What did we learn from CES 2016?

Eyes had a really good workout at this year’s CES in Las Vegas. Look upwards and watch drones circling around, fortunately within the confines of specially built cages. Peer through specially designed headsets and catch a virtual reality glimpse of the future. Examine your wrist to read your messages or check your heart rate on a tiny screen. Stare at giant TV screens and see how video quality is improving.

Meanwhile the “internet of things” was taking over the connected home. Vast numbers of crowd- or Dragon’s Den-funded start-ups were demonstrating their great hopes for business success, ranging from face recognition door locks, through clothes with built-in LED lights, levitating audio systems and directional speakers, and finally to my favourite, the connected games console for dogs.

The media industry was there in force and with good reason. Technology will radically change how content is created, delivered and consumed over the coming ten years. It won’t happen without the involvement of creators, and this was most evident in virtual reality. 2016 will see the launch of a number of high-profile VR technologies.

I have experienced many of these early platforms and the lesson is clear: whichever device you put on your head, it’s the quality of the content which matters most. Creators still have a long way to go to discover what does and doesn’t work in VR.

Finally, it’s clear that TV’s transformation is continuing apace. OTT providers like Netflix and Amazon are shaking legacy pay TV operators out of their complacency with compelling content and advanced technologies. CES 2016 confirmed that Ultra HD is the next major battleground in subscription video and television. TV is not dead but it is certainly changing.

David Mercer is principal analyst at Strategy Analytics, focusing on the future of television, video and internet of things. Blog // Twitter: @DavidMercer_SA

This year’s CES was bigger than ever, but there are three clear implications for the out-of-home (OOH) advertising industry.

First, consumers expect high quality, immersive, content-rich experiences, and Virtual Reality (VR) can help provide them. At CES, the Samsung Galaxy VR is the most affordable option on display, while the HTC Vive puts users in control with a wireless joystick, and we learned that the Oculus Rift is finally launching this year.

This tech will enable brands and experiential marketers to provide interactive, immersive storytelling. It’s already happening, our experiential agency psLIVE used Oculus Rift at Waterloo station to transport commuters to the zip line and high wire courses at a newly opened Center Parcs in Woburn Forest, extending the impact of the wider ad campaign in a fun, enjoyable and tactile way.

Second, wearable technology provide richer data for advertisers to tap into. Intel demonstrated a small, cheap new chip named after Marie Curie with potential to be embedded in just about any consumer item, and a wide range of watches from Samsung, Fossil, Swarovski and Tag Heuer showed that wearable tech can also be fashionable.

The more data these devices produce, the richer the data set for advertisers, delivering better results for classic OOH and digital campaigns. Here at Posterscope we’ve seen spectacular increases of up to 200 per cent for brand KPIs vs. control areas.

Finally, digital media won’t just be tied to conventional formats. Cars, for example, are becoming smart environments. Nine automotive OEMs showcasing a range of semi-autonomous cars at CES, the majority of which featured smart in-cabin displays with LTE connectivity and personalised content.

This enables advertisers to collect behavioural data through smarter cars, and improve the personalisation and targeting of roadside ad campaigns as a result.

Wearable technology, in every form, owned CES this year, mainly because it is the technology that will actually start impacting consumers’ lives over the next 12 months.

Despite still being a relatively new technology, wearable tech brands are now hugely influential in the market. Fitbit for example, which felt like a novel concept until recently, was one of the most recognisable brands to attend the show. The growth of Fitbit in itself highlights the impact that wearable technology is having on the overall tech market.

Brands are making their move to tap into this fast-growing market. OMbra, the fitness tracking smart-bra, for example, unveiled one of the most discussed gadgets this year. In addition, FitBit has launched its latest smart-watch and Casio released its Smart Outdoor Watch. Even HTC has muscled in on the action by teaming up with Under-Armour to release the Healthbox, a collection of connected fitness tracking gadgets packed into a single $400 kit.

I believe the most game changing consumer wearable at CES was the Xenoma e-skin, a next generation textile-based wearable. It can monitor our motion, breathing, body temperature and other functions using multi-sensors embedded in an article of clothing and will reduce the friction between computers and humans. The product has the potential to transform live sports viewing whereby the athlete’s biometrics are fed to the viewer on a second screen, in real time. It will further transform the entire health and fitness based wearable industry.

Whilst more exciting gadgets such as virtual reality headsets, self driving cars and roll-up TVs may capture people’s imagination, wearables are the gadgets that will be available to the masses. The products have legitimately useful applications and will, as a result, find their way into our everyday lives one way or another.