How Interested Are People In Interactive TV?

from the no,-really... dept

Since before the web even existed, we've been hearing stories about how interactive TV was "the next big thing." However, throughout trial after trial after trial, it always turned out that people didn't actually care much for interactive TV. Perhaps that's because, in most cases, it wasn't so much "interactive" as it was "enhanced TV." The real interactivity was found online, which was a totally different environment than TV. However, the believers are back once again, saying that 27% of households are clamoring for interactive TV -- though, the definition of interactive TV seems way too broad to be even remotely useful: things "such as voting on games shows, targeted advertising and gaming." Also, the article seems to suggest that IPTV is interactive TV, when that's not true at all. IPTV may make it easier to do interactive TV, but initially it certainly sounds like it's just going to copy regular TV (in much the same way most VoIP providers just copy regular phone service). IPTV certainly has the potential to offer more interactive TV, but it would certainly help quite a bit if someone could figure out exactly what interactive TV people actually want. If it's just "voting on game shows," we've already got that with our phones and SMS. If it's just gaming, we've already got that with our consoles. If it's just targeted advertising, then... um... wait... do people really just want that?
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    El Gordo, 6 Sep 2005 @ 4:42am

    From the UK

    Based on the UK market (62% of households have the capability to receive iTV) the most used services are,

    - Betting/Gambling - the biggest revenue generator for the service operators and broadcasters (networks). This is both fixed odds betting on sports and other events, as well as table games, card games and fruities (slots).

    - Gaming - Everything from simple parlour games, platform games, RPG, racing games and the lsit goes on. Obviosuly they aren't the advanced games you seee on consoles, but can be just as playable and addictive. Some are free, especially the ones provided by Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. However there are some you have to pay for and there are gaming portals that make money.

    - enhanced TV - providing viewers the ability to access extra information and video or audio streams related to the current TV programme. Works very well for sports and documentaries, and to an extent high-value, large-budget brand advertising, from the like of BMW and nike.

    El Gordo

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Billco, 6 Sep 2005 @ 7:07am

      Re: From the UK

      In the UK the majority has sky dishes/boxes with the ability to "press red now to go interractive" - but nobody bothers with it. People only bought the packages so they could see sports. In fact the only advanced features really used are the programming schedule menus and timers, and even then not so much. The only part of interractive TV with a future is programmes on demand - which will probably do better on the internet anway in the long run.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Sean, 6 Sep 2005 @ 6:02am

    No interactive TV

    Seriously, I think people just want to sit, relax, and watch TV. They don't want to screw around with it too much other than changing the channel.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      El Gordo, 6 Sep 2005 @ 6:23am

      Re: No interactive TV

      I think it is dangerous to categorise the viewing public as one homogenous group of "people". From 2 year olds to 100 year olds, different technology, devices, services will appeal to different segments of the population. You will also see defferences in appeal and adoption across different countries and even in different areas of a country.

      link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.