INTERACTION AND CONTENT

Back in the pioneer years of TV interaction was connected to physical exercise: we needed to get up from the sofa and switch from channel one to channel two.

Or we had to walk over to the telephone to participate in a program or to vote.

Then came new channels and the remote control and we started to zap up in desperate search of an interesting channel or a lucky escape from boring advertising.

Next came Teletext:  accessing information on program, flight schedules, sport results or lotto drawings and many more.

Programs have ever since remained in the same linear format. ning to end, a show has its predetermined contents.

A story is being told from beginning to end, a show has its predetermined contents. Easy to follow, relaxing, sometimes predictable and most of the time welcome background entertainment.
So at what point are we interested to interact?

When there’s a benefit to it: to gain something. This can be just some additional information which would not be able to obtain without the interaction or it can be fame or fortune.

Interaction and participation by voting has been around for a long time now and it still is going strong. Every party in the game is a winner: the viewer who called and has won his fancy car as well as the TV station and the Telecom Operator charging for the call-in. And all the people who have voted have the confidence to have been part of the game and supported his or her favorite.

Voting

Voting is considered low tech and cheap to set up and the accumulated fees for participation exceed the value of the price to win.

Betting

As long as there is a price to win which is higher than the amount spent by the viewer there will be participation. This of course also is true for betting, however deployment is dependent on the regulatory situation.

Shopping channels

Dedicated shopping channels are delivering a different shopping experience that the Internet, as products are explained and marketed verbally.

Video Text

To obtain additional information on a program previously relied on printed program guides, which extended with Teletext in the 1970s, information sent on the blanking interval between image frames in the broadcast TV signal.

On digital TV Teletext can still be transmitted by emulation of the analog signal – at least as long as rollout of digital TV is not yet complete.

Today we find ourselves in the living room, notebook close-by and while a program is on air searching the Internet for whatever is on our mind.

Non-linear TV

All broadcasted content is working off a schedule and linear. Consumer behavior is changing: the family is no longer gathering at 7:00 p.m. in front of the TV set to watch one program. Instead we are already now pulling information off the Internet, consuming Video on Demand and starting to use Catch-up-TV to watch the sequel we have missed yesterday evening at the time and place and device of our choice.

Pulling content from a database on demand is non-linear and a logical step for the networking consumer. Providers still need to embrace the challenge to enrich content with additional information,  new devices are able to network.

Interaction with non-linear content needs to consider a variety of different devices and has to follow the new usage patterns.

Complex - but it offers a convenient way to combine content with information, communities and social marketing.