The Smarter Idiot

Recently I heard a seminar in which the speaker mentioned that there is a threat to TV medium, as average time we watch TV is decreasing. My mother, rather all the mothers in India, would have relaxed after this research if this statement would have been made a decade ago. But, the threat comes because of another smarter Idiot.


Traditionally, TV, the idiot box, has long continued to be the largest medium for consumers and hence advertisers. But traditional TV is facing the heat because of smarter devices. Though the size of the screen hung on the walls of family rooms is becoming larger, the average time spent in front of that screen is decreasing.

Marketers think of smartphones and tablets as the “first screen” and TV has been moved to second position. People with access to a smartphone or tablet now spend an average of 2 hours and 57 minutes on them each day and the old first screen on average gets about 2 hours and 48 minutes of attention each day, according to the recent research. The mobile device emerges as an even bigger winner when you filter the data for dedicated users.

An inflection point like this has clearly been coming. The amount of time that people spend watching TV has been flat for several years, while people continue to spend more and more time with apps. Most TV networks have also reported the decrease in subscriptions.

India has been largely immune to this phenomena, but things are changing quite fast here as well. While traditional TV might not have seen the drop in audiences and advertising, but the channels are already feeling the heat. With 4G already here smarter devices will happen here too.

The threat to TV is not only from the apps like Netflix and HotStar, but also from the social networking sites.  Facebook recently announced the launch of its latest video streaming feature called "Live". This will enable celebrities to live stream content about themselves to entire fan base. Moreover, the reach of Facebook is way far than the reach of any single broadcaster.

Imagine Star Plus telecasting the Filmfare,  but Facebook users watching it "Live" from the perspective of their stars.  Imagine IPL on MAX versus IPL through the eyes of Sachin Tendulkar or Shah Rukh khan in stands. With the best quality smartphones available in the market and the phones getting smarter the competition is going to be a revolution in the Media.

The "Thumb" generation wants sharable content at their thumb press rather than long boring format.
So, TV guys may feel completely lost in this battle.