| In the first of a series of articles I’m going to run through a bit of broadcast background and bring things right up to date which what’s been happening in the past few months and what will happen in the near future.Television as you knew it is dying. The transformation is happening worldwide, and it’s happening faster than anyone has predicted. But lets just think about the UK for a moment.At the most obvious end of the scale is the change from analogue to digital broadcasting in the UK. It’s taking place from the end of this year and will be fully complete by 2012. It will require everyone to have a digital set top box, a TV with built in digital receiver, cable TV, or a satellite dish (if they opt for using SKY instead)
The change is happening because in order to provide the best quality digital services the old TV broadcast signal is being switched off. It’s the biggest change since colour TV was introduced, but the implications are far greater. Digital television brings with it many features that previously were only available on the most expensive equipment. Most interestingly, it’s the new breed of set top boxes and PVR’s (personal video recorders), and televisions that are making the biggest change to viewing habits in the front room. The ability to record, pause and rewind live television means people are no longer tied to program schedules or specific time slots – record multiple programs at the same time – and flick between them. Don’t like ad’s – no problem, you just wait for program to record a few minutes then you can fast-forward through them. If you think it will take years for people to make the switch to digital or people will be slow to adopt new technology you’re wrong. ” 80% of UK homes now have digital TV on their main set.” – Ofcom June 20th 2007 It doesn’t mean all those users are skipping advert slots – but that’s coming as people replace old sets, and bring themselves up to date with HD definition sets with built in PVR’s . It means traditional TV advertising time-slots are going to disappear, there’s no point showing an ad if it’s automatically skipped. So lets take a step back – why was the analogue signal being switched off? it wasn’t just to bring the consumers more features- it was to free up space on the airwaves for more content – who can forget the billions spent by mobile phone companies on the great 3G sell off of the 1990′s. The UK government is planning on selling off the freshly freed-up airwaves to the highest bidder. Current broadcasters are struggling to find their new cash flows, the family passively sitting in front of the television – is turning into the family with watching a movie, checking email, making videos, downloading music, and chatting to friends. Broadcasters haven’t just been sitting on their hands – there’s an even bigger change coming. People in their 20′s and 30′s are the last of the TV Era, when it was the broadcaster who decided when you were going to watch an advert, or programs. The age of streaming has arrived.. |
The Death of TV – Part 1 – watching the tide of change
Totally Wired – Book review
Book Review
Totally Wired ‘ What Teens And Tweens Are Really Doing Online’ by Anastasia Goodstein.
I picked up this book while doing research for a social networking brief, although it has a slightly American twist, i thought it’s content would still be fairly relevant.
Anastasia Goodstein is a journalist and the main editor / creator of Ypulse – a youth marketing agency focused on everything youth – brands, technology, culture and lifestyle. She’s worked for major youth online and TV brands, including Current TV, AOL, and Oxygen TV as well as in non-profit youth media.
The book’s broken down into various chapters covering the profile and networking use of a teen, through to technology and teaching, and finally how the future’s going to shape up. While some of the statistics are fairly out of date now, and some of the sites are no longer so popular, or replaced by equally popular social networking sites – The ideas behind teen usage online still stands.
There’s real interviews with teenagers and industry professionals, as well as real-world examples of social networking usage. I took the time after reading the boook to go online and check out a number of the sites mentioned, One of the discussions in the book is about how kids really don’t understand how ‘public’ the net is. By simply going to xanga.com and checking recent articles – you can get a really clear example of this. Kids are using their online space to publish what used to be the equivalent of a personal diary – including posting emails originally from their parents for the entire world to see and comment on.
I’m not going to give too much away because I think this is an incredibly good book, and certainly a must-read for any parent who’s thinking about joining their child online. It also serves as a warning for those adults wanting to be involved with what their kids are doing – but not wanting to infringe on their privacy. The book also touches cellphone and txting use, which are all part of the digital lifestyle. It’s important for marketers, and advertisers to understand how technically literate Kids are – and how important it is for them to ‘own’ their own space. We’re in strange times, there’s such a massive divide between the wired and ‘unwired’ generation It’s probably already too late for some agencies to understand the massive shift in media that’s happening, let alone catch up.
Matt
Zeitgeist 2007
Last month the top internet movers and shakers gathered together to tell their stories and offer an insight on where they see the future going.
It’s fantastic stuff, and thankfully there’s been quite a few movies posted to Google with some of the key speakers. The 5 video’s below are rather long but they’re certainly worth saving to your favorites for a spot of lunchtime viewing.
Enjoy.
