TV trends: highlights from nVision research

Richard Nicholls presents and analyses some of the TV-related highlights from Future Foundation’s December 2010 wave of research…

We turn first to new forms of social television watching. As our first chart shows, more than a quarter prefer to watch TV programmes at the same time as family and friends.

Television is still the ultimate facilitator for moments of conversation and debate, be it on the phone, at the bar or around the office water-cooler (indeed, nVision Research also reveals that one in five agree with the statement: “It is important to watch television to be able to talk to my friends about what is going on”). And we find a dramatic age difference – the proportion who agree that: “If possible, I prefer to watch TV programmes at the same time as my friends and family are doing so” rises to 37% among 25-34 year olds and some 53% among 16-24 year olds.

We can also see from the chart that one in ten agree that: “I’d like to participate in live online chats about TV programmes I’m watching at the same time as others” and “I’d like to watch live online chats about TV programmes I’m watching at the same time as others”.

A niche habit? Once again, of course, the young lead the way, with response doubling to 19% and 21% respectively among 16-24s, and 21% and 19% respectively among 25-34 year olds. (The age of 35 is the significant cut-off here).

We are convinced that we are witnessing just the first few baby steps in a revolutionisation of how people will watch TV in future. Already, ‘event’ TV programmes that grab the attention are becoming virtual social gatherings, most notably through the medium of Twitter. Each time there is an episode of Doctor Who, devoted fans fill their feeds with their immediate thoughts on the re-imagined Sontarans or Silurians.

Cricket followers exchange their ball-by-ball analysis of England’s performances directly with commentator Jonathan Agnew. The 2010 X Factor final attracted 11 Tweets per second; the televised UK election debates reached 30 Tweets per second (Twitter, 2010).

“Last night’s ‘Itchy and Scratchy’ was, without a doubt, the worst episode ever. Rest assured that I was on the internet within minutes, registering my disgust throughout the world.”
‘Comic Book Guy’, The Simpsons

Remarkably, the above quotation came from an episode broadcast in 1997. Habits sometimes change slower than we think. It has taken almost a decade and a half for virtual social TV watching to become not-quite-mainstream. But with the smartphone revolution so many millions of people, with nothing more in common than a strong interest in one particular (however niche) show, can connect in real time.

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This leads us on to the relationship between gaming and TV. In the last few years we have seen the rise and rise of gaming across the TV landscape. It is now relatively commonplace to find well-devised online games accompanying actual TV shows. For example, to mark its 50th birthday, ITV’s Coronation Street launched an online social gaming application – ‘Corrie Nation’ – allowing users to build their own 2D versions of the fictional Weatherfield Street. Available on Facebook, the spinoff is the first ever social networking game to be created by a British TV soap. Elsewhere, the Doctor Who website comprises sections where expansive adventure games can be played, and where fans can also create their own trailers and comics.

Unsurprisingly, this kind of engagement is popular within children’s TV. CBBC’s Shaun the Sheep cartoon also features an array of online games that have proved popular among adults as well as children, while nVision Research reveals a third of 16-34 year olds would be interested in further interaction where they could control an actual TV character.

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As we enjoy greater access to a widening variety of media platforms, simultaneous media use is fast becoming a mainstream activity. Where once we sat exclusively around the dining room table to eat without any distraction, we now find that in a typical week three out of seven main meals are consumed on the sofa while watching TV (IGD, 2010). This ‘mortality of formality’ is now also extending into our daily media routines, where the watching of multiple screens (as opposed to just one) appears to be becoming more commonplace. Looking at the above chart, almost 60% have surfed the internet on a laptop while watching television. 20% have also surfed the internet on their mobile phones while watching TV (an activity we would naturally expect to grow more and more). Our mainstream viewing habits are no longer being guided by a fully uninterrupted, single screen experience.

We know from nVision Global research that in South Korea – a country that has spearheaded the mobile TV sector over the last few years – watching live television via the mobile internet now ranks as the second most popular mobile internet activity. We would therefore expect interest to rise similarly in the UK over the next few years. Indeed, we can see in the chart on the left that one in five people would be interested in a device that allowed them to watch TV while out and about, rising to two in five for those aged 16-34 (2010).

And almost two in five 16-24 year olds and a third of 25-34 year olds agree that: “I would be happy to watch most of my TV on YouTube, iPlayer and other similar websites”.

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Finally we turn to attitudes towards 3D TV and other nascent or in-development forms of TV. Almost 60% would be interested in owning a 3D television that does not require special glasses, while over a third would also welcome a special wallpaper that could be transformed into a projector screen.

Interestingly, these results do not vary very much by age – the interest runs across all demographics. Already there are prototypes of ‘hidden glass displays’ designed to blend into the décor of homes, including flexible tabletop displays. Adding augmented reality and 3D technology allows for all kinds of futuristic concepts here, such as coffee tables that would be able to project holograms of live sporting events, with the table mapping any exact playing field (Corning, DSI Entertainment Systems, 2011).

Indeed, as part of their 2022 World Cup bid, Japan’s electronics industry talked of broadcasting games via life-size holograms inside stadiums around the world, while both the MIT Media Lab and the BBC’s Virtual Studiotechnology have already started experimenting with augmented reality TV.

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For more, contact Richard Nicholls at Future Foundation on 020 3008 6103 / richardn@futurefoundation.net.