A very interactive seminar organised by Frank Boyd. Good speakers and competent audience.
Here are a few short notes. Comments will follow.
Dan Campbell - MTV head of interactive
MTV tried it, but nobody used it. Won awards, but after 2 years (not that long) still had no business model = have moved away.
From their research: kids may have TV in background, but are not 10ft - they are on IM = MTV needs to be on the PC, next to the "Holy Trinity".
Holy Trinity: IM + Google + YouTube
For MTV, IM is where the audience is. Mobile is more personal and has a price attached to it. So, as the argument goes, they won't use it.
Scott Gronmark - Scott Gronmark Associates
Great perspective on the iTV's history, being former head of interactive at the BBC.
"iTV is seen as the drawling grandma in the attic"
His view: he thinks it still has validity, but mostly for the BBC and possibly the other large broadcasters.
Given the 8.2M users on Sky, red button is worth £13M/year in advertising = too little.
It achieves 10% response in programming (impressive). <.5% on advertising (not so good).
So it will play a role in the new media space, but is unlikely to become significantly bigger than it has already been. Broadband is where iTV is.
Marc Goodchild - BBC Factual&Learning
iTV came with the promise to provide 2-way in the same way new media do levels:
1- more info off the linear programme, 24/7
2- multicasting (e.g Wimbledon)
3- extras.. as with DVDs
4- different viewing experience, creating a relationship with the TV
Why it hasn't worked:
- BBC dominated the market
- Too much focus on the technology
What has worked:
- very creative use of the medium within programming
- E.g. 'How to sleep better' - a documentary that does what is says on the tim, where they switched between 2 linear channels to provide a personalised interactive experience. Interactive viewers could take a profiling test and get a slightly personalised experience (their personal score is shown on screen and they see portions of the video stream most relates to their results. Nice.
The BBC are experimenting with mobile as a way of delivering iTV.
Dale Herigstad - Schematic inc.
The mobile experience of TV is exploding in the States.
EA Sports - live video fed into a games consolle. Interact with virtual and real content in the same space.
ABC.com force you to watch ad breaks on their broadband site before moving to the rest of the episode.
