iTV at Interactive Advertising Awards - MIXX

You may use this content (better still, argue with me!), but please cite my ideas as (c) 2005, Dr. Bruce Klopfenstein.

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The MIXX awards for interactive advertising were announced and may be seen at http://www.mixx-expo.com/awards_galery_home.aspx. They included the nascent category of interactive television. Pretty slim pickins for the U.S. market, based on this conference. Turner Media Group offers a possible glimpse into the future.

P.S. Sorry about the comment code. It appears to still work, although I've alerted the fine folks at blogger.com about the problem.

Interactive Video Entertainment and Bell South

You may use this content (better still, argue with me!), but please cite my ideas as (c) 2005, Dr. Bruce Klopfenstein

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This is what the average person on the street may think of when you say "interactive television," but I'd say this is an odd publicity stunt by Bell South. I hope someone from Bell South challenges that statement. From TechLinks and dated Wednesday, September 28, 2005:

When the Tennessee Repertory Theatre in Nashville set out to create a groundbreaking theatrical experience with sister-city partner, Theater Magdeburg, they had no idea that they would set a standard for new uses of streaming video across two continents. The two theatres have joined artistic forces to produce the world's first truly transatlantic production, made possible by broadband data services provided by BellSouth.

Performed simultaneously in Magdeburg, Germany and Nashville, Tennessee, the cast of five actors in Nashville and five in Magdeburg interact via projection feeds and large video screens. Empowered by BellSouth's network, the connection integrates voice and video elements to create seamless real-time viewing on either side of the Atlantic.

Multitasking on Multiple Screens

You may use this content (better still, argue with me!), but please cite my ideas as (c) 2005, Dr. Bruce Klopfenstein.

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I've wondered over the years why we spent so much money on video display devices in our homes. Newer HDTVs can easily cost well over $1000, but they are not purchased (conjecture) to be used as computer monitors.
This new study by Ball State University gives some indication of media multitasking. Is it possible that the hearth TV (the large, flat-screen HDTVs that people are mounting above their fireplaces for a whole new angle of TV viewing) will remain TV only while the bedroom sees a convergence of PC and TV? Bedrooms are more private as is the reading of email and surfing the internet. Perhaps single adults will use the hearth TV for various "feeds," but instead of the "lean forward, lean back" metaphor, we should be thinking of public versus private use of electronic media (especially video).

© 2005, Dr. Bruce Klopfenstein

Writers Guild Protests TV Product Placements

You may use this content (better still, argue with me!), but please cite my ideas as (c) 2005, Dr. Bruce Klopfenstein.

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I'm posting this because what's old is new again. As sponsors peppered television shows of the past with various advertising messages (think Geritol and "automobiles furnished by Ford Motors"), they must do so now. Why? The opportunities for audience avoidance of regular commercial pods during broadcast (and recorded) television shows continue to expand. How about a quick game of Tetris while you're waiting for your live show to return?

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Writers Guild Protests TV Product Placements

Adage.com, September 27, 2005

Demonstrating against the practice of product placement in TV programs, a group of protestors armed with Writers Guild of America West literature disrupted the Madison & Vine session of Advertising Week at New York University's Skirbal Center in Greenwich Village. Fliers being distributed by protestors outside the session said WPA West "is concerned about the runaway growth of product integration in reality TV." Source: http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=46197

Definition of Interactive Television (Draft)

You may use this content (better still, argue with me!), but please cite my ideas as (c) 2005, Dr. Bruce Klopfenstein.

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Interactive television (iTV) is not one service. It represents a continuum of services from very limited interactivity (such as using a remote for TV power, volume and channel control) to more moderate interactivity (such as using an electronic program guide to search for programs), to more sophisticated levels of control recently made available by personal video recorders. An irreversible trend has become quite clear in the last few years: the control of television programs is moving away from the program provider and into the hands of the viewer. Two-way interactive television is yet another example of iTV, but it implies more complexity and modifications in viewer behaviors than do other iTV services. We define interactive television to be hardware and accompanying software that incrementally increases the audience member's ability to control their viewing experience through content selectivity and/or use of real-time feedback channel(s) to the program origination site.