With the launch of Google Chromecast, reports that Twitter will soon resemble TV and a multitude of other features of late talking about the future of TV, it comes to no surprise to me that people are now talking about the disappearance of traditional broadcast TV.
Of course broadcast channels themselves may survive, albeit purely within a digital environment or framework. It may be old news, or new to some that Twitter is working on the ability to reset your twitter feeds to align it to a particular programme i.e. you can sync your twitter feed to the timing of the your desired programme. That shows 1) power of 2nd screening and also 2) people aren’t going to have to worry about the 2nd screen live TV experience happening in real-time.
This changes the TV landscape in its entirety; from content, advertising and media consumption – the three key pillars that form the foundation of TV broadcasting. Conventional wisdom in the advertising industry has been that as the rise of Digital would mean the death of TV; Digital killed a TV star.
Interestingly enough it turns out the complete opposite is true: Digital increases TV usage and media consumption as was recently cited in a WIRED article. Going back a few years, I had suspected that, that might be the case based on nothing more than watching my kids and analysing my own viewing habits. I was fond of saying in JWT where I worked, that Digital did not mean less TV, it meant more.
Another example of new ways to consume digital media, is the Ultraviolet cloud based TV storage system from Sony whereby you upload your DVD or recorded shows onto the cloud based platform and can stream onto any tablet or device anywhere and at any time. You can access content regardless of the device and location. This blurs the line between physical and digital. Ultimately, it gives the consumer more choice and greater options.
Ultimately it re-enforces the point that video is now the primary driving force of content and content marketing. I do not know how much video content is uploaded to the Internet and consumed at any-moment in time, but I am guessing it’s rather a lot. As digital professional, we all have to sit and think about this and its impact on the business we’re in. Video production, design, site architecture, all of this now needs to evolve together to align itself as “content journeys”.
We see this change as a massive opportunity for us – we are learning how to include and utilise video content within the information architecture and design process; so that it forms a seamless part of the customer journey, enhancing, rather than disrupting experiences. We are learning about production values, and story-telling and making it part of the experience. The lines between “Experience” companies like us and the “Traditional Ad” companies are blurring. Our focus on structure and process, lends itself to what needs to be done.
Consumer behaviour is continuously changing and is enabled as the power of technology advances. The future of broadcast is here; the consumer now has control of what they watch and they are grabbing that control.
One last question arises… How on earth do we buy media in this new world?! Thankfully it’s not the business I’m in, so I can let someone else worry about that!
Davenport Face 