The future of TV is on-demand and social -Ericsson

In the next decade or so, "channel-surfing" will become a thing of the past as television consumers would prefer watching TV shows at their most convenient time, and their choices would mostly be influenced by their peers, officials of Ericsson Philippines said Friday. In a press briefing, Ericsson head of multiscreen TV for Asia Pacific Eugene Sarmiento shared the results of their Consumer Lab study, which noted an increase in "on-demand" television services across the globe. The study, conducted around 70 countries including Taiwan and China in Asia, revealed that as people continue to patronize scheduled TV broadcasts (84 percent), video-on-demand (VOD)-related services are slowly gaining traction. These VOD-related services include recorded broadcast, short video clips, streamed shows and downloaded content, among many others. Sarmiento noted, however, that "recordings have decreased a bit [this year], as there have been a lot of move toward streamed movies or shows." In the same manner, the Ericsson executive said that more and more, the way users consume television content is being influenced by their friends through social media, as it often happens that viewers are holding their smartphones or tablets while watching TV. "Before, users simply watch what is on television right now. Now, they get to know who else is watching the show with them. The element of 'social' is impacting the elements of video," Sarmiento said. He added that this "social" aspect of shared television-watching is especially important for TV broadcasters, especially in influencing their programming content. "TV [has] missed a big opportunity [before] because broadcast without feedback [is not able to] detect what the market is feeling," he stressed. "Social will allow programmers to have direct feedback of their shows [from viewers]." Sarmiento further added that the way content providers leverage social media and weave it into their offerings "will continue to help [them] lead in the market." Digital TV transition All this wouldn't be in place, however, if the Philippines doesn't begin its transition to digital television soon. While the National Telecommunications Commission has designated 11:59 PM of December 31, 2015 as the deadline for all analog TV signals to shut down, it may further be delayed as the commission has yet to make official its position on what standard to adopt. The ISDB-T (or Japan) standard has already been positively received by the The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), which recommended it over Europe's Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial 2 (DVB-T2) standard. However, that directive has been put on hold after Malacañang ordered a review of the decision for further study on the merits of a competing platform, the DVB-T. Sarmiento said the transition to digital TV "is now in the government's hands" as they will signify to various stakeholders the right moment to invest on the future digital standard. While the Ericsson executive acknowledged that "on-demand" consumption behavior is still not prevalent among Filipino TV viewers, he said that unless the country crosses over to the digital divide, that behavior would not be created. "[Also], if and when VOD behavior happens is dependent on broadband penetration in the market, as VOD content is consumed mostly over the broadband network," he added. In 2010, research firm Budde Comm reported that broadband user penetration had been pegged at 7 percent of the entire population, or more than 6 million subscribers. Still, Sarmiento pointed out that "the stars are aligned" for the Philippines in terms of Digital TV. "There are now more affordable devices, broadband prices are going down, and the consumption habit is there. It's just [a matter of] taking advantage of these trends," he said. — TJD, GMA News