TV Consumption & changing habits- why it's nothing to fear

As we come towards the end of 2016, it's interesting to look at what is happening in the world of Television, and how the perceived death of the traditional television service is being heralded by some industries, (particularly the newspaper business), without taking account of the old adage that those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones....

The Irish Independent recently ran a report titled Why can't the TV industry admit we've changed habits?

http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/why-cant-the-tv-industry-admit-weve-changed-habits-34280695.html

As with all reports, I don't think it's a simple equation. It's a fact that consumers are consuming media in may more ways than in the past, and this is reflected in viewing figures for linear TV. Online services, such as Netflix and Amazon have changed the way a lot of the drama and episodic TV is consumed, but these services do not, to date, provide the real-time content that is still the biggest draw, such as sports, news, and a lot of the entertainment genres- (X-factor, The Voice, Strictly, etc.)

The Rugby World Cup, All-Ireland Finals, Olympics, and even the recent Conor McGregor UFC fight are all huge draws for the audience, and remain largely the domain of network TV, albeit with online viewing options available. The Late Late Toy Show is still the biggest show of the year in Ireland, with almost half of all viewers tuning in. So the fact remains that the biggest viewership by far remains on the traditional TV platform, albeit not to the same extent as in days of old.

meanwhile, improvements in technology- such as HD, UHD, and surround sound all contribute to enhancing the TV experience. and although these are not the exclusive domain of traditional broadcasters, they remain the driving force behind these innovations. Most consumers still like to settle down in front of the box in the corner, regardless of what service they are viewing.

There are other factors at play too- network television is still the biggest commissioning agent for content. And although we are seeing a lot more original content from online providers, the total amount of content they are producing represents a tiny proportion of the available content globally. 24/7 TV- of whatever type- is a hungry mouth to feed, and the relentless need to fill content suggests that the still much bigger network audience will be needed to fund this production for many years to come. Wall to wall reality TV just isn't going to cut the mustard!

Demographics definitely play a big part in the viewership, with the 18-24 demographic displaying the biggest decline- a recent report by Marketing Charts

http://www.marketingcharts.com/television/are-young-people-watching-less-tv-24817/

clearly indicates the decline in traditional viewing among this group. However, there is evidence that as these viewers move into their mid-twenties and beyond, and settle down with houses, families, careers, and all the associated responsibilities and pressures on time, they tend to return to the easy option- turn on the box and see what's on. It takes effort to search online for something to watch, and although we all do it, sometimes you just want to vegetate and let someone else make the decision for you.

That's not to say all is rosy in the garden. There is no doubt that alternative platforms- be they mobile, online, even gaming- have hugely fragmented the viewing audience, and the glory days of 20M+ viewers for an episode of Coronation Street will never return- but equally it's not true to say that broadcasters don't recognise this fact, and haven't taken steps to participate in the new world of media. The BBC's iPlayer is the biggest VOD content provider in the UK, and RTE's Player is the biggest provider in Ireland. The challenge is to find a way to monetise this. Viewers are quite happy to pay a Sky TV subscription monthly, and subscribe to Netflix and other services. But they baulk at paying a TV licence which costs no more than 2 months of the average subscription service, and there is strong resistance to paying a subscription for broadcaster's own VOD services.

In many ways, this echoes the challenge facing the newspaper industry- the migration of news to online has had an event greater impact on newspaper publishing, and this industry has still not managed to find a way to convince its readership that they should pay for a subscription for online content. But someone somewhere has to pay the journalist, and this is a tough circle to square.

The fact remains that every industry has to adapt, find new ways, and move with the times. Wells Fargo don't still run stage coaches across the US, and Sony no longer manufacture VCRs. But these businesses have found new ways to serve their markets, and the global media business- which includes TV, radio, newspapers, and online services- will find their level. No doubt some will fail, and some will become mere shadows of their former selves. But there will be newer, smarter, more agile contenders to take up the pace, and these will take their share of the audience in ways which in some cases we don't even understand yet.

Back in the '70s, record companies used to put a warning on LPs (that is- those black vinyl discs that went out of fashion for a while-) "home taping is killing music", referring to the availability of the Compact Cassette recorder. Well, the reality is that it didn't. Home taping augmented the record business, and although the number of albums or singles might now be a lot smaller than in the glory days, the fact is that even today, quality content will find it's audience, on whatever platform it's delivered. And yes, vinyl is the biggest growing sector of the music business.....

The future is likely to remain a hybrid one, with both linear and on-demand services, and viewers using each service for specific content types. But the days of broadcasting being a licence to print money are long gone. At the same time, the bulk of the population still expects to see a quality service from the networks, and good content is the driving force, regardless of the platform. Just as the Hollywood film industry had to adapt to smaller numbers in the cinema, and embrace the advent of the DVD, so TV companies will have to adapt to a world where the consumer dictates the medium, not the provider.

And consumer choice is a harsh critic, but will reward the innovator. Ultimately this has to be a good thing, whatever service it's delivered by.

Kevin Moore is Managing Director of Eurotek Ireland Ltd., a leading broadcast systems integrator and technology provider based in Dublin, Ireland. www.eurotek.ie

HD-SDI- the end is nigh?

Among the many new product launches and announcements at NAB this year, there were a couple of things that struck me as interesting indicators of up and coming technology that are well worth keeping an eye on. 

Sony showed the production version of the  NXLIP55 IP Live Production Unit, which enables multiple video data streams to be transmitted over an IP Local Area Network (LAN). The unit enables multi-camera shoots with up to 3 video streams. The system maintains broadcast quality full HD video over the IP network, equivalent to the picture quality of the traditional HSC-300 and HXC-100 HD cameras, though it works with any video signal.

 As well as transmitting three camera signals, the IP55 handles up to 10 audio channels, including intercom, control signals, Tally, General Purpose I/O and genlock. Sony claim it is the only product that supports genlock across IP, and they say the delay from the encode to decode across the network is about 1/2 frame. 

What I felt is significant about this is not that they could stream video across an IP network- that's not rocket-science these days- but that they are proposing this as a workflow going forward to enable remote production across a wide-area network. For instance, they discussed the ability to bring one encoder to a remote location, and bring all the signals back to a control room located at HQ- potentially saving the expense and complexity of sending an OB truck to an event- depending on the event size of course, and depending on having suitably reliable links! 

Another example might be on a golf course, where you could locate one box at the green, with three cameras connected via the NXL box, so you would only need to send one fibre (or network) cable out to the green, potentially providing a significant saving in cable costs and manpower. There's a good article on Sony's web site, http://www.sony.co.uk/pro/article/broadcast-nxl-ip55-1301 worth a look. 

Taken with the recent announcement of a joint task-force on networked media from the  EBU/SMPTE/VSF to establish a set of standards for the exchange of professional media across networks, and developments from manufacturers such as Snell, it's clear that the future direction of professional broadcast equipment lies in the IT domain, and the days of dedicated hardware for media processing may well be numbered. Will we still be using HD-SDI and other dedicated signal transmission technologies for video infrastructure in the future? Once clear protocols, standards, and topologies are established, with sufficient quality and latency, it's hard to see why you'd develop dedicated hardware for any but the most specialised applications. TVB Europe have a good article describing the objectives of the task force in their May issue, (see it here http://content.yudu.com/A20m01/May13/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tvbeurope.com%2F ) and the Press Release from the EBU is available here- http://www3.ebu.ch/cms/en/sites/ebu/contents/knowledge/technology/news/201304/call-for-participation-in-networ.html

There are many challenges to be overcome before this could become a reality, but it's fair to assume that it will only be a matter of time before these are sorted out and we start to see systems built around networked systems. 

Whilst file-based workflows have become the norm for post-production, graphics, and playout, live production has to date not been a practical candidate for networked media, due to bandwidth, latency, and usability. TV studios and OB trucks have had to rely on the real-time dependability of HD-SDI to transmit and mix the video signals of cameras, and Presentation Suites have been built around traditional signal types with all the attendant dedicated hardware associated with HD-SDI. However, once live signals can be carried across IP networks with sufficiently low delay, and once vision mixers, audio processors, and other infrastructural elements are developed to handle networked signals, the potential to completely redefine the broadcast facility becomes inevitable. 

Imagine a broadcast facility where the studio cameras are networked, rather than tied to a particular gallery control room, and where the traditional video router becomes a data router- albeit maybe a specialised one- and the possibilities start to become intriguing. For instance, imagine a studio complex where all the studio floors are located conveniently at the back of the block, with all the control rooms built in a central office space, with dynamically-assigned facilities. 

Or a remote studio might have the cameras on robotic heads, with the vision control operated from a central studio control block located at a headquarters building located anywhere Whilst this is possible now with adequate links, it's not hard to imagine a scenario where a standard national IP network replaces the dedicated links network. Similarly, and as shown in Sony's trials on the NXLIP55, it would be likely that OB facilities would build central control areas back at base, and just send a minimal crew with cameras to the location, rather than the existing marathon logistical task of send trucks, with all the associated costs. Not of course for every event, and its hard to see it working for major sporting events, but maybe for smaller events, concerts and so-on it would be perfectly practical.

When the day comes that you can use a low-cost network card to connect broadcast equipment in place of expensive dedicated video cards, then the cost of the specialised hardware system are numbered. The major manufacturers are of course tuned in to this, and at NAB, several were showing future technology that could show the way forward. Snell and Harris showed prototype routers with data routing for broadcast, Sony had the NXL as described earlier, BBC Technology showed their Stagebox IP-based  camera back, and even smaller companies such as Broadcast Pix were showing the integration of cloud-based media with live camera feeds in their switchers.

Sp what does all this mean for those of us in the business? Well for the TV studios & OB companies,  I think it points to a future where the cost of entry to the major league is likely to fall dramatically, and as has happened in the post-production market, rates are likely to tumble as new lower-cost players enter the market. For broadcasters, the new architectures should provide a degree of nimbleness and flexibility that might help counter some of the pressures they are under from the new media competitors, and maybe help them provide live programming at lower cost.

However, having said all that, I don't think this is all going to happen tomorrow- as with any new shifts in fundamental technology, it's going to take a while to iron out the bugs, agree the interconnectivity, and replace relatively recent infrastructure, so my best guess would be it's a 4-5 year timescale at a minimum for most facilities, since they'll also need to recoup their current investments,  though I'm sure pockets of users will appear in the meantime.

And as always, I am looking at this with the eye of a systems integrator and distributor- what does it mean for us and our industry colleagues? Well, we need to keep on top of the developments, learn the new standards, and educate our customers, and help them transition to the brave new world as it appears. It will be more about providing consultancy and design, rather than making our money on the hardware as in the past.

As for 4K? Well networked media, given sufficient bandwidth, doesn't care, so it could well be a driver in both directions.... take a file from the 4k camera, into the networked switcher, through the networked Presentation desk, into the networked encoder, out to the transmission network, and into the set top box in the home, without ever converting to baseband- there are a lot of attractions to such a chain.

Till next time, as always comments are welcome.

twitter - @kevineurotek
Linkedin- Kevin Moore- Eurotek
Facebook- Kevin Moore