2011: The year of connected TV?
Nigel Walley, CEO, Decipher, said this year will see the connected TV market “sky-rocket”.
Speaking at MediaTel Group’s Media Playground 2011 event last week, Walley complained that the quality of the interface has been the main problem in the past but said it is improving. In future, he said Sky and Virgin could be the dominant app on a TV rather than a separate device, “but there is a technology race to go through first”.
He also noted that the lack of consumer understanding about connected TV devices has been a problem, using an example of retailers not being able to demo products. “Retailers are old fashioned – it has taken them a while to understand [connected TVs] themselves.”
Walley believes it is still difficult to see who will control the market – saying that until now manufacturers haven’t pushed it enough, and used the BBC as an example of a lack of strategy from broadcasters.
However, he is positive that 2011 will see change in the industry and predicts 50-60% connectivity rates as a result of TV sets that are sold this year.
Jeff Siegel, head of advertising at Rovi and fellow panellist, said connectivity rates are much higher in the UK than they were pre-March/April 2011. But Oli Newton, head of emerging platforms at Starcom Mediavest Group, believes consumer understanding is a crucial point.
“It is all about educating the consumer,” he said. “Apple are masters at this – they educate without people knowing they’re being educated. It is very subtle. If you explain to people they can get all the services they use on their TV, they will want it.”
Meanwhile, Dan Saunders, head of content services at Samsung, said broadcasters need to get on board and understand that connected TVs will add to their offering. “We’re not talking about the death of channels like ITV but an opportunity for players to bring catch-up services to the big screen. We’re trying to build and augment, not to destroy.
“Technology is so sophisticated now, we have to work together to realise these products – to understand consumers and what they want”, he added. “We’re all bringing the same value to the table.”
When asked about YouView – the VoD venture backed by partners including the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 – Oli Newton, head of emerging platforms at Starcom Mediavest Group, said despite its best efforts to be a catalyst for connected TV services, a 2012 launch will be “pointless”.
“If it came out a year ago, it would have been amazing. But when/if it launches, people will be like ‘so what’ – people have access to this stuff already. I’ll be surprised if they can make it as easy as it should be on a first attempt and the market will have had a year to get used to it.”