Just saw this and thought it was good food for thought … (click on it to make it bigger)
Social Media in 2010
February 19th, 2010
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Two months into 2010, if you took the TIME to browse the Internet … you probably noticed that left and right, a whole lot of people are getting worked up on social media as being the next big thing … What does it mean for the Film Industry … and should it be taken seriously?
Well I just got back from Berlin, where some people talk of it, but (luckily) I found that most people still talked of making movies and keeping the storytelling alive…
Aren't these people suppose to be online?
Anyway, in all cases, here are a few quotes that I’ve picked up from various sources conversations … (mainly offline and online), pertaining to social media, which I though we’re relevant and could be used as fuel for thought:
- I use facebook to talk about my films
I committed Facebook suicide
More and more people will realize spamming and blatant sales tactics WILL NOT work in social media. Community building will be key and it takes time and sustained effort..hence, I think we will see a fall off of people who got in there doing a sprint…its a marathon.
- 2010 will probably see a shift from “knowing” and “monitoring” towards actually taking proactive and preemptive actions
Listening is key before participating and engaging…
Is Twitter for reals? I mean, what the Puck?
Now what?
Well, if we bumped into each other during the Berlinale, we probably talked about all of that and more (VoD, Film distribution, Burgers, …) and this:
but we probably mentioned one or two things about Social Media, the importance for film professionals to come together and to harness new technologies in distribution and promotion … and that things will never be the same… Hit back to keep on talking!
The legal offers and the fight against piracy (3/4)
January 20th, 2010
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In partnership with The Biz and Tech Lab
First of all, Rafael Cabrera, in charge of promotion at ICAA, started by strongly asserting that Spain was the Paradise on Earth of Internet Piracy, because there is state-of-the-art technological networks and a total absence of normative laws (Spain considered that illicit sharing of content over the Internet was not subject to the penal code, and since it is impossible to link IP addresses in civil pursuits, nothing is currently being done on a judiciary point of view…)
In 2008,more than 80 pages pointing towards illicit downloading of illegal material was being watched; we now account for more than 200. Rafael Cabrera then underlined that ICAA chose to concentrate their efforts on storage providers and dedicated servers rather than the users themselves (17 million of them in Spain; thus too many to keep under watch…), which is contrary to the position adopted by the French government. Finally, since the “illegal downloaders” are bound to become “future clients”, the idea is not to pass as a “bad guy”. Its in this perspective that FAPAE is also taking action choosing to propose a “mixed” model, administrative and legal.
Either through the creation of an Intellectual Property Commission (independent body reporting to the Ministry of Culture), which would be in charge of launching procedures to block web pages and shutting down dedicated servers, and the setting up of a judiciary control of decisions taken by this commission. If these two procedures to not help in curbing the problem, then users will also be concerned. Rafael Cabrera concluded by hoping to set up self regulation amongst professionals, in order to establish an economic model benefiting all actors of this new value chain (producers, distributors, ISPs, etc.); this is the third attempt… will it be successful this time?
Christian Soulié, the ALPA’s lawyer (Association de Lutte contre la Piraterie Audiovisuelle – Association against Audiovisual Piracy (see its very informative website…), ask the question of the author’s right: How do we solve the problem of VoD, and Piracy while respecting the author’s right? According to Me Soulié, the three consequences of piracy are impersonation, filtering access, and encryption: They are (and I quote) major dangers for the security of our countries… Me Soulié then explained that France decided to ask itself how to prevent illegal downloads, by responding through sanction , but also through education, fundamental principles of the three-strike-and-your-out policy.
Jacques Toubon, former minister and member of the Zelnik Commission (whose report was handed in last week, see story), presented the main propositions of this report starting from the original hypothesis (what means do the public powers and professional actors have to ensure that legal offers thrive?), while underlining that legal offers were yet to be interesting to consumers because of rights-holders reluctance to adhere to new profit sharing mechanisms… We then speak of three propositions: Availability of new releases, tv programs, and thus, of the renegotiation of Media Chronology; The widening of the film offer available on the Internet and IPTV services (he wished to underline that they had been “prospective” by asking the CSA and ARCEP to oppose the offer restriction coming from broadcasters and producers); and finally the support of digitalisation of content. He then insisted on the question of profit sharing underlining the dominating power of Google… He finished his intervention on this maybe famous quote to be… “The Global license is the legalization of piracy in exchange of the electricity bill…”
Finally, Aldo Olcese, president of the Spanish Coalition “creative and cultural industries and audiovisual” briefly presented three existing VOD offerings in Spain (where 3% of the downloads are legal):
Filmotech.com launched in 2007 by EGEDA – The Spanish Collective Management of Audiovisual rights – offers downloading and streaming, with 400 to 500 movies
Pixbox owned by Telefonica, compatible with Windows and mobile phones
Filmin launched by Spanish producers and distributors such as El Deseo or Alta Films, which offers downloads and streaming, in original version and subtitled, accessible on both Windows and Mac
Alas, we regret that this eternal VoD debate is always structured around the fight against piracy, repression, instead of supporting innovation and narrowing the gap between rights-holders and new technology companies.
Presentation of the French and Spanish Cinema Markets (2/4)
January 16th, 2010
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In partnership with The Biz and Tech Lab
Benoît Danard, head of research, statistics and prospective at the CNC, started by presenting the French Market : 2008 was a great year for Cinema in France with more than 200 million admissions and a 5.7% increase due to the film offer, to renovated screening facilities, and – not to forget – the economic crisis (which, as we know, pushes people into cinemas either for them to take a break or because “they cannot afford to go on vacation” …). But it’s also the year of the “Sticks” and its 20 million admission …
The market share of French Films was at 37,1% : 18 films made more than 1 million admissions (4 of them making more than 3 million admission), and 38 made more than 500 000 admission. Finally, 20% of the french films are responsible for 80% of admissions (yes yes … it’s Pareto who told us…). Concerning Spanish films released in France, the market share is about 1-2%, with 13 unedited films released in 2008 (on the 90 released). The Spanish co-productions did about 10% of admissions; knowing that it includes Astérix… It is important to underline that there was a set back in investments of 26,3% in 2009, and to mention the 3 coproductions in 2008 with budgets of almost 40 million euros such as Océans from Jacques Perrin (currently in French theatres – magnificient film…) and the two Arthurs from Luc Besson.
93 films were produced with almost 30 countries : 40,4% of approved films are coproductions, and 24,7% of films from French Initiative (FIF) are also coprodcutions. Majority Coproductions with Spain are declining, whereas minority co-productions are increasing (thus more financial coproductions vs artistic ones…)…. Spain is the 9th export market for French Films, a setback vs 2007. 3,7% of exportation revenues of French films come from Spain… whcih gives us a pretty grim vision of the MG’s value on this territory…
Then, Pedro Perez, President of FAPAE (Spanish producer’s association), did a rather pessimistic observation of franco-spanish Cinema… In 2009, 111 Spanish films were produced, out of which 39 were coproductions, and 116 were released in Cinemas. The market share of Spanish films is 16% (13% in 2008)with a box office increase of 20% vs 2008 (518 million euros for the Total Spanish Box office, including 494 million euros for foreign films)… Only 3 films made more than 1 million admissions (and only one made more than 3 million – Alejandro Amenabar’s Agora with a production budget of 50 million euros). The problem with Spanish films is that they make more money abroad than on the national territory… Juan A. Bayona’s The Orphenage (Sales Agent : Wild Bunch) and Jaume Balaguero et Paco Plaza’s REC (Sales Agent : Filmax) are the Spanish movies that fared the best in number of territories sold, followed by Vicky Cristina Barcelona from Woody Allen (Sales Agent : Wild Bunch).
Concerning French Cinema in Spain, its market share is 2,2% with only 7 French films , 10 bilateral coproductions, and 3 trilateral… Daniel Monzon’s Celda 211 co-produced by Spanish Morena Films, Vaca Films and French producers La Fabrique de films, (sold by Films Distribution) was the most prolific with 16 nominations at the Goyas. It is certain that the revision of the cinema law is one of the consequences of the number of films co-produced (as producers are blind concerning the year to come…). As of the 1st of January 2010, publicity will disappear from public television – just like in France – et the two private operators Telecinco and Antena 3 will share 90% of publicity revenues. Pedro Perez used the metaphor of a house in construction in order to talk of the cinema law… we have to wait for everything to be done before starting to plan things… :-/
Ignasi Guardans continued by mentioning that the Cinema law can only be put in application once some of the application decrees will be approved y Brussels, notably : the general law on audiovisual means imposing the participation of private and public televisual networks in the financing of content, and the (r)evolution of Spanish radio. The changes to come will cover: the funding programmes for scriptwriting, animation production, TV film production, public/professional new technology training (hooray!!)
Many films have not received the necessary production funding; thus creating a discrimination between two types of films: “Commercial” films and “Authors films”, which need to be treated differently as the stakes and expected outcomes do not serve the same purposes… He insisted on the fact that “smaller” films should receive more attention (hooray!). There is a real willingness from the Spanish government to support international co-productions. The other important modification will be to consider as a Spanish spend, expenses carried out abroad (we can raise Spanish funds and sepnd them in France or the UK). All in all, Ignasi Guardans confirmed the interest of Spain to establish a coproduction mini-treaty (such as the existing French-German)…
The 3rd Franco-Spanish Cinema Meetings organised by Unifrance (1/4)
January 15th, 2010
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in partnership with The Biz and Tech Lab.
Unifrance organised for the third consecutive year the Franco-Spanish Cinema Meetings in Paris in order to cast light on these two markets, whose interactions are unfortunately limited, notwithstanding the reciprocal affection felt by these two countries on many accounts…
Antoine de Clermont Tonnerre, Unifrance’s President, opened the debate by introducing Véronique Cayla, Head of the CNC, and Ignasi Guardans, recently appointed head of ICAA.
Underlining that only the negative aspects of the digitalisation of Cinema is often pointed out (the fragmentation of the audience, the weakening of historical players – thus the financing of independent features, and piracy) , Ms Cayla chose to be optimistic for 2010, by insisting on the positive effects of new technologies such as the more open environment for new talents and the development of digital distribution such as Video on Demand (VoD). Just like Spain, France has been working on the deployment of solutions in order to reach common objectives: To develop a legal offer of films online, and to implement the so-called graduate response. Moreover, she finished her intervention by wishing for the creation of a European Fund for Cultural Diversity, which could be financed by Media Mundus, without disclosing any details.
As for Mr. Guardans, he still does not understand the mutual feelings of sympathy between the two countries does not translate itself into more common projects : especially when both countries are confronted with the same problems (he insists on piracy both also on new economical models to put in place). He also insist on the fact that we must reinforce the bilateral relations of France and Spain, especially at a co-production level. Since the Spanish laws are currently in the midst of mutation, the authorities are in need of concrete experiences from professionals in order to adapt the rules throughout the process.
Three debates occurred during the afternoon sessions:
- Presentation of the French and Spanish Cinema Markets,
- The legal offers and the fight against piracy,
- The evolutions of film financing
They will each be treated in a separate post … stay tuned.
Film Festivals in 2010 …
January 11th, 2010
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Festivals, Audience, and Social Media…
Festivals are essential to the proper development and marketing of audiovisual content; they allow for professionals to scout new talent, to meet their peers, exchange and build trustworthy relationships essential to the production/monetization of a high-risk prototype industry such as filmmaking.
Festivals are also increasingly becoming a platform where core audiences gather in order to discover the new films that will then be marketed and distributed to audiences around the world. Indeed, people gathering at festivals turn out to be active communities in grass root marketing, whose interactions and conversations are becoming more important in the effective distribution of audiovisual content…
In many countries, successful commercial distribution of “independent films” is made difficult due to the “niche” aspect of the market, and filmbuffs rely mostly on International Film Festivals in their home countries to catch a glimpse of what the International community of filmmakers has best to offer.
Kirchleintragen
Traditionally, the recommendations made by Cinema affectionados were mostly ineffective and not usable by their entourage… Even though Fritz had seen this great film during the Viennale, his friend Carl (living in Carinthia) could not easily have access to it, as the movie would not get (or limited) distribution in traditional networks… Carl would slowly nod his head saying “Das ist interressant Fritz”; however his thoughts would quickly go back to something more familiar to him, or something he could hope to eventually enjoy like a a good old Kirchleintragen (pictured here). Furthermore, Fritz excitement for the film would slowly but surely die off due to the arrival of the Rathaus Weihnachtsmarkt in Vienna, and the lack of friends with whom he could share his interest…
But voilà, the Internet was invented, and along with it came promises of a better world for everyone… in other words, Fritz is no longer alone; his interest can be stored, and shared as he see fits with a growing community of cinema lovers, and Carl will finally have access to all films available for him to choose exactly what his friend is recommending at anytime he wants; at the tip of his fingers…
With the help of Social Media Technologies, 2010 could rightly be the year where Festivals and Audiences come together to reintroduce these events as the main platforms for film promotion around the world…
Sundance; a trend setter?
We have been seeing in the professional press, since the beginning of 2010, many articles (such as this one, that one and this one) concerning Sundance Select partnering up with the Sundance institute to make selected films available simultaneously to Festival screenings via Video on Demand (VoD)… but that’s not all… Let us dream a little.
Sundance also has many online tools in order for a person like me to follow what is going on via their website/player, twitter account, and facebook account.
I’ll let you take a look at what they have in store for us in 2010 …
Festivals as Promotional Platforms
Now what?
In order to fully reap the benefits of these promotional circuits, Film professionals are currently in need of solutions in order to reach these audiences. However, the singularities of different events, cultural differences, the costs, and lack of resources/time needed to properly prepare for such events are currently hindering film professionals to harness the full potential offered by festival exposure.
Glitner has been working on modernizing its approach based on the mutations actually taking place in the industry… and we believe that new technologies are currently changing many existing paradigms, and that they will play a central role in tomorrow’s film industry. More to come on our solutions adapted for festivals …
Niche vs Massmarket and the pricing of online content…
December 1st, 2009
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Lemon Pie
In the Market for Lemons, the economist George Akerlof talks of used cars …
There are good used cars and defective used cars (“lemons”), but because of asymmetric information about the car (the seller knows much more about the problems of the car than the buyer), the buyer of a car does not know beforehand whether it is a good car or a lemon. So the buyer’s best guess for a given car is that the car is of average quality; accordingly, he/she will be willing to pay for it only the price of a car of known average quality. This means that the owner of a good used car will be unable to get a high enough price to make selling that car worthwhile.
Can this be true for online content? A film is a perfect example of an asymmetric information market; you pay for an experience without really knowing what your level of satisfaction will be… it’s like a box of chocolate… (just kidding); Anyway, the film industry is primarily one of prototypes, and according to Akerlof, this should mean that people would only be ready to pay average prices to watch films. One could argue that there are some variables to throw in the formula …
- Test-Market screenings
- Festivals
- Press screenings and critics
Going further, by including recognizable features in films (Brad Pitt or Natalie Portman) and by increasing Publicity and Advertisement budgets; the industry managed to “reassure” the audience that they would get there money’s worth. However, as shown in many examples, this is not always enough, and might not be appropriate for independent films.
Indeed, according to some, what will make or break the film mostly depends on word of mouth…
But online, one question remains:
Arguably people are willing to pay for content, however, are we (as Internet users) so overwhelmed by content that we are not willing to put up some cash to access it online?
Let us look at a couple of videos …
First Rupert Murdoch on the necessity of having people pay for content:
Then Eric Schmidt, who doesn’t seem to be bothered by this question:
(Update on the 2nd of December) … It seems that Google is firing back. In an announcement yesterday, Google is now proposing a First Click Free program by suggesting to publishers to let traffic on their website for free (landing page), and once the user clicks on the website, to start charging for it… Google is in essence saying, we bring you billions of viewers, it’s not our fault if you can profit from this. Smart response but won’t change much for the publishers …
How can the Internet be used by premium content owners in order to enhance the value of their content? We’ll get back to this a bit later 
let us first dig into different “trending” categories of cinematographic content …
Blockbusters of Blockbuster?
A very good article was published in this week’s Economist on the current divergence of media into blockbusters or niche – while the rest remains “stuck in the middle”…
In its weekly edition, the journal deciphers the current trends in Media consumptions and challenges the theory of the long tail by quoting economists suggesting that “obscure” films are being supplied at a greater rate than they are being discovered by the public, and wonder if media companies can actually profit from selling very little of great many things. It seems that the outcome is not as black or white as Mr Anderson, or his detractors, would like it to be, and that, as a matter of fact, both the hits and the tail are doing quite well. So what’s the deal?
Well the deal is pretty much everything that remains in the middle … all that content produced that do not make it to the top or does not actually serve a niche market; all those movies that people used to watch because there was nothing else on telly. Looking at this chart for music, which one could argue would also be valid for cinematographic content, it seems that only the top guns are actually faring better, and that the rest is losing. Moreover, according to the article, blockbusters often get better reviews than other films due, partly, to “Formal Theories of Mass Behaviour” as explained by William McPhee in his 1963 essay… It basically says that people watching blockbusters do not watch as many films as people watching more obscure content, and will therefore lack the critical knowledge of a more astute audience (watching many more films). In other words, Transformers will get more stars on Netflix than Sin Nombre could expect not because of their respective quality, but rather because the former will have more clueless critics rating it … :-/ which would explain why, past a certain point, it seems that word of mouth becomes less relevant… But remember; there can only be one.
At the other side of the tail, as more content becomes accessible and word of mouth playing a central role in the promotion of quality content, the best content serving the critically demanding public will surely benefit from the Internet. Moreover, that premium content does not have the “Theatrical Problem” of being pushed out before effective word of mouth can develop. Furthermore, the Internet will (and should) increasingly be used months before theatrical release as it is an incredible promotional vector for independent film distribution.
Here is an interview from Michael Lynton recorded in New York during the Economist Media Convergence conference. Mr Lynton believes that no matter what, the film narrative structure as we know it will thrive in the future. Furthermore, according to him, “cheap” films are a reality that will prompt studios in adapting themselves, without replacing them.
Better than Free
Now what?
Pondering on these topics brought me back to a very interesting read by Kevin Kelly, which can be found here (to keep in your bookmarks I reckon).
I am certain that in it lies some great advice in order to
- Serve your niche audience online (in the case of Independent films),
- Behead your blockbusting opponent online (in the case of Multi-hundread-million dollar productions),
- Recoup the economic gap created by online lemons (if your content is worth it…),
But mostly prepare for the times to come …
Picture element … In other words … a Pixel
November 25th, 2009
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… in other words, the upcoming event being organised in Paris at the Forum des Images by Arte, the French Media Desk in collaboration with the Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée and coordinated by Media Consulting Group.
As a follow-up to the excellent Power to the Pixel, this one day event will be a open platform to speak of the past, present and future of the film industry, it’s authors, directors, distributors, critics and die-hard fans. It will most likely cover topics such as freenomics, crowd funding, online distribution, promotion and social media … with guests such as Brian Newman, Michel Reilhac, Michel Peeters from Content Republic, and Fabio Lima to name a few … In other words, Pixel is an event not to be missed if you happen to be in Paris…
Meanwhile, you can actually download the Micheal Gubbins’ report from Power to the Pixel’s Think Tank.
In it you will find that:
- The panel questioned the future of a system in which value resides in the selling of rights to a restricted territory and for a single platform,
- Value is likely to shift towards the relationship with an understood and active audience,
- The cross media argument is that audiences ultimately decide the hierarchy of platforms,
- Empowerment in the film industry is about a culture of creation and participation where the gap between creator and audience – and between participation and consumption – is blurred.
- The temptation – seemingly irresistible to many in the industry establishment – is to see these participatory digital developments as mere amateur tinkering that will have no impact on “real film”. But for the Think Tank, such thinking misses the point.
- “Most people fell in love with the atmosphere of the industry and they want to be a part of that. They are not about storytelling. They are about being a member of the film community the way it has always been. Part of a mythology.”
- The challenge to the industrial status quo from the cross-media movement is to see beyond the idea that value can only be based only on licensing, rights, territories and windows.
and much more…
All of this is likely to be interesting food for thoughts for the upcoming Public Consultation from the European Commission on Content Online, in which all interested parties are invited to comment on the ideas raised in this reflection paper, and in particular on the “Possible Actions” outlined in Chapter 5 by the 5th of January 2010.
Avatar new interactive trailer… more of a program, application or teaser
November 25th, 2009
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by Patrick Attallah (as published on mediazbiz.com)
Avatar, the next December 18th worldwide release has already had a tremendous amount of buzz on and offline. ‘Avatar’ is the story of an ex-Marine who finds himself thrust into hostilities on an alien planet filled with exotic life forms. As an Avatar, a human mind in an alien body, he finds himself torn between two worlds, in a desperate fight for his own survival and that of the indigenous people.
More than ten years in the making, Avatar marks Cameron’s return to feature directing since helming 1997’s Titanic, the highest grossing film of all time and winner of eleven Oscars including Best Picture.
As we may expect, the promotional campaign is in full swing. Several trailers have hit the web, but the latest ‘interactive’ trailer – just released – is unique. The official Avatar Adobe AIR interactive trailer brings Avatar’s Pandora natives straight to your desktop.
The interactive trailer is really cool. It includes dozens of short videos enabling you to learn ore about the making of the movie, the main characters and backgrounds. The interactive trailer integrates as well Avatar’s Twitter, Flickr and YouTube feeds, so you can see and share all the latest news from fans around the world straight from the interactive trailer.
To download the interactive trailer, you can do it via the film’s official movie site and social network profiles on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
TV: the ‘lean back’ medium is now more ‘lean-in’ than ever…
November 22nd, 2009
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by Patrick Attallah (as published on mediazbiz.com)
According to a report published early this year, over one-fourth of users ages 18-24 are interested in having more social media features integrated into their TV. The study found that there’s a desire to use social networking as a platform to actually enhance the TV-watching experience through interactive chats with other viewers and to have the ability to recommend shows to friends. Another new study by Knowledge Networks reveals that the ways in which people learn about and ultimately decide to watch video on TV or the Internet are remarkably similar – with verbal word of mouth (in-person conversations or phone calls) scoring well above social media as a regularly used source, and TV ads and search engines also playing major roles.
The “lean-back” medium is now more “lean-in” than ever. The report, shows that television ads are the most important source for discovering new programs and deciding what to watch on TV (see table below), with verbal word of mouth coming in second for discovery and third for decision making (behind interactive program guides).
‘We see a variety of important, often untapped opportunities for leveraging the ways people learn about and decide to watch video,’ said David Tice, Vice President and Group Account Director of Knowledge Networks. ‘On TV, the interactive program guide remains largely underutilized for promotion, given its central role in viewing decisions. And, with online video, one sees the possibility of placing too much emphasis on social media sources, such as tweets from celebrities, as direct drivers of viewing. In fact, it is ‘in-person’ word of mouth and search – even TV ads or coverage – that show more influence in the online space.’
At the same time we all know that viewers are increasingly leaning froward and socially engaging on other devices while they watch TV. This is know as media blur. LiveHive Systems, measures how viewers are socially engaging with TV while they watch. Their ‘Social Engagement Index’ summarizes the interactive behavior of viewers to determine in real-time how effectively a show is socially engaging its audience. ‘The Social TV movement is forcing media companies to rethink how content is produced, distributed, and consumed. However, the tools to understand how viewers are engaging with a show have failed to keep pace.’ said Dave Bullock, President, LiveHive Systems. ‘Nielsen ratings make a rough estimate of how many viewers are watching a show, but Nielsen is not able to measure how engaged these viewers are, or how they are promoting the show on the social web. These are critical metrics that determine a show’s value and its impact for both producers and advertisers.’
TV shows producers are trying to monitor when fans talk about the programs. Getting the attention of someone who is texting, tweeting or talking about a TV show might still be good enough, after all, if you can’t get them to watch the TV show in the old-school manner.
‘We are in the early, early stages of what is now kind of being deemed ’social TV,’ said John Moore, exec VP-director of media services at Interpublic Group’s Mullen agency. He envisions more TV programming having a built-in social component over the next decade. Consumers between the ages of 18 and 24 “don’t want this isolated TV experience,” which he thinks will prompt TV networks to connect their content to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and various widgets that will be packaged with a new breed of TV sets.
The online video industry is moving closer to Facebook. The latest example is ABC.com for its “V” program, CBS with its initiative around CSI and the recent offering by Hulu. Facebook Connect is Emerging as powerful catalyst for Video Views. Randi Zuckerberg explains to us why (video originally published on Beet.TV).
While the online video industry is moving closer to Facebook, mobile operators are moving closer to Twitter as a way to increase their average revenue per user. Orange, which runs TV services in France, Spain and Poland, just announced to offer tweet-as-you-watch service and integrated mobile features. Until now Twitter users have only been able to send and receive tweets from their online account or by text message. The key to the deal, is that Twitter will become completely integrated with the suite of digital media services available via its mobile portal.
“In countries where we have TV services we plan to enrich shows by allowing people to tweet while they watch their favourite programmes,” said Stephanie Hospital, vice-president of marketing and development at Orange.
In a similar way (but for free), a new application is now available on iPhone (and iPod touch) called tvChatter, enabling viewers to tweet in real time about their favorite TV shows. Watch tvChatter’s vision in video.
As audiences continue to fragment, as more of us multitask with laptops on our laps while watching TV, and as the Internet finally comes to our living rooms with a new generation of solutions like listed lately by Gary Hayes (Social TV Reloaded – 20 Best Solutions), it’s only a matter of time before television becomes ‘fully’ social! Social TV offerings, are on many operators’ roadmaps.
