Will TV Become As Irrelevant As Radio?

I was speaking to my brother Dominic Fawkes last night in London and we touched upon the changing role of television. Dominic is an expert across both media planning and creative strategy and he talked to me about how he felt that brands still see digital as a side-project, a playground, a sandbox. He told me that he still felt people at brands were over confident about TV — thinking that there still wasn’t a medium that had its reach and impact. The concern he had was that while the TV is still on in many homes across the globe, it has lost its place and become background noise in the same way radio evolved.

At PSFK we have been watching the development of multiscreen entertainment – how devices supplement, compliment and compete with TV content. When I chatted with Dominic, I asked him whether he thought TV quality had declined and digital experience improved. But he wondered out loud that maybe TV was never really that good, and we just didn’t have anything else to do. With apps and being able to access the web through our phones and tablets, we now do have better things to do.

It’s an interesting point to think about. When I was at CES in Las Vegas recently I got a little bored with going from the stand of one electronics manufacturer to another and seeing yet another TV with higher definition or more realistic 3D — or just a thinner monitor. These companies don’t seem realize that the game has changed. I didn’t notice any electronic firm demonstrate how their phones talked to their tablets which talked to their TVs. They all seemed so busy handing out 3D glasses to folks so they’d stand and do something that they’re actually doing less and less of: watching TV.

Is the decline of the importance of TV that unimaginable? Once everyone gathered around to listen to the wireless, now it’s something that plays in the background inside barber shops and office blocks. The radio makes white noise despite the content on it.

When Apple launches its television set I don’t think the Cupertino company is going to have the highest definition or the most realistic 3D. No, they’re going to change the game and bring the large screen into an interactive experience that flows across screens. The traditional manufacturers and the press may point out how Apple products may not meet the “Best in class” out there, but Apple will simply change the game like they did with the mobile phone, like they did with the digital music player.

What’s going to be interesting to track as things develop over the next 18 months is what the role of the TV will end up being. Will it be an equal partner in the TV experience or background noise to keep us company as we dive into richer experiences across more personal technologies? And if there is less interest, are the brands that fall back on television advertising (and viewer statistics) ready to be further ignored?