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.

“Consumers want more than simply displaying additional data on the TV screen, such as baseball statistics, consumers want new and unique TV functionality” Keith Nissen, In-Stat analyst. “For example, there is strong interest for TV widgets that let the viewer control the camera angle being displayed on screen.”

Other research findings include:

• By 2013, TV applications have the potential to generate over $1.7 billion in annual revenue
• Households with adults under 40 years of age have the highest interest in using TV widgets
• Screen control, news and entertainment information have broad appeal across all age groups
• TV widgets, such as multi-session games, are highly valued by small user segments. These represent a significant revenue opportunity
• There is substantial interest in TV widgets that enable local online purchases, such as pizza delivery or movie tickets
• Viewing YouTube videos on the TV are favored only by households in the 18-24 age group

What’s your interest in TV Widgets?

According to the report, Online video is still in its infancy, with U.S. viewers only watching 22 minutes of Internet-delivered programming a week [ML: This seems very low to me]. However, in 10 years, that will rise to more than two hours of online video a day according to TDG analyst Colin Dixon.

One of the reasons behind such a forecast is the growing importance of devices capable of delivering Internet video straight to your TV, according to Dixon. He pointed to Google TV, which was announced by the search engine giant yesterday, as it’s capable of combining broadcast programming with online video. These two worlds will continue to grow together, he said, adding: “Consumers won’t be thinking ‘I’m watching online video;’ they’ll be thinking, ‘I’m watching TV’.”

How can broadcasters monetize this trend? By embracing online video delivery, Dixon told me, and by experimenting with online subscription models. Consumers are increasingly open to pay for subscriptions. Niche content owners are the first ones that are going to benefit from this trend, but bigger broadcasters are going to come around eventually as well, he said.

However, Dixon doesn’t believe that TV Everywhere is the answer. “To some degree it’s a distraction,” he said, and, “To some degree it’s a transition.” Eventually, broadcasters would have to embrace the fact that consumers don’t want hundreds of channels and offer more tailored, online-only packages. This doesn’t mean that they have to completely give up on bundling, he explained, adding: “But the bundles will become smaller.”

47% of US teens say their social life would end or be worsened without their cell phone, and 57% credit their mobile device with improving their life. Four out of five teens (17 million) carry a wireless device (a 40% increase since 2004), according to a study by Harris Interactive.

Impact on Teen Life

* 57% of teens view their cell phone as the key to their social life.

* Second only to clothing, teens say, a person’s cell phone tells the most about their social status or popularity, outranking jewelry, watches and shoes.
Providing Entertainment and Security

* 52%) agree that the cell phone has become a new form of entertainment.

* One-third of teens play games on their phone.

* 80% say their cell phone provides a sense of security while on the go, confirming that the cell phone has become their mobile safety net when needing a ride (79%), getting important information (51%), or just helping out someone in trouble (35%).

* Teens carry cell phones to have access to friends, family and current events.

* Though only one in five (18%) teens care to pinpoint the location of their family and friends via their cell phone, 36% hate the idea of a cell phone feature that allows others to know their exact location.

Texting Replacing Talking

Texting is replacing talking among teens. Teens admitted spending nearly an equal amount of time talking as they do texting each month. The feature is so important to them that if texting were no longer an option 47% of teens say their social life would end or be worsened – that’s especially so among females (54% vs. 40%). Teens say texting has advantages over talking because it offers more options, including multitasking, speed, the option to avoid verbal communication, and because it is fun – in that order. With more than 1 billion text messages sent each day, it is no surprise that 42% of teens say they can text blindfolded. Teens have created a new form of communication. We call it texting, but in essence it is a reflection of how teens want to communicate to match their lifestyles. It is all about multitasking, speed, privacy and control. Teens in this study are crying for personalization and control of exactly what a wireless device or plan can do for them.

Devices of the Future

Teens remain excited and openminded about the wireless possibilities and their ideal future mobile devices would feature five applications – phone, MP3 player, GPS, laptop computer and video player.

Also on teens’ wish lists are phones that…

* Guarantee secured data access to the user only (80%)

* Provide accessibility to personal health records (66%)

* Present opportunities to be educated anywhere in the world (66%)

* Bring users closer to global issues impacting teens’ world (63%)

* Are shockproof and waterproof (81%)

* Have endless power (80%)

* Feature a privacy screen (58%)

* Are made of flexible material and fold into different shapes and sizes (39%)

* Have artificial intelligence – ask it questions and it gives answers (38%)

In the future, mobility for teens means mobile banking, mobile voting, location based services, personal entertainment – the sky is the limit for how mobile our lifestyles can be. Mobile use has certainly come a long way in 25 years and expect teens to be a growth driver for the industry and have a major impact on the wireless landscape for years to come.

A survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers showed that more of us than ever before are choosing to watch TV shows on websites such as Hulu rather than on a TV. For younger folks, a full 83% said they watched some, most or all of their TV programming online.

This study, which was conducted by consumer electronics shopping site Retrevo, shows that the majority of Americans — 64%, according to the survey results — get at least some of their TV content online. Eight percent of the total said they watched most of their TV shows online, and 5% said they only watched television programs on the Internet.

For people under 25, almost a quarter of respondents said they watched most of their TV shows online, and 6% said they only watched TV online.

Another interesting demographic breakdown shows that men are more likely than women to forsake the television set in favor of the computer monitor. Seventeen percent of male respondents, as opposed to 9% of female respondents, said they watch most or all of their TV shows online.

When asked what would prompt a switch from cable or satellite TV to online-only programming, folks talked about their current cable and satellite providers and about the kinds of programming currently available online.

Around 43% of respondents said they had considered canceling their service or had actually canceled; those in that group who chose not to cancel did so because they couldn’t get their favorite shows online. As far as shows go, respondents said that premium channel programming, live sports and HD options were important factors in deciding whether to switch from cable/satellite to online-only TV.

The survey concludes that “online TV viewership is on the rise, and people are tired of high-priced programming[...] With the advent of Internet-capable TVs (starting to appear on the market) and the dissatisfaction with satellite and cable service (at least with the hefty monthly bills), we will likely see increasing attraction toward online offerings in the years to come.”

What do you think of this trend? How much television programming do you watch online, if any? Do you think piracy — be it through consumer video sites or torrent sites for premium shows or live-streaming sites for sports events — plays as important a role as legal sites such as Hulu? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

via TV Viewing’s Shift to the Web [STATS].

The use of social networking sites has expanded beyond younger consumers, with substantial numbers of Americans over the age of 35 now using social media. Social networking has become a part of mainstream media behavior.

Americans continue to hold radio in high regard, with nearly eight in ten saying they plan to listen to as much AM/FM radio in the future as they do now – despite advances of technology. Younger consumers show interest in radio on mobile phones. More than four in ten mobile phone owners age 12 to 24 say they would listen more to FM radio if a tuner were built into those phones.

Key Findings about Radio and Digital Platforms:

* Nearly one in four Americans has listened to audio from an iPod or other MP3 player connected to a car stereo: Although consumers often have to deal with myriad adapters and other barriers to in-car listening, 54% of iPod/MP3 player owners have listened to their device in their car; this equates to 24% of all persons age 12 and older having listened to an iPod, iPhone or other MP3 player while connected to a car stereo.

* Three in ten 12 to 24s are “very interested” in online radio in the car and on mobile devices: Among those age 12 to 24, 30% are “very interested” in listening to online radio in-car, while 28% are “very interested” in listening to online radio on mobile devices.

* Consumers say radio station Web sites are improved but TV and print sites are leading the local battle: Nearly half of people age 12 and older give credit to radio for improvements in their Web sites. 48% say that radio station Web sites have gotten more interesting compared to 17% believing them to be worse or less interesting. However, monthly visitation to radio station Web sites (16%) among persons 12+ lags visitation to local TV and local newspaper Web sites.

* The Internet passes TV as most essential medium in Americans’ lives: For the first time, more Americans say the Internet is “most essential” to their lives when given a choice along with television, radio, and newspapers; 42% chose the Internet as “most essential,” with 37% selecting television, 14% choosing radio, and 5% said newspapers. While television still leads among those over the age of 45, Internet dominates among younger persons age 12 to 44.

* More than six in ten households with Internet access have a Wi-Fi network at home: 62% of homes with Internet access have wireless network set-ups in their homes, more easily enabling the consumption of digital media in any room of their home, as more and more devices feature built-in Wi-Fi such as the new Apple iPad.

* Texting has become a daily activity for nearly half of all mobile phone owners: Nearly half of mobile phone owners (45%) age 12 and older text multiple times a day. Three quarters of teens (75%) and persons age 18 to 24 (76%) text multiple times a day compared with nearly two thirds (63 percent) of 25 to 34s; and four in ten (42%) 35 to 44s and 45 to 54s (37%).

* Broadband access has leveled and growth has stabilized for some digital platforms: Growth of residential broadband has leveled off, with 84 percent of homes with Internet access having broadband connections. The slower growth of residential broadband is associated with little year over year change in weekly usage of online radio (17%) and online video (29%). The study suggests that expanded use of use of mobile devices and in-car Internet may spark the next wave of growth

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In the application titled, “Online Word-of-Mouth Marketing of a Web Service Using Personalized Invitations via a Status Messaging Service“, the company has sought for rights on the concept whereby websites and web applications (like Farmville) that promote their service via the users’ status messages.

Here are a few screenshots of the idea that could now belong to Google.

With applications like Farmville (and the thousands of Facebook apps) and Twitpic (and other Twitter apps) making use of similar features to promote their services via status messages, do you think such an idea is patentable?

Each week, on average, Americans watched roughly 35 hours of TV and two hours of timeshifted TV via a DVR. Adults aged 65 and up watched the most weekly TV, 47 hours and 21 minutes; while teens aged 12-17 watched the least weekly TV, 23 hours and 24 minutes. The overall growth in viewing is due to a number of factors, the DVR brings added convenience while high definition programming and flatscreen TVs have boosted the quality of the experience. Digital delivery, via cable or satellite, is delivering more channels and more choice to the home than ever before, according to Nielsen.

DVRs, now found in 35% of American households, continue to gain popularity. Those age 25-34 watch nearly three hours a week of timeshifted TV, while those age 65 and older watch just more than an hour.

Online video consumption rose 16% from 2008-2009, to an average of 22 minutes. Of note, approximately 44% of all online video is being viewed in the workplace. Research shows that Americans watch network programs online when they miss an episode or when a TV is not available. Online video is used essentially like DVR and not typically a replacement for watching TV. Adults aged 18-24 watched the most weekly online video, 39 minutes. Kids ages 2-11 watched the least weekly online video, four minutes. Active mobile video users grew by 57% from the fourth quarter of 2008 to the fourth quarter of 2009, from 11.2 million to 17.6 million. Much of this increase can be linked to the strong growth of smartphones in the marketplace. However, total time spent per week watching mobile video is still low, partially due to the fact essentially no consumers ages 2-11 or 65 and up watch video in this manner. Overall, Americans watch four minutes of mobile video per week. Adults ages 50-64 watch less than minute of weekly mobile video, while teens ages 12-17 watch 21 minutes of weekly mobile video.

The broader usage patterns of online video suggest it is, for the most part, a replacement of DVR use, or used by those who do not have immediate access to TV. TV network content online is primarily used to catch up with programming, rather than as a replacement for TV viewing. When asked for reasons they watch TV shows on the internet, 54% of respondents said because they forgot to watch a specific episode when it aired on TV. Another 47% said they are catching up on a current season of programming, 33% said they are catching up on a previous season, and 32% specifically said they forgot to record a show with their DVR or TiVo. Only the bottom three answers, another household member watching another program at the same time, and watching while at work or traveling, could be considered reasons that replace watching TV in the traditional manner.

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Tonight MIT Enterprise Forum of the NW featured presenting company Evri, a consumer web company that is changing the way users filter, discover, navigate, and engage with content on the Web. Evri’s web platform scours content from more than tens of thousands of sources, such as real-time news, blogs, and Tweets. It then filters it by timeliness, relevance, and source credibility, and delivers that content to consumers in intelligent streams across multiple platforms.

Joining Evri’s CEO, Will Hunsinger, was a panel of leading experts, covering the challenges, issues, and opportunities in the world of search and information discovery.

Follow the Twitter Stream at #MITFORUM

Presenter
Will Hunsinger, CEO, Evri

Will brings deep knowledge of consumer Web marketing and product management to Evri. Previously, he served as Chief Executive of ad venture Adeze and Entrepreneur-in-Residence at venture capital firm Maveron LLC. Prior to Adeze, he was Vice President and General Manager of Gap Online, and Vice President of Product Management for Gap’s Direct Division. He also served as Senior Director of Strategy and New Business Development for Overture Services prior to its acquisition by Yahoo!, and as Vice President of Business Development and Product Management at Business.com. Will began his career at Andersen Consulting, now Accenture, and graduated from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.

Moderator
Vanessa Fox, Founder, Nine By Blue, and Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Ignition Partners

Called a cyberspace visionary by Seattle Business Monthly, Vanessa is an expert in understanding customer acquisition from organic search. She shares her perspective on how this impacts marketing and user experience at ninebyblue.com, and provides authoritative search-friendly design patterns for developers at janeandrobot.com. Vanessa is also an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with Ignition Partners, Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land, and host of the weekly podcast Office Hours. She previously created Google’s Webmaster Central, which provides both tools and community to help website owners improve their sites to gain more customers from search, and was instrumental in the sitemaps.org alliance of Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft Live Search. She was recently named one of Seattle’s 2008 top 25 innovators and entrepreneurs. Look for her book Marketing in the Age of Google in early 2010.

Panelists
Enrique Godreau III, Managing Director, Voyager Capital
Enrique has nearly 30 years of experience in the information technology industry. Enrique’s primary interest is in digital media and wireless businesses. Prior to co-founding Voyager Capital in 1997, he held senior roles with Gartner, Adobe, and Aldus. Enrique began his career with Xerox, including seven years on the research staff of its Palo Alto Research Center (PARC).

He has been involved with many boards, including aQuantive, Attenex, and CapitalStream, and currently serves as a Director of 1020, Global Market Insite, GoAhead Software, Photobucket, and Zebra Imaging. Enrique holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Ed Lazowska, Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science & Engineering, University of Washington, Interim Director, University of Washington eScience Institute
Ed holds the Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, where he has served on the faculty for 32 years. His research and teaching concern the design, implementation, and analysis of high-performance computing and communication systems. Ed is a member of the Microsoft Research Technical Advisory Board, and serves as a board member or technical advisor to a number of high-tech companies and venture firms. He co-chaired the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee from 2003 to 2005, and chairs the Computing Community Consortium, an effort sponsored by the National Science Foundation to engage the computing research community in envisioning more audacious research challenges. Ed is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, ACM, IEEE, and AAAS.

Todd Schwartz, Director of Product Management, Bing, Microsoft Corporation

Image via CrunchBase

Todd Schwartz is a Director of Product Management at Microsoft focusing on product, business, and marketing strategy for Bing within the Online Services Division. His team is currently responsible for launching Bing worldwide working with the development, marketing, and PR teams both in the US and internationally. In addition, over the past five years, Todd has held product management and leadership roles within the Microsoft Advertising, Windows Live, and MSN business units.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Todd worked as a management consultant with Deloitte and Accenture helping drive business innovation and growth for Fortune 500 consumer and technology companies. He has also worked in various leadership roles in venture capital, technology startups, and as a Captain in the US Army.

Todd holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and B.A. in Economics from Colorado College. Todd is an avid skier, golfer, and technology enthusiast.

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David A. Yovanno is the CEO of Gigya, Inc., a leading social optimization platform for online business. He can be found on Twitter at @daveyovanno or e-mail dave(at)gigya(dot)com.

Now that most social networks are supporting functionality on third party sites — via Facebook Connect, Sign in with Twitter, Yahoo! Open Strategy, MySpaceID, and other similar technologies — entertainment companies are experimenting with a variety of approaches.

While movie promotions on Facebook, top sports moments on YouTube, and MySpace music pages remain key fixtures, many entertainment companies are also now actively focused on how to apply social strategies to their own sites to deepen relationships with fans and become more relevant. Here are four ways on-site social features are benefiting both fans and the entertainment industry today.

1. Making TV Participatory

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TV has historically been a “lean back” form of entertainment -– just sit back on your couch and let your eyes and ears take it in. Reality TV shows like American Idol broke new ground by making TV participatory -– fans can take action and influence the outcomes — and social technologies are now helping to make TV a “lean forward” experience.

In the most recent season of Dancing with the Stars, ABC made the voting process social. Fans could sign-in to abc.com with a Facebook or Twitter account to cast a vote for their favorite couple, and then donate their status to help support that pair. For example: “Vote to keep Louie Vito and Chelsea Hightower dancing on ABC!”

In the realm of real-time engagement, another example comes from MTV, which enabled live chat for previously aired episodes of the popular show 16 and Pregnant on MTV.com, where viewers could discuss the often controversial content with other fans.

Benefit for fans: Viewers are empowered to not only vote, but get out the vote among friends. Voting with a Facebook or Twitter identity makes voting a personal, rather than anonymous, experience. For 16 and Pregnant, teens have a live forum for sharing thoughts and experiences.

Benefit for TV networks: Fans are highly engaged with the show online, and the shows gain significant exposure on social networks from donated status updates. Traffic is generated back to the show online and off. Offering users a choice of networks for participation appears to boost engagement. For example, data from Gigya shows that for a single episode of 16 and Pregnant, tens of thousands of messages were sent by chat users to their social networks with the following distribution: 40% to Yahoo, 29% MySpace, 24% Facebook, and 7% Twitter.

2. Bringing Live Sporting Events to Life Online

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In the real world, sports fans experience events together, whether live at the stadium, with buddies at a sports bar, or with family in front of a new 50” LCD TV. Recognizing this, sports media are trying to make online viewership a bit more like the real world.

A slew of sports media added live social chat to their event webcasts this year, enabling fans to participate online alongside the event using their Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or Yahoo identity. TNT used it for the NBA Eastern Conference finals and NASCAR Race Buddy series, CBS for its College Football series, NBA.com forongoing games, and the PGA for the summer tour events including the PGA Championship. Fan messages about the game were syndicated to the social networks as news items in the feed. Even Roddy White of the Atlanta Falcons has gotten into the act on his own website.

Benefit for fans: Live social media integration provides an opportunity to chat about stats, players, and highlights, and to virtually high-five other fans or friends –- almost as if they were watching together in person.

Benefit for sports media: Fans participating with real identities adds authenticity to the socializing. Interactivity means fans are highly engaged, generating more page views, and messages shared to the social networks drive more traffic back to the online event, creating a virtuous cycle.

3. Giving Music Lovers an Outlet for Self-Expression

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MySpace proved years ago the power of grass roots social efforts to take an artist from obscurity to household name, with Sara Bareilles one of the poster children for resisting the traditional label model. Now music companies large and small are putting social channels to work, and taking a number of new approaches in the last year.

MuchMusic, a music channel on Canadian cable TV, incorporated celebrity tweets and live chat into theirMuchMusic awards, bringing fans “backstage” to a behind the scenes interview room. Similarly, MTV incorporated live social chat into its webcast of the “Hope for Haiti” telethon with the aim of further engaging viewers for a special cause.

Reverbnation, a music marketing platform that helps individual artists manage promotion, fan relationships, and other aspects of the business, built a feature enabling fans to register on the site using their social network identity, then build and share their favorite playlists into the feed on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. Rather than help the artists build a presence on the social networks and send fans away, Reverbnation has integrated their own site directly with those key platforms to make themselves a one stop shop for the social music ecosystem.

Benefit for fans: Social integration creates an outlet for communicating with other fans, and sharing passion for artists and music –- whether in the form of a comment or their own playlist creation.

Benefit for music sites and artists: Integration provides greater exposure for artists and tracks as well as increased page views for the site.

4. Driving Word-of-Mouth for Movies

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Word of mouth is everything in the movie industry. Buzz puts fans in seats, and is the benchmark by which the industry gauges traction for marketing efforts. It’s no surprise that studios are experimenting more with social media far beyond basic trailer promotion.

The movie Paranormal Activity broke new ground by using grass roots efforts and word-of-mouth to build buzz and gain a wider distribution for the film. They also took advantage of social media promotion, enabling fans to invite their friends from social networks to join them at the same time that they purchased movie tickets.

Twentieth-Century Fox, together with MTV, got fans directly involved to promote Avatar. They put on a first-ever live interview with James Cameron and the Avatar cast, answering questions from fans, who in turn shared their reactions in a real-time chat via Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Yahoo.

Benefit for fans: Movie goers receive greater access to their favorite films and celebrities.

Benefit for movie studios: The campaigns generate new and widespread buzz before and during the theatrical release.

Conclusion

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When fans connect to a company using a social network identity, they are establishing the basis for a longer-term relationship. The data shared by these connections will allow companies to better segment and serve their fans.

For example, in addition to awareness-generating efforts for individual films, a movie studio could gain greater insight into the specific demographics of those that are responding early to a release and adjust efforts accordingly. They could also more easily continue the dialog by remarketing to users around sequels or films in the same genre.

Whichever path entertainment companies choose, integrating social technologies on their own sites to deepen relationships with fans is a blockbuster opportunity.

Via Mashable

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