Active TV slowly emerging
A shift is underway in television in Australia and it has nothing to do with digital versus analogue or the pay versus free shifts. Instead we are finally seeing the promise of TV as a medium of engagement. That promise sees a shift from the passive watching of TV (a ‘push’ approach) to the active engagement of TV (a ‘pull’ approach). The initial signs began a few years ago with the rise of voting lines for the ‘so you think you can take two big idol brothers’ TV shows. At that point TV producers began handing control of their shows over to the crowds that watched them, though not completely. The active-ness saw the viewer become physically involved albeit in a small way by getting out of their couches to grab their phones to express their choice of who to keep on the show they were watching. I’m waiting for a similar approach to a murder mystery, but I digress.
The next impetus for the push came less from the TV shows themselves and more from the makers of gaming sets – the Wii being the first dominant model with both Nintendo and X Box following suit. The shift toward using the TV screen in conjunction with a software program saw Wii Fit and similar offerings encourage people to get off the couch and exercise. The difference between this approach and that of the VHS/DVD fitness programs is that a small camera puts the end user ON the screen. The passive, became active and the active then started to engage. And customers across all industries WANT to engage.
Last week the ante was upped again with Junior Masterchef conducting an on screen, real time cooking class. Both my 5 year old and 8 year old ‘wanted to cook’ and I spent a frantic 15 minutes prior to the start of the show collecting ingredients from our supermarket (not the show sponsor). Thankfully the other significant adult in the household is a gun at cooking and took the reins whilst I watched or cleaned up on the run. The active viewer became the engaged viewer and this is the type of shift that TV programs need to make to stay relevant – first hand control of the program over to the audience and then get the audience actively engaged.
A few tips for the producers of Junior Masterchef – next year start the program earlier – it finished too late for most younger kids to either partake or meant a late additional (sweet) meal which was no good. And the online instructions were small and clumsy – that was a layout problem with the page and should have been picked up – make the instructions easy for kids to follow – that wasn’t the case. And for the rest of us the lessons are huge – regardless of your industry work out how to get your potential customers to engage with your products, rather than be passive users.
It is a tad unfortunate that in the past couple of weeks I’ve had to experience the way in which one of the players in the car insurance industry treats its customers. I haven’t lost a single demerit point since well into last century and consider myself a pretty safe driver. So a couple of…
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Read More >This is Part one with Part two (looking at who will probably better off at this time next year) to come shortly. If you are in a position to sharpen your thinking, catch a breath or use some time to improve your understanding of the ways in which we create our societies, then I have…
Read More >What’s emerging for 2009? What might shape the near term future, what can we do about it and what are some of the indicators suggesting change or otherwise? Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber joined Raphael Epstein and co-host Denise Scott, as part of the panel to answer the questions on the 774 ABC’s conversation hour today……
Read More >Yes you read right – thinking ahead I’m anticipating an amazing 2008. Happy new year to all for when it happens (depending on the calendar you subscribe to) and I look forward to some fun, challenges, stresses and enjoyment for the year ahead. Marcus Barber 🙂 PS – Hope 2007 was a good one
Read More >The Advanced one day Strategic Planning Workshop in Sydney on the 11th of December at Rydges World Square is now fully booked For inquiries about the next series of dates for the 2009 series, keep an eye out on The Australian Strategic Planning Institute website at www.taspi.com.au or contact us via email here
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