MaxxoMedia Digital Media and Entertainment Trends

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The term multi-screen is being used just about everywhere these days. But what does multi-screen actually mean? For years, network equipment suppliers and operators have been espousing the benefits of a converged intelligent network that offers integrated multi-screen services. Converged network services will, for example, permit a voice call session to be upgraded to a video call session on the fly. The term multi-screen can also imply bundled network services, such as TV Everywhere, with a common authorization mechanism linking pay TV subscriptions to the PC and mobile handset. Since Netflix is accessible from just about any web-enabled device, it must be a multi-screen service. And last month at CES, Samsung (and others) demonstrated the ability to share video between a tablet and a big screen TV, provided both are running the same proprietary multi-screen application platform.

More Americans than ever are multitasking while they watch TV, according to a new survey from Deloitte.

Between September 10 and October 8, 2010, Deloitte polled 2,000 U.S. consumers ages 14-75 on their digital habits. Unsurprisingly, it found that Americans are plugged in. 85% own a desktop computer, yet another 68% own a laptop or a netbook and another 41% have Internet-enabled phones. Moreover, 1/3 of American households now own a smartphone, up from 22% in 2007.

TV is still king, though. 74% of U.S. consumers still watch TV primarily on their TV sets, and a full 59% of U.S. households now own flat-screen TVs. In 2007, that number was just 17%. Still, Deloitte’s survey shows that younger consumers are moving towards the Internet for their TV content; 37% of 22 to 27-year-olds surveyed said that they watch TV on the web five to seven times a week.

It could be that it just takes longer to surf the Web than it does to surf channels, but new Forrester Research suggests that people are now spending as much time on the Internet as they are watching TV–and that time spent on the Internet has jumped 121 percent in the last five years.

So should cable executives jump off the Comcast building in Philadelphia or recycle all their set-tops and build only cable modems? Not really. While the research shows that 33 percent of adults use the Internet to watch video (up from 18 percent in 2007) the amount of time they’re spending in front of their TVs has remained pretty stable. It’s likely, according to the report, that people are just abandoning more traditional media like newspapers and the radio–unless, of course, they’re on the Internet.

A growing set of consumer electronics devices, ranging from web-enabled TVs, to Blu-ray players and over-the-top set-top boxes support TV widgets. Among these TV applications are those that enable users to view YouTube videos, access Netflix, or obtain weather forecasts directly on the TV using a broadband Internet connection.

Research In-Stat research indicates only a modest consumer interest in performing PC-centric applications on the TV. Consumers have higher interest in TV applications that enhance and/or augment the viewing experience, rather than simply provide information that is readily accessible via other screens.