Apps the future of TV viewing, says new report
As TV viewing shifts to broadband and non-TV video platforms, video viewing will shift away from pay TV environments and towards app-enabled secondary screens, according to a new report from The Diffusion Group.
The report, which has been derived from analysis from the group’s latest research on the shifting media landscape – forecasts that viewing will transition from the living room to devices such as tablets, which serve as second screens.
By 2020, it is predicted that almost half of all video viewing will happen outside of a legacy pay TV service or a television set, and will instead be via an app or application dedicated to a specific video service.
Joel Espelien, The Diffusion Group’s senior analyst and author of the new report, states the use of second screens like smartphones and tablets will pave the way to a full ‘App TV’ ecosystem.
“During the course of the next seven years, the app ecosystem will extend to the ancillary devices that link television sets to the Internet,” Espelien said.
“We’re not talking about a few apps on a smart TV, but full-fledged apps stores like those offered by Google and Apple. Moreover, this shift is inevitable, supported as it is by strong forces of shifting consumer demand, technology evolution, developer interest, and marketing necessity.”
Espelien argues that, though inevitable, the shift will happen gradually – slowed by industry inertia, device replacement cycles, and resistance to change by the legacy TV viewing audience.
As Internet set-top boxes, game consoles, and smart TVs eventually come to support full-blown third-party video app stores, a substantial portion of TV viewing is predicted to transition from today’s linear broadcast model to an App TV model; one that gives both choice and flexibility to the user.
The report claims that the shift will have major strategic implications for the TV industry, meaning that TV content producers, for example, will need to learn to create apps as well as programmes, and legacy pay TV providers will need to embrace TV apps.