Register now - price increases $200.00 on January 2, 2013. Mark your calendar and make plans to attend the world's largest innovation event.
2013 International CES to Feature Major Consumer Technology Trends and Inspiring Innovations
London, – 11/15/2012 – From wireless wallets to cloud-based services, app integration, digital health and fitness devices and beyond, the 2013 International CES® will feature an array of top consumer technology products and trends, including inspiring innovations across a range of hot products and categories. Owned and produced by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)®, the 2013 CES, the world’s largest innovation event, will take place January 8-11, 2013, in Las Vegas.
“The 2013 International CES will showcase the latest innovations and trends that will capture the hearts and minds of consumers over the coming months and years,” said Karen Chupka, senior vice president, events and conferences, CEA. “More, our conference sessions cover the most important issues and trends across our industry, further cementing CES’ position as a can’t-miss event for industry professionals.”
"The 2013 CES will draw 150,000 industry professionals to witness the next generation of consumer technology. More than 3,000 exhibitors will debut 20,000 new products across 1.8 million net square feet of exhibit space. In addition to hundreds of conference sessions covering top issues and trends crossing the full spectrum of the consumer technology and related industries, the 2013 CES experience will feature the following representative sampling of exhibitors, keynotes and TechZones: Wireless Wallets, Gesture Recognition/HMI, Cloud-Based Services,App Integration, Digital Health and Fitness, Wireless Home Automation/Home Energy Management, Connected Consumers: On Demand Services, 3D Printing, and Safe Driver/Connected Cars."
Will Keller, President, Interactive TV Commerce, is the go-to expert for t-commerce sales strategy and execution. For more iTV insights, subscribe to Inside the Screen or follow him @iTVcommerce.
TVOT NYC Intensive 2012 is a one-day, must attend show. It is the east coast version of the highly successful west coast TV of Tomorrow Show (spring 2013, San Francisco). TVOT events focus exclusively on the delivery and user experience of interactive TV across multiple platforms.
WHAT: East Coast "TV of Tomorrow Show" Event Will Feature Three Tracks, over 100 Expert Speakers and Panelists, Hands-On Workshops, and the Return of [itvt]'s popular Holiday Party.
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The Today Track will focus on the hard data that can be gleaned--and the lessons that can be learned--from the many deployments of interactive, social and advanced TV that are already in the field today.
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The Tomorrow Track will provide attendees with the opportunity to explore how the various platforms, technologies, screens, standards, content genres and business models that make up today's interactive/social/advanced TV space are likely to evolve over the coming months and years, and to identify new technologies, new forms of programming, new monetization strategies, and other developments that are likely to impact the space in the future.
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The Workshop/Master Class Track will provide smaller groups of attendees with a more intimate and hands-on environment in which to: 1) see and learn about promising new interactive, social and advanced TV technologies and business strategies; 2) get their questions and concerns answered by subject matter experts; and 3) gain practical skills for implementing interactive, social and advanced TV experiences.
WHEN: Monday, December 10th, Registration Check-in: 7:30AM
WHO: Speakers are selected for their expertise alone. The panel sessions are structured, educational, rigorous and highly focused, and even include moderated (and sometimes heated) debates on hot-button issues.
WHERE: 730 Third Avenue in Midtown Manhattan
WHY: The event will enable the pay-TV operators, consumer electronics manufacturers and technologists who are building the TV platforms of tomorrow to engage in an interactive and productive exchange of ideas with the brands, broadcasters, networks, agencies, entrepreneurs, investors, producers, developers, designers, storytellers, social media companies and other stakeholders upon whom the success of those platforms depends. To find more information, click here: http://www.thetvoftomorrowshow.com
HOW: Register for the Show
Will Keller, President, Interactive TV Commerce, is the go-to expert for t-commerce sales strategy and execution. For more iTV insights, subscribe to Inside the Screen or follow him @iTVcommerce.
Reach. Engage. Measure. Monetize.
WHY: Well, the tag line sums this up best: "If the port of entry into the digital world lives in the palm of one’s hand—does that make mobile the new 1st screen?" Particularly when you consider that mobile is driving nearly 10% of all internet traffic globally. For those of us focused on t-commerce, mobile commerce or m-commerce often has much to teach us about easy, simple ways to serve up and close transactions.
WHAT: The 2012 IAB Mobile Marketplace "offers a day of discussion, debate, and actionable insights about how to unlock the vast opportunities inherent to mobile by effectively engaging consumers, measuring mobile marketing efforts, and efficiently monetizing the new first screen." Check out the agenda.
2012 topics include:
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The Agency View: What I Buy, Why and How
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M-commerce: Beyond Clicks to Bricks
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Size Matters: Mobile and the Creative Canvas
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Mobile & RTB
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Marketplace Conversations: interactive, small-group discussion sessions
WHEN: July 16, 2012
WHERE: Crowne Plaza Hotel, 1605 Broadway, New York, NY
HOW: Register now.
Will Keller, President, Interactive TV Commerce, is the go-to expert for t-commerce sales strategy and execution. For more iTV insights, subscribe to Inside the Screen or follow him @iTVcommerce.
WHAT: Nielsen webinar, "Courting Today's Mobile Consumers". Join this free, hour long webinar "to learn about trends in consumer mobile usage and how savvy marketers, publishers and developers are reaching today's mobile consumers."
WHEN: July 18, 2012, 2 p.m. EDT
WHY: For those of us focused on t-commerce, mobile is a key part of the transaction solution given the propensity of TV viewers to have their mobile handy while watching television. And now that more than half of US mobile consumers have smartphones, these devices will play an increasingly important role in second screen t-commerce.
WHO: Nielsen has been metering consumer smartphone usage on both the Android and iOS platforms since January 2011.
HOW: Join the free July 18th webinar. Click here to register.
Will Keller, President, Interactive TV Commerce, is the go-to expert for t-commerce sales strategy and execution. For more iTV insights, subscribe to Inside the Screen or follow him @iTVcommerce.
I was fortunate to moderate an entertaining and informative debate on competing interactive TV strategies at The TV of Tomorrow Show 2012 in San Francisco. Tracy Swedlow, the driving force behind the must attend conference, praised the debate as "one of the highlights of the show."
The six debaters paired up into three teams to bring their points-of-view on the current and future state interactivity via single-screen, second-screen or hybrid applications. Of course, these industry leaders have all tackled multiple iTV strategies but were good sports to champion a specific strategy for purposes of the debate.
At just over 40 minutes, you'll need to set aside some time to watch the debate but I promise that if you do, you'll be rewarded with an excellent set of strategic arguments both pro and con for each of these approaches. From t-commerce to audience engagement to interactive advertising the debate covers it all in an entertaining fashion!
Watch the video courtesy of [itvt]: The Great Debate: Single-Screen, Second-Screen or Both?
Will Keller Moderating The Great Debate Photo courtesy of [itvt]
The Debaters
- Channing Dawson, Senior Advisor, Scripps Networks (The Single-Screen Party)
- Lisa Farris, CEO, Get This (The Second-Screen Party)
- Debbie Fitzgerald, Principal Architect, CableLabs (The Single-Screen Party)
- Will Keller, President, Interactive TV Commerce (Moderator)
- Sam Pemberton, CEO, Softel (The Hybrid Party)
- Anne-Marie Roussel, Head of Strategic Investments and Partnerships, Social Media, Sharp Labs (The Hybrid Party)
- Pete Scott, VP of Emerging Media, Turner Sports (The Second-Screen Party)
We were also fortunate to have some opinion-makers (or as Tracy Swedlow named them "Agents Provacateurs") in the audience ready to interject their questions and points of view into the debate: Zane Vella, CEO, Watchwith and Mike Kelley, SVP of Business Development, Programming and Advertising, Ensequence.
The Great Debate Presentation
To read the debate questions and four audience polls as well as see the iTV app examples each team used to buttress their cases, click on this title slide of the accompanying presentation.
Debate Description from TVOT Brochure
"In this year of non-stop political discourse, TVOT sets the stage for a friendly debate between two parties not often covered by the major news networks: champions for single-screen in-program and in-ad interactivity (EBIF and smart TV) and champions for second-screen interactivity (tablets, mobiles and laptops). The debate will also include the views of an emergent third party--the Hybrid Party--which believes that the TV of Tomorrow will be driven by both single- and second-screen interaction.
The debate will be divided into four hot topics. For each, our panelists will put forward their strongest arguments--illustrated by ITV campaign examples and statistics--respond to opposition points, and address questions posed by the moderator and audience.
- Swing Viewers: Viewers vote every time they tune in, change the channel or pick up a second-screen device. What winning strategies garner the most viewer votes and why?
- Technological Edge: In the short term, second screens have the momentum, given lower costs and speed-to-market. What do single-screen advocates have to say about that and their own potential shift to template strategies?
- A Strong Economy: To paraphrase a former president, 'It's the business plan, stupid.' The parties will argue the cost/benefit merits of their interactive strategies for both programmers and advertisers and why their approach is best for the overall ITV economy.
- Future Vision: What are the parties' visions for the future? Come the next election cycle, what will the ITV landscape look like? What new strengths will the parties incorporate into their platforms?
Who Won? Audience Poll Results
We polled the audience four times during the debate courtesy of TVplus interactive app. The second screen team won the overall debate but note the close results for question one on which party (strategy) garners the most eyeballs.
Question #1: Which Party wins over the most TV viewers?
- Second Screen: 39%
- Hybrid: 34%
- Single Screen: 27%
Question #2: Which Party has the technological edge?
- Second Screen: 70%
- Hybrid: 20%
- Single Screen: 10%
Question #3: Which Party builds the strongest economy?
- Second Screen: 47%
- Hybrid: 29%
- Single Screen: 24%
Question #4: Which Party Will be the most dominant in the next couple of years?
- Second Screen: 67%
- Hybrid: 23%
- Single Screen: 10%
Join the debate by leaving a comment on how you would vote!
Will Keller, President, Interactive TV Commerce, is the go-to expert for t-commerce sales strategy and execution. For more iTV insights, subscribe to Inside the Screen or follow him @iTVcommerce.
The second day of TVOT 2012 in San Francisco was as informative as the first. Plus I had a chance to check out the many companies that had set displays. Here are my highlights along with a video demo.
- What Viewers Want Per ZeeBox: In his conversation with Tracy Swedlow, Anthony Rose, UK based ZeeBox co-founder and CTO, let us know that ZeeBox - a second-screen companion app - should be headed stateside in the next six months or so. (ZeeBox has about 1 million downloads in UK which "should translate into" about 6 million in U.S.) Rose said viewers want three things while watching TV: (i) more information about programming; (ii) links to related content (e.g., additional episodes); and (iii) ways to buy things on TV. Chalk up another champion for t-commerce!
- What ZeeBox Delivers: So what does this mean for ZeeBox strategy? Per Rose, ZeeBox delivers on four fronts: (i) Finding things to watch, though he noted that if their app only accomplished this, engagement times would be very short; (ii) engagements via programming info, social and transactions; (iii) control over the TV and STB (i.e., a better remote); and (iv) revenue via digital media advertising and t-commerce. Check back this fall for my first-hand evaluation of ZeeBox as I'm curious to see if and how it truly differentiates itself from all the other second screen apps.
- Roku and The Winning Formula: Tracy Swedlow also sat down with Anthony Wood, Roku founder and CEO for a wide-ranging discussion on iTV and video streaming. I tweeted his comment that we may very well see our first virtual MSO this year. Wood argued that traditional bundles (MSOs), OTT Bundles and New Brands will all be around for a long time but underscored that winning platforms will exhibit three characteristics: (i) connectivity (a point in favor of separate boxes and smart TVs); (ii) upgradeable software with strong security and separate billing; and (iii) content "that attracts" content (which I took to mean gaining critical mass with your content offerings).
- Roku Goals: Per Wood, Roku strives "to be the dominant platform in Smart TVs and boxes." To that end, Roku is dedicating a team to interactive TV and focusing on: better UI, taking content from other devices and sending it to the big screen TV, providing more info on programming (e.g., IMDb), and enabling targeted, context-sensitive advertising. That's a long list but one that underscores themes I've been hearing repeatedly at TVOT.
- ActiveVideo In the Cloud: In between sessions I caught up with ActiveVideo's Doug Casellini for a demo of their ActiveVideo Cloud TV Platform. Having seen earlier versions, I like how this iteration adds an increasing variety of features. Check it out and you'll see some of the above themes come to life.
For first day highlights read: 7 iTV & T-Commerce Highlights from TVOT Day One.
Will Keller, President, Interactive TV Commerce, is the go-to expert for t-commerce sales strategy and execution. For more iTV insights, subscribe to Inside the Screen or follow him @iTVcommerce.
Join research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey to discover the who, what and how of online content viewing in this CTAM Wired webcast, The New Age of Television: Who is Viewing What, How and on Which Type of Devices.
WHAT: CTAM says "the webcast will map out the needs and priorities of different consumer types to help forecast how consumers will react to future technologies, platforms and service bundles as the industry continues to evolve." Additional topics:
• Online viewership of TV shows and movies among age segments.
• Device viewership scenarios.
• Preferred TV viewing device by occasion.
• Online viewing pain points and barriers.
• Needs analysis of new technology platforms.
WHEN: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 at 12:00pm (EST)
WHO: Chris Neal - Vice President, Telecom & Technology Practice Chadwick Martin Bailey.
WHY: Research can be tough to come by in this industry so this webinar might help all of us be more strategic in our iTV decision-making. For those of us focusing on interactive TV commerce, viewing on second-screens brings content to devices significantly more conducive to shopping.
HOW: CTAM Wired webcasts are free for members but you must register in advance. Join CTAM, then sign up for this webcast. Register for webcast.
Will Keller, President, Interactive TV Commerce, is the go-to expert for t-commerce sales strategy and execution. For more iTV insights, subscribe to Inside the Screen or follow him @iTVcommerce.
I'm recently back from The Cable Show so June's Inside the Screen is packed full of great interactive TV news from Boston.
- Daily show blogs highlight key interactive TV learnings and trends, particularly on the social TV and t-commerce fronts.
- Exclusive videos capture vendor demonstrations of brand new interactive TV commerce and social TV apps.
- Informative articles help you keep up-to-speed on the rapidly changing interactive industry.
Will Keller, President, Interactive TV Commerce, is the go-to expert for t-commerce sales strategy and execution. For more iTV insights, subscribe to Inside the Screen or follow him @iTVcommerce.
The final day’s action shifted from the exhibit floor to the General Session, featuring a great interview by Piers Morgan of Conan O’Brien, and a first-rate session on Social TV.
1. Conan O’Brien isn’t just funny, he knows social TV. Conan explained that a few years back when he decided to embrace change (we all know the story), he also decided to embrace social media as a strategy to engage his amazingly loyal core of fans. From a standing start, he and his team has created one of the most robust social TV strategies around. Check out my video of Conan speaking to his social TV strategy.
2. Sports wins, period. The General Session kicked off with sports jockeys from the big networks trumpeting the power of sports programming in terms of driving audience growth, live viewing and social TV. Well, they’re right – authentication challenges with Watch ESPN aside. NBA Commissioner Stern noted that this success has caused problems for stadium owners, who now need to better connect their attendees with the social TV experience by wiring their venues. See my blog from the recent Cynopsis Sports Summit for more on sports and interactive TV.
3. Climb aboard the TV Everywhere bus or get left behind. Next up were the business heavy hitters from Time Warner, News Corp, Cox and Netflix. As TW’s Bewkes underscored, TV Everywhere has been adapted faster than most other new technologies and definitely faster than he and his peers expected. The need to more quickly meet consumer expectations – historically not a strong suit of the cable industry – was a Cable Show theme all three days. See my video of Bewkes take on this below. In more unguarded, off-the-record moments, industry veterans expressed concern to me about just plain keeping up with the grinding pace of change.
4. Whoever answers the question “What do people really want while they are watching TV?” will build the next great social TV company. That deceptively simple point, made by GoMiso CEO Somrat Niyogi, pointed to the continuing search by Social TV companies for a truly successful viewer model. That’s a prerequisite for a successful business model, witness the fact that only one of the guys on the panel – SocialGuide’s Sean Casey – raised his hand when asked another question, who’s making money? Note that SocialGuide is an analytics service and does not directly engage viewers.
5. Live viewing will always drive more social TV because “viewers know that’s when the most people are listening” and they want to be heard. Another good lesson from the social TV panel, this one by Alex Iskold, founder and CEO of GetGlue. But he flipped that around when predicting that ACR technology will be leveraged to sync social comments made during live viewing to the same point in the same program when viewed on a time-shifted basis. Will the social commentary still resonate? Given the 3 hour shelf life of most tweets, I don’t think so.
6. Social TV => Social Ads => Social Commerce: The panelists all talked to the goal of engaging consumers in social TV conversations that also somehow incorporate brand messages. That’s potentially one of the key answers to becoming profitable. As with interactive TV ads in general, scale is required to attract brand interest. Hence the social TV “land grab”. From my perspective as a t-commerce expert, I’m most intrigued by when and how social TV and social ads evolve into social commerce. That’s food for thought for you and for my plane ride back home.
I’ll continue to blog on companies and iTV leaders I interviewed at The Cable Show 2012 as well as post videos of iTV demos and panel highlights. Let me know what you think.
Additional Cable Show blogs:
Five iTV Themes from The Cable Show - Day One
Four iTV Themes from The Cable Show - Day Two
Will Keller, President, Interactive TV Commerce, is the go-to expert for t-commerce sales strategy and execution. For more iTV insights, subscribe to Inside the Screen or follow him @iTVcommerce.
Multichannel News, Broadcast & Cable and TV Technology recently presented a day-long set of sessions entitled TV Everywhere: The Time is Now.
According to the assembled iTV experts the time is indeed now but participants would be wise to listen to their experiences and avoid key pitfalls. Panelists emphasized rapid learning from deploying TV Everywhere services as they gathered data from usage, focus groups and customers.
8 Learnings from the Tech and UI Experts
- Don't Go for an A+: It's way too expensive to achieve 100% distribution for your viewers given the multiplicity of devices. Better to hit critical mass (95%) by targeting the three big players - Apple, Android and Microsoft. Perhaps it was the presence of Microsoft on the panel but their XBox platform was typically mentioned in the same breadth with the big two.
- TV Everywhere Apps Reduce Churn: While HBO's Kessler didn't use the dreaded churn word, instead talking about extending the customer life cycle, both he and a number of MSOs operators noted research findings that customers indeed valued their subscriptions more highly with TV Everywhere capabilities. Kessler's parent company Time Warner even noted the positive impact of HBO Go on its recent earnings call.
- Unifying the Experience: Creating a unified consumer experience across multiple devices is a key goal shared by many of the panelists. Unified however does not mean identical as each platform and device has unique sets of features. But customers should recognize as familiar the TV Everywhere experience from an operator or programmer regardless of the device.
- Video Quality Must Match Expectations: That means you can cut yourself some slack on the quality of mobile video as it doesn't have to be as good as your customers see on the big screen. But don't cut yourself too much slack as viewers will call you out on blurred action, particularly for sports.
- Speed Trumps Quality: Viewers would rather see video sooner at a lower quality and then have it "snap" into higher definition (bandwidth willing) than have longer buffer times (see HBO Go experience).
- Content Discovery a Big Challenge: Now that viewers can access content most anytime from many different devices, the already challenging discovery issue becomes that much more problematic. Sorry but no big tips on tackling that challenge.
- It’s Only Going to Get More Complicated: So MLB's Inzerillo emphasized the importance of thinking about TV Everywhere as an ongoing not one-time investment.
- The Money Hunt: No surprise but a divergence of opinions here on how to monetize in terms of advertising. Google argued for automated ad exchanges while FreeWheel suggested a more customized approach. Regardless, Rentrak underscored the overall opportunity, particularly given the dramatic shift to non-movie usage which is more conducive to advertising.
Will Keller, President, Interactive TV Commerce, is the go-to expert for t-commerce sales strategy and execution. For more iTV insights, subscribe to Inside the Screen or follow him @iTVcommerce.