The future is looming like crocodiles near the water’s edge where the gazelles drink. They sense each other’s presence, but what can they do?
I sat and watched two full episodes of Kim Possible and another half an hour of Disney Channel Live…on my cellphone. I should add that the screen size mattered not, it was still an entertaining hour and a half. “What had happened was”, I was trying to avoid deadlines, so I opted to “test” the newest feature on many cells, the third screen… cellphone/PDA television. There were no lack of choices, I actually had too many programs to choose from. I could have chosen several sports or news channels; however, Disney was the first to pop up at the top of the scrollpage. I thought, hey why not? Plus, it made me feel good to know that I was going to seem pretty cool to my daughter who just recently asked me, in a sort of condescending way, if I knew what a Sidekick was. She went on to say that when she got her own “SK”, the first thing her auntie was going to show her was the ins and out of text messaging…did I mention she is nine?
People, what we have is yet another new media evolution poised to be a revolution, as the playing field for the entertainment industry becomes increasingly more level as mediamakers take prosumer equipment and software and go from concept to broadcast ready edits. At the same time the distribution machine that was once a Oz-like mystery has continued to deconstruct itself to the point that many cells/PDAs come standard Wi-Fi ready allowing free Wi-Fi hot spots, that often include whole cities, to literally skip past broadcast and cable options and deliver to the user whatever they find out there in cyberspace. Content can quite effortlessly be delivered via outlets like, podcasting for the second screen and the now increasingly popular third screen. A Reuters report reads that “the Internet, portable music players and other types of new media have widened the entertainment choices for Americans, creating competition for the $70 billion in advertising money the TV industry attracts a year.” The same report finds that 1 in 3 Americans watch TV somewhere other than on their home televisions.
The future of television now only requires this business model to connect content to revenue. I envision that those that master this aspect by generating revenue via niche advertising, while keeping consumer costs at zero and their own overhead costs low can make a fair return on investment and that ladies and gents is what will get the attention of new media investors who dare fund these projects and the advertising world who is salivating to pimp these projects to their clients and the cyber masses.
Do you currently watch video on your cell, IPod or other PDA? Do you see watching it in the future? Post your comments.
Rubin Whitmore II, hip hop media guy
Reading your post I found myself a bit conflicted over the possibilities of this so called third screen phenomenon. As a viewer I found it difficult to get excited about the concept of a two inch screen. Just as watching movies at home can’t really compete with going to the movies, it’s hard to imagine that watching TV or video on a cellphone screen will ever really be able to compete with watching TV at home. It’s not just about watching the moving image on a screen, it’s the complete experience. When I watch TV at home, (most likely a basketball game) I want to be able to recline on my couch, wearing my old FSU sweats, and witness in all 42” how truly awesome Arenas really is. When I go to the movies I look forward to getting overpriced popcorn and Milk Duds, catching the pre-feature entertainment so I know what flix are coming out “This Christmas”, and watching a movie like Pirates of the Caribbean the way it should be seen: in stadium seating. I think it’s easy to over-simplify the viewing experience because it is now completely possible for any feature to be “modified to fit your screen”.
So at first I thought, sure PDA’s are great for catching up on news, weather or maybe the occasional music video, but, I thought, unless you just don’t own a TV or absolutely can’t sit still (which I know that lot’s of folks have really active lifestyles) Why would you want to watch a movie or television show on a two inch screen.
But as film and media producer I am intrigued by the prospect of mediamakers creating niche programming that is especially for mobile viewing and the idea that a whole new “viewing public” can be garnered or even created for this market, a public that would look to their mobile devices to obtain content that would only be delivered via third screen media outlets. As a producer who knows how hard it is at times to really make a good living off of your ideas I welcome the opportunity to compete in this new arena, and the freedom that it would ultimately allow viewers as well as mediamakers to choose the experience.
Akela,
media producer