Friday 28 October 2011

A few interesting snippets on 1) interactive and targeted TV advertising, 2) Facebook's role in the TV ecosystem, and 3) Apple's plans to upset the television applecart.

Interactive Ads: Cable’s Future May Already Have Passed
Can Facebook Improve TV Ads?
Blockbuster to offer VOD on Facebook
What’s Really Next for Apple in Television

Also this late-breaking piece:
Google Tries Again With Google TV

Thursday 27 October 2011

Facial monitoring: The all-telling eye
A piece in the Economist explains how webcams can now spot which ads catch your gaze, read your mood, and check your vital signs. In my last job, I tried to get a POC off the ground to do this with digital out-of-home billboards, but I honestly never thought of doing it with front-facing cameras on people's PCs, iPhones, and tablets. Seems like an interesting concept, provided you can get over the privacy implications.

Thursday 20 October 2011

Facebook Charges into the TV Arena

• Interesting piece on the overtures that Facebook are currently making to various players in the TV industry. Contrasting their approach with the 'ham-fisted' sales pitch delivered by Google for their GoogleTV project, this article goes on to explain how Facebook is pitching to be the default login service for broadcast and cable TV, as well as IPTV and next-gen video services. But of course the TV industry is a large and powerful body, and might not look favorably on the prospect of another internet company trying to encroach on their (valuable) turf.

The Default Choice, So Hard to Resist

• Confirming what Internet Explorer and Google Search product managers have known all along, this article highlights research that shows how sticky being the default option can be. If a user has to opt out of using IE on Windows machines, or using Google as the search engine on their iPhone's Safari browser bar, the chances of them doing so are slim. The stickiness of being the default option is another reason why Facebook wants the TV industry to use Facebook IDs as a universal login mechanism (see above).

How Bit.ly Now Predicts the Future

• This one falls into the why-didn't-I-think-of-that category. If bit.ly is the default URL shortener of the web, that means that they have a pretty good idea of what sites/pages/topics are popular. If they can use this view of past popularity to predict future popularity, that's a pretty powerful proposition (no alliteration intended).

Australia Dominates iPad Newspaper Rankings

• This one falls into the I-don't-buy-it category. Apparently, Australian newspapers have four of the top ten newspaper apps on the iPad. For a country with a population of little over 20 million people to have even one app in the top ten would be impressive. But four I find hard to believe.