by Tobias Fröhlich
On which device do people most often consume video content?
Most of you are now probably thinking about the smartphone, possibly also the tablet or even the desktop PC. But you are wrong. Because, in fact, television is still in the lead. And clearly so. As a recent analysis by Park Associate shows, people in the USA consume about 20 hours of video per week on TV (as of Q1 2020), which is 39 percent more than in Q3 2017. The Corona pandemic also serves as a catalyst. By comparison, mobile consumption was about five hours of video per week in the first quarter of 2020; even less than the computer with ten hours.
And yes, the preference for television applies to Generation Z as well. Although TikTok, Instagram, and Co. are very popular with the younger generation, they too consume video content according to the motto "biggest screen possible." Our children don't necessarily want to watch all their videos on their smartphones, but often have no alternative. They lack the money for their own television set and the device in their living room is occupied by their old parents. Believe me, I have children myself and know what I am talking about 😉.
And indeed, Gen Z consumes more when we count individual pieces of content– many small, short videos – but the time spent and the depth of engagement occur in front of the 10-inch device.
The televisions are smart, but the content, unfortunately, remains dumb
Mobile video consumption in Generation Z is growing by an impressive 100 percent every year. And this is due in part, but not only, to the lack of availability of a television of one's own. Another problem is that Gen Z is always looking for a personalized experience with opportunities for interaction and participation. And that is something they simply do not find on most television sets. Because although the devices are now smart in the TV segment as well, the content remains largely dumb.
We must change this and "tiktokinize" television from the ground up.
We must ensure that viewers can find everything they need on their television sets immediately. For example, if they are watching a football match, we must give them relevance at the touch of a button: missed highlights, statistics on teams and players, and information on the context of the competition. And now it becomes important: not on the second screen, this must be done on the first screen. This is exactly what we are aiming for at TVXRAY.
We want to make the content on a TV smart and thus prevent viewers from wandering off during the TV program, serving their own needs on an additional device. Because that’s exactly why our children, and often we ourselves as well, use smartphones during the actual TV program.
The integration of US content into these media libraries has so far often failed because of the required DRM protection ("Digital Rights Management") for this content, a digital copy protection system with which content from overseas in particular is encrypted. The broadcasters were therefore faced with a dilemma: either they invest in a service provider who would design an HbbTV app tailored to DRM for them, or they do without this specially protected content.