Television At The Crossroads – Saved By The Web?
How will we watch television in the future? That was the question explored by the Lab team at Internet agency Syzygy. The result is GOAB, a cloud-based concept that does not depend on any one particular input and output device. GOAB takes the latest TV trends, develops existing ideas and offers viewers and advertisers new solutions for the challenges presented by an increasingly complex television and programme landscape.
Syzygy
Internet agency Syzygy develops cloud-based concept for TV of the futureTelevision is facing a structural crisis. In the UK, the Internet already ousted TV as the leading advertising channel in 2009. Less surprisingly, the Web is increasingly regarded as an all-round medium by users. It incorporates the content and functions of all other media channels, while also being the only medium to offer the added benefit of social interaction.
Now the Internet could be about to rescue television. Combining TV programmes and Internet functionality could result in television becoming much more appealing to viewers again, and thus also to advertisers.
Free from the constraints of day-to-day business, the Lab team at Internet agency Syzygy explored the question of how people will watch television in the future. The result is GOAB, a cloud-based concept that does not depend on any one particular input and output device. GOAB takes the latest TV trends, develops existing ideas and offers viewers and advertisers new solutions for the challenges presented by an increasingly complex television and programme landscape:
- pre-selection feature for quickly locating personally relevant media content;
- interpreting information and placing it in a wider context;
- enhanced interaction, both between viewers in separate physical locations and between viewers and TV programmes;
- marketing (“shop what you see”).
Cloud-based connectivity means that personal preferences and networks are always available, in every location. Content can be accessed from a laptop, tablet or smartphone; it is not dependent on a specific type of hardware. The chosen device links to a bigger screen for television or plays back the programme on its own screen.
“GOAB brings together the best features of television and the Internet. It is primarily geared towards the user’s expectations, but this concept also opens up exciting opportunities for advertisers. Advertising becomes a valued service, rather than a nuisance,” explains Dominik Lammer, Creative Director and head of the Syzygy Lab. Imagine the following scenario, for example: four young women watching Sex and the City together – all in separate locations but sharing the experience courtesy of GOAB’s network functions. Tapping on the leading actress’s new high heels on the display brings up full details of the coveted items – manufacturer, price comparisons, where to buy and links to online shops. The friends can comment immediately on the choice via cyberspace, just as if they were all out shopping together.
Countless posts on Facebook, Twitter and Co are the impressive evidence that the concept is well-received. Mr. Lammer: ”We are getting positive feedback from all over the world. This demonstrates that people are extremely open-minded when it comes to new ideas for TV of the future”.
More information at
lab.syzygy.de and
facebook.com/syzygylabFurther informationGoab, the Desert of Colors (from “The Neverending Story” by Michael Ende) In book by Michael Ende, Goab is an enormous desert in which every hill had its own color. Every tone is represented in it. The unmanageable media content is our “Desert of Colors.” Our project attempts to guide the user by lending them a hand in making the unmanageable manageable. Content is sorted sensibly for ease of use.