The Future of TV

By: Paul Dierkes - 03-02-2010 - (6) Comments

This isn’t a discussion on the FATE of television. In fact, it isn’t a discussion at all unless you comment. This is a rambling blog about what I love about TV and some of the advancements I am looking forward to. I’m an avid sports fan (all sports) so there will be a running sports theme. Sorry everybody that doesn’t love sports, but sports are awesome to watch on TV so they make a great subject for this blog.

What do I love about TV?

Content/Production Value – TV is big business and a lot of money is put into television content and production. This is no more evident than in sports! (told you) The Winter Olympics provided content that was unique to television (when viewed live) and innovative production techniques were revealed, such as watching two skiers/bobsledders/skaters at the same time even though they were recorded separately. Big sporting events typically breed production innovation.

Technology Quality – There is nothing like watching the Olympics or NFL football on a giant, HD TV. The picture is crisp, clear and smooth. HD has been so good to the sports fan.

Speed – You just don’t have the choppiness, buffering, and pausing/freezing on TV that is often associated with my online viewing experience.

Guide/Menu/Centralization – A single place to go for a list of all the current and future programming. The internet is a mish-mash of decentralized content. I like centralization for TV and decentralization for the internet…go figure.

DVR – ‘Nough said.

What’s missing from TV?

Interactivity!

I have a remote. I can Pause, Play, Record, FF, RW and change the channel. Well let’s say I am watching a football game. Why can’t I access information myself? Why do I have to rely on CBS to figure out what stats I want to see? I should be able to toggle the score on and off, click on the QB to see his passing stats, etc. How cool would it be if you could change the camera you are watching the game through or choose the different angles you want to watch replays from? This is going to happen at some point and it’s going to be spectacular.

When I’m watching a commercial I should be able to purchase a product right there on the spot, or find out more if I want to. There is so much more value for advertisers if the viewer becomes active instead of passive. If I am watching a car commercial it would be nice if I could pause the spot on a car and click to see additional images or find out the dealership closest to me.

This could have major implications for TV as an educational tool as well. Literally bringing kids into the conversation and challenging them to interact with TV using the remote would be amazing. Then using the analytics of how kids are learning or if they are learning from television programming to improve the medium as a tool for education.

Customization!

I’d love to be able to login and customize my programming even more. This is a great give and take for advertisers. As the user I gain a greater experience and as an advertiser you gain crucial information about how I am watching TV - what ads I like and don’t like, what type of programming I watch, what I am rewinding or fast forwarding, what I watch live and what I record, what I record and never watch, what commercials I watch when I’ve recorded something, what products I get more information on…the list is endless. This is the type of information that marketers love!

True On Demand!

You just can’t watch what you want when you want it on regular television. Again, you have to do it within the framework provided by TV. Let’s say it’s 9 pm and I just got back from the gym and want to catch hour 12 of ’24’ which aired from 8 pm to 9 pm. I should be able to do that. Open up my Guide scroll back an hour and “Select.” It should be as simple as that. I can’t wait until it’s a simple as that!

What else? I would love to hear some thoughts on the direction of television! Is a 360 degree, 3-D Television in our future? Wouldn’t it be cool to follow Jack and company across the ‘Lost’ island with the ability to see your entire surroundings at any given point in time? How are the internet and television going to become more intertwined? Most importantly, how will these changes affect sports viewing! Holla at me in our NEW Comments section, yo.

About the Author:

Paul Dierkes

After graduating with a degree in Business (Marketing), I teamed up with Andrew and Joel to start Okay Yellow because I saw greatness in them and thought it was an opportunity of a lifetime. My role is to grow the business and prevent an epic collapse. I am passionate about great ideas and developing them into new business opportunities. My passion stems from a strong desire to never work at a business that I don’t own ever again and to, at a young age, have the financial freedom to do what I want, when I want. I can speak for Andrew, Joel, and myself in saying that we each having amazing, loving parents who have helped develop us into respectful, respectable human beings. We wouldn’t be who, what or where we are without them. So, this is my profile version of the “hi, mom” TV wave that athletes like to do. HI MOM AND DAD!

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Comments:

Your points on interactivity are dead on. Especially the idea of being able to purchase directly from a commercial. That would begin to replicate the advantageous online position that advertisers love, and the immediacy of the impulse buy.

I’d go one step further as well and integrate social network activity directly into the TV experience. It’s already a blast tracking Twitter during a big sports event, but wouldn’t it even encourage more of the same buzz if you could log into a “fans of” network during any show and communicate, make comments, poke fun, whatever right on the screen? It would be a nice option available if you wanted it! Make the experience a communal one. In fact, given the advances of digital positioning I could see having the choice to communicate with viewers only in your own area, regionally, or anywhere.

Good post, Paul.

From Steve Gaines on March 03, 2010

Hey Steve, would definitely be cool to incorporate a social media component. You could have a program like Echofon that brings up messages in the bottom corner of the screen so you can follow along with other interested parties. It would hopefully be fairly non-intrusive and would also allow you to join the conversation pretty easily.

RE: impulse buying…look at HSN…that’s their whole business model and right now you have to pick up a phone, talk to a rep, etc. If they could tell people to just click the “buy” button on their remote (then input a PIN) to instantly purchase it would make the process so much easier for the viewer and even cheaper for them.

From Paul Dierkes on March 03, 2010

very good ideas here! i would have loved to order a snuggie with just a click of the remote!

From Jane DeGeorge on March 06, 2010

i think tv is the devil and should be exiled to an island kinda like the one on LOST

From John P Rockefeller on March 10, 2010

The interactive aspect with social media is happening! The Oscars had a full blown campaign encouraging viewers to tweet and post during the red carpet walk! I didn’t see this portion but they were promoting the tweets would be seen visually, on the screen during the event. Did you catch this?

From Catherine Maino on March 17, 2010

I didn’t watch much of the Oscars so I missed that, but it sounds similar to what produced events like concerts have been doing with text messages - - a # that you can text to from your phone at the concert with a message that is displayed on a screen near the stage. It’s very cool to start incorporating that into a nationally televised event that the audience at home can participate in. Especially something as “exclusive” as the Oscars.