On 31st Jan I attended the Westminster Media Forum event: TV Bites Back – dual-screen, viewing, social media and the power of the schedule.

A collection of top industry speakers from the TV and digital TV industries presented their view of the future of TV, in which interconnected digital and social media services are nurturing new audiences for on-demand content, communities of TV fans and sharing TV content.  This in turn has created ambitious TV programming linking the ‘first’ screen (TV) with immersive and engaging experiences online (dual-screen).

Linear viewing is dead, long live linear viewing

It would appear that the digital future of viewers watching TV media on mobile device, tablets and laptops is finally here.  But along with flying cars and space-suits, current TV watching trends are still rooted in the broadcast.  Indeed, the big Saturday night TV spectacle (X-Factor, Strictly et al) has seen a resurgence in popularity, where ‘dual-screen’ viewing has created more demand for immediacy and real-time engagement between fans.  Heaven forbid I miss another final of The Apprentice.  Social media fear of spoilers is forcing TV fans to organise their life around the broadcast schedule, as it did before the internet came along.

Simon Terrington (Terrington & Company) believes TV 2012 is much the same as TV 1997: the same players and the same types of shows.  Past predictions were wrong – Saturday night TV is still fully linear.   Research shows that dual-screeners are actually usually doing other unrelated things (digital distractions).  Researching the show you’re watching and voting only occupy a small amount of time, for a small amount of the overall audience.   75% are not dual-screening, of which 75% are not engaging with the show (although I would argue that a 6% digital engagement is very high) .  Phil Redmond, legendary soap svengali and creator of Hollyoaks and Brookside, believes that 50 percent of a good soap happens off the screen, like over the garden fence or in the papers.  The 2012 equivalent of this is GetGlue, Facebook, or Twitter.

Sir Peter Bazalgette (MirriAd, Nutopia) believes that in today’s diffused one-eyed media landscape, mass media is king.  The first Big Brother saw bookies taking more bets on first eviction night than the races.  Rapel’s Law believes that innovations in media add to its landscape, not detract.

I’ve seen this reflected in my work with other creative forms like music: as genres become more dispersed, audiences rely more on gatekeepers and taste-makers to inform their consumption choices.   For TV, this means BBC, Channel4 and SkyOne continue to be serious influencers.

This theme was echoed by John Tate, Director of Policy & Strategy, BBC, who talked about research which showed the serendipity of video reduced with on-demand (dilemma of the celestial jukebox – what do you play next?). Developing better recommendation tools is the next phase for services like iPlayer.  I wondered if a Last.fm style video scrobbling service will emerge.

Tom McDonnell from Monterosa (who develop cloud systems for interactive TV projects like The Million Pound Drop) believes two-screeners are more attentive, engaged, share and buy more.  Wireless broadband has shifted the landscape.  Portable devices like the iPad mean TV can be consumed in any room, space or place.   The radio phone-in was an accident created by a US radio DJ who talked to his friends between records, then switched on the mic.  Dual-screening can create new models of interaction to re-invent TV content.

If you’re still miffed as to what the big deal is about dual-screening, Monterosa have a very cute and engaging animated video which explains all.

Steve Bignell from MediaCom believes the dual-screening world is nascent.  The deal between Zeebox and Sky, a hot topic at this event, impacts on product placement and panning out how this will work for non-Sky content (although Zeebox’s Anthony Rose was keen to point out Sky only own a 10% share in the company).  Longer form shows (serials and longer duration) with peaks/troughs work better for engagement than special interest programmes.  Lean back, entertainment TV is still vital for the TV economy.

Ilse Howling from Freeview believes the water-cooler moment is right here, right now, but there is a generational split: younger audiences discuss Masterchef recipes on Facebook and analyse together the final death scene in Sherlock.  ITV2’s ‘Take Me Out: The Gossip’ was the most tweeted show last week: humans are naturally curious and gossip loving.

Tony Broderick from FremantleMedia (creator of the X-Factor ‘clapometer’ iPhone app, taking the traditional voting idea to a new platform) believes to succeed in the connected social TV viewing landscape, producers need to bring character and narrative to social media experiences, along with editorial voice and TV talent.

Tess Alps from Thinkbox believes programme-makers and broadcasters need to get perspective: put more effort into making first screen great and engagement will follow.  We are seeing the emergence of ’T-Commerce‘ – TV becoming a direct sales medium through AR apps, QR codes and retailer apps.  She offered some useful research data:

- 27%  of people have found out online about a brand/ad seen on TV whilst watching TV
- 40% of evening UK tweets are about TV (depressing!)
- 300,000 Tweets were sent before, during, after Sherlock, representing 2% of viewers

If content is king, the consumer in King Kong

…or so Steve Plunkett from Red Bee Media believes. (Well, it just isn’t a media conference without an obligatory ‘content is king’ reference, even 10 years on!). TV technology innovation has accelerated since 2000 – not from TV devices/manufacture but web (YouTube, iPlayer).  We have yet to fully exploited the intelligence of the internet for TV.  Connected TV content enables more choice, more interactivity, and making TV more than just video.

Anthony Rose from Zeebox (ex BBC iPlayer boss) still believes the media’s role is as trusted authority: BBC news don’t just report but create the news. TV manufacturer is now about device maker – like Apple and Google – who want to become the new taste-makers.  What Zeebox audiences want is more traditional than cutting-edge  - help me find things (content, like adverts or other TV shows) rather than do things (technical features).

Panel discussion topics included:

- Engagement – those who do dual-screen, rather than being distracted are actually more engaged
- Why do we have collective viewing only for cinema or sport, why not watch Sherlock in pub (I’m game for that!)
- We are developing a new type of 30 second spot, with the principles of fun and interactivity
- In the in-flight entertainment industry, how do airlines make their screen the ‘first’ screen – add social element and people will want to join the mile-high club (the KLM ‘meet and seat’ app is kicking this off)!
- Word Clouds were used as a meaningfully way of analysing sentiment around TV discussions in social media
- Do we sound like the music industry in 2002? (I’d say yes)
- The second-screen is more likely to have fragmentation of devices, apps, spaces – this presents challenges of developing standards, development costs and getting a critical mass of audience for services

As TV advertising is at its highest level ever for sales, clearly the UK TV industry is doing something right.  Making great TV, and investing in innovative, interactive and engaging mechanisms for interacting with that great TV, is ensuring that the UK is at the forefront of the international industry.

This was an inspiring day and showed the TV industry is in a period of growth and innovation rather than stagnation.  I did however think the tone of some talks was a little bit too self-congratulatory:  yes, people of many different ages are engaging with TV content on different platforms, but be wary that there is a whole new generation of viewers who aren’t acquiring the habit or love of TV viewing at all, and prefer to become active producers rather than consumer, choosing more interactive forms of media to fuel their creativity like computer games.  Ignore them, programme makers, at your peril.

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