Smart TV and AI Technologies Usher in the Era of Interactive Television

If Mr Robot creatorwriterdirector Sam Esmail were to make a sequel of this scene he might have Gummeramp8217s character speak directly to her television set rather than a tabletop Echo amp160A fastgrowing number of smart TV sets and TVconnected devices Amazon Fire TV included deploy artificial intelligencepowered voice features inside these productsamp160 Whatamp8217s more it appears every smart set and device recently constructed gives users the power to control via voice how they watch and use TV with the help of Alexa Siri or Google Assistantamp160 Bixby another voice format became a prime feature of new Samsung smart TVs last winterSome industry analysts believe the ability to control these products by voice may eliminate the last barrier to entering the era of interactive TV an era feverishly anticipated since the 1970samp160when cable subscribers in Columbus Ohio could play with the experimental Qube serviceamp160 With more voicepowered sets a given and the voice formats themselves getting more sophisticated in language and ability thereamp8217s a degree of belief that indeed the ITV age is finally underwayamp8220Itamp8217s hard to say at the moment what the traction will be or the impact on overall TV use without dataamp8221 says Peter Katsingris Nielsenamp8217s Senior Vice President of Audience Insights amp160amp8220I feel the easier technology is for consumers to use and the more comfortable they are with it the more likely they will be to take advantage of itamp8221If ITV hasn39t fully left the starting gate it39s certainly very close muses Stephanie MitchkoBeale Chief Technology and Operating Officer at Cadent amp160amp8220The smart TV ecosystem is a new emerging tool for consumers especially young consumersamp8221 she explains amp160amp8220The ability to incorporate intelligent data across all of these devices is going to have an important transformational effect onamp160commerce content either its curation or creation and absolutely advertising amp160The use of AI lends itself to targeted advertising the holy grail of what marketers and brands have been looking for over the years on TVamp8221MitchkoBeale who spent 15 years in various roles at Cablevision Systems now part of Altice USA before moving to Cadent believes once consumers buy a smart set or device incorporating AI it will be a quick learning curve to command what they want or wish to see amp160amp8220People I know talk about these servicesamp160as if theyamp8217re a personquot she saysamp160 quotMy parents use Alexa to make phone calls buy things and find content on their TVamp160 As voice recognition and natural language processing continues to mature the adoption weamp8217re seeing will exponentially explodeamp8221Two developments will help fuel the movement to voicecommand TV in MitchkoBealeamp8217s estimation amp160One is a common level of sophistication among all the voice formats no matter what smart set or device someone buys amp160The other is the introduction of voiceactivated remote control by multichannel cable and satellite operators as an alwaysavailable consumer optionThereamp8217s still work ahead to reach that common benchmark of voice sophistication MitchkoBeale says amp160amp8220Weamp8217re in the early early stages of capability under machinelearning technology and natural language recognition amp8230 and those things are progressing very very quicklyamp8221When interactive advertising and commerce takeamp160off marketers will personalize their campaigns to consumers in onetoonefashion she adds amp160amp8220Addressability and measurement for that are key where the marketer can measure return on investment know theyamp8217re reaching the right people with the right message and can measure change in behavior amp160Our addressable ad team is seeing a lot of interest here and advertisers are coming to our tableamp8221With all the speculation aboutamp160Walmart launching a smart TVdevicedistributed programming service as early as this ThanksgivingChristmas holiday season keepamp160in mind the retaileramp8217s recent agreement with Microsoft to use its streaming technology and the fact that Microsoft has its own AI voice format known as Cortanaamp160 The result could be a combo of interactive content and commerce ventureamp8220Companies like Walmart who have huge subscriber bases and lots of data about what their subscribers buy and how they use products and services have the ability to create a marketplace within programmingamp8221 adds MitchkoBeale amp160amp8220Itamp8217s funny in a way to have Walmart and programming in the same sentence amp160But companies like Walmart can easily create packaged offerings with video services or launch content that includes commerce opportunities for the plethora of products they offer consumers amp160I donamp8217t know if they want to take over the world but they are wellsuited to have a service like thatamp8221As for content there will be several ways AI might impact the kind of content people see from chooseyourowndirection formats to camera angle selection at any momentamp160 MitchkoBeale foresees a situation where an episode is automatically tailored to someoneamp8217s behavior using AI amp160amp8220The content might know that one household wants to walk away laughing while another household wants a cliffhanger and another wants to cry at the end and be emotionally involvedamp8221 she suggests amp160amp8220This will require a sea change in content production to make all these alternative character scenarios produced and available amp160That will happenamp8221This is the third in a series of columnsamp160by Simon Applebaum about recent advances in smart TVamp160Photo creditamp160 Franck VUnsplashClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Smart TV and AI Technologies Usher in the Era of Interactive Television

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