Earl Mardle (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} rlmrdl) wrote,@ 2003-03-12 09:34:00 |
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Interactive TV - A Bogey Man in the Living Room?
This story on Open democracy taps all the right buttons to scare the hell out of people about the snooping possibilities of Interactive digital TV. And the plans of the marketing people are impressively Machiavellian and need to be watched. But it also falls into the trap of believing the marketing at the next level up.
The people pushing the manipulative benefits of iTV are the same people who have been running the TV game for the last 40 years, and who haven't woken up to the changed reality that surrounds them. These are the people who cry into their beer that not watching the adverts is tantamount to theft of the programming. These are the people who confidently predicted that Digital Television was the next big thing.
I think their word needs to be taken with a grain or two of salt.
yes, theoretically, iTV would enable the kinds of customisation and manipulation that these guys are talking about. But the reality is that customisation is expensive in all sorts of ways. First you have to make the 27 different versions of the commercial to suit each of your demographic splits. The you have to find accurate ways to define, by their actions, who is in each of those splits. My wife mutes the box every time the ads come on, more often she surfs off to some other channel, usually missing the re-entry point into the rerun of Frasier or the Discovery doco. She is not alone, it doesn't matter what ads you serve if the viewer is off having a leak or making coffee.
That doesn't even begin to deal with the reality that we have become extremely good at filtering advertising out of our consciousness. These guys are so desperate they now put adverts on the little plastic bars between the orders on the grocery checkout. (We OWN the Grocery checkout divider space!!!) Fact is, if they need to go that far, they are already in trouble because they have no idea how to reach us effectively, and targeted adverts wont make any difference.
The other point is that TV is such a drug to the senses, and I don't mean a stimulant. All the theories about interactivity with the TV have been wrong because we don't interact with the TV. (OK, except my late mother who watched sports and swore at the umpire and the players.)
yes, its a concern, but these guys taking over our minds is a very long way down the track
This story on Open democracy taps all the right buttons to scare the hell out of people about the snooping possibilities of Interactive digital TV. And the plans of the marketing people are impressively Machiavellian and need to be watched. But it also falls into the trap of believing the marketing at the next level up.
The people pushing the manipulative benefits of iTV are the same people who have been running the TV game for the last 40 years, and who haven't woken up to the changed reality that surrounds them. These are the people who cry into their beer that not watching the adverts is tantamount to theft of the programming. These are the people who confidently predicted that Digital Television was the next big thing.
I think their word needs to be taken with a grain or two of salt.
yes, theoretically, iTV would enable the kinds of customisation and manipulation that these guys are talking about. But the reality is that customisation is expensive in all sorts of ways. First you have to make the 27 different versions of the commercial to suit each of your demographic splits. The you have to find accurate ways to define, by their actions, who is in each of those splits. My wife mutes the box every time the ads come on, more often she surfs off to some other channel, usually missing the re-entry point into the rerun of Frasier or the Discovery doco. She is not alone, it doesn't matter what ads you serve if the viewer is off having a leak or making coffee.
That doesn't even begin to deal with the reality that we have become extremely good at filtering advertising out of our consciousness. These guys are so desperate they now put adverts on the little plastic bars between the orders on the grocery checkout. (We OWN the Grocery checkout divider space!!!) Fact is, if they need to go that far, they are already in trouble because they have no idea how to reach us effectively, and targeted adverts wont make any difference.
The other point is that TV is such a drug to the senses, and I don't mean a stimulant. All the theories about interactivity with the TV have been wrong because we don't interact with the TV. (OK, except my late mother who watched sports and swore at the umpire and the players.)
yes, its a concern, but these guys taking over our minds is a very long way down the track
