BBC iPlayer: three clicks, four seconds, connected!

The speed of change in the connected TV market was highlighted at MediaTel Group’s third “Internet Comes to TV” event this morning at the Haymarket Hotel, in association with Rovi.

Nigel Walley, managing director at Decipher, pointed out that we are in the middle of a bizarre period in TV with a particularly crazy year ahead, peppered by a baffling list of new set-top box and connected device launches throughout the year.

He added that it used to be possible to predict what was going to happen in the TV marketplace, but from 2012 onwards it becomes very unpredictable and difficult to forecast.

Currently in the UK there are 15 million pay-tv homes, and the challenge to Sky and Virgin is to ensure their set top boxes are still switched on while connectivity of other devices accelerates.

Nigel stated that on a 2011 Samsung smart TV, iPlayer can be accessed from BBC 1 in just four seconds and three clicks, making usability so quick and easy, adding that they are the first smart TV to have definitely got the usability right.

Despite having a connected TV, David Brennan, founder of Media Native, says he is yet to connect his, and claims that connection rates will struggle until the devices become more intuitive.

Walley said that given the advances in the technologies within connected TVs, Decipher are now looking at connection rates for the 2011 sets onwards, which are running as high as 75% connection.

His feeling was that we are now in a period when it is easier to connect the set than not, due to internal wireless connectivity.

However another reason for better connection rates is the content available. People do not care what pipe content comes down, they just want good content, and iPlayer branding on the box continues to prompt sales.