Call it the future of television (eventhough the actual word television will be anachronistic). In a a recent interview with zDNet, Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt offered a glimpse of what the future of TV & Video could look like:
There will be a focus on using broadcast viewing to automatically present relevant information on a web browser…The system could keep up with users while they channel surf, presenting them with a real-time forum about a live political debate one minute and an ad-hoc chat room for a sporting event in the next. And, all of this would be done without users ever having to type or to even know the name of the program or channel being viewed.
Taking this further, we could collect snippets from the web describing the actors appearing in a movie or present maps of locales within the movie as it takes place (no matter if users are watching it as a live broadcast or as a recoded broadcast).
If you are in denial that this is taking place NOW or that it will not be a reality soon, here are two job listings from Google:
Software Engineer, Television Technology – Mountain View. This position is based in Mountain View, CA. Multiple positions available in Mountain View, CA
Software Engineer, Television Technology – Seattle/Kirkland. Multiple positions available at our Seattle Engineering Center located in Kirkland, WA
Imagine only being exposed to advertising that provided personally relevant and useful information about products. The material could actually be tailored specifically to your tastes and viewing habits and even factor in previous search history and purchases as well. It would likely be helpful too.
Goodbye Nielsen ratings. Goodbye 100+ person tv media buying departments. Goodbye Television Upfront.
Related Articles:
The Future of TV Inspired By Google AdSense and Search
Technorati Tags: google tv, television, online video, eric schmidt, marketing.fm, marketing blog,
August 27, 2006
Advertising, Internet, Marketing Blogs, Marketing.fm, Search, Television