Television has an inspiring past, ripe with innovation and popular
culture influence. Since its coming of age mid-20th century,
generations of TV viewers happily embraced their broadcast experience.
For the industry, making a connection with consumers was a pretty
straightforward, one-to-many experience…until recently.
Today,
audiences are becoming increasingly fragmented, splicing their time
among myriad media choices, channels and platforms [….] With
increasing competition from convergence players in TV,
telecommunications and the Internet, the industry is confronting
unparalleled complexity, dynamic change and pressure to innovate.
Our
analysis indicates that market evolution hinges on two key market
drivers: openness of access channels and levels of consumer involvement
with media. For the next 5-7 years, there will be change on both fronts
– but not uniformly. The industry instead will be stamped by consumer
bimodality, a coexistence of two types of users with disparate channel
requirements. While one consumer segment remains passive in the living
room, the other will force radical change in business models in a
search for anytime, anywhere content through multiple channels.
The
tech- and fashion-forward consumer segment will lead us to a world of
platform-agnostic content, fluid mobility of media experiences,
individualized pricing schemes and an end to the traditional concept of
release windows. Figure 1
illustrates the behavioral differences that will lead to the
“Generational Chasm” between the passive mass audience (“Massive
Passives”) and leading-edge users (divided into two sub-groups:
“Gadgetiers” and “Kool Kids”).
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The end of TV as we know it: A future industry perspective (IBM Institute for Business Value study) |