Dear Readers:
This is the final installment of our series of columns that look back from a perspective some three years in the future. Thanks to all our contributors, and to all our readers. I hope you have a happy and healthy holiday season, filled with warmth and fellowship--and perchance a wee dram of good single-malt.
The iTV Doctor
Dateline: December 22, 2012 - Well, we got past the Mayan "end-of-the-world" prophecy and the world didn't end. In point of fact, our little corner of the world--interactive television--is doing quite nicely, thank you. We have dozens of enhanced/interactive television programs airing every night in over 60 million homes; advertisers have stepped up, and are now paying a healthy premium for interactive spots; and viewers now EXPECT interactivity in their favorite shows--it's just part of the experience.
What was the single most significant factor that led to this success?
From Jatin Desai, itaas
Here are the Top Ten Reasons why iTV attained success in 2012:
10. TARP money extended to iTV industry pulls it out of doldrums!
9. Apple re-designs Apple TV as iPhone TV--making 100,000+ apps instantly available!
8. Industry decides to retire legacy 2000-/3000-series boxes, allowing creative/engineering types to design truly usable applications.
7. Comcast/TWC/Disney merges--results in unstoppable force launching any application it wishes.
6. PC's with built-in CableCARD/tru2way become standard--opening iTV industry to a mass of new players and applications.
5. Google attains success with "Gvision"--a free TV service paid for entirely by interactive pop-up commercials! TV rebranded as GV!
4. China, Inc. makes ultra cheap STB's, and with India, Inc. creating software, that makes one-STB-per-child a reality!
3. Satellite/cable/phone companies realize that the true threat is Google, and unite to defeat the evil empire.
2. Windows 2012 runs on any device including TV's--finally taking over the world!
1. FCC mandates interactivity by 2012.
From Laurant Weill, Visiware
The iPhone.
I am kind of serious!
Once upon a time, there was a big market of devices allowing users to make phone calls. A market dominated by two big companies for years. Suddenly, there came from nowhere a company with a brand new phone. On June 29th, 2007, the iPhone went on sale, doing the exact same thing--phone calls--but with a much better and sexier user interface and many added-value applications. Now Apple is almost the #1 in value in several countries.
What is the connection with iTV?
The TV operators came to understand that the same thing could happen for digital TV. From yesterday's providing the same TV channels to today's very good, interactive UI and content, this is where they differentiated from their competition. iTV grew from the future of TV, to TV as we know it today From new-generation EPG's, social TV, TV 2.0, and push-TV, to added-value services, things finally changed!
And 2012 is a much better time for all of us who tried to advocate this for years.
Thank you, iPhone.
From Aslam Khader, Ensequence
It's 2012 and we are all doing fine, thank you very much. We have again, as a human race, predicted the end of the world incorrectly.
Maybe we should stick to less consequential predictions--such as for television. We did well in this area--relatively:
The Internet has continued its inevitable march into entertainment, making all things equal.
Our insatiable hunger for more and better entertainment is evident in the proliferation of content, distribution, and devices that entertain us.
The Internet has played its role as a disruptive technology, leading to innovations in business models that have caused the major distributors to scramble to remain major players. And they have successfully pulled a bunny out of the hat on that count.
The CE companies have continued with innovation and given us incredibly powerful and functional devices that resemble art, fit to hang on the wall whether powered on or off. 3D is becoming mainstream without ridiculous-looking goggles.
And finally the long-awaited, much-slammed age of interactive TV is upon us--but sadly does not seem momentous and some may even describe it as passe. That's because IP (Internet Protocol) and the Internet changed us. We now expect entertainment to be unbundled, open, on-demand, everywhere, seamless, enhanced, remote-controlled and FREE. It's happening for the most part, except for the free part. TV is new again.
Now I can go back on my 3D Internet-connected TV to the 1970 World Cup soccer final game, brought to me courtesy of my a-la-carte classic sports subscription on Comcast's Fancast, and fully enhanced with statistics, comments and analysis from experts, extra footage, camera angles, and coaching tips that I can use with my daughter's soccer team.
Have a good life!
From Juli Black, Something Good Media
In 2009, I owned a multitude of consumer electronics devices: a BlackBerry (for work), an iPhone (for personal use), an iPod (for fun), a Nano (for the gym), a Kindle (for the environmental and travel benefits), multiple TiVo's (for time-shifting TV), HDTV's (so much clearer) connected to AT&T U-Verse (curiosity), and three laptops (no reason) with a portable wireless card (convenient and more efficient than hot spots). These devices all had a few things in common: not least of which was instant connection to a broad range of content I could search, select, purchase and store. My TV's had hard drives and the Internet, but outside of my home--and a few million other homes--these two game-changing components were not connected to the television. And, the least sophisticated, least interactive device in the majority of homes was the TV.
As early as the late 90's, consumers began signaling a preference for smart, interactive and programmable devices that recognized their preferences and allowed for viewing content on their time. Interactive devices like the iPod/iPhone, the Slingbox, readers, DVR's, smartphones, notebooks and netbooks evolved and enjoyed quick success. In parallel to the introduction and success of these devices, hard drives and Internet connectivity were added to the television, and this changed television forever. Once labeled a disruption, the combination of a hard drive plus Internet connectivity became the backbone of TV as we know it in 2012.
As TV untangled its entanglements (what is known as our day jobs), customers like me were proactive and receptive to these new devices, and we sought and bought an array of gadgetry. Most importantly, these devices offered new, smart, convenient features that traditional TV simply did not offer. Standard features that were popular on these devices included the ability to purchase and download games, music, movies and TV programs. In addition, access to app stores allowed customers to search, select purchase, store and enjoy many applications that connected them to social networking sites, entertainment, news and many other categories. Access to these cutting-edge features was birthed by these devices and organically grew out of a combination of consumer demand and empowerment and technology advancements. These features proved popular and lucrative, as demonstrated by Apple downloading its billionth application in April of 2009.
Improvements to software layered onto the hard drive, combined with Internet connectivity, catapulted TV to the next level. The smart, already-popular consumer features that consumers loved all became available in the majority of homes on the once-passive TV device. In 60 million homes, TV is now seen as a smart, intuitive, interactive device that is a programmable tool that works for the viewer to get them the things they want and offers them things they might like, based on sophisticated advancements.
It's 2012 and the world did not end... well, it did for the Mayans, but their end-of-the-world prediction survived and a movie called "2012" was released back in 2009, starring John Cusack--at the time it was the number-one movie in the world. Find, download and watch it on your TV today!
Michael Huegel, icueTV
There wasn't a single factor, but the fear of the "end" created an urgency to buy stuff. Let's face it, with the world coming to an end there was no reason to save. And with that backdrop, the 2012 Olympics from London were the perfect vehicle for the IOC's goal of selling lots and lots of merchandise. We were surprised by viewers' desire to get their hands on Michael Phelps' Speedo during the real-time interactive auction. The guy was in the middle of a race, and viewers were busy making bids on his swim trunks. It was a seminal moment for our backend platform as it handled millions of requests in real time, flawlessly. Everyone won on that one, the IOC, the network and icueTV.
That was quickly followed by the presidential election, which was crazy!!! Candidates at all levels were able to: receive real-time responses from their constituents on all matters including approval/disapproval of their TV spots, receive responses broken down by neighborhood that helped national and local candidates make strategic adjustments in seconds, offer digital downloads of campaign videos, and--of course--receive donations. The Obama and Palin camps truly exploited icueTV's ability to create multiple touch points and help them each run more efficient campaigns while adding to their coffers.
The Olympics and the presidential elections created the kind of attention we anticipated, and the momentum it established will be felt well into the future.
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The iTV Doctor is *Rick Howe*, who provides interactive television consulting services to programmers and advertisers. He is the recipient of a CTAM Tami Award for retention marketing and this year was nominated to Cable Pioneers. He is also the co-author of a patent for the use of multiscreen mosaics in EPG's. Endorsed by top cable and satellite distributors, "Dr" Howe still makes house calls, and the first visit is always free. His services include product development, distribution strategy and the development of low-cost interactive applications for rapid deployment across all platforms. Have a question for the iTV Doctor? Email him at *itvdoctor@itvt.com
