Consumers want widgets to help guide them through their increasingly complex online video experience, from channel surfing to easier to navigate video on demand, says a new report from Ernst & Young's Global Media & Entertainment Center. The report gives companies an aiming point for what has long been a moving target: interactive television.
"Widgets have very quickly become a part of consumers' daily lives, and you would be hard pressed to find a computer or mobile device without them," E&Y's John Nendick said in a prepared statement. "When you combine consumers' increasing reliance on widgets with the rapid incorporation of Web-enabled technology in almost all new hardware, the proliferation and adoption of widgets on television becomes self-evident."
The report said web-enabled TV might finally find acceptance with consumers because of the proliferation of widgets. Ernst & Young, pulling information from the Diffusion Group and Intel also found:
- 76 percent of consumers believe having a widget toolbar on their primary television would be valuable
- 61 percent say they'd like their television to connect to the Internet
- 30 percent consider the idea of news and information widgets on their television to be "appealing."
While just 400,000 Web-enabled TVs were sold in the U.S. this year, about 13.8 million will be in homes across the U.S. by 2013, E&Y said.
The report concludes that in the short-term, TV widgets will help companies reinforce their brands and promote their programming. Long-term, consumer adoption will ramp-up and advertising and pay-for-play will prove significant, allowing content companies and advertisers to strengthen their relationships with viewers through Web-enabled television. "TV widgets present content providers with an immediate opportunity to strengthen their relationships with consumers," said E&Y's Howard Bass.
For more:
- see this release
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