carlodemarchis

From Public Extroverts to Private Chats

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 18 Nov 2013 13:42:00 +0000

The evolution of the Social Landscape

Get an up-to-date, clearer picture of where Social Media is going.

As much as Social Media is an often talked subject in conversations, publications and online media, there is an unclear and often misleading perception of what it is composed of.

Everybody thinks about Facebook and twitter, but the new emerging platforms like Line, WeChat, Whatsapp as well as visual apps like Snapchat, Pinterest, Instagram are growing sometimes faster than others and becoming the cool place to be for teenagers and more.

Even if few players seem to dominate the scene, the latest stats of Monthly Active Users (MUAs) or Active Users (UA) show a more fragmented scenario when you consider the global social media landscape (see the image above the headline of the article).

The more notable insights that are different from our common sense knowledge from those stats are:

There are massive regional specific social platforms
The most famous platforms are not always the most adopted as we expect
The visual app phenomena is here to stay = if you are visual you win

I believe it is useful to aggregate this fragmented scenario in four categories (with examples):

Interest networks: twitter
Social networks: facebook
Social Chat platforms: Line, WeChat, KakaoTalk
Messaging platforms: Whatsapp

In those 4 categories there is a transition that goes from Public Extroverts to Private Chats, i.e. from acting in a public open space to having one-on-one private conversations.

Public Extroverts: on twitter everything you write and post is public, everything you read is coming from someone you follow instead.

This asymmetry creates a duality in the audience and makes twitter perfect for who has news for the worldwide audience. Or who wants to follow what goes on in real life and on TV depending on their own interests.

Social Everyone: everyone is on Facebook. Friends, friends of friends, family, relatives, people you may know, people you don’t like at all. But too much success is becoming an issue for Mark Zuckerberg’s creature. The fact that everybody is there is making some users go elsewhere, for teenagers Facebook is not anymore the cool place to be. Very often they get parents or relatives to comment on their photos and posts which is the king of uncool.

Just chat: it started with Whatsapp as a free alternative to SMS, then developed into a mainstream solution for messaging with almost 350 registered users at time we write this. Whatsapp approach is keeping it raw and simple, messaging at the core with minimal indulgence to extra features. It added sharing of photos, videos, audio notes but always in the messaging paradigm.

The new trend and Teenagers: other messaging apps developed following Whatsapp footsteps, LINE in Japan, WeChat in China and KakaoTalk in Korea (and others in various countries).

These new platforms are moving into being more and more full blown social platforms, they even have profile pages and brand are starting to be present with some serious numbers.

FC Barcelona has more than 9M followers on LINE.

FC Barcelona Profile Page on LINE

These platforms are making money with things like stickers (think of a comic funnier version of emoticons) and games that users play while chatting. Before easily discount them as ridiculous gimmicks consider that LINE made $58M in the last quarter of 2013 from those two sources of revenue.

FC Barcelona LINE Stickers

Spain is the european country where LINE (15M users) and WeChat have developed the most. FC Barcelona and other sport franchises have been at the forefront of promoting/endorsing those platforms.

Lionel Messi testimonial for WeChat

Conclusion

I believe Facebook and twitter should look seriously into these new trends and understand what role they want to play in the messaging area.

If you are a sport brand you should understand how to be active on these new platforms and follow your fans where they (digitally/socially) move to.

Last Minute

Facebook just launched the new Facebook Messenger (which launches as default from Facebook app for messaging) directly targeting Whatsapp. At first sight: nice interface.

Appendix

Must read article from the Guardian:

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/10/teenagers-messenger-apps-facebook-exodus

Stats galore from TheNextWeb:

http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2013/11/12/10-surprising-social-media-statistics-might-make-rethink-social-strategy/

The linear path of media consumption: from big and far to small and very close.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 05:08:00 +0000

The linear path of media consumption: from big and far to small and very close.
How sizes, distances, audiences evolved in the last 100 years.

I am at the WebSummit in Dublin, as I am listening to speakers talking about various disruptions in the digital landscape, I have a sudden epiphany about the linear path that media consumption has gone through.

To make it simple:

from big and far to small and very close.

To understand exactly what I mean consider these 5 simple steps:
1. Cinema: huge, far, with many people (1900)
2. TV: big, few meters, with family (1950)
3. Computers: small, 50cm, alone, web enabled (1995)
4. Mobile: very small, in your hands, alone, connected, portable, some sensors (2007)
5. Wearables: extremely small, on you, alone, connected, portable, many sensors (2012)

There is a very interesting path, that almost linearly, brings all dimensions in the same direction: from big to small, from far to close, from multitude to single, from isolated to connected, from dumb to super smart.

The advent of each new way of consumption has changed the model but TV did not kill Cinema (it changed it dramatically), Computers did not kill TV (they changed it), Mobile did not kill Computers (almost), Wearable will not eliminate Mobile devices (maybe).

Screens

Screens sizes have dramatically shrunk from Cinema to Wearables with a sequence like: 9x21m, 32" to 60", 15" to 21", 5" to 9", ???

Distance

Distance from the viewing device has also dramatically decreased:
5 to 50m, 2 to 4m, 50cm, 20cm, 0 to1cm

Audience

The Audience has taken a similar path: hundreds of people, a group of people (family often), the viewer alone but viewable to others, just the viewer. So there is a clear transition to individuality.
But. There is a but.
In terms of shareability things look different. In a Cinema I would possibly share the experience with a friend sitting close to me, on TV I can share with the small group of people around me, on connected devices I can virtually share with the world and interact.

Choice

Choice for Cinema means walking to another place, for TV it’s about channels (initially few now hundreds), for connected devices the choice is almost unlimited.

Cost

The per-user cost is increased through time. A cinema would be shared amongst a huge amount of viewers, TV amongst a few, computers between 1 and 2, connected devices strictly one-on-one, hence the steep increase of cost.

Connected

Cinema and TV are not connected (ok new TVs are somehow but then they become like a computer), Computers, Mobile devices, Wearables are deeply connected.

Portable

The shift in portability is even more dramatic going from a building (the Cinema), a bulky object (TV), another bulky object (desktop Computer), to an optionally portable object (laptop), to pocket size portable object (Smartphone) to objects that are so portable that we wear them.

Interactivity

Cinema is a one-to-many passive experience, TV too, all connected devices have some or many elements of interactivity, including users creating content by themselves and publishing directly to be accessed by other viewers.

Context

Just think how much the devices for media consumption have become smarter. A cinema could count ticket sold, TV would use weak audience measurement metrics, computers would have almost no intelligence if not IP-based geo-targeting, smartphones have substantial contextual information (location, acceleration, touch…), wearables are progressively adding personal sensors in the landscape.

Why this matters

I believe there is an inner logic in the way this transformation has taken place. Smaller, closer, more personal, always with us.

In theory this may implicitly design more lonely human beings, getting isolated by the community, but I can not imagine in the past a more connected world that the one we are living in now.

What’s next

If we can imagine this process can continue on the same direction there is an obvious sequel to it: as media consumption has gradually get closer to us and reached our body, then it will eventually go under our skin inside our body. I does not make a lot of sense for now and it’s fucking scary. But as Robert Scoble says: “I would rather swallow a pill with a camera and have it traverse my body, than having to do a colonscopy”. These things are becoming real.

We may think to reinvent Cinema and embed mobile and wearable devices in a new connected user experience, ever thought about Second Screen for Cinemas? Or about how to transform public viewing of top sport event in a more immersive connected experience?

The merge of TV and connected digital devices is already happening, I predict that the TV will become just a screen as those devices will have all the intelligence and will control the interaction, furthermore all devices will be interconnected and will understand the user transition from one to another, bringing context and content where it matters.

I believe that, as things are now so personal and we communicate a lot more virtually, the ways we share what we are watching in real time will get better and better.

Should every sport have telemetry data like Formula 1?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 10:39:00 +0000

A short essay on the “Big data” expansion path in sport

“Data” in sport has always been a key topic, but its relevancy has been very much connected to the nature of the sport and the progress in technology.

Advanced technology (the internet of things, wearables, sensors) has started to provide massive amount of data points about sport performances, which needs to be translated into meaningful information for sport professionals and fans. Infographics methods and our ability to manage and understand “Big Data” will help to make this happen.

For some sport data and stats are a useful storytelling source, for other sport they are the essence of the sport. Quite clearly a football match can be played with just someone tracking the goal count (not a tough job), while an alpine ski downhill does not make any sense with proper timekeeping in place.

In some sports, “data” is a media need in other it’s a sport need.

Formula 1 gets deep data feeds from in-car systems (often referred to as “telemetry”), technology made that possible years ago, they had dual value: for teams and media. They allow teams to have deep realtime information about what was going on in the car and at the driver. They allow media to create deeper storytelling and more immersive user experiences for fans.

What if we could apply similar systems to any other sport? Maybe during these next 10 years.

There are two aspects which we should consider: the data gathering part and the data interpretation and diffusion.

There also three user segments we should create value for: sport professionals, media and fans.

Sport professionals need information that will enhance the performance of athletes.
Media need data content that they can use for storytelling.
Fans need stories, entertainment and gaming opportunities.

A look at the future for some sports and how deep data could change the way performances are recorded.

Football (Soccer)

We already have quite sophisticated tracking system, used in most high-level competitions which track X,Y,Z coordinates of all players, the referee and the ball. They are based on video recognition techniques with special camera positioned on the stands.

To be specific we consider that a football match generates in average 2000 traditional data points, with tracking this goes to 2 million Big data points.

Football tactics is quite sophisticated and the amount of elaboration and intelligence that needs to be applied is very complex, even now we are not doing enough to create value from the existing data we gather.

The next obvious step would be to have sensors on players and ball to have more precise and detailed tracking of each movement including acceleration and direction of movement, making it possible to recreate the full match in a 3D space virtually and automatically.

Athletics

Athletics is a multi-sport event per-se: horizontal and vertical jumps, throws, track, marathon, walk all have different logic and structure.

Current data gathering technology range from electronic/optical measurement for distances (jumps and throws), photo-finish (track), video recognition (horizontal jumps), in-shoe sensors (marathon).

Most data gathered is required for the competition itself, just a minimal part is used for additional storytelling .

I think sensors on athletes (shoes?) can generate a massive amount of data that could provide key information to both sport professionals and storytellers. At the same time sensors in objects for throws can also provide deep understanding of the performance.

In 100 metres we will be able to understand the exact positioning of each athlete on the track during those long 9 seconds, we will finally be able to understand who leads before they come out of the turn to the straight final 100 metres. Also the number of steps and length of steps will provide insights of how each athlete run differently.

In long jump we will be able to understand the run part and maybe even predict it will be a foul before it happens.

Golf

A Golf scoreboard with basic data (players, holes, scores) is quite impressive per-se, 4 days, 100 players, 18 holes per day, 3 to 5 shots per hole…

Golf is a sport played on a very wide area and the live coverage is already a challenge per se as many times even data connection is problematic and results are not always fully in real-time. Nevertheless a good amount of data is collected.

With sensors on players, clubs and balls a lot more can be tracked and the game itself can be covered more in realtime.

The exact positioning of every player in the gold course at any time, the distance from the hole of the ball, the speed and trajectory of the ball, etc…

A huge infrastructure will be needed, but with the progress of technology we have learned that impossible become possible through the years.

Controversial debate

I have heard some friends and colleagues asking the following question:

“Why do we need more data? We have too much data today and we cannot even figure out how we can make some sense of it.”

I agree on one hand we collectively have to find creative ways to tell the true story of sport events and athletes performance.

But going from “data” to “Big Data” I think we may see a sea change if we do not only collect massive amount of data but also use big data intelligence tools to make them meaningful. A deep understanding of the sport and of the audience are crucial to make this happen.

Conclusion

Around year 2000 a very innovative company left a mark: Quokka. They had a short life but did some impressive extreme data integration design. They connected heart rate performance of athletes to live websites and similar stuff. They were too much ahead of their time, and some things they did are still not reality today.

This may seem a lot intimidating but please consider that a lot of sport amateurs are now running, riding, skiing with a lot more sensors and technologies than any professional athlete at a world class event is. Will they find it weird when they are on the fans/spectator side of things?

Will all of this de-humanize sport? My belief is that it will create more engagement and more knowledge, both of which I can’t see as negative. So I feel positive and challenged about being part of this (r)evolution.

How I fell in love with Angela Ahrendts (ex Burberry CEO now VP retail at Apple)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 10:40:00 +0000

I mean professionally.

Three main reason:

Culture
Brand
Design

I was completely inspired by what she did with Burberry since 2006, not only in term of hard achievements (tripled revenues) but also in how she achieved that.
I am looking forward to see how she will change Apple for retail and beyond.

The culture of empowerment

"[The challenge] is getting communities and getting companies to truly keep pace with every single individual because this"--she waved her iPhone--"is enabling them," she said. "If you want to keep the next generation and if you want them to be united, you have to see this is how they live. You have to blow up all your existing policies--everything!--and rebuild them around this."

The brand approach
Her approach to the brand and what it means to the business is iconic.

"Everything we’ve done is counterintuitive to traditional selling organizations, with their traditional training. My dad used to always say that he could teach anything but he couldn’t teach how to feel. That’s the hardest part when you have 11,000 people: How do you teach them to feel how we feel? When I first started, we had no training programs--none of that. We had to put in world-class sales and service training programs. The thing is, I don’t want to be sold to when I walk into a store. I want to be welcomed. The job is to be a brilliant brand ambassador. Everybody is welcome. Don’t be judgmental whatsoever. Look them in the eyes. Welcome them. ‘How are you?’ Don’t sell! NO! Because that is a turnoff. So how do you hire all these amazing people and put them in a world-class retail setting and then say, ‘But you’re not allowed to sell’?! How do you put this whole digital team together and say, ‘But we are not doing any direct marketing to sell to you!’? The digital guys look at you like you’re nuts. But no, no, no, no, no. What we have wanted to do is build an amazing brand experience and an amazing way that people can engage with the brand. Then it will naturally happen. And then I don’t care where they buy. I only care that they buy the brand.”

With all respect I found a lot of "idem-sentire" on how he explains the relationship with customers, sales and brand with my personal beliefs and style.
The fact that she said " I hired a chief customer officer who came from Lloyds who built us a huge insights and analytics department. " sounds a lot like my views on the Chief Fans Officer for sport (http://cdmwebguru.blogspot.it/2013/06/everybody-needs-cfo-chief-fans-officer.html).

Design first

"Great design...you won't have a business today without great design," said Ahrendts, sounding ever more like an Apple veteran. "[Design and business] are so inexplicably linked--at all levels."

What I specifically found fascinating is how she opened up extreme innovation in the company's approach to marketing and retail as an execution of their brand approach, joining up completely online and offline, virtual and physical.
Like what they have done in the London regent Street store mixing video, online, and physical goods in a totally new way, or how they used the just launched iPhone 5S to shoot a fashion show live.

Please listen her at 2:59 in the above video when she says: "... If you don't believe that there is a massive convergence coming between digital and youTube and TV. An average consumer has now been enabled to create some of the most brilliant content through a device that they already have."

Let's see how she will change Apple retail.
I believe we should apply what make sense from what she did in fashion to the world of sport media, i think there is some interesting inspiration here.

Sources:
YouTube videos
Fast Company article by Austin Carr (http://www.fastcompany.com/3019991/apples-new-consumer-experience-chief-angela-ahrendts-on-the-future-of-retail)

How Chromecast, YouTube and Netflix can change TV

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 10:21:00 +0000

There has been a lot of buzz around Second-screen, Multi-screen and the and the duality between TV and digital devices, technologies that bridged the gap emerged already in the past years, but now a combination of a small/cheap device from Google (Chromecast), an open second screen protocol (DIAL) and applications like youTube, Netflix and YouTube are starting a revolution that can change the TV experience substantially.

Some facts:

There is a shift to consuming content and watching video on digital devices more than on TV. See this New York Times study (http://mashable.com/2013/10/11/millennials-online-videos/) that says that for 34% millennials (age range 18-34) online video is the preferred (or only) way to consume video, 50% of users watch online video at least once a day.
Operating Smart TVs and Set Top Boxes with rudimental and very old remote control devices (numbers, arrows, OK buttons) is unpractical, and becomes ridiculous when compared to the experience on a tablet or smartphone app. Have you ever seriously used the SmartTV portion of your Samsung TV? I mean seriously?

Why do i need to operate a clunky, slow and inconvenient remote control to discover content and consume on TV when more and more of the content I want is on one of my easy-to-use-everywhere-I-am digital devices?

What Chromecast allows is to discover content on YouTube, Netflix, Hulu etc... and with a touch of a button send the video part of the experience on the big screen. No need for set top boxes, no need to go through nonsense configurations by entering username and passwords with a remote control, etc...

I will use my devices wherever I am to watch video online, then connect to the big screen when possible and convenient for me.

Easy.

I obviously need to have available on my devices the content that matters to me.

Why can Chromecast change things now?

It costs 35$, and it is as small as a fatty USB key.
It is easy to install
It just needs a wifi network to operate

Chromecast is Smart TV done right.

Chromecast will not make your TV smarter, it will use it just as screen, a dumb monitor.

Why can YouTube, Netflix, Hulu etc... have a big impact when used with Chromecast?

Next steps = What should happen:

In my humble opinion TV manufacturer should embed DIAL (Chromecast protocol) features in ALL their TV set from now on.
Content providers platforms and Apps like Netflix should adopt this technologies to seamlessly send the video portion on the big screen when available and keep the other part of the expereince on the digital device.

More about the above mentioned products and technologies:

Chromecast: http://www.google.it/intl/en/chrome/devices/chromecast/#netflix

DIAL (and how it is different from AirPlay): http://gigaom.com/2013/01/23/dial-open-airplay-competitor/

The 3 big disruptions of the media landscape

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 13:24:00 +0000

What you and your company need to master to survive and thrive in the next 5 years.

Let's start with a clear statement and followup up with some more detailed explanation.

There are 3 disruptions that are crucial for the future of media:

The disruption of media consumption
The disruption of media communication
The disruption of media production

They are all interconnected and we will need to understand their impact on how we see things today and the major opportunities and challenges they bring to our current business.

The disruption of media consumption

The way people consume media has changed also in the last century dramatically but is now changing at a faster pace than ever. We need to understand and anticipate these trends and relate them to our current models.

In few years we have gone from a TV centric landscape to a multi-dimensional, multi-platform, multi-channel and much more fragmented scenario in which users (viewers) have an incredible array of possibilities to discover and consume content.
The main driver has been the advent of mobile devices in the form of smartphones, tablets, phablets, wearables etc... as well as the fragmentation of media outlets, more than the standard broadcasters and news properties we were used to.

Please read my article on "The Anthropology of Devices"

Users are now more and more contextually engaged

Before:

After:

The disruption of media communication

In the past broadcasters and media outlets controlled the communication towards audiences, they were an intermediate layers between real life sources of content and viewers/users.
With the advent of social media and social platforms we have seen two crucial trends:

Starting with things like the readwrite web, we have moved from communication to conversation. it's not anymore about media going to a passive audience, the audience is now active and often goes beyond media
As consequence we have witnessed what I call "The disintermediation of the conversation", not only media outlets are communicating but many actors and the audience itself act in a conversation space

In sports it means we now have Federations, Teams, Clubs, Athletes directly having conversation and interactions with fans, and by the way because of disruption no. 1 this happens on multiple channels and platforms.

Please read my article about: "Everybody wants to become a broadcaster"

All actors are becoming media outlets, they all want to own the conversation with the audience and monetize it.

Before:

After:

What can they do:

The disruption of media production

Media production has in the past being focused on producing content for print and for TV.
Even with the advent of the internet and digital video platforms, most of the content production models have been still designed around old paradigms.
The same two forces (mobile and social) in addition to the evolution of digital technologies are also impacting how content is going to be produced in the future.
Why if the consumption is now different with multiple channels available, and the conversation is now different with multiple actors driving it, content for a major sport event (as an example) is still produced only for TV (1 channel, video only etc...) and then somehow repurposed for all other platforms?
Mobile devices, social platforms and new technologies open a wealth of new opportunities to create content in real time, from different angles, involving directly the actors of the action.

Please read my article about Digital Native Content Creation

Conclusion

It looks like one disruption impacts the other and so on... so we will need to figure what this means for our specific business.

The disruption of media consumption - mobile and multi-platform

This means: more ways to consume content

The disruption of media communication - social and the disintemediation of the conversation

This means: more sources of content

The disruption of media production - digital native content production

This means: more and more variety of content

In my humble opinion this sends a clear message to the business:

"Beware of the status quo. Even if you think your business is very solid and protected by high entry barriers look at the Music business lesson and think ahead. Don't let other disrupt your business, do it yourself. The long term competitive advantage is under attack, look for the next transient competitive advantage."

The Anthropology of Devices

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 11:09:00 +0000

How social context changes consumption

As I do spend a lot of my thinking trying to understand how users will experience media in the coming years, I wanted to consolidate my views about the transformation that will take place around TV and how the social context where people live will drive this transformation.

We are facing a multiplication of screens and digital devices that adds to the existing TV and computers paradigm of the last 50 to 25 years, those digital devices are normally connected and portable.
They are THE object that most of us have close more than anything else to themselves, "the first thing you touch in the morning the last you touch at night" was said - hopefully not...

They have changed so many aspects of our life that we don't have realize how many of them were totally different some years ago.
Check Mary Meeker's State of the Internet 2012 slides 33 to 84 to have a emotional trip through how things in many sectors were THEN and are NOW.

(Please note the one embedded above is fomr 2012 the latest one is here)

Which devices will people -especially the new generation, own and how will they interact with them in the next 10 years?

A smartphone/tablet incorporates, in one device, so many functions that were somehow performed using other physical devices and objects:

phone
portable music player
photo camera
video camera
computer
TV
newspapers
magazines
books
GPS
navigator
maps
compass
wallet
...

So on one hand the types of digital devices multiplies, this means fragmentation but in a very cohesive space
These devices and the applications and platforms that are making them useful also disrupted a lot of other businesses or deviated their path.

I spent quite some months in Japan long time ago - at the end of the 80's and at the start of the 90's, mostly in Tokyo but also in some cities and villages in other areas of the country.
At those time it was easy to find a job and even a well paid job for the young generations being single or couples or families.
We were in the midst of the Consumer Electronic (and Japanese) boom,
The life in Tokyo was extremely expensive and buying a house was not even a dream for most of the middle class, because of the city regulations even owning a car was extremely expensive (not for the car itself but for need to an available garage to store it as a pre-requisite).
So basically there were a big segment of consumers who would have money but would not direct them at more long term objects and investments but otherwise utilize them to fill the (small) flats with consumer electronics like stereos, TVs, refrigerator and all sort of house appliances.
I personally remember going to Akihabara and surf consumer electronics shop that were bulimic supermarket of everything you could imagine, it was an experience.

I believe we are facing a similar situation now after the 2008 crisis and shift in interest especially for the young generation.
When I was 18 the first dream (in terms of what to buy) of most of us urban males in Torino (northern Italy) was a car. Owning a car meant mobility (a motorbike or scooter would work too), and very often meant a girlfriend :). The car defined the Italian male - it still does in some cases...
Right after that age when people start to think about settling down, the next big thing you want to buy is a house, which means mortgage and less money for the next some years.
A house needed a TV etc...

Today - being a bit extreme - I do not know many 18 years old who see a car as their top dream, either because it's way above their budget or because they have no interest in it.
The young generation is also facing a very high unemployment rate - especially in Europe - which leads to a delay in moving out of the family house and also when this happens buying a house has become quite challenging also for the middle class.
The young generation wants digital devices even if that maybe one of the few things hey are in a position to buy.
I just found further evidence of this in a NYT article (http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/a-teenage-question-a-car-or-a-smartphone/?_r=0).
The question is what kind of media devices would this people buy when they finally have a house and how will they consume media content in the coming future?

On top of this consider how this matter is also impacted by what YouTube calls the "Generation C":
"Gen C is a powerful new force in consumer culture. It’s a term we use to describe people who care deeply about creation, curation, connection, and community. It’s not an age group; it’s an attitude and mindset"

I already dismiss the "Smart TV" trend as on the dead row last year - meaning the concept of a TV with a technology inside to connect to the Internet and a user Interface on the screen which as of today controlled with the standard remote control. This does not mean that TV is still the same old one and digital cannot enter that space, the opposite is true but using a remote command with arrows and an OK button is not the way, especially when you have sophisticated devices like smartphones and tablets.

I think technologies like DLNA, Airplay, Chromecast, Miracast are changing the landscape, as people are now able to stream the video to the TV and have the device in their hand to control and interact.
The Gen C will love this, they will be able to watch video they have or access from their devices on a big screen. The Gen C is not looking for content on the standard TV sources, they look for content on digital sources.
I read articles saying that Chromecast is making your TV smart, I provocatively said that the opposite is true: "Chromecast is making your TV a dumb monitor" as the only part of the TV that you will use in that case is the monitor screen.
So basically I agree that the future is in Connected TV but in the sense that the TV will be connected and in my view controlled and driven by devices (not dumb remote controls), the TV will only be the screen where the video part of the experience will happen.

Another trend - especially as measured in the US - that I think is relevant in this area is "Zero Tv Homes":
"Nielsen today released new data that examines trends in the “Zero TV household” – a definition which refers to those who no longer watch traditional television offered by cable or satellite providers, but who tend to stream video online, via computers, smartphones or tablets. According to the firm’s findings, there are now more than 5 million cord cutters in the U.S. this year, up from 3 million in 2007."

The next trend I want to focus is the expansions of devices that we should consider relevant for this area:

mobile devices: smartphones, tablets, phablets
wearable devices: watches, glasses
The internet of things
drivable devices: auto driving cars

Mary Meeker (again) summarizes this as:

"Smartphone and tablets are so 2013. The future of computing is all about "wearables, drivables, flyables and scannables"

After having considered all of that, I want to focus my attention on how different social context may affect media consumption in the coming years:

Gen C - Singles: they will own devices, which are great for personal viewing and very often they will not buy a TV or at least they will need see that as an obvious need. In case of a TV in the house the device will control the TV experience and will be a second screen enhancement to the video on the screen.
Gen C - Couples: both will have their own device and may buy a TV to watch things together for social viewing but not for sure. The personal device will be used also a personal second screen device - same data but separate interactions
Gen C - Families: this is about social viewing, they will have a TV and members of the family will have their own personal device, but content may come from different sources. A standard TV broadcast source,

Conclusion:
If you have a long term approach, don't underestimate the disruption Gen C will bring to TV and watching content, not only in terms of technology and user experience but also in terms of where the content will come from.
"What will truly matter? We will get the content from where the content is, the technology will allow us to experience it everywhere we like in the best way possible"

(Digital) Video Rights for Athletes

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 07:48:00 +0000

After the Chief Fans Officer concept I would like to submit another idea to the world of Sport, based on 25 years of experience of being involved in live sport events at venues and also watching on TV and on any sort of digital devices.
I have to say that London 2012 was quite a revealing moment, the fact that connectivity was available at venues and stadia opened up a whole lot of opportunities and enriched user experiences.
What we have learned is that the official Results Mobile App we developed for LOCOG was used in ways that we never anticipated.

Fans, Journalists, Athletes, Coaches, Technical staff and others used the app to get information about events, understand what to follow, plan the day, check results, verify other athletes' performance and more while at the event.
This new scenario has opened an interesting business trend about Connected Stadium technology solutions and user experiences, which at deltatre we are actively following.
Specific apps have been and are being developed to make fans at the stadium experience sport in new engaging and participating ways.

As content starts to be created with an "in-stadium" context in mind and video becomes a relevant value proposition, an immediate concern about video rights becomes central.
This will need to be addressed between Right owners, Event Organizers, Participants and Rights Holders.
While that is an interesting debate (I may cover it in a next blog) I want to focus my attention on a specific user group: Athletes.
This may have a different impact and value for different sports.

In the summer of 2013 the IAAF World Championships in Moscow led me to think about how in the current scenario with easy access to digital devices, athletes may have new opportunities.
I found it extremely strange that users worldwide have instant access to the event's live and on-demand video - with advanced solutions like deltatre's Diva which put together live video and synchronize data - but athletes at the stadium may not have access to their own performance straight away after the event.

I believe athletes should have the right to access the digital video of their performance right after it happens.

In my view sport federations should do three things:

mandate event organizers to provide internet access for Athletes at the stadium
carve out rights that are sold and assigned to broadcaster and media companies so that live and on-demand sport is available for athletes and a restricted group of professionals at the stadium, including accredited media
provide a platform to enable the video solution in stadium specialized for the specific sport

As an example, I can imagine how this can work in athletics, with athletes being able to check their attempts as the event continues - this may be heavily controversial from a competition point of view - or in swimming or diving being able to check how they did as soon as they are out of the pool.

Coaches and officials still rely on old paper based methods to check jury decision etc... this does not seem so digital-native.
More in detail imagine a long jumper and his coach being able to review the performance right after the jump, imagine this will be a video experience like Diva where you would have deep stats and data about the jump synchronized with the video?
Will it improve in a very "clean" way athletes' performance?
Should it be allowed?
Would it change the event?
Would it create a digital divide between the one using it and those not?

I think this should be a universal right of each athlete beyond anything else.

If this ever makes any sense how can we fund this?

I think Brands may be able to activate this with a title sponsor occasion and we may investigate further how this can make sense.

deltatre at Sports Marketing 360 in London

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 23 Sep 2013 15:16:00 +0000

London September 19th we were at the SportBusiness event "Sports Marketing 360" a one-day event held at the BT Centre.
400 people gather to discuss various matters around Sports Marketing and how the various disruptions happening in the business are impacting brands, rights holders and rights owners.

We were directly involved in the panel:

14.30 – 15:15 Panel: MAXIMISING THE SECOND SCREEN OPPORTUNITY
The second screen has become an essential part of the sports viewing experience, creating significant interactive inventory for advertisers and sponsors. But who owns the space and how can brands more effectively activate in it?

Speakers:

Moderator: David Stubley, Director, Kameleon
Ellen Marzell, Director, Media Effectiveness & Partners, Nokia
Carlo De Marchis, Chief Product Officer, deltatre
Simon Kanter, Editorial Director, Haymarket Network

We were also able to demonstrate our Diva to Second Screen to In-App stadium concept live from the iPad. The same we use at the IBC at the Civolution stand the week before.

A short video (non-professional quality of the event) below:

Will every athlete become a broadcaster in the future?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 23 Sep 2013 08:29:00 +0000

In the last five years - it’s amazing but it’s only 5 years - the advent of Social Media platforms has changed the media landscape in sport as in many other sectors. What has become fundamental in sports and Social Media channels is how and when fans can enjoy their favorite events. Social Media has generated an effect I call ‘the disintermediation of conversation’ i.e., sport entities and athletes have started engaging with fans directly - a clear sign of a new way to experience sports.

With fans at the center of a heterogeneous range of choices, sport entities and athletes have geared up to communicate with fans directly and rely on creating a special engagement without the ‘mediation’ of news and broadcasting channels. With all parties playing an active role, the disruption from the typical paradigm involving sport entities selling rights to broadcasters/media to generate monetisation with advertising is now tangible more than ever.

Whether it is Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, Foursquare or YouTube (although YouTube is not always thought of as a Social Media platform), recent statistics show that in terms of Social Media followers, football (soccer) dominates other sports such as American football, baseball, basketball and Formula 1. They engage directly with their fans creating additional non-regulated channels of conversation, which can potentially be monetized on top of the standard paradigm. There is also a constant slide of the audience - especially the younger generation - from TV and press towards non-standard watching habits based on digital and Social Media, especially through the use of connected devices.

Why does sport work well for Social Media? It is significant that Facebook, Twitter, YouTube have all hired sport business professionals and are dedicating key initiatives to major sporting events. Sport is passion, sport is what we talk about every day, sport is great content.
Why does Social Media work well for sport? I would say it works because of two main aspects: ‘real-time’ and ‘behind the scenes’. Sport is characterized by huge peaks of content generated around events and less content in other moments. Social media real-time coverage is what fans need: they want to know what happens, when it happens, to complement the official event coverage with more authentic behind the scenes material, they want to feel closer to their idols while sharing their passion, to have their say, cheer and commiserate, and they want to be heard.
Traditional media has moved to the digital space by repurposing on digital platforms content which was originally produced for paper or TV. It is no longer enough to have well written articles and great video highlights available hours after the event. The intelligent use of Social Media and platforms such as deltatre LiveBlogging, enables sport federations, clubs and athletes to create ‘Digital Native Content’. This content is real-time, authentic, and comes straight from the source increasing substantially user engagement. A picture taken at 6 am from the top of the downhill ski slope, a football locker room photo showing the players’ tension and concentration, a short video of an athlete training, an emotional tweet of the sprinter before entering the 100m final.
The most crucial element of any Social Media strategy for sport is authenticity: for this, athletes have a huge advantage, clubs and brands instead have to create their own identity, credible to users. This seems like an exciting challenge for deltatre, to use its knowledge to leverage these new sports media outlets.
The development and delivery of an immersive sport experience, which is at the core of deltatre’s solutions, is becoming highly relevant in this new scenario.

During the past months an additional transformation is happening in this ever-evolving scenario: athletes are moving from Social Media to digital media, to organizing events and to becoming broadcasters themselves. An example of this is Tom Daley (British diver). He is involved in the TV reality show ‘Splash!’ and he has his own tomdaley.tv website. I was also talking to the CEO of a renowned swimwear manufacturer (whose name happens to be one of deltatre’s products, check it out at www.deltatre.com for fun) and he told me that for a brand “It’s not about building a community anymore, we want to become a broadcaster”.
So these days it seems like everybody wants to become a broadcaster, how will ‘real’ broadcasters react to this challenge?

Monetization on Mobile: Facebook and Google lessons

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 14:46:00 +0000

Last week two news, giving conflicting signals, caught my attention:

"Just a year ago, Facebook had hardly any mobile ad products at all, but in the second quarter earnings presented Wednesday, the company announced that mobile advertising now makes up 41 percent of all ad revenue — easily the greatest percentage since Facebook was founded, and up from the previous high of 30 percent last quarter."
(cit. GigaOM Eliza Kern article)

"Google reported strong revenue growth for the June quarter, but fell shy of Wall Street's estimates, sending the stock down by as much as 5% in after hours trading.
The search giant reported earnings per share of $9.54 on revenue of $14.11 billion for the quarter, a 19% increase in revenue from the same quarter a year ago. However, Wall Street had expected Google to report earnings per share of $10.4 on revenue of $14.4 billion.
To make matters worse, Google reported a 6% year-over-year drop in the average price for cost-per-click for ads it served, presumably due to the increasing number of mobile ads it serves at a lower cost."
(cit. Mashable Seth Fiegerman article)

I read different interesting aspects in both news:

Firstly, there is a shift of audiences from Print and TV to web to mobile, but the business has not yet found a way to follow this trend with sustainable monetization strategies
Secondly, there is a clear challenge for monetization on mobile but at the same time an even bigger opportunity
Thirdly, facebook vs Google - what is the difference between them in mobile monetization

Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook COO): “Obviously the transition to mobile is a really big one. We had almost no mobile ads a year ago, and we’re up to 41 percent this quarter,” she said. And how exactly did Facebook get there? “We’ve done a lot of work around targeting. The most important work we’ve done over the past year is around custom audiences.”
Sandberg said that as Facebook has drilled down into specific audiences by demographic and interest — as specific as someone who is currently looking to buy a car, for example — that focus has meant that the company has been able to serve up more ads in the News Feed without losing user interest or attention (even if it’s still unclear how that will hold up once everyone transitions to the new News Feed design.)
Being able to serve up more ads without losing user attention is key to making money.

“You’re going to see a lot of companies transitioning and trying to emulate this model because it’s working so well. That’s why last night Facebook announcement was a true watershed moment,” said Ben Schachter, an analyst at Macquarie Research.
Internet company executives have long been concerned that mobile advertising is inherently less lucrative than traditional desktop PC advertising, due to the smartphone’s limited screen size and possible consumer resistance to a flood of ads on their devices.
(Cit. From a Reuters Article)

This shows that if you find the right strategy, mobile can be successfully monetized.

Why is Facebook doing better than Google (if this is a correct statement) on mobile monetization?
I think this may be due to how the Google experience has been brought onto mobile devices vs. how the Facebook experience developed.
Advertising has to be tailored for each specific user experience - it is crucial to have continuous innovation in this space.

At deltatre we are digesting all these lessons learned and shaping our mobile advertisement strategy accordingly with the following features:

introduction of in-stream ads and branded posts in our LiveBlogging product
introduction of contextual advertisement in our Diva product
introduction of specific advertisement techniques in our second screen offering

I also think second screens may prove to be a great opportunity for monetization on devices through advertising when connected with TV adverts, but creativity is crucial in that area.
That is the new space to look carefully at in the next months if second screen experiences develop as expected.
Further ahead I am curious to see how the Internet of Things and wearable devices may become new monetization opportunities and if advertising will still be the major revenue stream.

Everybody needs a CFO: Chief Fans Officer

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 14:01:00 +0000

[Work in progress - lean writing - this post will evolve as I get feedback from readers]

I have spent the latest part of my career as a CxO, for many years as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at deltatre, lately transitioned into the role of Chief Product Officer (CPO) to implement deltatre's growing interest in Product Management.
During these years I have spent some time trying to understand corporate governance and give some sense to all these CxO acronyms.

Lately I was speaking at a Digital Sport conference in Paris and met someone with a role that I found almost insulting (will not mention the ): Chief Revenue Officer
So immediately started to correlate what I've learned and read about customer-centric, user-centric, communication strategies and that title seemed like the worst idea ever.
Who is the genius that create a title that says: "I'm here to get your money, that's my focus and mission"?
I understand this role is a new way of calling the "Head of Sales" or "Head of Business Development" at least in the States (as said by my friend Perkins Miller - EVP, Digital Media at WWE).

At the same time i was also reading a business book "The connected company" by Dave Gray: "Customers are adopting disruptive technologies faster than your company can adapt. When your customers are delighted, they can amplify your message in ways that were never before possible. But when your company’s performance runs short of what you’ve promised, customers can seize control of your brand message, spreading their disappointment and frustration faster than you can keep up.
To keep pace with today’s connected customers, your company must become a connected company. That means deeply engaging with workers, partners, and customers, changing how work is done, how you measure success, and how performance is rewarded. It requires a new way of thinking about your company: less like a machine to be controlled, and more like a complex, dynamic system that can learn and adapt over time."

How far this approach is from someone purely focusing on revenues?

I then started to think what this approach may mean for companies and entities in the sport business, who is the final customer?
Easy answer: The fans.
Everybody agrees.

But how many Sport federations, broadcasters, brands, technology suppliers etc... are really organized with fans as their main stakeholder and how often instead it is forgotten?
Easy answer: Not many, very few.

Companies in this business need someone completely focused on the final customer: fans.
Starting from these reasons I have come up with the concept of CFO (which normally means Chief Financial Officer):

Chief Fans Officer

I truly believe companies in the Sport Business should as soon as posible appoint/hire a Chief Fans Officer and assign her/him the role to represent the fans interests in the company, make sure that the company has all required connections to properly understand their biggest assets: fans.

A Chief Fans Officer in a sport organization should report directly to the CEO and work alongside other executives to create value for shareholders, stakeholders, customers, fans.
She/he will need to have a very deep understanding of how fans interact on all platforms with the sport events and content, be up to date on new trends and scout continuously fans communities to create initiatives that bring new innovative value proposition to fans.
Will need to understand user experience from on-venue to TV to all digital platforms including mobile and social.

I want to start a "movimento" to push sport companies and entities to create this executive role and promote pushing fans at the center of their efforts, for real.
I will write a proper "manifesto" during the weekend.

I have registered the domain name CHIEFFANSOFFICER.COM.
Created a facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ChiefFansOfficer
Created a twitter account https://twitter.com/ChiefFansOff

Want to join?
Contact me at @CDM

Discussing Digital Native Content with Ana Jelusic from FIS

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 30 May 2013 09:07:00 +0000

[Originally published on the deltatre.com blog at http://www.deltatre.com/2013/05/discussing-digital-native-content-with-ana-jelusic-from-fis/]

Fully dedicated to sports digital media user experience and content production and currently an advanced technology leader for global sporting events, deltatre is constantly developing cutting-edge multi-screen solutions to allow broadcasters bring events to life for fans worldwide. One of the turnkeys for the future? Digital Native Content.

After holding a panel on the Second Screen experience at this year’s Connected Sports International conference in Paris, Carlo De Marchis (@CDM), deltatre’s Chief Product Officer and digital media strategist, interviewed former award-winning skier Ana Jelusic. Following a career spanning 3 Olympic Games, Ana, who is currently working as Alpine Media Coordinator at the FIS, shared her ideas about digital native content production.
[See her results as an athlete on the FIS website]
[FIS Alpine Facebook page]
[Watch the video interview on youTube (in italian)]

CDM: Ana, after a ten-year career in competitive skiing and 3 Olympic Games, you continue to live sports on the other side of the camera: as a Media Coordinator for FIS and Alpine, what do you think of sports production and broadcast in the present media landscape?

Ana: I realize many websites are still not set up so users can get up in the morning, look at the site and be able to check what game is on, where the men’s and women’s competitions are taking place, along with the possibility to be continuously easily updated.
Fans want to find out right away who the winners might be and they want to possibly do so as the ceremony is happening.
In the end quick information and emotion is exactly what is crucial to sports content.

CDM: This is a different approach to traditional methods. Indeed, sports can’t always be experienced by reading through an article later in the afternoon, even if impeccably written.

Ana:... correct. I often don’t have time to read an elaborate piece! With the speed at which things happen today, I prefer to look at the results and then I want to know who, what, where and when… maybe in the afternoon or in the evening, I can check for highlights and more images. What is crucial here is to get the information first. When instant information is missing, no article can do justice to sports, especially when you already know the results from different sources. There is so much content out there and if you are on site, you want to provide the news first! Editorials are a bonus that can be good, maybe, for those who have the time to write it, but to me they come as a bonus to the fast information.

CDM: Many websites nowadays are still designed with the classical article-based editorial as their main focus. deltatre is trying to change and evolve this experience indeed…

Ana: I agree. It’s part of the evolution that I am trying to bring to FIS. When I first joined, the article was the absolute priority; it had to be published while social media content was more of an option. Yet, there are inevitable and time wasting processes to take into account: start your computer, get it ready, then start writing the article… in the time these actions take me, I can send three Tweets and two photos on Facebook.
I have interacted, been the first one to let people know what happened! And then, in due time, I might also want to dedicate some time to drafting up a piece to expand on the event.

CDM: Often broadcasters and federations intrigued by digital native content raise the question that producing it requires more budget and resources.

Ana: Not at all! Creating digital native content is quite affordable: no extra resources needed.The same people can slot their time to a better and optimized activity, dedicating themselves to something more powerful. My generation grew up with some kind of device online most of the time, all it takes is using it the right way.

CDM: … and such internal resources can help show a unique side of a sports event: a technical aspect or an insider’s look. There is only one requirement: always offering a special detail that makes sports interesting.

Ana: I agree. The TV commonly offers a very repetitive image. I convey an emotion instead, taking advantage of the access I have, such as snapping a picture before an athlete starts… or as in the photo of Mikaela Shiffrin when she won the Globe at this season’s World Cup slalom, she knelt down. It was just a moment, but that photo was released 30 seconds after it had happened. It wasn’t perfect, but it was genuine and the whole online community was waiting to see what happened, we gave them that. Similarly, if our connection sometimes doesn’t work and we are “late” with news when it’s expected, our fans and Facebook followers sometimes ask ‘Why aren’t the results out yet? Why can’t I see a photo of the podium?’ We are trying to find the best way to satisfy our audiences with the resources we have on hand.

CDM: As I met Ana, I realized that what she was telling me is the best elevator pitch for our digital content strategy and our new LiveBlogging product as well, which is the enabler of such a strategy. It is great to see the way our customers are able to tell stories that inspire our product strategy more that any brainstorming session.

deltatre and European Tour launch digital golf channel

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 28 May 2013 20:37:00 +0000

At a press conference that took place today at the Wentworth Club, The European Tour and deltatre marked the launch of a new digital golf channel, European Tour TV .

European Tour TV, the most recent venture between deltatre and The European Tour, provides golf fans from around the world an innovative platform on which to watch live play as well as legendary moments in golf’s history. The European Tour TV’s content is powered by Diva, deltatre’s advanced video player offering navigational tools and illustrated timeline for fans to quickly find and replay significant moments in a tournament.

Paul Bristow, Chief Commercial Officer at deltatre, explains, “The European Tour shares deltatre’s commitment to providing golf fans the most complete, interactive experience possible whether following live play or re-living some of the greatest moments in golf history. That mutual goal, along with deltatre’s longstanding relationship with Microsoft, drove the three organisations to bring European Tour golf to the global audience in a whole new way.”

By broadening the accessibility of golf video content and coverage, this unique digital channel represents a great step towards engaging audiences, particularly in markets where golf has limited television distribution.

Mark Lichtenhein, the European Tour’s Head of Television, Digital Media and Technology concludes, “Meeting the expectations of our global fan base is extremely important and we wanted to find a mechanism to deliver our tournament highlights and extensive archive directly to our consumers.”

The relationship between deltatre and The European Tour Group began in 2009 with the design, build and management of the europeantour.com website and has since evolved to include the provision of graphic design services, collaboration on live scoring data feeds, the build and management the Tour’s iPhone application and more recently the launch of a European Tour Live Blogging tool.

Fake followers? Just had a look at UEFA and FIFA accounts on twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 14:38:00 +0000

I just found out about this company: StatusPeople (http://fakers.statuspeople.com/) that measure how many of your twitter followers are fake accounts.

I still have to understand exactly how their methodology arrive to those conclusions this is what they say under their FAQ:

"How does it work? We take a sample of your follower data. Up to 1,000 records depending on how 'popular' you are and assess them against a number of simple spam criteria.
On a very basic level spam accounts tend to have few or no followers and few or no tweets. But in contrast they tend to follow a lot of other accounts.
How accurate is it? For those of you with 50,000* followers or less we believe our tool will provide a very accurate insight into how many inactive and fake followers you have.
If you're very, very 'popular' the tool will still provide good insight but may better reflect your current follower activity rather than your whole follower base."

I first tried my personal account @CDM and got the following results:

The results for uefa.com account @uefacom are as follows:

The results for the fifa.com account @FIFAcom are as follows:

Conclusion

If these numbers are true i think twitter have some issue to solve. I would like to have my friend Lewis Wiltshire @LewisWiltshire from twitter UK help me making some sense out of it.

Second Screen? What about the "first screen"?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 15:45:00 +0000

I'm spending quite sometime analysing, brainstorming, dreaming about second screen and what kind of user experiences we could build on those devices while a "first screen" is considered the primary form of consumption.
I am focusing on understanding how and when a second screen device will be used, which second screen device will be used (Laptop, Tablet, Smartphone), what difference in user experience the different devices will provide and for which use case.

There is an increasing need for me to answer a different question: "What about the first screen?"

The obvious model is to consider TV (I mean standard linear TV) as the natural form of "first screen" but as I dig more into second screen user experiences and strategies, I start to see a wider set of candidates for that role.

Here are the alternative first screens I could imagine at this stage:

A passive TV monitor - If technologies like AirPlay (read this: http://www.apple.com/airplay/) get widely adopted, we could easily see the second screen taking full control of the "first screen" and
Smarter set top boxes - First of all the standard linear TV is becoming a bit smarter than what we were used in the past, set-top-boxes are becoming connected - by being connected they can sync with metadata a connected second screen experience and enable second screen to become a more advanced form of remote control
Connected TV - Samsung Smart TV and any variation - by being connected and programmable in theory they could provide the second screen experience on the "first screen" as overlays but they will miss the personal aspect of second screen device limiting quite substantially any form of social interactions
OTT - Over-the-top TV (read this: ) of any form - Google TV, Apple TV etc... similar to the case above
Games consoles - that's the news of the day on Feb 21st 2013 - Sony new PS4 has been designed with native second screen companion apps in mind (read this: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-9020_7-57570440-222/sony-plans-second-screen-app-for-playstation-4/)
PC with digital video experiences or even any other kind of user experience - smartphones and tablets are already being used in conjunction with PCs in sequential and parallel mode
Physical places - because of deltatre's core business i obviously think about sport event venues, i.e. stadia where the first screen is watching the football game live and a smartphone or tablet could provide enhanced user experiences and engagement. Not sure what will happen once we will have the chance of wearing Google glasses, on the second screen will be on us and over-imposed to the real world.
The Internet of things - most of the new sensor and devices that are being launched lately under the domain of "Internet of things" have not really a very developed User Interface but rely upon smartphones primarily and tablets to be in the control/consumption mechanism in the user's hands. So we can provocatively say that your body maybe the "first screen".

I would welcome, as always, comments but even more importantly contributions to this quite advanced topic.

Google trends: "Social TV" and "Second Screen" comparison

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:07:00 +0000

As always Google trends provide very interesting and sometime surprising information on various subjects.

What is google trends:
"Google Trends is a public web facility of Google Inc., based on Google Search, that shows how often a particular search-term is entered relative to the total search-volume across various regions of the world, and in various languages. The horizontal axis of the main graph represents time (starting from 2004), and the vertical is how often a term is searched for relative to the total number of searches, globally." [Wikipedia]

Quite an interesting insight on two terms that are quite relevant in the digital media and sport business:

"Second Screen" vs. "Social TV"

How the two terms trended in the last years since 2009 ("Social TV" is blue, "Second Screen" is red):

I honestly thought the opposite, I expected Second Screen to be more prominent, but maybe that is true for the people in the business not the public.
Also Social TV has very high peaks which would be interested to deep dive into and understand the rationale.

What is also more interesting to read is the way that those terms were geographically distributed.

"Social TV" seems extremely popular search term in Brasil Portugal and Ireland.

"Second Screen" seems an extremely popular search term in Australia, UK and the United States.

Startup Focus: Squawka

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 15:23:00 +0000

This week I've asked Alberto Scotta (deltatre's Product Manager for Social) to review Squawka.

Squawka is a UK based startup, from their crunchbase profile:

"Squawka is a web based second screen platform for viewers of live televised sport that provides consumers with both real time statistics on the matches/players they are watching alongside social chat, allowing interaction with others while expressing feelings and informed opinion on the game. After extensive analysis of over 200 matches, Squawka has developed its own unique player performance index, which analyses over 2,500,000 on-ball actions in real time to display the performance of each player."

Squawka pre match analysis provides interesting data and info graphics.

Using of colours to highlight positive and negative records can capture user's eyes and give a brief overview about the stats comparison of the two teams, even though it's not easy to clearly understand the main key factors of each club.

For example in Torino-Atalanta, all statistics are quite similar, but on first sight Torino seem much better than Atalanta (more green than red) even if in some statistics "i Granata" overcome "Orobici" just for few points (possession 50-49; Tot Chances 202-197).

Football analysis it's not like USA president elections, when you get everything just for one vote more, a deeper analysis is needed and an editorial or accurate automatic algorithm should be used to highlight the best things to be pointed out:

Goal difference Torino 0, Atalanta –12
Cards: Torino 58/2 Atalanta 75/9

So the user could have a better perception of how the match could develop.

Performance index in football is always debatable, I personally never saw a working index, even if I'm convinced that getting loads of data and statistics with a correct algorithm could eventually give a proper indication of the value of a player during a match and in the whole season.

Months of deep study, testing and analysis are needed in order to release a valuable index.

Squawka Top 5 performers data looks very weird, in particular:

Torino's best 5 don't include the most valuable player of the season, Alessio Cerci, that with his goals, assists and dribbling and crosses, definitely is the key player of the club.
Atalanta best player, Cigarini, has more than the double of the points of the 4th player, Moralez

Finally the comparison between top players in the match doesn't make any sense. In Football a defensive midfielder can never be comparable with a goalkeeper, and this shows a bit of superficiality.

Globally, Squawka pre match analysis contains many great ideas, but it needs to be more accurate and deep

It could be used as a good starting point for deltatre to create our own product.

Read Alberto's football rants and raves at:

http://www.fantagazzetta.com/blogs/alberto-scotta/il-blog-di-panoz

http://fm-italia.blogspot.it/

The result of my personal 360 assessment - public

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 16:55:00 +0000

I took the initiative of submitting a standard 360 personal assessment using the SurveyReport platform.
If you are interested to read more about this kind of assessment report please check this link out

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/360-degree_feedback

I wanted to have inputs and wider feedback from the community around me to understand how to improve and optimize my efforts in the right direction.

I have used linkedin as the sharing platform to invite people to compile the report by using the provided link: http://surveyreport.com/i/f/1/517194?t=QEAMQc&nr=LI

More than 100 people have responded in less than one week, which is quite a good response rate as I invited a bit more than 300 people and the average response rate is 10-15%.

The result are quite interesting and challenging in some parts, you need to be quite open to criticism to go through this.
I mainly got the message that i have to listen more to others (not a surprise) and that i have to focus more instead of being too broad and bring things to an end, or get organized to make it happen more.
The most embarrassing result is the Net promoter Score at 5.9, basically most people would not really recommend working with me to others... :( Need to reflect about it.

PDF version:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bvymk4xem6kgfaw/360%20Professional%20Evaluation%20Review%20-%20View%20Report.pdf

1. Overview
2. Areas to improve upon - Listening to others (this make me laugh, exactly as expected)
3. Dominant Personality Type - Investigative / Enterprising
4. Personality Matches - Radar
5. Your Net Promoter Score - 59/100 THIS IS LOW!
6. Well-known traits - Focuses on customer success
7. Company’s Prospects - 8.3/10 good
8. Career Prospects - 9/10 v. good

Personal messages - fun to read:

Your survey respondents have the option of leaving your written responses to help give you more direct feedback. Here are your responses:


Carlo is a good leader, He is a person with a great innovation technology , he propose improvement about IT solution. Co-Workers
A great strength is that Carlo understands how the landscape is changing & that the company must adapt Carlo can't do it all himself and needs to empower the right staff to help him Co-Workers
Strength - Technical Vision Improvement - Maintaining contact with ex-customers Worked Together but at different companies
Carlo is one of the most brilliant persons I ever met in my professional life. He often has clear ideas on how new things must be done while many other are still searching because they do not know how to do. Due to his outstanding technical, process oriented knowledge it is very hard to find someone else able to substitute him. I think Carlo should move to a 360° managing role in the near future and put in practice his leadership attitude which I guess not fully explicited right now. Professional Acquaintance
of course leadership is the natural art of Carlo. Improve upon is difficult to say, from time to time I had the feeling that people around him did not completely get him when he is riding on some original path. Co-Workers
+client value focus -teamwork Co-Workers
Greatest strenght, being so smart. Area to improve is allow enough time for others to understand his thoughts before jumping to next idea. Co-Workers
I had the pleasure to work with Carlo for several projects with UEFA and FIFA and other sport industry leaders. Carlo is somebody that is trustfull, loyal to his words, get things done and is in full control of the projects he leads. I'll work with Carlo again with a lot of pleasure. Worked Together but at different companies
Carlo's greatest strength is his belief that everything is possible, it is really infectious. If there was one area that he might improve on it could be to be wary of the details, while it is great that he believes everything is possible, sometimes they are very hard to achieve putting pressure on teams, saying that to hold back too much would be to kill the very thing that makes him so passionate and successful :-) Worked Together but at different companies
Greatest strength: On top of latest trends mixed with extensive experience Carlo has the ability to come up with creative solutions to the problem at hand. More open attitude towards problem solving in terms of listening to others and looking outside the current employer as the only resource option available. Professional Acquaintance
Carlo's greatest strength is his vision in solving problems and the use of this vision to innovate. Carlo could maybe improve on explaining his ideas to colleagues more clearly and concisely. Co-Workers
Carlo's greatest strength is as a visionary and being able to correctly position the company in order to ready to exploit future opportunities. I would say that sometimes Carlo does not communicate his message in a way that is easy for us lesser mortals to comprehend and he is already several topics/issues ahead of most people in the room. Co-Workers
greatest strength : absolutely visionary and innovator but pragmatig, , smart, fast learner and adaptive. He should listen a little more the others and be a little less egocentric Co-Workers
Strength: Commitment to task and team. He is a natural leader, inquisitive, focused, hard working, diligent and focused on the consumer. Improve: challenge the collective team on their proposal. Do not always accept the opinions of a trusted few, without hearing the silent many. Worked Together but at different companies
Greatest strengths: Passion, commitment, intelligence, vision Area to improve on: Don't try to do too much, focus on your strengths, build a support team to do everything else. Co-Workers
Greatest strength: Marries technology with sport like no other Improve? Have a clear mandate as a project manager or project leader (i.e. start it, and see it through) Worked Together but at different companies
Passion, broad view, insights, curiosity. He can improve his credibility with the board level. Co-Workers
Carlo is a talented and hard working individual with great focus and innovative ideas allied with a practical approach to all he does.; Shaving could be improved! Co-Workers
Carlo is arguably the greatest digital sports mind on the planet, however, only his clients, colleagues and partners have witnessed his genius at work. Carlo needs to emerge from the audience at conferences and be heard. He also needs to be seen by the industry as the face of deltatre, which will help drive delatre's business. Worked Together but at different companies
Carlo has a broad scope and is consistently curious about what's going on in the world of technology and online/social media. The biggest pitfall that comes with that great curiosity is a lack of focus and having a hard time following through on a set course. I'm afraid I don't know Carlo well enough to be able to comment directly on whether this applies for him as well... Worked Together but at different companies
Very impressed with CDM in my encounters with him - great energy level, on the ball with the latest in the industry and always friendly. However my caveat would be my day to day workings have been with other people within D3 so this opinion does come from a somewhat distanced viewpoint. Worked Together but at different companies
He is passionate about what he does and doesn't mind getting his hands dirty. When I worked with him (over 4 years ago) he did tend to solve very detailed problems himself rather than trying to achieve the same results delegating and using strong leadership techniques. Worked Together but at different companies
Carlo, is really a great person. iìm really gelous of his thinking out of the box :) he find alway different prospective for one topic, he like to analize social effect of any idea. he is target oriented even some time he tends to do several things at the same time. Carlo is really a vulcono of energies and creativity. Professional Acquaintance
Working with Carlo means to learn. He has always a lot of ideas, and most of the time, he is right. He is dynamic, active. I worked a lot with him, during the first years, and has been a great experience. Co-Workers
Imagination and ability to visioneer the now and future in this rapidly changing space Delivery of products Professional Acquaintance

SuperBowl XLVII - A digital reference

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 12:12:00 +0000

I could not avoid reading the wealth of articles, blog posts and infographics that the SuperBowl generated this year - not surprisingly.

SuperBowl is a show.
Even if the SuperBowl is definitively a sport event, the major in the US every year, it is always a huge media and social event. This year special there were so many themes out of it that it is even difficult trying to organize a small IA (Information Architecture) around it.

Key facts:
All records were broken, the match was a great sport moment with 49ers almost catching up after a bad start but failing at the very end, ads and music were a great complement, there was an incredible power blackout that created an iconic moment, social was huge as expected, the live digital streaming got a lot of attention, I saw less emphasis on mobile (possibly because everybody is just avoiding doing other things during the match) if not for second screen.

I want to focus the attention on the following items and provide pointers and references to places where you can find more detailed information and contribution.

SuperBowl: the match and the teams
TV
Commercials
Music
The blackout
Social
Video Streaming
Second Screen

SuperBowl: the match and the teams
Not sure if everybody noticed but the Ravens won 2013 SuperBowl against the San Francisco 49ers, NFL.com was the place to go for the sport related information as well as the official broadcaster CBS

Official Match stats

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2013020300/2012/POST22/ravens@49ers#menu=highlights&tab=analyze

TV
CBS was the official broadcaster for 2013, replacing last year NBC.

CBS prevailed upon the Nielsen Co. to estimate how many viewers watched the Baltimore Ravens' victory over the San Francisco 49ers while excluding the 34 minutes in the third quarter where the game was stopped because of a partial power outage in the Superdome. The game was seen by an average of 108.7 million people, down from the last two years but still ranking as the third most-watched show in U.S. television history.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/05/super-bowl-blackout-ratings_n_2625785.html

Commercials
As every year, Commercials are a major asset of the SuperBowl show.

This increasingly work as a pre-match interest focus and build attention to the game and around the game. I've seen places were to watch those commercials you had to wait for a video commercial (that was funny).

http://mashable.com/2013/02/03/super-bowl-2013-commercials/

Forbes on how what happened:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2013/02/05/twitter-and-godaddy-won-the-superbowl-chrysler-did-not/

Music
Music was great this year with Beyonce being the sensation of the evening

http://blog.omusicawards.com/2013/02/during-last-nights-super-bowl-music-was-the-big-winner/

http://mashable.com/2013/02/04/beyonces-super-bowl-spectacle-lights-up-instagram-facebook-and-twitter/

The blackout

When half of the Superdome plunged into darkness during the third quarter of the Super Bowl, the CBS broadcast booth fell silent. After a commercial break and a little fumbling around, CBS sideline reporter Steve Tasker took over the biggest TV show of the year. At the same time, a handful of brands took to their Twitter accounts, capitalizing on one of the most bizarre moments in Super Bowl history.

http://mashable.com/2013/02/04/super-bowl-blackout-control-room/
http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2013/02/twitter-lights-up-during-super-bowl-blackout.html

Social

This year SuperBowl was massive on social and there have been some verdicts:

Twitter is the winner over facebook and others

http://marketingland.com/game-over-twitter-mentioned-in-50-of-super-bowl-commercials-facebook-only-8-google-shut-out-32420

24.1 Million tweets were generated

http://mashable.com/2013/02/04/super-bowl-twitter/

Facebook compiled a list of most memorable moments based on how much they were discussed on facebook http://newsroom.fb.com/News/570/Super-Bowl-XLVII-on-Facebook

Many nice infographics were created to show what happened:

Mashable Social Media review: http://mashable.com/2013/02/04/super-bowl-social-media/

Facebook chats: http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/superbowl/insights
GigaOM assessment : http://gigaom.com/2013/02/04/how-social-media-is-becoming-as-important-a-live-event-as-the-live-event-itself/

Video Streaming

There has been a lot of debate about the user experience and quality of the official US video stream provided by CBS.

Mashable article on live streaming: http://mashable.com/2013/02/05/super-bowl-live-stream-records/

Engagdet: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/05/super-bowl-xlvii-live-stream-records/

A lot of noise on the tcehnical delivery side was done by companies and blogs in that space;

iStreamPlanet CEO Mio Babic suggests there is a better way than what CBS did of providing a good live experience, and a bit of self-promotion

http://istreamplanet.com/streaming-the-2013-super-bowl-how-do-we-determine-success/

Even more extreme in criticizing CBS is the Dan Rayburn from StreamingMediaBlog

"Super Bowl Webcast Poor Quality, Player Broken, Bad Experience"

http://blog.streamingmedia.com/the_business_of_online_vi/2013/02/superbowl-webcast-poor-quality-player-broken-bad-experience.html

My take on this with the help of my colleague Ciaran Quinn which knows video streaming from day one and always have some interesting metrics insights:

If we look at the numbers they are not that amazing as they look at first sight:

114m minutes = 1.9m hours
3m viewers = average of 38 min per viewer
10m live streams means that people connected an average of 3 times

Insights:

38 min out of a 4-hour game is quite low, and it may indicate that there were some issues. At deltatre we have much higher numbers in a 90 minutes football (soccer) match.
2m hours for non-authenticated (to be verified) is 10% of the NBC London hours (20m) with the authentication challenge. Which seems again quite low.
10m streams for 3m viewers? So they connected 3 times each? Why?

We may also conclude that bad quality = low numbers

At deltatre we are proud of we did last summer during the Olympics in terms of video streaming worldwide.

Olympics is the true most-challenging environment, and cannot be compared with an event like the SuperBowl with one country, one game, even with high audience, that is not so hard to do at the end if you know what you are doing.

Second Screen and digital

An italian based startup tok.tv has entered the space for football and baseball in the US: http://tok.tv

Guides for following the game on digital

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57566341-93/super-bowl-xlvii-online-streaming-apps-and-more/

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/31/tech/web/super-bowl-tech-tips

http://venturebeat.com/2013/02/01/where-to-watch-super-bowl-online/

(Work in progress...)

[VIDEO] Diva explained by Carlo De Marchis - deltatre's Chief Product Officer

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 10:35:00 +0000

Another small excerpt of the Viewstream video on Microsoft Azure has been embedded in the deltatre's website

I will be talking second screen in two panels in March

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 11:42:00 +0000

I will be speaking in two interesting panels in March, both are about second screen experiences and how they are becoming more and more relevant to the digital sport business.

Even if I have already wrote about it I will need to start my engine soon and get prepared and may want to engage in some distributed google hangouts with people in the business who are interested to brainstorm.

If anybody will attend please drop me a note.

6 March - Paris - SVG Europe - Football Production Summit
17:00-17:45: The Multi-screen Experience: Beyond Broadcast

11 March - Rio De Janeiro - Rio Sportel 2013
15:00-16:00 Second Screen - The Big Game

Delivering London 2012 to the world with Windows Azure

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 11:15:00 +0000

Microsoft have engaged us at deltatre for a promo video based on the London 2012 case study.

deltatre helped some of the major broadcasters deliver fans around the world the best Olympic experience they have ever seen. Thousands of hours of sport content showed on TV channels and digital platforms. Many hundreds of millions of people, connected to the London Games via all sorts of screens and devices.

Microsoft selected Viewstream as the company creating the marketing video, which was shot in Toronto Canada with Mark Silver at CTV, Paris with David Botbol from France TV and Ciaran Quinn (deltatre) and then they came to Torino (deltatre HQ) to interview me.

It was a very professional setup with Tom Jagger leading the crew. and we spent almost three hours talking about deltatre, sport, Olympics and eventually our experience with Windows Azure Media Services for London 2012.

Have a look at this short documentary describing how deltatre deployed Windows Azure media services to allow broadcasters to share Olympic content, both live and on-demand.

What to expect in 2013: A transition year for digital sport

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 09:16:00 +0000

I do normally hate end-of-year summary articles and new year forecast articles, but here I am speculating what 2013 will bring to the digital universe in general and to the digital sport business in particular.

Having done some research during the holidays period on what other more influent contributors have written and spending some time on

2013 will be a transition year, i do not expect major disruptive or breakthrough innovation and trends to happen this year to the digital sport business. Instead we will see consolidation of trends either in a positive or negative way. 2012 was a major game-changer year and it will take time for the business to digest what happened.

What I'm reading everywhere and seeing in direct observation is back to what Gartner called "The nexus of 4 forces":

Big Data - this is maybe the less understood trend by the community in general and has a lot of potential, not everybody still realize how much data is now created every day and how much we can get insights if we can read and understand those data (see this McKinsey report). Big Data has a special meaning for sport, based on how to create value from detailed stats. At the moment we have figured out how to collect detailed stats in many sports both live and historically, but we have not yet figure out properly how to create value for end users and sport entities. There is a gap that waits to be filled by some smart companies (possibly startups).
Social - Twitter is now the real-time channel for sport, facebook is the destination for sport personality and youTube is becoming a true broadcaster for mid to low level federations and events - this come with no surprise, all the 3 of them have heavily hired people from the sport business in the last 2 years (and some friends of mine too)
Mobile - Mobile usage is exploding, and took a major leap in sport during last summer. 2013 will see the adoption of mobile to an even larger audience, the maturation of mobile user experiences and hopefully larger investments by sport companies into that area. Hopefully we will start to see the first signs of what at deltatre we call "Holistic User Experience (HUX)": the true connected, continuous and pervasive multi-platform and multi-device user experience. The fact that applications should realize that the same user is accessing them through websites, and mobile apps on various devices and treat her/him as the same user not 3/4 different ones.
Cloud - More a technology trend than anything but with an impact in how applications are designed and people are now used to imagine that data does not anymore resides on their devices, which will let them accept an more open universe of user experiences

In terms of User Experience 2013 seems to be the year were Responsive Design becomes mainstream and more and more companies will create their digital properties using it.

Everywhere else Social and Mobile are the two recurring topics - as they were in the last years, no surprises.

What really surprise me is how slowly the business is adopting this well anticipated major trend (mobile), a lot of companies and sport entities are still thinking, designing and operating for a desktop dominated world. This resistance could severely put their business at risk in the near future.

What 2012 told us (taken from a Comscore/NBC study on the olympics) is that:

TV is (still) king
Alternative screens ar additive (not a zero-sum game)
Digital complements TV
Social media amplifies sport events and engage viewers
Cross platform and simultaneous use is "the new normal"

The study also demonstrated as the more devices users would access to follow the games the more engagement and time spent.

The biggest issue for the business is that the shift of audiences from traditional media to the web to mobile is putting at risk the advertising revenue.
What normally happens is that advertising money should follow audiences, if people move from one media to another, advertising money would normally do the same.
Normally.
The fundamental issue with the current shift is that not all media have the same monetization power.

TV has (still) higher monetization power than the web (computers)
the web (computers) has higher monetization power than mobile

Users are more and more shifting towards the latter. The industry knows well how to monetize TV, learned in the last years how to decently monetize the web but has no real solution for monetizing the mobile landscape.

KCPB analyst Mary Meeker is showing this opportunity/threat in her annual "Internet trends" presentation since 2011.

Mobile is where monetization in traditional ways is in trouble and many companies are trying to understand what can be done, I am not sure this dilemma will be an easy one to solve.

In the high level sport business, TV rights are still for now protecting the huge revenues that Sport right owners are attracting (mostly sport federations, leagues, clubs) and which are paying for the whole business, much more than sponsoring money.
The problem is that most right-holders (those who buy rights like broadcasters) are basing very often their business models on TV + web + mobile advertising revenues, with TV being their comfort zone and the safest revenue generator (for now), that's why they are hyper-protective of the classical TV business.
At the moment digital sport is a very solid and growing business but i think we all collectively have to carefully evaluate the impact of the digital/social/mobile shift and consider how in the medium term it could undermine the foundations of the business. We should not hide our heads in the sand but look for opportunities in this evolving scenario.

I also do have an instinctive feeling that some old media could rebound a bit this year (thinking TV and paper) in some selective cases, but I maybe completely wrong.

What can prove that I am wrong and make 2013 a real turning point in digital sport?

Social TV with Second Screen apps change the TV user experience (Viggle, Shazam, Zeebox)
Apple TV arrives and disrupt the TV business (or Google TV with Samsung)
Cable operators start to transition to IP based distribution and enable new platforms for sport
Netflix, Hulu, YouTube become the de-facto standard for live sport

It's easy to understand how most of them are not easily achievable because of the protection guarantee to the existing right-holding broadcaster by the rights paradigm.

This is true for those sports for which media companies fight to acquire rights but less for those sports that are eagerly trying to find channels (TV and digital) to broadcast their events.

I would expect a lot more innovation from those (minor) sports that need to find ways to bring their events and content to their fans on all platforms, they are more inclined to experiment and have a lot less constraints. They may miss the budget and the vision. Hence they represent an opportunity for those players in the business who are focused on innovating.

2013 will be in any case an interesting year building up for another huge year with Winter Olympics and FIFA World Cup in 2014.

Looking to the second screen future with deltatre (By: Andy Stout SVG)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000

This article originally published at SVG Europe:
http://svgeurope.org/blog/blog/2012/11/13/looking-to-the-second-screen-future-with-deltatre/

Carlo De Marchis is Chief Technology Officer of deltare, and thus one of the people with their fingers firmly on the evolving digital pulse of sports broadcasting. He says that London 2012 sent a clear message to the industry; namely that fans need sport, sport needs reach, reach needs digital, and that the genie is now well and truly out of the bottle labelled ‘second screen.’

“This is clearly a very exciting and challenging period for the digital sport business,” he says. “Online users are still growing, mobile adoption is growing very fast, apps are become more and more relevant, sport content is king and live sport content is growing impressively on digital. Overall I see better discovery, more consumption, more reach with challenging and innovative ways to monetise.”

He maintains that digital (a shorthand for second screen, IPTV, Connected TV etc in this context) is there to help broadcasters not to compete with them for eyeballs and in the wake of London 2012 and the Sportel conference and expo in Monaco in October, sees the second screen everywhere.

“It seems to be the thing everybody is really talking about,” he says. “Broadcasters see second screen as a threat and an opportunity, they are desperate to take control of it. They understand someone else can if they don’t. But what have they that others can’t do? That’s the question they should ask themselves.”

De Marchis points out that the second screen, even if implemented normally in just one way as a tablet in front of a TV screen, does not represent one, single user experience, but many. He classifies these as:

Informative – asynchronous use of the mobile device for unrelated or loosely related information consumption
Synchronized – synchronous information consumption (with watermarking or fingerprinting technology)
Engaged Native – synchronous engagement on a specific UI built for the TV programme/sport event
Engaged Social – realtime engagement on social
Airplay – mobile device sending video to the big screen
TV remote control – mobile device controlling the TV and adding synchronous content (no watermarking or fingerprinting needed)

Interestingly, he also contends that the importance of what has become rapidly labelled Social TV looks to been over-estimated. “There was a stand mentioning the term at Sportel and some broadcasters have alluded to it, but it was not a massive volume of interest,” he says.

“Twitter is great for sport, it’s realtime, it’s simple and immediate – ideal for mobile consumption too,” he continues. “But it may miss something to really attract the masses. The engagement model also has some issues as it’s very often not so easy to have dense conversations around a live topic – explore ‘hashtag X’ is a bit for advanced users.”

As he points out though, Twitter works supremely well on mobile. “The new generation is using less and less laptops and more and more smartphones and tablets; soon kids will start their journey in digital natively from mobile devices,” he says.

This, of course, presents a challenge for broadcasters and others, who need to design with the multi-platform landscape firmly in mind, rather than simply coming up with a web design and then trying to work out how to make that go mobile in turn. “Smartphones are the backbone of our digital life – the smartphone is the device that is always either in our hands or in our pockets. Many user interactions start from the smartphone,” he says.

So, who does De Marchis think is adapting to the new landscape well? In a word, sponsors.
“They are becoming more and more active in digital marketing with very creative and engaging campaigns, they expect to be able to leverage sport sponsorships with a similar toolkit,” he says.

Elsewhere, mobile companies and telcos are seeing their positioning and revenues threatened by the big guys (who in this neck of the woods go by the names Google and Apple), while Rights Holding Broadcasters are caught in the middle. “They still mostly operate broadcast and digital as separate tasks, they very often repurpose broadcast content on digital – possibly not the best case. They understand digital but they are still unsure what to do exactly, they are often driven by defensive objectives.”

Federations need to up their game too. “Their digital presence will be losing traction if they don’t start to focus less on their own website (comfort zone) and more on mobile and social,” says De Marchis. “It has been proven that the official event app can easily dominate the market by being top featured in app stores, but they need to nurture the ecosystem and dip their toes into the water.”

But then De Marchis reckons that everyone needs to ensure they are part of the conversation about the future of the industry over the coming years. “In general if I have to consolidate down to a single message it is: don’t get in love with your comfort zone. The pace of change is very high, and being adaptive is more important than having a long-term strategy.”