Samsung teases plan for content and advertising on smart TVs
Personalised content and targeted ads could play a bigger role in how Samsung positions its smart TVs in the battle with smaller screens to dominate the connected home.
Samsung teases plan for content and advertising on smart TVs.
Samsung's rationale is that if the way people watch television is changing then picture quality is no longer going to be enough to convince them that they still need to own a big screen. Falling TV demand backs this up, with overall sales in the US tipped to slump 3% from $108bn in 2016 to $105bn this year, according to the Consumer Technology Association. Add to that the fact that mobile viewing continues thrive as more people stream video and the challenge of pulling them away from their smartphones, tablets or laptops in the home becomes clear.
“Ultimately, we provide the window to content and what we want to make sure of is that it as easy as possible to collate and access it all,” said Stuart Mayo, the marketing director for Samsung’s TV and audio visual business on the tweak in the way its focusing on advertising options and not just picture quality now.
For that to happen, the company needs content to differentiate itself from the competition, which is why this year it plans to bring on board more providers in each of its markets to sit alongside content partner Red Bull. “That’s a big focus for us now that we have the platform and the capability and over time I‘d imagine that we’ll start to work with a broader range of content providers. We need to make sure that whatever they’re developing is compatible with what we provide.”
Some might see this as Samsung’s first step toward creating and commissioning its own content and yet Mayo doesn’t think that will happen anytime soon. “Content creation at the moment is a very different business….what we’re doing with the partnerships is so much about the business model but rather understanding the expectations of the consumer. Our team in the US are working with content providers to raise awareness about what those content providers are offering when somebody might not necessarily be engaging in that content. It’s trying to raise awareness of new content.”
Such deals can be accessed by Samsung’s TV Plus, the “virtual channel” video service it launched last February and has spent the last the last year slowly expanding. After it launched in Korea, it then spread to Thailand, Vietnam and the US ahead of the European launch in April. Effectively, it aggregates a variety of on-demand services into a set-top box style channel guide that allows the viewer to flip between each one.
There’s also personalised options for those who like sport and music, both of which it showed off at this year’s CES. With sports, Samsung’s TVs will alert the viewer when their favorite teams are playing as well as the scores, something traditionally provided by the likes of Sky rather than the manufacturer. As for music, viewers can use their smart TV to identify songs played on television shows or ads in what is best described as having a built-in Shazam.
Samsung’s personalisation gambit isn’t just reserved for content. Advertising is another area the business is tentatively exploring after a recent update meant that people were forced to see display ads on the app menu if they want to use their television’s connected features. Unobtrusive at first when they appear at the bottom of the screen, the ads swell once highlighted to take up a quarter or around 75%, according to AdAge.
Users can opt-out of these “interest based ads” but the business has been inserting ads into the menu bars of its higher end TVs for some time.
The trial of its “interest based ads” launched last month and so Mayo said it was too early to tell gauge the reaction from viewers, though did say the move to show ads was about “trying to understand” its value. “You’ll see that all the manufacturers are looking at this space [advertising],” he continued. “The solution that is being worked on is that they are not intrusive. Some manufacturers have got overlays which really interrupt customer viewing experiences. We need to understand and look at the feedback that we got from the trials.”
Collecting viewing data in this way spotlights Samsung’s privacy policy for smart TVs, which it changed last year after a clause in it suggested that its models eavesdropped on viewers’ conversations which could contain sensitive information that might then get passed on to third parties.
In a statement to The Drum’s query on the implications its latest advertising play might have on its data privacy efforts, Samsung said: “Samsung takes consumer privacy very seriously, and as part of our Smart TV services, Samsung will not share or transfer consumer data. Samsung abides by industry-standard security safeguards and practices to protect consumers’ personal information.”
Personalisation it would seem is Samsung’s big bet for the next wave of its smart TVs. It was clearly a big part of its pitch to the industry at CES, with Won Jin Lee, executive vice president of Samsung Electonics making “personalised discovery” one of the key strands during his part of the brand’s keynote. Should it pay off then it could help turn its TVs into the hub for the whole family, something Mayo said is a priority for the technology business.
“I think in the future we’ll see that TV will become a key part of the Internet of Things. At this stage it’s probably recognised as part of the system in the network,” he explained. “We have to work out what the demand is for people because you have all sort sorts of devices wanting to be that command centre. That’s what we’re trying to work through now. We’re looking at how people are interacting with all of these connected devices and what device they want to be the ultimate control. As with anything there will be different preferences. We just need to make sure we’re ready and we’re exploring a number of opportunities to be that controller.”
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