The future of TV
By Vijay Kailas, CEO and Founder at Numote.
There has been a lot of media coverage about how TV is changing. Almost every week you see news about social startups looking to disrupt the TV viewing experience and new TVs that claim to be "smart" and "social." Yes there are apps such as Miso and GetGlue that offer badges for "checking-in" to TV shows but there has to be more to the future of TV than that.
The TV industry is undergoing a radical change driven by viewer demand for a more compelling experience. Working at a social tv company over the past 2 years, I've had a chance to get some insights on how things are really shaping up and what's to come. At its core, there are two components powering the change in the TV viewing experience: detecting what viewer's watching and adding context. These two components have the potential to radically change the TV industry.
It's funny to think that of what you are watching as important data. Of course you know what you are watching, but until recently, that data was locked up in the set top box with no way to get at it. There are three emerging trends unlocking what you are watching. Startups such as Peel and Dijit are taking the route insert themselves in the "click stream" as a remote control device. Into_Now recently acquired by Yahoo and Flingo take another route of detecting viewer's content through the audio and video signals from the TV. Finally, content providers such as DirecTV and AT&T have begun offering a limited number of app developers access to APIs to access what a viewer is currently watching removing the need for detection technologies.
The fun part comes after detecting what a users is watching. Start-up companies such as mine - Numote - and others like TV Plus and Wayin are plugging away at building the contextual layer for TV. This contextual layer can include anything from tweets and celebrity gossip, to polls and game mechanics to encourage interacting. While, this new social and interactive content is still up for grabs, content providers such as NBC and Bravo are jumping in the game by offering live interactivity via their website and applications.
Who will win? It's not too early to place your bets. On the identification side, service providers are in a unique position to easily and accurately share information about what users are watching, regardless of what remote control or TV their users buy. As for the contextual layer, content creators and networks are likely to be the big winners with options to create compelling content through the second screen. Moreover, the data from usage of these apps will allow content providers to learn about their their viewers and further enrich and refine their programming in a totally new way.
While the future of TV is still in flux, what is certain is that we have a great future of TV watching ahead of us.
