Online TV - Revolution or Revolting

With the internet becoming more and more commonplace for people to get their TV viewing, this has dramatically changed the TV content provider perspective. With all these providers vying for our hard earned cash, they have adopted the 'Content is king' philosophy and created dedicated platforms to get to view their offerings. This is all good if you are one of the few content providers out there, but in the world of the internet there are dozens of different providers offering different content all the be consumed in a myriad of different ways.

Legacy TV

In the days that are going by – the world of linear TV, we are presented with all the channels and the programs for a few days. I can select to record it or watch if its currently being aired.

The key thing to keep in mind is that all providers -competing or not- are on the same planner guide and share the same screen; the only differentiator was the content to lure eyes to the providers.

Streaming TV

Unlike linear TV, each provider has their own application, platform and content; and this is where the consumer loses out. There are so many different platforms, the consumer has no idea where to look for the content that they actually want to watch.

This is what is wrong with Internet TV

With all the selection, the consumer usually misses the good content as frustration sets in scrolling endless catalogs as nothing to watch is repeated between the different providers.

What consumers really want!

There are many types of studies carried out of TV viewing, but I will concentrate on what I want – and I am sure many others will want the same;

firstly, I don’t really care where my TV content is coming from; it can be linear TV, Video on demand or even my home network. I just want to watch it! If I subscribed to Netflix, Amazon and Disney, I would be far happier of the content was presented on one screen. As the consumer, I paid for content, what I did not bargain for was hunting thought different services and recommendations to find something worth watching.

My second point relates to how TV is watched in a family scenario; every hour is a completely different TV audience; from kids, teens and adult entertainment being the norm every day. My previous scenario creates a bit of a nightmare for recommendation engines as kids TV is on most of the time and the grown-up viewing only happens after 9pm.

The recommendation foibles aside, my weekly viewing habit is quite consistent. Its 9pm game show, news and few comedy shows and then its off to sleep. My reason for the viewing pattern is that I don’t have to think about what to watch and most of the TV shows allow me to unwind and relax without too much intervention from the remote control. The Online world is completely different; there does not seem to be a replacement for 'Zero Thinking Playlist' concept. In the week-nights, I watch a maximum of 2 episodes of the same TV series, but on the weekend I may choose to binge watch a whole series.

Online TV is brilliant as it allows me to watch what I want – when I want it; This is good if you know what you want to watch. If you don't know what to watch, the whole process gets messy.

What I really want is a Video playlist that takes in to account the day and time to craft a 'Zero Thinking' list of content spanning all the subscribed providers. A hybrid of Linear TV programming schedule that is all Video on demand.

In the end, the consumer can find more content, and the providers get more eyes though their system.