Connected TV must augment traditional services
October 7, 2010
From Colin Mann in Cannes
According to Shirlene Chandrapal, director, Europe of connected TV for Yahoo, content that augments the TV experience represents the biggest opportunity for MIPCOM delegates attending a conference session on ‘The Impact of Connected TV on the Media Industry’. It has to be open and you have to let the consumer drive the experience,” she advised.
Lesley McKenzie, group digital officer at movie rental service LOVEFiLM, noted that key to success was the volume of distribution of connected devices. “You have to make some bets,” she admitted. She also suggested that it was important to undertake User Interface testing. “You get good feedback from consumers,” she said.
Early indications from LOVEFiLM’s online service, which had been operational for some six months, suggested that higher ARPU was earned from customers viewing on TV sets rather than PCs. She suggested that manufacturers had a role to play in educating consumers about device capabilities. “Lots of people have bought connected devices but don’t yet understand what they do,” she said.
For MGM Worldwide Television President Jim Packer, connected TV added to the complexity of rights distribution, and gave rise to two critical points. “What are consumers going to be able to use easily. And how do we explore new opportunities without messing up the revenue-generating relationships we already have with our traditional partners.”
Vassilis Seferidis, Samsung’s European director of business development predicted that there would be 600 million to 700 million connected TV devices globally by 2014, with TVs and Blu-ray players joining games consoles as the main forms of hardware driving the market.