Gen Y Says: "I Want My Social TV!"
New research from Parks Associates found that many Gen Y TV viewers are ready for a change when it comes to their television-watching experience. According to a recent report, over one-fourth of users ages 18-24 are interested in having more social media features integrated into their TV. This data should come as good news to companies like Verizon and Yahoo!, both of whom have been pushing their new social networking widgets. But it also has broader implications that go beyond kids just wanting Facebook on their TV. The study found that there's a desire to use social networking as a platform to actually enhance the TV-watching experience through interactive chats with other viewers and to have the ability to recommend shows to friends.
The report, Social Media & User-Generated Content, found that the most desired social experience those in this age group were interested in was multiplayer games. Although you might not think of gaming as "social media," it does fit the criteria - creating profiles (avatars), adding friends (online gaming buddies), and chatting during gameplay make gaming a very social activity. Recently, news about an upcoming service called OnLive was announced and this would fit right into this trend. OnLive aims to stream high-end video games to any PC, Mac, or TV with a broadband connection. Based on the Park Associates data, that service has a lot of potential to become a hit among this young demographic... assuming it actually works.
Also on the list of desired experiences were things like chatting with other people who are watching the same TV show, accessing "Most Watched" lists, recommending shows to family and friends, and receiving recommendations in return. These items point towards a desire for TV to become less of an isolated, solitary experience and make it function more like the social networks we see online. (Perhaps instead of just having "online friends," we'll one day be "friending" people on our TV, too?)
If this happens, it will be an entirely new frontier for television. Watching TV has always been more of a passive activity - you switch it on, sit back, and allow yourself to be entertained. Adding a social element to TV will be a dramatic shift - and one that has to be done carefully in order not to mar what people have come to expect as the TV "experience." Time and again we've seen "Web TV"-like initiatives crash and burn, mostly because what people want from a TV is not the same as what they want from a computer.
But then again, maybe we shouldn't speak for the next generation of TV viewers users.
Gen Y, or "digital natives" as they're often called, has grown up plugged in. And those that follow them may be even more plugged in, if that's even possible. These are demographics that have been socializing online since they learned to type, often at very, very young ages... even as young as elementary school.
Is it possible that this generation of TV viewers will shift and shape what it means to watch TV? It's very possible. Gen Y is already not watching TV as much as they are going online. And when they do get around to viewing TV shows, it's usually time-shifted content courtesy of DVRs or it's content viewed online, where TV is now becoming more social. NBC Universal's Hulu.com has just introduced a friends feature, for example, which lets online TV viewers create profiles and "friend" other users. Soon that same experience may find its way to the living room, too. Time will tell.
The Parks Associates report focuses on trends in the U.S. and Europe, but we imagine it's possible that digitally connected youth worldwide have the same interests. We wouldn't be surprised if they all want their "social TV."
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I'm so excited about OnLive! If they can be as good as they say they are, I won't leave my computer and/or TV for months at a time.
Check out Onlive Fans
This was the [broken] promise of Joost way back in 2006 when it was called "The Venice Project".
http://gigaom.com/2006/12/21/first-look-venice-project/
I would love to see the look on the faces of the Joost decision makers, who have abandon "Twitter+TV", when they see the demographic data in this post.
Also,
The newly released Youtube subtitling API could be hax0rd to bring teh social to your TV.
It's clear, Multiplayer Games dominate young generation's interest in TV.
This is supposed to have happened when ITV bought http://www.friendsreunited.com large co execs don't use social media so how would they know how to integrate it.
You've to use SM to get it ;-)
Hulu was supposed bring something like this out. You were supposed to bea ble to chat with your friends while watching tv. Never happened. Multiplayer online games is bar far the most popular.
Chatting with strangers while watching TV seems kinda odd. Maybe it's just me.
Posted by: Mona
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March 26, 2009 10:19 AM
That's pretty much what we did in a FF room during the presidential debates. It was fun.
Posted by: Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)
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March 26, 2009 10:23 AM
@Mona perhaps our feelings give away our age?
Posted by: Sarah Perez
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March 26, 2009 10:42 AM
this is already starting.... look at justin.tv
check http://yourtvonline.com
Philip, yourtvonline.com is a) a rubbish user experience with terrible navigation b) full of rubbish channel offerings c) nothing to do with socializing TV and d) asking people to pay for free television.
er, no.
Social and TV is what our V2 is all about. Check it out:
www.firstonmars.com
Tuhin Roy
Founder and CEO
First on Mars
OnLive is just a brilliant new game service that may very well change the gaming industry. And it's coming this winter too! For more info, checkout OnLive1!
I guess I am a Gen Y haha. I can't wait for OnLive; playing a game like Crysis on a 5-year old laptop is awesome. OnLive forum
the look on the faces of the Joost decision makers, who have abandon "Twitter+TV", when they see the demographic data ..
good nice post
good nice site perceft thank
TV has always been more of a passive activity - you switch it on, sit back, and allow yourself to be entertained. oky.
Philip, söve yourtvonline.com is a) a rubbish user experience with terrible navigation b) full söve of rubbish channel offerings c) nothing to do with socializing TV and d) asking people söve to pay for free television.
TJK TV
CHAT
Great post.Thanks a lot.
I agree that PhoneGap's vision is the way to go - but they are lightyears behind the QuickConnect framework. I've been working with these frameworks for the past 4 months and there is simply no
Hulu was supposed bring something like this out. You were supposed to bea ble to chat with your friends while watching tv. Never happened. Multiplayer online games is bar far the most popular....
And here's what it's going to look like...
http://www.richardkastelein.com/socialtv-social-tv-convergence
"If we all thought the Facebook and Twitter social media growth phenomena were extraordinary, wait until Social TV hits your screens.
And it’s not as far away as you think — not only with the logical IPTV market, but also terrestrial TV. I recently attended the International Broadcast Convention (IBC) in Amsterdam, which bills itself as ’The content creation management delivery experience’. IBC2008 attracted 49,000+ visitors and 1,300+ exhibitors from more than 130 countries. This year is expected to be bigger. Last year, I was part of a team exhibiting at MIPTV in Cannes, and was expecting something a bit similar… but this was almost all about hardware and software and less about the actual formats and programs. However, this was not a disappointment. For embedded in the show there were some jewels… which have profoundly altered my view of Social Media, the future and the implication of reach that will touch billions not millions."
http://www.richardkastelein.com/socialtv-social-tv-convergence
Great article... One Word. TVFanSpace.com ....it's going buck wild with new users since launch. Don't beleive me? Just check. Also I looked at these other sites out of curiosity and their disasters...The model at TVFanSpace.com seems to be the answer.
Goodluck
Ferick Wilder
Creator of TVFanSpace.com
The #1 Open Social TV Social Network