How The Web Will Reinvent Broadcast Television

This tweet from Rich Meyer got me thinking about the future of television:

As computer screens get bigger integration of TV and Web is moving closer to reality. Soon cable will offer Internet on TV.

WebTV (which has since been rebranded and dubbed MSN TV) has been around for ages, and hasn’t made much of a splash. The issue? WebTV got it backwards. Rather than bringing the web browser experience to a television (boring), the broadcast television model of the future will be based on a registration and subscription paradigm that the web has used since someone figured out they could use table cells to pimp out a web page layout.

Augmented reality displays will appear with content aimed directly at you based on your user data.

In a few short years, almost all televisions will be connected to the Internet (many already are, including mine). While the ability to open a web browser on my TV may be handy from time to time, the true power of web-enabled television will come from the fact that viewers will be required to register (with networks and/or individual content providers) to watch the shows that they’re interested in.

Additionally, there is a very good chance that the technology behind this registration will be powered by an existing online network (via third party authentication – think Facebook or Google) where users already store endless amounts of personal data and manage their online social network.

Still with me? Here’s where it gets interesting

The vast majority of television (other than news programming and live entertainment & sporting events) will move to a time shifted on demand service. Viewers will register through their television or browser (via third party authentication) in order to watch their programs. Some programs may also use a paid subscription model – users who pay a premium to subscribe to a program or series will not be subjected to overt in-show display advertising. The data collected via the user registration process will then be used to deliver personalized contextual advertising (think Google AdWords and Amazon recommendations) during the program.

Think about it. Content providers will be able to know exactly who is watching their programs and when they’re watching. All of the data about users (age, gender, sexual preference, marital/parental status, occupation, income, education, political affiliation, web searches, likes, dislikes; not to mention similar data about each user’s extended network of friends) stored by Facebook, Google or Microsoft will be analyzed and integrated with in-show advertisements.  Augmented reality displays (like the 1st & 10 yard indicator during NFL football games) will appear with content aimed directly at you based on your user data. The most effective ads will be blended seamlessly within the story and setting of your favorite program; producers will judiciously utilize green screen technology in order to accommodate advertisers–digitally inserting relevant products into the program. Click on an ad or product seen in a show, and transition seamlessly into a browser-based shopping experience.

Analytics will also evolve, giving television producers and advertisers a wealth of data about who is watching, what they’re watching, when they’re watching and what advertisements they’re interacting with.

This isn’t necessarily a 2010 prediction, but we’re currently setting the stage to see a transition to a registration-based broadcast television model within the next five years. You heard it here first.

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