Insight Community

TV is just about to have the most interesting global tie-in to phones imaginable.  First, tv's will start to come out soon that have bluetooth remote controls.  Then, phones with bluetooth will be able to pose as remotes.  Why is this important?  First, your phone will work for every TV in the house, and second, you'll be able to surf TV guide on your phone and pick shows to watch, and the phone will change the TV to that station automatically for you.  This means a whole new way to advertise for TV on mobile devices.  Shows will be able to send you a message or have you click on an ad on a webpage, and automatically change to a TV channel based on that ad!

This change will force a convergence of TV shows and mobile content as advertisers and content providers synchronize to provide people with a seamless mobile-to-TV experience.  

I know that people are already watching TV on iPhones, so I suspect that within a few years, when other mobile smartphones and broadband are ubiquitous enough, the mobile phone will become a secondary TV set -- especially for YouTube or other user-uploaded content.   However, the mobile phone TV experience is limited, especially compared to a good HDTV.  I don't think anyone would give up an HDTV just to watch mobile TV, but I think a lot of people with a mobile TV option will use it on airplanes once airplane cell usage is approved.

 

Mobile devices continue to trend toward providing tons of content in a small form factor, but video will remain an accessory media until screens become physically or virtually larger. Larger screens could take forms like malleable fold out sheets of electronic paper, or heads up displays that fit snugly over the eye that provide a virtually immersive experience. Until then, users will watch videos on their mobile phones in places where there aren't other good options like in airports, elevators, taxis, buses, subways. But, they will seek a larger screen for longer viewing sessions and an overall more satisfactory video experience.

That accessory status is one of the very reasons YouTube and other slapstick video sites are so popular on mobile devices. They provide brief spurts of entertainment that are easily digestible in the few spare moments someone traveling or waiting has before their next move. Also on a side, drivers also watch videos on their mobile phones which can easily be as distracting as sending a text message.

But what about TV shows that integrate text messaging into their viewing experience. They're pushing the envelope from passive entertainment to interactive, which also happens to be the most addictive aspect of online entertainment. The problem is that shows often don't offer incentives good enough to lure large quantities of participants, and that's what makes the cost of prizes worthwhile. Of course, for some TV shows quantity isn't their goal. For example, the Stargate Atlantis series on SciFi channel often will run text message promotions slipped in between commercials to reward viewers that don't skip through them (they want to make all of you Tivo users feel like you're missing out! Is it working?)

One exception to that rule of thumb seems to be reality TV, especially talent competitions like Amercian Idol and it's spinoffs like America's Got Talent and So You Think You Can Dance. In those cases viewers quickly become fans of their favorite rising star and feel a sense of loyalty and obligation to vote that's hard to replicate in other genres.

The next step in this progression will likely be greater penetration of live rewards sent to viewers in real time. For example, just before a show breaks to a commercial, an actor could step up to the screen and hold a product they used on the set in hand with a text message number on top. Sending a text to that number would place an order. Of course, that will depend on mobile payments becoming more commonplace especially in countries like the United States, and it will also require larger numbers of consumers to place trust in conducting transactions like that.

Overall, mobile TV and video is a very useful and entertaining medium but it will remain an accessory for most television watchers until the screen size gains some girth and content purchased anywhere is easily streamed to any device.

Surprisingly there has not been as much convergence as one would expect between TV shows and the explosive growth in mobile phone internet access.  This is likely to change though I think it will mostly take the form of simple rather than highly interactive viewer engagement - things along the lines of American Idol text messaging, call ins, and ringtones.

Vibes Media is a company that is leading some of the most innovative tie-in experiments.   For example they have used Text messaging to increase engagment in a major TV sports event:
http://www.vibes.com/success_stories/film_television/versus/

Vibes also managed the Warner Brothers Gossip Girl mobile tie-in where viewers were encouraged to text information into the show and invited to purchase music and engage in other brand-building excercises.

One of the most ambitious attempts at converging new media and TV was CSI New York's Second Life episode which was not a mobile event but represented a highly interactive, real time innovative approach we may eventually see in the mobile space as well.  The initial free publicity buzz was good though I haven't seen this approach duplicated elsewhere, perhaps indicating it was a commercial flop or perhaps not ready for prime time yet.

Several shows have created tie in mobile games and this appears to be working in many cases.   CSI for example has a pocket game, reviewed here:
http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Mobile/CSI:+Las+Vegas/review.asp?c=6553

Viacom, the parent network of Nickleodeon TV for kids, is about to spend 100 million developing hundreds of new games for their online empire.   Some will tie in to TV shows like Dora the Explorer, offering a way to leverage the TV brand to gain game traction, although it's not clear if there will be much if any highly interactive elements between the TV show and the game.  

As is often the case, Japan appears to be far ahead of the USA in terms of innovative experiments.  TV Asahi has developed a TV show called  "‘Hoshi-ichi Owarairyoku Test" that will allow up to 100,000 (that is not a typo!) concurrent mobile users to  appear as an avatar on the TV and engage in a comedy contest.    In the same way that Asia has been the most fertile testing ground for mobile gaming innovation I think we'll see the same for TV to Mobile convergence even though Asian mobile successes don't always translate into US success.
More about the TV Asahi project: http://wirelesswatch.jp/2008/06/06/mobile-3d-avatars-join-broadcast-tv-show/

Right now it's possible to experience the ultimate TV tie-in: watching the actual shows on your cell phone! NBC's mobile site lists 37 different programs that are mobile-ready, including Saturday Night Live, Heroes, and My Name is Earl. They've even reached into their vault for cancelled shows like Las Vegas, The A-Team, and the original Battlestar Galactica.

But cell phones are still overlooked when promoting popular shows — at least judging from the networks' web sites. CBS's mobile site offers some wallpaper promoting their shows — including Survivor and CSI, plus the stars of various NBA basketball teams. (And they've tapped their archive for wallpaper images and ringtones from classic shows like the original Star Trek, plus The Brady Bunch and Happy Days.) But for some reason, the biggest feature on the network's mobile site is a large, but completely unrelated, collection of pop music ringtones. And the biggest feature on ABC's site is the ability to peek in on your favorite show...via text alerts!

It's a pretty unglamorous way to promote a series, but at least ABC has alerts for seven different shows. The other networks are only offering a limited selection of TV alerts, mostly about news (though NBC will also send alerts about soap operas like Days of Our Lives and Passions). ABC does also have the standard ringtones and wallpapers — but you have to click around their site to find them.

I was really surprised to see that the networks aren't creating more mobile content around their shows. NBC's mobile site offers a few games based on Deal or No Deal, plus a Heroes trivia game, and one based on Law and Order. But it's obviously going to be much more compelling to simply watch video. (I'm still amazed that you can watch Jay Leno's monologues from The Tonight Show in their entirety.) NBC has tried to differentiate themselves further by creating original digital content, like a science fiction program called Gemini Division. Its seven-minute episodes can be watched in their entirety on your cell phone — and over the summer NBC also created a similar set of "Webisodes" using characters from The Office.

Still, it's one of several hints that Hollywood is starting to recognize the mobile revolution. One big issue in the writer's strike was securing royalties for the digital transmission of shows. B.J. Novak (a writer for The Office) said that most of his friends were watching online instead of on television — so the first migration has already begun. More and more people are realizing they can watch their TV shows in a digital format. Once they've separated their shows from their set...they'll be more open to mobile viewing!

I wonder if there'll be an unexpected shift when the U.S. completes its switch to digital TV signals in 2009. This summer one blog made a remarkable discovery. Mobile devices made in China — with a terrestrial TV tuner — can pick up analog TV signals in the U.S., and in many countries cell phones can regular tune in to TV broadcasts. That's not something we're used to seeing in the United States.

But we'll be one step closer when broadcasts are sent in a digital format...