In Broadcast - February 2015 - 62

62

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 5 - Issue 2 | February 2015

InForm

The Future
Of Television
Trends In 2015
At Piksel, we closely monitor the trends that are
shaping the TV industry, and in addition to running
through what we think is going to happen, now is
the perfect time to look back and assess what 2014
had to offer, says Piksel's Innovation Programme
Strategist Miles Weaver.

I

t was a fantastic year for the
TV industry, and we saw some
incredibly exciting predicted trends
come to fruition, and some that didn't
quite live up to expectations. Let's run
through a few from 2014 before we get
into next year.
Sadly, one of my personal favourite
trends failed to fully make its mark
last year. Second screen, for all
the potential shown in 2013, didn't
establish itself as a mainstream TV
viewing habit. Looking back, we can
see that the necessary standardisation
and stabilisation of the fragmented
second screen TV market failed to
occur, and that many providers fellshort of creating meaningful second
screen interactions that compelled and
engaged viewers.
Similarly, social TV hit somewhat of
a bum note in 2014. We had a period
where there were just too many social
TV apps, which served to confuse an
already cluttered market. Despite a
few relative successes, like Zeebox
rebranding to Beamly in an effort
to become the TV's social network,

Twitter and Tumblr (interestingly)
came out on top, quenching opposition
from the smaller entities.
Much as I wanted it to be, 2014
also wasn't the year that 4K made
inroads into the wider TV mainstream,
primarily due to two crucial factors,
content and price. As so often
happens, we're seeing a vicious cycle
- nobody wants to spend a colossal
amount of money on a luxury good
like a TV, even at below £1000, and
replacing whole collections of movies
and shows to fit the new format is a
daunting prospect for many.
If no one's buying 4K sets, no
provider has the impetus to make
content for it, and correspondingly, if
there's no content, there's no impetus
to buy, and it goes on and on ad
infinitum. The format definitely has
some hurdles to overcome, but I'm
holding out hope for this year.
Elsewhere, the debate around net
neutrality rumbles on. Particularly
now that Barack Obama has weighed
in on the debate and stunned cable
incumbents and telcos by calling
Piksel: monitoring
viewing trends

Second screen experience and social TV viewing

for new regulations to protect net
neutrality, 2015 may see some
monumental decisions made.
The contest is still ongoing, but with
the amount of pressure coming from
every major internet organisation and
backing from the POTUS, it seems that
those people fighting for the light side
will ultimately prevail. Tom Wheeler
now just needs to listen to the people,
rather than bow to pressure from the
cable and telco industry.
The cable industry may have more
pressing worries than net neutrality in
the coming year though. Heavyweight
names - names that everybody knows
and that warrant mainstream coverage
- are dipping their toes into the OTT
market, and making the initial moves
to lead the charge.
CBS, HBO and Starz have all
signalled their intentions to launch
a standalone OTT proposition, and
the signs are there for big sports and
entertainment brands to begin to
release all their content for streaming,
putting a big squeeze on the
traditional cable model and opening
up the market in a big way.
Of course, we can't forget Netflix,
whose expansion plans and original
content strategy is building serious
momentum. However, with HBO's OTT
play, the streaming service has a fight
on its hands in 2015.
We saw earlier in 2014 that HBO
had signed off on a deal that allowed
Amazon Prime subscribers access
to some of the past seasons of HBO's
content, and while HBO retains
exclusivity on big name IPs like Game
of Thrones, Netflix now has to compete
on two fronts.
If Netflix ever had any hope of
partnering to provide its subscribers
access to HBO's blockbusters, it may

just have come to an abrupt halt.
However, it's in no way doom and
gloom for the service as the recent
major deal with DISH shows, cable
and pay-TV companies are already
beginning to integrate access to the
service into their own offering.
Finally, advanced personalisation
of content will be a defining trend in
2015, increasingly shaping how we
discover and engage with content. This
will be the future of user engagement
and multiscreen consumption, for all
content, including video.
Our vision - we call it hyperpersonalisation
-
offers
the
ability to offer extremely targeted
recommendations to users that go
beyond simple viewing histories,
leveraging user behaviour, device, and
location data to deliver content that is
relevant to users at that given time.
This then creates the opportunity
for the user to access all their content
in a manner that works for them no
matter what they're doing, creating
a feedback loop of analytics and
understanding for suppliers, enabling
them to continue offering compelling
and exciting content experiences that
keep consumers engaged.
For the innovators who are looking
to stay ahead of the pack in an
increasingly competitive TV space,
hyper-personalisation will be a crucial
differentiator in the coming year.
Miles Weaver is Piksel's Innovation
Programme Strategist.
He closely monitors trends
in living room technology
and user behaviour and
is an avid commentator
on the digital TV revolution.
Connect with him on Twitter
with @mrmilesweaver
or @piksel.
http://www.inbroadcast.com http://www.piksel.com/
In Broadcast - February 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of In Broadcast - February 2015
