In brief: Regular columnist and contributor Jim Levey looks at the battle brewing in the living room. Cable companies, telcos or Internet giants – who will control (and monetize) our content experiences? Look for companies that successfully wield personalization and recommendation technologies to deliver content we appreciate and advertising we accept to be in the winner's circle.
Imagine a living room where a large flat screen wirelessly attached to a set top box hangs from the wall. You enter a personal code into the set top box that recognizes your profile; the screen welcomes you to a portal where there are no channels only menus with links to personalized content and apps that range from social networking to commerce to premium content and entertainment. A blinking icon reminds to you to record Wimbledon while an ad from Wilson invites you to view their latest rackets. As you click the record button, you slide out the keypad on your remote and navigate to the Wilson site where you purchase a new tennis racket. Payment for the racket is included in your monthly cable invoice.
Sounds like science fiction? Hardly. We are on the cusp of next generation iTV (interactive television), services that will elevate our viewing experience. Advertising will also be transformed, paving the way for two-way communications that enable brands to target households according to key demographics and other information collected by the set top box (STBs). Mobile devices, widely regarded to be the remote control of our digital lives, will surely play an important role in this scenario. (Mobile already has a central spot if we consider how people reach to their phones to cast their vote for talent shows, follow sports and read the gossip during soap operas.)
The promise of being able to access the wide open Internet and everything in between on your TV may be a while away, but the battle for the living room, the one that will decide who monetizes our content consumption and who cashes in on the commercial messages we consume, is being fought now.
Best positioned in my view are the cable companies, who have the trump because they own the signal into the home and have a trusted relationship with subscribers. They also benefit from established business partnerships with broadcast and cable network programmers, that receive billion-dollar fees for entertainment content.
But there are other players lining up to stake their turf.
Imagine a living room where a large flat screen wirelessly attached to a set top box hangs from the wall. You enter a personal code into the set top box that recognizes your profile; the screen welcomes you to a portal where there are no channels only menus with links to personalized content and apps that range from social networking to commerce to premium content and entertainment. A blinking icon reminds to you to record Wimbledon while an ad from Wilson invites you to view their latest rackets. As you click the record button, you slide out the keypad on your remote and navigate to the Wilson site where you purchase a new tennis racket. Payment for the racket is included in your monthly cable invoice.
Sounds like science fiction? Hardly. We are on the cusp of next generation iTV (interactive television), services that will elevate our viewing experience. Advertising will also be transformed, paving the way for two-way communications that enable brands to target households according to key demographics and other information collected by the set top box (STBs). Mobile devices, widely regarded to be the remote control of our digital lives, will surely play an important role in this scenario. (Mobile already has a central spot if we consider how people reach to their phones to cast their vote for talent shows, follow sports and read the gossip during soap operas.)
The promise of being able to access the wide open Internet and everything in between on your TV may be a while away, but the battle for the living room, the one that will decide who monetizes our content consumption and who cashes in on the commercial messages we consume, is being fought now.
Best positioned in my view are the cable companies, who have the trump because they own the signal into the home and have a trusted relationship with subscribers. They also benefit from established business partnerships with broadcast and cable network programmers, that receive billion-dollar fees for entertainment content.
But there are other players lining up to stake their turf. September 29, 2009
