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- Volume 3, Issue 2, 2012
International Journal of Digital Television - Volume 3, Issue 2, 2012
Volume 3, Issue 2, 2012
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The eccentric career of mobile television
More LessThe broadcast of television to mobile phones was an idea that seized public imagination in the early 2000s. This article looks at the roll-out of this mobile television, which was initially thought to be integral to the achievement of digital television across new platforms. This first phase of mobile television attracted pockets of adherents and also generated important innovations in audio-visual production and cultures of use. However, it fell short of becoming the promised 'fourth screen'. What transpired was a second, 'unofficial', stage of mobile television, formed at the intersection of user cultures of mobile media and Internet technologies. In this sense, I argue that we are seeing a second coming of mobile television – centring on these mobile, portable, interactive forms of audio-visual culture – that has much to tell us about the realities of digital television today.
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Online video in Australia
Authors: Jock Given, Rosemary Curtis and Marion McCutcheonOnline video has grown rapidly in Australia in recent years, as in other parts of the world. This article provides results from an analysis of the state of this sector conducted in 2011. First, it summarizes overall audio-visual media usage in Australia, including online and other media. Second it explains the methodology and results of an analysis of 25 websites over the year from June 2010 to June 2011 and notes some qualifications about the state of online video measurement. These sites were selected because they are popular online sources of fiction content. Third, it describes the main features of the 25 sites, including the types of content offered, the delivery technologies and the business models. This work is part of a larger project that aims to quantify the changing ways Australians are watching and engaging with audio-visual stories across the cinema, free-to-air and subscription television, consumer/DVD, online and mobile sectors. The larger project, 'Spreading fictions: Distributing stories in the online age', is being conducted from 2010–2013 by The Swinburne Institute for Social Research in Melbourne and the University of Sydney, supported by the Australian Research Council, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and Screen Australia. The focus on narrative fiction content reflects the high priority given by successive governments in Australia and overseas to policies encouraging the making, promotion, screening and discussion of local audio-visual works, especially feature films, adult and children's TV dramas and documentaries. These policies are based on the high cost of these formats relative to the revenue-earning capacity of national markets. Challenges to these underlying economics are coming from at least three related directions: technology, audience behaviour and business models.
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Digital TV switchover in Portugal: What is in it for the viewer?
By Célia QuicoThe implications and impact of the transition process from the analogue terrestrial TV to digital terrestrial TV on the Portuguese TV viewers will be addressed in this article. We start with an overview of the switchover process in Portugal from 2001 to early 2012, after which we outline the research project ADOPT-DTV from Universidade Lusfona, whose major goal was to understand the most significant factors for the Portuguese population in adopting or rejecting digital TV in the switchover context. Then, we present a selection of the main results of this project, focusing on the free-to-air and pay-TV penetration rates, as well as awareness and knowledge about the digital TV switchover process, intentions to adopt digital TV and, finally, the socio-economic profiles of pay-TV viewers compared with free-to-air TV viewers. With switchover concluded in April 2012, just after this article has been written, we can say that the transition process has so far hardly brought any tangible benefits to Portuguese viewers: no increase of free TV channels, no high-definition channels, less coverage by the digital terrestrial television (DTT) network than by the analogue network, no new interactive services besides the electronic programme guide, and the improvement in picture and sound quality is debatable. In short, all things considered, what is in it for the Portuguese viewer?
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Technological convergence in audio-visual technologies
Authors: Cédric Courtois, Evelien Dheer and Dimitri SchuurmanThis article presents the results of a large-scale survey on viewing practices. Data from over 10,000 cases are used to explore the adoption-use diffusion gap and the correlation structures in the frequency of use of multiple channels (e.g. linear television, download, video-on-demand) on multiple devices. The results show that, although a lot of devices capable of audio-visual playback have been adopted, few of them are used to consume television content. Furthermore, in terms of viewing frequency, the data suggest spillover effects of using multiple devices, rather than a displacement. Finally, the results show a stable tendency to use multiple delivery channels within devices, rather than the formation of a pattern between devices. That is, channels usage frequency is correlated within devices, rather than scattered among devices.
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User experience with digital television: Aqualitative investigation of young and elderly people
Authors: Filomena Papa, Bartolomeo Sapio and M. Felicia PelagalliThis article introduces a qualitative investigation to explore and analyse user experience with digital television and, more generally, with future services made available by broadband Information and Communications Technology (ICT). The investigation is focused on some specific segments of the population where it seemed more interesting to evaluate the effects of change: the elderly and young people. For the segment comprising elderly people, the results show that the impact of the change is very strong. The investigation suggests that the elderly people extensively utilizing new digital television channels are the same as those utilizing their explorative abilities over the Internet (looking for old friends on Facebook or reading online newspapers). For teenagers the impact of the change is minimal. Their readiness to grasp and deal with the unexpected, coupled with a growing distance from television, makes them crucial actors in supporting elderly relatives in need, but also distracted viewers regarding the innovations offered by digital television.
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Evaluating programme-embedded advertising format for Interactive Digital Television
Authors: Paraskevi Vennou, Evangelia Mantzari and George LekakosIn this article we examine the effectiveness of a new format of interactive advertising with respect to the user's interest and preference for a product while watching a TV programme of relative importance. More specifically, our objective was to test a new ad format for interactive digital television in comparison to an established one, and to examine how the differences in the programme flow and in the degree of user attendance would affect his or her preferences and satisfaction. The design of ads was based on Adobe Director and a usability evaluation was conducted, before the production of the ad prototypes for the research on their effectiveness. Additionally, the technical limitations of current business practice and the European legal framework for the audio-visual interactive media environment have been taken into consideration, in order to provide a feasible and applicable system. Empirical findings suggest that the new ad format (Selectable Item Ad – SIA) is highly effective for people's interest and participation. Our research provides insight for advertisers and producers, because it establishes that the design of a suitable ad depends significantly on the ad's objectives, on the viewer's specific interest for the promoted product, and on the relative importance of the TV programme for the viewer.
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Audience measurement and digitalization: Integrating TV and Internet?
Authors: Iris Jennes and Jo PiersonThe article fits in the broader context of how digitalization affects the television value network and the changing roles of different actors. The focus is on how audiences or users might (or might not) challenge the power relations between these actors. For this we discuss the role of audience measurement in the television business model as well as the challenges for accurate audience measurement due to digitalization. The article begins by describing digitalization and the main consequences for the media environment in general. This overview helps to contextualize the changes and challenges in the television industry. Next we briefly situate some key actors in the television industry (distributors, broadcasters and advertisers) and changes to their position in the value network due to digitalization of television. We relate the latter to changes in audience behaviour in general. Finally we explore the potential challenges in digital TV audience measurement and compare these to the practices and challenges of Internet audience measurement. This way, possibilities and obstructions for audience measurement in the future can be assessed.
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BOOK REVIEWS
Authors: Mark Wheeler, Jeffrey A. Hart and Michael StarksGLOBAL MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION POLICY, PETROS IOSIFIDIS (2011) Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 288 pp., ISBN: 978-0-230-21879-6, h/bk, 55
WATCHING THE INTERNET: THE FUTURE OF TV?, JOSE MARIA ALVAREZ-MONZONCILLO (2011) Oporto, Portugal: Media XXI, 240 pp., ISBN: 9789898143839, p/bk, 17 euros
THE RISE AND FALL OF TELEVISION JOURNALISM, STEVEN BARNETT (2011) London: Bloomsbury Academic, 286 pp., ISBN 978-1-84966-611-4, p/bk 19.99 (also available as ebook)
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