A report titled ‘This Box was Made for Walking’ was the result of research commissioned by Nokia and conducted by Dr Shani Orgad of the London School of Economics. It focused on the impact of personal TV on the advertising and media industry.
In it, Dr Orgad predicts that mobile TV will generate a more personal and private viewing experience than the current broadcast model. The implication of this is that users will have greater control of what, how and when they view programs. This means that content providers and advertisers will be able to better target their wares. Nothing new so far really. All of this had been reiterated at every opportunity by industry participants ranging from analysts to vendors and operators.
There was also reference to the growing trend of user generated content citing examples from YouTube and a popular US channel created in summer this year, Current TV. The latter has 30% of its programming created by users who are paid between $500 and $1000 for their contribution if selected. This format is very similar to 3’s SeeMeTV in the UK (not sure who had the idea first but what the hey) and that success story is already familiar to the industry in Europe.
The report then went on to describe the type of content that users would be watching - words such as ‘shorter’, ‘more concise’, ‘snackable’ were bandied about. Again, none of this was new nor was the fact that prime time was expanding to include lunchtimes and not just the traditional evening slots. This was already commented upon in the mobile TV trials in Australia (see http://www.dvb.org/about_dvb/dvb_worldwide/australia/ ).
It seems to me that Dr Orgad had missed the opportunity to consider the interplay between human behaviour both from the individual and group perspective, and this piece of new technology.
The human species is a group oriented one, needing social contact and communications - although there are, of course, exceptions in everyone’s experience! Personalizing the viewing experience will always have a reverse impact on behaviour. Part of the lure of going to the cinema - remember the cinema is dead, long live the TV prophecy? - is the sharing of an event and/or activity. Perhaps more so in other parts of the world but the pleasure of looking around to see others laughing with you during a funny scene heightens one’s enjoyment of it. Or the streaming eyes of fellow audiences during a tragic one that makes you feel less of a twit for crying.
Why is there growth in user generated content? Because these people get paid if their submission gets selected? Yes, of course. That is undeniably one of the attractions. But also, there is the unconscious but powerful urge to reach out and communicate. There is no pleasure, no enjoyment, no pride, in saying something interesting or clever if no one else hears it. Likewise, why make a piece of movie just so that you can leave it in the can - or these days, on the computer? You want the whole world to know what you have to show them. Likewise, I am not sitting here writing this piece just for my own satisfaction. I want to see it in print or on the screen. I have something to say, thoughts to share.
We humans are complex and unpredictable as individuals. But as a group, we are less so. If the advertisers and content providers want to start tailoring their messages to us on an individual basis, my comment is good luck and may you have a bottomless purse. It would not make sense. Targeting would still need to be on segment basis. It is all a fine-tune business that has already been going on. It is better to ask ‘How far should refinement go before it stops being cost effective?’
Right now, mobile TV is still mainly in the ‘push’ mode although the introduction of ‘pull’ by cable companies and Sky is already muddying the waters. Have advertisers and content providers decided on what sort of mix they would be providing to users? I expect that no firm decision has yet been made. It would be sensible to allow the user to have a choice - although advertising will always be ‘push’ I suspect.
For me, the most interesting aspect will be to see what impact on social dynamics personalizing viewing will have. One thing I do anticipate is that cafes will be even more popular than ever as people congregate to both talk about and exchange viewing experiences, bringing their mobile TV to these sessions.
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