Tuesday, January 19, 2010
3D TV Is a Niche. Bet On IETV
The annual CES extravaganza is over, the elephants have left Las Vegas, but the buzz is still going about this year’s big product, 3D TV. Critics and fans weighed in during the show and this week, the wrap-up articles are in (the best is David Pogue’s in the New York Times).
In a nutshell, 3D TV sets will be prohibitively expensive for most consumers, each model comes with its own proprietary technology for viewing glasses (also expensive) and there isn’t much to watch in 3D, at least until ESPN launches a 3D sports channel this summer.
But there’s already a real game-changer on CE store shelves, one that consumers are ready for now: Internet-enabled TV. My recent report, The Digital Home: Emerging Trends in TV/PC Viewership shows consumers are hooking up their laptops to their HDTVs. Some are cancelling or cutting back on cable and other TV services, others just want to watch online entertainment on a bigger screen.
Since the report was published, even more data on this trend has come out. Deloitte’s “State of the Media Democracy, Fourth Edition” detailed who wants this technology: 65% of US adults surveyed in 2009. Or, just about everyone.
The key is ease-of-access, as Deloitte pointed out. CE manufacturers have finally leaped that hurdle, and content publishers are ready to provide news, weather, sports, shopping and video entertainment, with the click of a TV remote.
Every month, comScore and Nielsen report higher and higher consumer demand for online video–and they don’t wear funny glasses to watch it, either.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by kelvin lee and Yeehhaa, Starsky (No Hutch) . Starsky (No Hutch) said: #Digital News 3D TV Is a Niche. Bet On IETV – The annual CES extravaganza is over, the elephants have left Las Vega… http://ow.ly/16n4xP [...]
Increasingly the access to the Internet is coming out from the office, be that at home or at work and on to devices that aid the usability and timeliness of information. Demand for IETV as well as access to the internet on mobile devices (cf Forrester) will be driven forward by the increasing trend in infosnacking. Engaging your interest in the time between programmes or between trains will lead for an even stronger migration of marketing spend away from TV to online. What you did last will also become important as while Content may remain King, context will be moving up the civil list.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Joris Kok and Barry B., clicflic. clicflic said: 65% of people want to connect their TV to the internet. -http://www.emarketer.com/blog/index.php/3d-tv-niche-bet-ietv http://fb.me/7o9qOHP [...]
Interesting numbers – will have to see where things end up between 3D and internet tv!
Haven’t done my homework on IEtv, but I agree that 3D tv just isn’t practical for most people. (I dedicated an entire post to the setbacks of home 3D here http://nerdnewsforjocks.blogspot.com/2011/01/is-fun-worth-headaches-and-vomiting-why.html.)
I think you may be partially wrong, Lisa. IETV is going to be huge, because of the demand you illustrated. However 3D TV is becoming increasingly popular, and prices are coming down, even if I agree that 3D glasses are annoying and they need to be made thinner and lighter.
Disclaimer: I run http://best-3dtv.net so I’m definitely biased on the issue.