How widgets will revolutionize TV

Out of the respondents’ most-desired features, the ones that ranked above 75% were purely about TV viewing. The first priority for consumers was the ability to find current seasons of TV shows that they missed or wanted to re-watch. Second was the ability to find and watch online TV programs from major networks, including NBC, CBS and HBO. Up-to-the-minute weather information customized by location came in third, while the ability to watch TV programs that are no longer on the air was fourth. Tied for fifth was both real-time breaking news stories of interest aggregated behind a CNN-style widget and a customized program guide to recommend TV shows by a user’s interests.

“Out of 26 apps tested, the top six were TV-based apps,” Greeson said. “They are not even apps that have a thing to do with Internet content, but they are features the Internet uniquely enables. The power of the Internet to create a customized program guide will blow your mind. It’s unbelievable.”

Consumers are used to finding these types of applications on the Internet right now, not on their TV, he added. Features like Twitter and EBay, commonly thought to be appealing on the TV, were way down on the list. Consumers did want access to their photos, music or real-time traffic information, but they wanted it to be simple above anything else – a conclusion that Verizon’s beta trials echoed. All other applications finished below 50% in terms of their appeal.

The results of TDG’s study indicated that pay TV providers should walk before they run. The first batch of widgets they deliver need to focus on simplifying and enhancing the TV viewing experience to make it easy for consumers to find and watch their favorite programs. Most of all, they need to abandon the idea of replicating the Web on the TV.

“It’s not that people want the complexity of the Internet on their TV,” Greeson said. “They don’t want complexity; they want the benefits. They could give a damn about technology. They don’t want the Internet dumped on their TV. They don’t want URLs and browsers and that garbage.”

Coming on Monday: The technology behind interactivity – can the STB handle it?