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Google Takes on Television

On Wednesday and Thursday (May 19^th & 20^th) thousands of developers and nerds alike gathered in San Francisco for Google I/O 2010. Google I/O is meant to elaborate on, plan, and help build all sorts of Google creations like Google Chrome, Android, App Engine, Google APIs, Google Web Toolkit, and more.

On the second day of this tech guru gathering Google addressed the larger topics at hand. The rumors of a Google TV have been flying around TechCrunch, LA Times, The Huffington Post, and others but now they are all put to rest. The Google TV will be a reality as soon as fall 2010!

Google is hoping to tap into the large pool of 5 billion TV watchers in the US alone with their new ‘Smart TV.’ A cross between Web and television, Google TV will feature Google Chrome as its browser. When you start the device, you will be met with a search window where you can search for any TV channel, TV show, Web video, or even your Netflix account. So the search option will combine television and Web mediums to compile a list of results.

Google realized another major resource it possesses in Android and incorporates it into the Google TV through the Android phone. By means of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth you can actually use an Android phone to find a video and then project it onto the television. This allows the Android phone to be used as a remote control for the Google TV! As if that weren’t enough, you can use the Android’s voice recognition to change channels or search for a new show just by talking.

Through Sony, Logitech, and Dish Network, Google will tackle the television market with a search engine’s perspective. Google says it will be compatible with most cable and satellite boxes but has its own hardware in the works. This is only the beginning of what television, Internet, and phone integration has the potential to turn into. An impressive example given at Google I/O showed closed captioning of a show streaming into Google Translate to be viewed in two languages simultaneously!

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A Television Revolution

If you’re thinking about buying a new TV for the living room, don’t do it yet! Hold off for a little while. The New York Times says that 2010 will be the year that Internet connected TVs will take off.

Even though sales of televisions were higher in 2009 than 2008, profit fell due to cut prices. To make up for lost profit, television makers are aiming to incorporate Internet into the next generation of TVs. Imagine Wi-Fi on your TV! Well that’s what the newer, and even slimmer, televisions will be offering.

Internet connected TVs have not yet been a hit with customers probably because a TV with an Internet connection is currently $300 more than the same TV without the connection. However, if competitive brands start to offer these TVs, prices will be driven downward.

As if this were not enough development to completely change the way anyone watches TV, Skype also wants to have an influence. Since Internet connected TVs have not yet been in high demand, applications are very limited. But Skype wants to open the door to video chat via your TV. All it will take is a television connected to the Internet, a special web-cam, and a microphone to create a live chat from the couch. I wonder if the Jetsons even had that luxury…

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A New Way to Watch TV

Apple had a lightbulb moment about a week ago when they heard the estimated profit for online television shows and movies for 2010. Predicted to earn $1.2 billion by 2013, online movies and shows are an exponentially growing market.  Realizing the potential it has to break into this market, Apple has decided to tackle cable TV.

Alongside CBS and Disney productions, Apple wants to create a subscription based Internet TV service to compete with the cable companies. Said to be available on iPods and even Apple’s new tablet, this service will make television portable and easily accessible. The service could cost up to $30 a month for a subscription, according to Yahoo. But because of all the advantages it will provide, $30 a month isn’t all that bad, especially if the new service promises no advertisements. That’s right, no commercials!

Television is an entirely different field than what Apple is used to. And honestly, Apple isn’t used to not getting their way when it comes to new projects. They pushed the music industry into selling songs online through iTunes even though they didn’t initially want to. Network providers aren’t necessarily going to react the same way. And cable providers definitely won’t let Apple do this without putting up a fight first. The Apple Blog talks about the conflict that will ensue between Apple and cable companies if this idea becomes a reality.

Apple is just living up to all the other cross-over companies hitting up new markets, like Google when they created their own browser. No one is ever satisfied with one thing; they have to keep evolving and expanding.

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‘The Simpsons’ Gets a High Price Tag O...

The internet is starting to appear more and more common in our lives these days. If you need the show times for a new movie, you can turn to the internet for a list of times. If a plant of yours is being eaten by a mysterious bug, you can turn to the internet for a remedy. Even if you missed your favorite TV program and didn’t TiVo it, you can go to Hulu or TV.com to watch the episode at your convenience. But would it be surprising to find out that it costs more to advertise on The Simpsons online than on regularly broadcasted television? Well, that statement is true. A difference of $20 to $40 per one thousand viewers is found between an online broadcast versus a television broadcast.

Online advertisements run for about $60 per thousand viewers on average. As opposed to the $20 to $40 charge per thousand viewers on a television broadcast, this seems a little ridiculous. However, online ads are more expensive because of less allowed advertising time and guaranteed viewing. The average advertising time for an online show is about 37 seconds. That is nothing compared to the 9 minute average for television. Also, once a viewer has clicked on an online episode, that viewer is guaranteed to watch the episode. Now I know that some people may get bored in the middle of the particular episode, but when you want to watch something online you typically know what it is that you want to watch and you seek it out. This process gives some assurance that you will watch the show and the ads embedded in it, instead of changing the channel while the commercials are on.

If all these numbers hold true, why don’t advertisers switch over altogether? This hasn’t happened yet because the internet still isn’t the most used source of show viewing. With other resources like TiVo, DVR, and even timers on TVs, online viewing is a long way from being the most popular form of viewing. March Madness, for example, attracted about 7.5 million viewers online over the entire tournament. Compared to the 17.6 million viewers of the championship game alone on regular TV, the internet was a small opponent.

It may be possible for online viewing to be the default way to watch shows one day. But that day is still very far in the future.