I was there. No, I was actually there when the Berlin wall fell. The most embarrassing thing is that at the time, and for a long time after, had no idea what it was about. To me it was a wall, something to do with the Russians and James Bond. The point of the wall had been long since forgotten and so when it came down, the momentousness of it was completely lost on me – but for those who had lived through everything it stood for, for 40 years it was just that; momentous.
Like many things that have just ‘been there’, we forget the deep seated political and commercial reasons for their existence and like the Berlin wall that for so many years was ‘just there’ so TV is an institution that fundamentally has not altered for over 50 years. Sure the programmes are more fantastic and we now have Dave! and 100 other channels of drivel. Essentially you have a box in the corner that receives signals carrying television programmes which you pay for… either by paying your licence fee or by being subjected to hard sell advertising for nappies, insurance and mobile phones. But like the Berlin Wall, this institution is set for huge change and eventual collapse. I am of course rather dramatically talking about ‘connected TV’.
IPTV or connected TV has been talked about for some time. I visited Amsterdam this year. I’m not talking about the late night bars and so called cafés. I visited IBC – one of the world’s largest conferences and exhibitions dedicated to ‘everything’ TV. And it was amazing!
I have been in ‘tech’ for more than 15 years and I thought that was pretty switched on, until I saw some of the technology and commercial tie-ups between the network operators, infrastructure companies, media and content owners and hardware manufacturers. Oh and of course, browser companies and O/S companies, because connected TVs will all have a browser and an operating system, just like a PC, tablet or smartphone.
If you thought that the iPhone changed history, connected TV will almost certainly have as big an impact if not greater. Quite how is frankly yet to be seen or realised, but the foundations have been laid, albeit there are some blocks on the runway. Interestingly, it’s not the technology that’s the inhibitor nor consumer appetite, it’s the stakeholders of an industry that on the surface are embracing the brave new world but behind closed doors (and let it be noted in some of those bars I mentioned) are resisting hard, as it will mean completely new revenue models will emerge and the collapse of many of the current ones that have long been institutions – like the Berlin wall.
But the wall will fall, and when it does, anyone working in the creative, advertising and digital space will need to be ready. Which is why we have invested in technology that will allow our clients to exploit many of the opportunities that connected TV will present.
