-button features or unseen DVD style extras such as behind the scenes footage.

The traditional passive experience of TV viewing is evolving to an interactive experience, with an increasing number of online applications converging onto our TV sets and the inclusion of services such as the BBC iPlayer and Sky Player. The combination of traditional broadcast viewing mixed with new on-demand web based TV services means the possibilities for consumers are endless. What would you like to see on your TV Set-top box or iDTV?

Project Canvas announces ‘YouView’

This week Project Canvas marked the next phase in its development, announcing the brand name for its connected TV offering. ‘YouView’ will be a free-to-air service and will launch in H1 next year, delivering viewers digital TV, on-demand services and internet content.

YouView set-top boxes are set to include a variety of services including: a programme search function, a Personal Video Recorder (PVR) and an applications store.

The current Project Director Richard Halton has now been appointed as Chief Executive Officer and will be working with Chairman Kip Meek. Unsurprisingly, the news has drawn a fair bit of attention in the press, with Halton stating that the service will “change the way we watch TV for ever”. A slick video has been added to the homepage of the new YouView website, click here to watch it.

3D of old

3D was by far the biggest topic at IBC in 2009. However, this year the topic doesn't seem to have moved on much. Whilst there are plenty of 3D demos around the show, there isn’t anything new that blows you away.

The World Cup matches obviously make a debut, with the company logos and team sheets working well in 3D graphics. Yet, when the game kicks off, the 3D element is a distraction. It seems the best example to date is the U2 concert, which has been rolled out again for the show.

The point with 3D is that it won’t replace everyday viewing. It will work spectacularly well for elements of our viewing consumption. It is much more likely that we’ll be getting our glasses out twice a week, rather than every day.

HbbTV playing out at IBC

Day 2 of IBC was a busy one once again. I’ve had little time to stray away from the ANT stand in hall 5 and have seen a host of companies supporting the HbbTV Standard. It was IBC 2009 where we first demonstrated a couple of HbbTV implementations on the EBU Stand, in the space of 12 months the initiative has progressed at an impressive pace with services already live in Germany.

This year at the ETSI booth in Hall 2 the first French HbbTV services are being demonstrated – marking another important milestone for the standard. If you’re at the show I recommend you take a look for yourself, the demonstration can be found at stand number 2.C29.

BBC iPlayer news at IBC 10

Greetings from Amsterdam! We’re excited to be at IBC once again, I’m pleased to report that the show floor is already buzzing. We’re keen to hear the big announcements as the show develops. But first, here’s one of our own:

The ANT Galio Platform now supports BBC iPlayer. We believe its availability on a device agnostic TV software platform is an important milestone for set-top box (STB) and connected TV manufacturers, as the TV industry strives to deliver more PC style catch-up video services.

We’re committed to giving consumers greater choice and improving the TV experience and this just one area where we are developing future functionality.

We’ll continue to update you on all IBC goings on and if you’re at the show yourself come down to stand 5.A03 – we would love to see you.