TV of Tomorrow: Takeaways and Trends to Watch

ATSC 3.0

The new broadcast standard ATSC 3.0 will be appearing in LG Electronics TVs this year, and is one of the most exciting upcoming market offerings. ATSC 3.0 allows the delivery of ultra-high definition TV anywhere—it is a hybrid delivery format that delivers IP-based signals as well as signals from over the air. In fact, it doesn’t really matter where the signals come from, as it can render a beautiful TV viewing experience using an HTML 5-based user interface integrating content onto one or more viewing windows.

This new format allows for television broadcasts to be delivered over the air while advertising and other content is delivered through the internet. It has the potential to revolutionize programmatic advertising and in-ad purchasing. ATSC 3.0 will allow your television experience to be more intelligent and personalized. One use case described by NAB’s CTO is for public television stations to determine if viewers are donor members or not and then determine whether to run the full program or to break for the membership pitch.

ATSC 3.0 will have other applications as well, such as being an efficient way to deliver data and content to moving vehicles, in the forms of both rear-seat entertainment and updates for navigation systems.

The standard will be available to the general public in 2019.

Blockchain

Blockchain technology is starting to have uses besides crypto-currency. Media organizations are using blockchain’s digital ledger technology to validate the “impression” for programmatic advertising. Today a lot of the validation for impressions happens after the fact. Blockchain would enable advertisers to immediately validate an impression and then create a secondary market for impressions to be sold to other advertisers (e.g., this person just saw an ad for a movie or a new car).

Blockchain has the opportunity to remove a lot of the waste and friction in digital advertising caused by the number of intermediaries involved in the process.

The technology has the opportunity to remove the intermediaries altogether. Check out the MadHive platform built entirely on blockchain.

Future of Video Advertising

Television networks realize that traditional ads that are disruptive in nature only lead to ad skipping. Some ne tworks are conducting research on creating ad experiences that are more relevant, provide an enhanced experience, or even fit shorter time-slots.

One example is Turner Broadcasting’s Ad Lab, which in partnership with experience platform provider You.i TV, is creating new types of ad experiences with the goal of enhancing and not disrupting the viewer experience. Visual techniques include utilizing only the lower third of the screen, creating interactive purchase icons, using a “sqeezeback” transition, and having the ad perform a “player takeover” by branding the player experience. Check out Youi.TV for more examples.

Personalization

The future of TV is certainly all about personalization and redefining demographics, as the current method of age and income brackets are flawed. One presenter was quoted as he wouldn’t “trust any targeting method that would put Sara Palin and Lady Gaga in the same segment.” Previously, agencies had to onboard audiences separately for each publisher to attempt to achieve these results.

Future methods of targeting will include the matching of IP addresses and device IPs to understand users’ viewing habits across various devices.

Initiatives like OpenAP’s, the Advance Audience Platform, which is funded by a consortium made up of leading cable networks, promises to enable unified, consistent audiences within premium TV content at massive reach and scale, including OTT and Set Top Box delivery.

OpenAP is operated by a neutral, third party auditor and creates a standard for audience targeting previously unavailable to advertisers. OpenAP will be a single platform that agencies and advertisers can integrate into their own planning systems to activate advanced audience targeting and independent measurement within premium content.

Fan Forward

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is a wonderful example of moving with the times and connecting with fans. The classic movie channel shows older movies, largely uncut and commercial-free, from its MGM and Warner Bros. libraries. Jennifer Dorian, GM of TCM is careful to describe her audience as fans and not traditional viewers, “Fans are participants – not customers.” This mentality has led TCM to recently create Filmstruck, an OTT service for classic movie fans. They have gone beyond simply delivering content to cultivate their fan base—branching out to create special experiences like the TCM Film Festival, the TCM Wine Club (movie-branded wines), and even theater screenings that allow fans to experience their favorite movies in their intended format. TCM shows no signs of slowing their personalized branding, and will also soon be engaging fans through gamification with the creation of a classic movie trivia game. Learn more about the value of creating fans in the blog post, “Competing in a Fan-based Economy: Create Fans not Customers.”

Conclusion

Other topics discussed and presented included trends in augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), OTT, and programmatic and content discovery. For more information please see the event’s website.

For other upcoming events attended and sponsored by SoftServe, check out our events page.