2016 TV Year in Review: Ben Smith, SVP of Experience, Hulu
The below post is part of Found Remote's 2016 Year in Review guest post series and is written by Ben Smith, Senior Vice President of Experience, Hulu.
In less than 100 years, television has transformed the world. It has changed the way we get our news, entertain ourselves, spend time with friends and family, and above all else, interact with the world around us. TV transformed the layouts of our living rooms and impacted how we planned our days and nights – until technology mobilized this experience, allowing us to watch what we want, when we want, and where we want.
In 2016, there’s more television-- and more ways to watch television-- than ever before. Consumers are stuck in a vicious cycle with cable and satellite companies of bloated prices, fragmented experiences between apps and hardware, abysmal customer service, and a general dissatisfaction with the overall cable experience (which they pay too much for).
TV is at a pivotal point. For years, cable and satellite companies have been content with the status quo, but TV viewers are no longer satisfied with what traditional cable packages offer and are looking for something that actually fits their lifestyle. It’s not that people don’t love TV – rather, they just need an experience that is tailored to today’s quickly-changing landscape.
In 2017, the industry will finally start listening and responding to the broken relationship that viewers are experiencing with television. We’ll see many players come to market with live TV delivered via the internet, but the new race won’t just be about who has the most content or who can best replicate cable TV in the OTT world. It will be about the experience and how content is surfaced to viewers. The race to remain at the top will be focused on innovative interfaces, intuitive recommendations and products that can quickly adapt to the viewers’ needs.
Additionally, innovations like VR will also take television into new territories where viewers will be able to be a part of the stories they love like never before. VR has the potential to completely shake up the television viewing experience, offering the opportunity for television fans everywhere to fully immerse themselves in completely new worlds. New content created especially for VR will push the boundaries of storytelling, while complimentary content can be created to enhance the shows we already know and love.
Ultimately, successful products will be the ones that embrace the viewer, streamline user experiences and provide deep personalization to keep up with the evolving entertainment landscape. Customization will play a critical factor in this and we will continue to see more products learning and adapting to user viewing habits, as well as an evolved UI that is intuitive and unique to each viewer. Content that will be offered will also need to adapt, and live television can’t be left out of this mix, consumers need to be able to customize the best of both worlds - live TV and TV on demand.
Bottom line: Any technology that makes your television experience actually your television experience will win.
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