Personalization: Interactivity’s better half

Widgets are poised to take over the television viewing experience, just as they did the mobile platform. With an IP pipe promising the world of the Internet on the TV, there’s not much an IPTV provider can’t bring to its customers. But before anyone gets too carried away, there is one fact that developers and service providers can’t overlook: You can’t have interactivity without personalization.

Video-on-demand and digital video recorders (DVRs) arguably were the first instances of interactivity on the TV. They let viewers choose when and how they watch their favorite program, breaking free of the broadcast schedule. Now, DVR is one of consumers’ most-beloved services. As a second wave of interactivity is coming through, its intent essentially is to undo the first wave. If operators can offer enough fun widgets to enable social chatting, voting on the TV set, telescoping to purchase absolutely anything seen on a favorite actor or set, then why would the viewer want to watch the program any other time than when it’s scheduled to run? The answer is because DVR is both interactive and personal. 

That goal of all these cool new features is ambitious and exciting, but as The Diffusion Group’s research this week points out, consumers may not be ready for this mind-blowing paradigm. What they want is widgets that actually simplify their viewing experience and make it personal to them — features such as better search and recommendation engines, the ability to find their favorite shows, news that is relevant to their interests and the weather in their area.

It’s good news that consumers want service providers to first and foremost focus on interactive widgets that improve the TV viewing experience. Instead of adding new dimensions of gaming, commerce and social networking, they can hone in on their first priority of perfecting TV viewing. Verizon already is leading the way, exploring three different types of interactivity to enhance the experience. It won’t be long before AT&T and the cable players get more aggressive as well, but with money for experimentation tighter this year, focusing on interactivity with a personal slant is the best starting point.

As I found out from interviewing multiple set-top box vendors, software technology providers and analysts in the space, enabling any form of interactivity isn’t always easy. There are a lot of moving parts and a fuzzy business model, but there also are several ways to get started in the space and several reasons why companies should. For May’s cover story, Telephony is profiling all aspects of interactivity — everything from what it looks like to how it’s done, whose doing it and why. Stay tuned and, as always, we welcome your feedback. What do you think service providers’ first priority should be: interactivity, personalization or both?

E-mail me at sreedy@telephonyonline.com.