AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION EXPECTED TO DRIVE INTERACTIVE TV
SAN FRANCISCO -- Consumer acceptance of Interactive TV (ITV) has been “staggering,” said Wink Communications Vp-e-Commerce Mktg. Karen Gold at IBDNetwork panel discussion here Tues. Todd Lash, RespondTV senior vp-product strategy, said ITV had encountered no problem of consumer acceptance. Technology used in ITV is similar to that on Internet to track consumer movements and preferences and can be research tool to help advertisers target their messages, Gold said. Company such as Wink can follow viewers’ responses to interactive ads or surveys and help their advertising clients analyze results, she said.
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ITV will encounter the same privacy issues that Internet struggles with when consumers shop online and advertisers track online consumer behavior, said John Esrey, MetaTV vp-strategy and business development. But he said companies involved with ITV, such as AOL Time Warner, don’t suffer from credibility issues as do many less-established companies operating on Internet, and present little threat to consumer security. He predicted “opt- in/opt-out” strategy for consumers participating in ITV transactions, similar to what’s used for online purchases and data collection.
Audience participation in content creation is as important an application of ITV as enhanced advertising, said Tech TV Exec. Vp- COO Josep Gillespie. ITV “cannot live on direct margins” from advertising alone, he said, pointing to failure of many Internet ventures based on pure ad revenue model. ITV has great potential for viewer involvement in programs such as game shows and sports events, Gillespie said. Respond TV’s Lash said interactive programming would “drive the industry” beyond e-commerce and advertising.
Esrey said subscription models, in which consumers pay cable providers for “premium” services such as video-on-demand, would “monetize” interactive programming for service providers. Lash said partnerships between telecom companies and satellite/cable service providers also would increase chances of ITV profitability.
Gillespie said ease-of-use issue is critical to success of ITV. He said growth in PC sector had been “stifled” by the ease- of-use issue, and consumers now favored user-friendly handheld devices. Keeping hardware up to date and inexpensive will present challenges to growth of ITV, Gillespie predicted. Often technology in consumers’ homes becomes “obsolete in months,” he said, and installation costs can be huge. But “high speed is king,” and improved technology will attract consumers, he said.