Interactive television (iTV) users are ill-educated about the benefits of the platform and consequently its availability has little impact on consumers’ digital television (DTV) purchasing decisions.
This is one of the findings of a new report from
Van Dusseldorp & Partners, which says that operators need to make consumers aware of the services which iTV can provide if they are to make a success of the European market.
“At present, many DTV subscribers are not sufficiently aware of the iTV services that are made available to them via the digital platform,” said co-author of the report, senior research analyst Ashley Smith. “There is considerable evidence that in developed European digital marketplaces such as the UK, the availability of interactive services currently has little impact on the consumer’s digital purchasing decision. Going forward, the industry needs to improve at educating users about the benefits of interactivity.”
The most popular applications currently are games with simple interfaces, quizzes and text messages; the indications are that users are willing to pay for iTV gaming, even though the games themselves are fairly basic. Van Dusseldorp recommends that simplicity and relevance are key in piquing user interest in the iTV platform.
The outlook for the iTV sector is currently very mixed, according to recent MediaTelINSIGHT analysis (see Insight Analysis: Interactive TV Outlook – August 02).
