How Google plans to change the way you watch TV

Why the Internet mattersIn less than 30 years, the Internet has grown from almost nothing to more than 2 billion users.4 in 5 adults worldwide now regard Internet access as a fundamental human right In UK alone, the Internet accounted for over 7% of GDP in 2010 - 100 billion pounds - and that will grow to 10% by 2015. It has recast the way we communicate, transformed the way we learn and share knowledge. Internet is empowering people everywhere, making the world more open, fairer, and more prosperousWe encountered our first computer back in high school which was enormous and clunky.Today, our smartphones are a hundred thousand times faster than those high school computer, and it fits in our pockets.

“the Internet isn’t making inevitable change faster; it has become an engine of change”

So what has all this got to do with Television?

The Internet is fundamental to the future of TV•In 2010, UK adults spent as much time watching TV in 4 days as they did using the web in a month. TV is still clearly winning the competition for attention•Yet, you ignore the Internet at your peril. The Internet is fundamental to the future of Television for one simple reason: because it’s what people want.•Technologically, the Internet is a platform for things that traditional TV cannot support•It makes TV more personal, more participative, more pertinent.

The future of choice•While TV programming is limited by time and the number of TV networks, the Internet provides the possibility of a near-infinite amount of content•Given the on-demand way that viewers are increasingly viewing content — through prerecorded shows on their DVRs, video-on-demand selections through their cable provider or streaming on the Internet — there needs to be a way to sort through those content choices.•Vast number of content choices calls for a new way of discovering content•Personalized recommendations will be vital to the way that viewers discover video in the future•For instance, Netflix, whose 60 percent of views are a result of Netflix’s personalized recommendations, showing that the one-size-fits-all approach to linear TV programming might not be the best way to reach audiences in the future

“Online, through a combination of algorithms and editorial nudges, suggestions could be individually crafted to suit your interests and needs. The more you watch and share, the more chances the system has to learn, and the better its predictions get. Taken to the ultimate, it would be like the perfect TV channel: always exciting, always relevant — sometimes serendipitous — always worth your time”

The future of interactivity•While viewing is destined to become more personal, it’s also becoming more social •At the same time viewers are watching content that is more relevant to them, they are also sharing what they’re viewing•This interactivity is not being driven by the TV screen itself but through second screens that viewers are using while watching TV. •The second screens includes tapping into social networks on laptops and on mobile phones, commenting on blogs and forums, and even chatting with friends in real time•Google+ Hangouts as one example of how viewers can socially interact while watching video together, and we can see how the same type of technology could be incorporated into future versions of Google TV devices for live video viewing•While viewers clearly want social interactivity, it’s also good for broadcasters•Trending hashtags raise awareness of shows, helping boost ratings, can be metric for viewer engagement, a vehicle for instant feedback, a channel for reaching people outside broadcast times.

The future of measurement and monetization•Broadcasters can benefit not only from the way the Internet allows viewers to discover and interact with content but also from vast new opportunities for monetization•It includes selling directly to viewers through digital downloads or the ability to more profitably sell ads against content.•Today there’s a huge premium spent on advertising against the first airing of a TV show, in part because that airing is most likely to aggregate the largest audience•It shouldn’t matter when viewers first watch a show. If it’s the first time you watch a show, it’s first run to you, no matter how many times it has been broadcast. As TV becomes more personalized, ad models should adjust accordingly.•Note also that this shift means a change in the way that viewing and ad effectiveness is measured. •Nielsen, which provides the ratings currency that is used for selling TV ads in the U.S., is investing heavily in multiscreen measurement, and Google is trying to understand how to measure effectiveness across multiple platforms as well.

Will broadcasters get on board?•There’s no doubt that the TV industry is in the midst of some fundamental shifts in the way viewers find and interact with video content•There’s a huge opportunity for broadcasters to use Internet technologies to enable new experiences and better reach a more engaged audience.•Although TV viewing will inevitably change as the Internet enables new habits and therefore the broadcasters should see the opportunity and not the danger that such a change brings•History shows that in the face of new technology, those who adapt their business models don’t just survive, they prosper•The computing and creative industries are both on remarkable journeys. •Sometimes the paths will intertwine where you least expect. Sometimes there’ll be potholes and false starts. Sometimes - there’ll be stunning shared success.

Based on the Views of Google Chairman Mr. Eric SchmidtMacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival