News Breaking out of the
News Breaking out of the Box London 2012 provides snapshot of multiscreen mobile viewing Do you need to know where the ultra-competitive TV set market is heading? Those in the know attended the IFA DisplaySearch Conference on Monday (3rd September 2012). Specialists in Consulting, Analysis and Data Services, DisplaySearch gurus and industry insiders divulged and deconstructed the latest global trends to give a glimpse of the future. The London 2012 Olympic Games provided the perfect platform for broadcasters to exploit the latest developments in multi-screen distribution and for analysts to get a snapshot of how viewers jumped at the new opportunities. In addition to the supplementary red button digital TV coverage, every byte of available Internet bandwidth was used to squeeze in streams enabling unprecedented full coverage of minority interest sports. "NBC's Internet coverage of the London 2012 Olympic Games peaked at 34% of total bandwidth usage in the US," says Paul Gray, Director of European TV Research, DisplaySearch. This year's Olympics show how media consumption is changing. In the UK, the BBC provided 24 simultaneous Internet streams, all of which were The demand for Internet video viewed on TV screens is proven, especially in the emerging markets, however the panoply and complexity of interfaces on Smart TVs is hampering take-up. "There is a disconnect in every way between Internet video and TV and it is critical to fix that," says Paul Gray, Director of European TV Research, DisplaySearch. "The demand is there and the next step is getting it on the TV screen with "The dream of having the TV alone at the centre of home entertainment is fading, it is now the network that is at the centre," says Paul Gray, Director of European TV Research, DisplaySearch. "Wi-fi is taking over from infra-red based control. TVs talk to tablets and tablets talk to TVs. It is a world where devices are much more equal than the previous master slave relationship." Enhancing the TV viewing experience with additional Internet popular with each stream getting over 100,000 viewers; Online viewing mirrored the broadcast offering. Of the 45.4 million who watched on TV, 17 million accessed the 24 red button streams. Out of the 20 million who watched the Men's 100 meter final, just 66,000 watched the special 3D coverage. "I was at business meeting in Asia during the games and all four colleagues were watching the Olympics on their tablets. The TV set was switched off," says Gray. a simpler interface with more similarity of operation between them. If it doesn't follow the path of least resistance, consumers won't bother." 12.7 million connected TVs were shipped in Q1 2012, a 27.4% share of total TV shipments. Over 70% of consumers in Western Europe are watching Internet video however it is the emerging markets where the viewing of Internet video content content via a companion app is becoming a must. "It is unthinkable not to have Internet based content at major events to give additional context," says Gray. In Holland, the popular TV talent show The Voice saw 400,000 of its viewers using its app to interact with the show on Paul Gray Director of European TV Research, DisplaySearch Smart TVs Must Become Simpler on TV screens has really taken off. 96.5% of urban Chinese watch Internet video with 38% viewing it on a TV screen. "There is a simple reason for this," explains Gray. "Hollywood movies are very popular in China but are not often available in the theatres or on the market, so despite the variable quality, many Chinese viewers stream the movies from pirate sites." Network Replaces TV as Centrepiece a second screen such as a tablet or a mobile device. "This is powerful stuff and consumers really love it," says Gray. IFA DisplaySearch Business Conference question and answer session. 12
News Swiping and Sharing Key features for Panasonic at IFA Getting Organic at IFA Organic LED TV – coming soon to a living room near you One of the biggest “visual” news this year at IFA has been the arrival of big screen OLED TV. IFA International asked Samsung’s Sales and Marketing Director TV/AV (European Visual Office), Michael Zöller to tell us more… With a highly successful summer Olympics sponsorship, Panasonic is on the IFA podium with some breathtaking prototypes and some trail blazing technologies for the home. Fabien Roth, Director, TV Group, Panasonic Marketing Europe tells us more about the key innovations… We’re showcasing a few prototypes. One is the first 8K television in the world, which delivers not only outstanding resolution, but because the resolution is so high, you get a 3D perception… naturally. We are also demonstrating the world’s largest glassless 3D TV, which is a 103-inch Plasma set. Its quality has now reached a level that will make it really sensible for most consumers to have. We are also showcasing the 4K 20-inch panel made in our factories, which could be the future of a certain number of devices. Fabien Roth Director, TV Group, Panasonic Marketing Europe “The Olympics had a good impact on sales” One of the key features being promoted at IFA is “Swipe and Share”. What exactly is this? With this, users can utilise the full potential of their smartphone. The VIERA Remote App with Swipe and Share function makes this possible. People can stream pictures, movies and music to their large VIERA TV simply from their smartphone. They can also invite your friends or anyone with a smartphone – whether it is an Androidor Apple-based device – to also have fun and share. Panasonic’s brand equity has been growing in Europe. Tell us more… We are seeing the fruits of several years’ hard work, and Japan getting “closer” to Europe, and we were in the number two position in June in the Euro5 in quantity terms, which was the first time. How did your involvement with the London Olympics help in your marketing? The Olympics had a good impact on sales – not during the event, but before, and not only in the UK. It was not only an event where we could promote our brand but also where we could promote technologies, and having this 3D-Live experience in more than 6,000 shops in Europe during the two weeks of the Olympics brought some attention to the brand and the fact that we are producing quality products. Hall 5.2 Stand 101 Michael Zöller, Sales Marketing Director TV/AV (European Visual Office), Samsung We have been talking about OLED for years, and now that it’s a reality you can see how the people are fascinated about this new technology and this new picture quality. When you see the blacks, the colours and the motion clarity of OLED, the people really believe that this is the big, big step we were all looking for. OLED is the biggest innovation in the TV industry for many years. It’s the beginning of a new era. We are talking about technology that can develop into applications no-one has even thought about. We have seen demonstrations of OLED screens that are flexible or foldable. We are thinking about transparent screens, or even new shapes. But this is all the future, and at the moment, we should focus on the reality, which is that we are going to see the best picture quality anyone has ever seen on OLED TVs. What other new innovative features are possible with OLED? A good example is our multi-view technology. OLED is so fast that two viewers will be able to see two separate programmes at the same time on the same screen. With our multi-view glasses, each viewer can assign his own TV programme to his own glasses. Even better, this is in the best possible picture quality, and with sound, because via active Bluetooth technology, you will be able to listen to the built-in headphones through your multi-view glasses. Hall 20 Stand 101 www.ifa-international.org IFA International • Wednesday 5 th September 2012 13
