The TV model hasn’t changed since computers started showing video clips. There’s the lean-back model, the old RCA console in the family room with the channel changing clicker and the lean-forward model of the 13-inch computer screen on the desk in the den.
At one time both of these were clever ways to describe a consumer video experience. Today, as happens so often with good ideas, they’re clichés and it’s time to break free of clichés.
TV today is smarter than a lean-to or lean-back experience. It’s a stream of consciously sought content that includes interactive cues to enhanced viewing experiences for both savvy and casual viewers. It is, when delivered correctly, Intuitive TV, the new definition of ITV, brought to you from the insightful folks at ActiveVideo.
Consumers can immerse themselves to whatever depth they like with an Intuitive TV offering. They can lean back and enjoy the show, lean forward and interact closely with the content on the screen or rock back and forth. Since the data stream holds all the information Intuitive TV delivers a deeply satisfying experience with choice and the control and, most importantly, any level of interaction a consumer demands.
The important thing about Intuitive TV is it is a package. It doesn’t send viewers off to DVRs or VoD or even Web pages to find more content. It brings it all in one bundle and offers it up in one stream.
While not calling it such, Fox Reality Vice President of Business and Operations Ed Skolarus did a pretty good job describing Intuitive TV during an interview with Tracy Swedlow, editor-in-chief of Interactive TV Today (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/itvt-tvoftomorrow). Fox Reality used Time Warner Cable’s Oceanic system in Hawaii as a test lab and found that consumers really buy into the concept of convenient television that includes embedded features within a linear program. In this instance, viewers were given the opportunity to interact more closely with American Idol and they did so in staggering numbers.
What Fox Reality learned and what Intuitive TV embodies is a 21st century television experience that goes beyond a linear program to deliver extra bits of information viewers want to see and know. Interactive television is the path that leads to Intuitive TV and the understanding that traditional businesses like the DVRs and VoDs are features that should be embedded into a deeper stream of linear content from which, intuitively, consumers can select their best viewing experience.
