There is a good strategy namely sticking with the winners. It works for every field and in every part of life and most important even when you purchase something. Top brands and good products have good reputation because they are just good. One of the recent winners in the competition of new media is the Internet TV. But how can we define if Internet TV is a good a new technology, that it is a winner among new types of entertainment? Simple the advertising is the key.
Winston Churchill once said that generals are always preparing for the war that already ended. But not in case of advertising, these generals that currently using Internet & TV as their main platforms and shortly will do their best to occupy the interactive TV and Internet TV. They aim at the future and this is a good sign for Internet TV. First of all this means more income which will lead to the improvement of functionality and improvement of quality. But how come that they are so interested in this new format?
Let's compare the benefits of internet TV compared to analog TV using a soccer game as an example. If you watch the game on analog TV you will face following problems: first of all you might miss some part of the game due to some problems, second you have to watch tons of advertising and when there is an interesting moment you can't instantly watch it one more time, in addition to this if you want to re-watch the game, you have to either download (if it is available online) or wait for a rebroadcast. If we take digital TV you can first of all skip the advertising, then record the game and watch any part of it at any moment. A possibility to record a movie that is simultaneously broadcasted on some other channel is also available. Finally if you have interactive TV you will also be able to check for information about the players, the team and the overall championship stats; a view from different cameras is available for the most hardcore fans. Now this it what I call TV 2.0. Or course some people might note that this has some kind of a romantic old-TV feeling, but this can hardly cover the disappointment of missing an interesting moment because you had to answer a phone call.
In addition to this Internet TV is a real challenge for advertising. One of the main advantages of digital TV is that you can skip advertising, which means that new ways must be found to advertise a product. Product placement is one of the solutions; another is placing ads as additional symbols in the corner of the show. While we speak it is actually already happening. This year for the first time in history the advertising money spent on interactive TV in the UK was larger than money spend on analogue TV advertising. This is the first sign and a beginning of a new era for television!