Two recent
incidents that triggered this thought in my mind. First, last Sunday for some
time my internet connectivity went down and so was my access to cable
connection due to some technical snag at the service provider end. The
coincidence led my 9 year old son coming to me and asking for no Internet
access. The very next day, on Whatsapp chat there was a comment from one of my
friends about IPL auctions. This started a larger discussion on that event but the
interesting part was that he was watching it on Hotstar. Is it the start of big old television of our living rooms becoming
the second screen. In the first incident, when both the channels of
entertainment were down, my son was more concerned about the Internet access on
his tablet rather than the access to the
television and in second incident, my friend was watching a live content
on the Internet rather than the Television.
I am from the
generation that has fond memories of everyone in the house gathering around one
television to watch a Bollywood movie or a cricket match and this also acted as
the binding force for the entire family. Things are changing now. The TV that
has been the focal point of the living room for over 40 years is now struggling
to hold our attention in a world full of distraction. Our concentration is
often far away from the program as we spend more time sharing our joy or
frustration with friends and followers on Facebook, Twitter or Whatsapp.
Market research
from the Adobe Digital Index (ADI) even went as far as to
suggest that this has the potential to be the tipping point for the ad
industry. It is believed that one in three consumers now watch live sports on a
device other than a traditional television while Millennials and the cord
cutting kids known as Generation Z all struggle to see the relevance of TV in
their digital world.
Feeling a part of something is no longer
isolated to everyone in the same room as you, but it's becoming more about
sharing your thoughts or insights of any significant event with the global
community in real time on a second screen. However, these latest trends are
much bigger than television and are revealing every aspect of how we consume
video content is rapidly evolving. The likes of Facebook, Snapchat, and YouTube
are all battling for our attention and that is proving to be the real game
changer. This also illustrates that how it's not only the way in which we view
content that is changing but what we want to view is also evolving too.
Traditional media has become incredibly
contrived with overly produced or biased content and this is leading to YouTube
stars having more viewers than top rated TV shows across the world. The
complete lack of authenticity has led to people creating their own video
content to offer users all around the world an opportunity to see the world
through somebody else’s eyes. Equally, these new role models are easy to relate
to and often wear their heart on their sleeve as they experience the same
issues as their viewers.
TV might still be living off its former
glories, but make no mistake the next generation of digital entertainment is
well underway. There is a very noticeable shift in attitudes. The days of
watching a prime time show and discussing it over the following day are rapidly
disappearing. The viewers will choose what they want to watch and when in an
ad-free utopia.
Ultimately, our
televisions are increasingly becoming a dumping ground for advertisements and
contrived content. Although new technology is often a disrupter, it often
enables both users and businesses to replace the old way of doing things with a
more improved and efficient service. The change in how we consume any form of
video content can be felt by everyone, and once again we turn to the hard trends
that will shape our future to see
what is next on the horizon.
Thank you for reading
this and do write back with your inputs and feedback on what you feel about the
subject.
