Tag Archives: digital media

October 15, 2012 · 10:26 am

What’s On Your TV Might Not Be TV

Some information I think is significant came out a couple of weeks ago and I made myself a note to share it.

English: A child watching TV.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sorry for the delay!  It has to do with yet another tipping point being reached and this one has to do with how we use the “cool fire” that’s the focal point of a room in many homes – the TV.  The folks at NPD Group put out a release that summarized the study:

According to The NPD Group,… over the past year, the number of consumers reporting that the TV is their primary screen for viewing paid and free video streamed from the Web has risen from 33 percent to 45 percent. During the same period, consumers who used a PC as the primary screen for viewing over-the-top (OTT) streamed-video content declined from 48 percent to 31 percent. This shift not only reflects a strong consumer preference for watching TV and movies on big screen TVs, but also coincides with the rapid adoption of Internet-connectible TVs.

In other words, people figured out how to shift the viewing for the desktop to the TV.  Why is this significant?  In my mind, it make Netflix a cable channel in consumers’ minds and not a streaming service.  That’s an example.  Of those viewing online video on the TV, 40 percent use their connected TVs to stream video via Netflix, 12 percent access HuluPlus, and 4 percent connect to Vudu.

Another reason it’s significant is pretty obvious – when the TV is being used to stream web content it’s not being used to watch “traditional” TV, at least not in “live” mode.  Of course, there is a ton of time-shifting going on and it’s a lot of what we think of as “TV” that’s being shifted and watched.  Still, one wonders how this affects what used to be the fundamental underpinning of the business: the ability to deliver ad impressions to marketers.

Unless you’re a live-sports addict (ahem…), cord cutting is rapidly becoming an option for a lot of people   While this might be another nail in the coffin of the traditional PC (hello tablets), I think it’s also something to which TV service providers need pay attention (which I know they are).  The TV is a screen, just like the PC, the tablet, or the mobile device.  It’s becoming just as content-provider agnostic as are those devices.

Do you watch web video on your TV?  How?  Apple TV?  XBox?  Own a web-enabled TV?  Have you cut the cord?  What’s that like?

Enhanced by Zemanta

Leave a comment

Filed under digital media

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

October 3, 2012 · 10:12 am

Debating The Second Screen

Tonight is the first of several debates in the current campaign for president and I’m very much looking forward to it. These things are great theater even if they’re usually not particularly informative. I liken them to trade shows – no one ever makes any huge news at them unless they make a mistake. The big stuff is saved for an event one can completely orchestrate and the debates (or trade shows) don’t qualify.

I think, however, that these events might be a bit different this time around and it has nothing to do with the candidates themselves. They will not answer the question asked but instead will put out whatever talking point tested well. They generally won’t get too specific about anything and they’ll probably spend more time on things that have very little to do with solving the challenges that face the country and more to do with the loud nonsense that seems to surround our elections. One thing will be very different, however, and that may make all the difference.

85 percent of tablet owners use the device while watching TV, according to one study and Nielsen says 45 percent of Americans use their tablet while watching TV daily.  Throw in smartphone use and suddenly there is a majority of people conversing and fact-checking in real time during the debates.  In addition, one hopes that there will be sentiment analysis pushed out by the major firms in that field as we go.  I wonder if either campaign is smart enough to be monitoring that during the debate and if either candidate will be told to adjust anything during a break? It’s sort of the digital version of the positive/negative lines CNN usually runs based on a panel twisting dials.

Lincoln knew you can’t fool all of the people all of the time and given that there will be real-time fact checking happening concurrently tonight, I don’t think these guys will even be able to fool all of the people some of the time.  Another example of how technology has changed media and politics for the better?  I think so.  What do you think?

Enhanced by Zemanta

Leave a comment

Filed under Thinking Aloud, What's Going On

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

September 12, 2012 · 10:58 am

What’s In A Name?

A friend asked me the other day why my brand is Keith Ritter Media when most of what I do is in digital and/or sports.  Not a bad question and since I’m always using the screed to encourage everyone to keep rethinking the business world around them, I did the same about his question.

Choosing “Media” instead of “Digital” was not an accident.  Having spent most of my formative professional years in what is now called “traditional” media (local and national TV), my approach is less focused on the technology and very focused on the business.  Here’s the bulletin:  it’s all media.   Sure, it’s also getting to be all digital but these technologies are nothing but other channels of communication that can be used in a smart marketing/business mix.  They’re other tools in the box.  The business and all of the relevant best practices remain pretty much the same.

I’m not sure that’s what some of the charlatans out there want to hear.  I’ve had clients hand me stuff from other digital specialty shops (most of whom are run by folks with all of 5-7 years in business) that was very tool-intensive but missed the entire reason of why those tools should or should be used.    Think about it.  Have you only heard of a “print” or “TV” or “radio” ad agency?  Sure, some folks focus on the various types of creative but your better shops take a 360 degree view of media because THAT’S HOW YOUR CUSTOMERS INTERACT WITH THE MEDIA WORLD.  Sorry for shouting but the notion of a digital or social agency bothers me.

“Digital” can be anything.  Website development to content creation to hardware to mobile and social applications. I don’t think it’s precise enough.  After all, we call them “carpenters”, not “hammers”.  It’s not about the tools – it’s about the business.

Am I thinking clearly about this?

Enhanced by Zemanta

Leave a comment

Filed under Consulting, digital media, Thinking Aloud

Tagged as , , , , , , ,