THE FUTURE OF TV WILL BE PERSONAL
A Nokia commissioned report from the London School of Economics gives
valuable insights into the impact of "mobility on television". (This
applies to Asian broadcasters Mobile TV services as anywhere else! - Digital
Broadcasters Vendor News Asia)
Personalisation and interactivity will be the key drivers of mobile
TV according to a new report commissioned by Nokia and conducted by
Dr Shani Orgad from the London School of Economics. The report,
titled ‘This Box Was Made For Walking’, examines the future impact of
mobile TV on the broadcasting and advertising industries.
The report predicts that the introduction and adoption of mobile TV
will ultimately give way to a more personal and private TV experience
than that of traditional broadcast TV, with big implications for
users, content providers and advertisers. Users will be able to
receive content anytime, anywhere, choose what is most relevant to
them, and even create and upload their own television content, while
content providers and advertisers will be able to tailor their
offerings more specifically to the user.
“For mobile TV to become more than just television on the move, it
will have to build on existing channels, programmes, and ways of
watching television and using the Internet.” said Dr Shani Orgad.
“Mobile TV will become a multimedia experience with an emphasis on
personalisation, interactivity and user-generated content.”
“We are currently entering a new era in television, that of personal
TV and video consumption,” said Harri Männistö, Director, Multimedia,
Nokia. “This LSE report highlights the opportunities for both
broadcasters and advertisers in this new mobile television era.”
According to the report, the current trend of user generated content,
as seen by the phenomenal growth of YouTube, will be a key feature of
mobile TV. As consumers increasingly use their mobile devices to
create video content, new broadcast platforms will emerge to
distribute this content to other mobile users. The United States
television channel, Current TV, is a good indicator of the future
with 30% of its programming consisting of user-generated content.
Introducing the five second ad spot
Dr Orgad examined the impact of mobile TV on the advertising industry
and predicts new opportunities for the industry as it is able to
better target and interact with key audiences. On mobile TV,
advertisers will be able to pinpoint their messages to users
according to very specific levels not possible with traditional TV
and at success rates higher than those of the Internet.
The report also reveals that advertisers are currently experimenting
with five and seven second-long ad spots to be better suited to the
‘snacking culture’ of mobile TV viewing.
What will people watch?
The report predicts that mobile TV programming will be a combination
of original content from broadcast television and new content made
specifically for mobile.
It is expected that the most popular genres and programmes on mobile
TV will be news, entertainment (soaps, reality shows, comedy,
animation), sport, music and children’s programmes. Moreover, the
content will be tailored with the mobile viewer in mind:
*Much shorter and more concise news bulletins
*User interactivity in the plots of reality TV shows and game shows
*Growing importance of user-generated content
*New distribution formats: in China, for instance, the movie Kung Fu
Hustle was made into ten segments for mobile TV
New TV content
The mobile TV viewing experience is also likely to see new program
formats emerging. These include:
*Talking heads and close ups – due to the small screen size,
broadcasters will need to focus on talking heads, where viewers will
be able to watch close-ups and see the details, rather than capturing
a wide screen.
*‘Snackable content’ – mobile TV content will need to be suitable for
‘snacking’.
*Mobisodes – mobisodes are fragmented and small made-for-mobile
episodes that cater to bite-sized portions of content on the go.
Visual spectacle – programmes will need to emphasise visual spectacle
over conventional narrative and be image-orientated.
*Local content – content should be relevant for the here-and-now of
viewers.
New prime times
Broadcasters are likely to see a new midday prime time with mobile TV
according to the report. This is backed up by consumer trials of
mobile TV in Europe which revealed heavy usage of mobile TV during
the day as well as during the more traditional early morning and late
evening prime times.
This Box Was Made For Walking was written by Dr Shani Orgad, from the
Department of Media and Communications at the London School of
Economics, based on a review of existing literature, analysis of
mobile TV consumer trials, interviews with experts in the fields of
television, mobile media, advertising and other media, and attendance
at industry events.
About Dr Shani Orgad
Dr Shani Orgad is a Lecturer in Media and Communications at the
London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom. She
currently directs the MSc programme New Media, Information and
Society. She holds a BA in Media and Communications, Sociology and
Anthropology from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and an MSc in
Media and Communications and a Ph.D. in Media and Communications from
the London School of Economics.
She has lectured on Internet, Communication and Globalisation, Media,
Culture and Society, Media and Globalisation, and Media and Gender to
undergraduates and postgraduates in both Cambridge University and the
London School of Economics. Orgad is on the editorial board for New
Media and Society and the Review board of the Association of Internet
Researchers. She has participated as a chair, organiser, reviewer and
speaker in number of international conferences, for example,
Association of Internet Researchers’ annual conferences (2001, 2002,
2003, 2004), Computer-Mediated Communication, the Internet, and
Social Aspects thereof (2002), The Value of Information in Networked
Contexts (2004), and Global Media Matter (2002).
By the way, the London School of Economics and Political Science is
unique in the United Kingdom in its concentration on research and
teaching across the full range of the social, political and economic
sciences. In the most recent available UK Government Research
Assessment Exercise, the School's research was ranked overall second
among more than 200 universities and colleges, surpassing that of
Oxford and only second to Cambridge. The LSE is Europe’s leading
social sciences university and has been home to 13 Nobel Prize
winners and 28 past and present heads of state.
The LSE faculty, like its postgraduate and doctoral students, are
unusually international in composition, giving the School a unique
insight into research and studies in an international and comparative
context. More than 700 academic and research staff work in 19
Departments, 27 Research Centres and 5 Interdisciplinary Institutes,
making LSE’s strength in depth second to none in its respective fields.
LSE staff have extensive academic links with premier universities and
research institutions around the world. Internationally, LSE staff
are involved in research projects on all six continents, addressing
real world problems in a context of rapid global change.
http://www.nokia.com/mobiletv
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