Interactive TV Gaining Acceptance
Gaming and t-commerce may lead the way for enhanced television services, particularly in Europe.
Gaming and t-commerce may lead the way for enhanced television services, particularly in Europe.
Televisions may be on the verge of becoming all-around entertainment units in Europe, as Strategy Analytics, Inc. revealed that annual revenues on interactive applications and services should reach $1.8 billion by 2008. Revenues for this year alone will generate $92 million – an increase of 121 percent over last year.
The research found that 16 million Europeans are now using enhanced TV applications, such as background information, online voting, quiz show participation and camera angle selection. Overall, interactive television will be available to 31 million European households by the end of 2002, creating a potential audience of 72 million viewers.
“Interactivity is slowly but surely becoming an accepted part of the television landscape,” notes Nick Griffiths, director, Broadband Entertainment Strategies, of Strategy Analytics. “But the key to success is to use it to create better television, and to forget about surfing the Web on TV. Internet TV is now recognized as a failed concept.”
Enhanced television applications, such as viewer voting and show participation, will account for 48 percent of the market.
European Interactive TV Market Forecast | |||
---|---|---|---|
Consumer Revenues ($M) | 2002 | 2008 | |
Messaging/E-mail | 10 | 234 | |
Betting/Gambling | 10 | 64 | |
Games | 36 | 448 | |
Enhanced TV | 35 | 712 | |
Other iTV Revenue | 1 | 26 | |
Total Interactive TV | 92 | 1484 | |
Source: Strategy Analytics |
Pace, working with the Gallup Organization in late 2000, made some comparisons between UK and U.S. consumers and their attitudes toward digital television. A digital signal will not only allow for improved picture and sound quality, but interactive and enhanced data as well, representing a true convergence between television and computer.
Some of Pace’s findings include: