We don't just watch TV anymore. We are no longer just passive observers.

Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/crazysphinx/

It seems we are no longer watching TV. 


We are interacting with it.


We are doing much more than just passively watching it. We are getting involved, interacting and expecting more and more than ever before from the programs we are watching, and increasingly from the ads we see on there.


At a recent ThinkBox event called TV + Mobile, Tess Alps the CEO, reminded us about the main activities people do while watching TV, and these are getting more common and growing as technology enables them to be done better and easier


1: People have always liked to chat and discuss TV shows they are watching. TV is a social activity not just a passive one. People like to comment, discuss and express opinions about the shows. Like it or not, social media is making this a bigger and more general conversation. As anyone who uses Twitter or Facebook and is following a how will know. It will happen without you, so best to embrace it and add content, enable conversations and help this conversation take place.


2: "Gamifucation". People have always shouted out answers to gameshows on at the TV. This is now something that program makers are increasingly understanding and enabling people to play online or via the "red button" on digital TVs. In the UK the "Million Pound Drop Live" is an example where they let online audience play and they run the stats and feedback into the live show. Honda ran ads which enabled people to catch characters with their mobile devices. Some programs as getting people to do things online and send into the show, like a clothing manufacturer sponsoring a Style Challenge where viewers used tools online and emailed in their suggestions, the best being shown live.


3: TV triggered realtime mobile buying. As people watch the ads, they are often going online via laptops or smartphones to do more research, price comparison and buy. Over time this will become easier and more enabled, apps like "zeebox" today let you track and get data and twitter feeds based on the program, and eventually will enable the same for. Also there is image recognition technologies available that will tale you to online content. These are still a bit "clunky" but the technology is moving fast, enabling you to either hold a camera enabled smartphone or tablet up to the TV, it recognises the ad and takes you to the content. 




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