TV Apps Kickoff – 3 Things You Need to Know
The 2010 Superbowl officially kicked off the Age of TV Apps. The technology has been around for a few years and is already available to many people. But Vizio’s TV app Superbowl commercial was the kickoff heard ’round the world.
So what are TV apps? In a most basic sense, TV apps are like the applications you download for your iPhone. Small, limited-use software that allows you to personalize your hardware.
New stuff that was once only available for your computer — and then for your iPhone — is now available for your television. If you have Direct TV or Verizon FiOS, some of this is already baked into your cable box. Obviously you can get TV apps on the Vizio TV, but also on many Samsung and Sony televisions as well.
You can already use things like Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook on your TV.
Here are three things you should know about TV Apps
1. The technical field is relatively open.
Sure, there are some key players like Yahoo who have already set themselves as leaders, but that can change. Currently, Yahoo controls the application and administers the software development kit (SDK). Note: From our personal experience, Yahoo was somewhat slow in distributing the SDKs to developers. That’s unfortunate because that could irritate programmers who could create an open-source system that could render Yahoo’s TV Apps technology obsolete. If you have the desire to create apps (or even a completely new OS), the time is now. The tech is in place for you to build the next great widget, gadget, social network, or living room app.
2. TV apps will present design challenges.
Weather TV app available through DirectTV
TV apps will face several user interface challenges. The most notable is that most people don’t have a keyboard on their television remote control. Sure, you can pull one up on the screen, but as you can imagine, typing with a little remote-control button is a pretty poor user experience. If you’ve used a Wii remote to create a Mii character, you know how tedious it can be to type out a long name. Designers will clearly make the difference between apps that succeed or fail. The old design rules will need to evolve to take advantage and address the limitations of a 10-foot interface.
3. Content & marketing opportunities will need to evolve.
The iPhone and other smart phones forced content developers and marketers to rethink the way we package messages. Long-form had to give way to shorter, more relevant messages. If not for mobile communications limitations, Twitter would have never gained a foothold in society. Face it, a 140 character message fits better on a cell phone screen than, say, a PowerPoint presentation. People who mastered the Twitter format (including URL shorteners) emerged pretty quickly as masters of the medium. And the marketers quickly caught on with brand messages. That’s a long way of saying that the new language of TV apps is still in flux. If you want to create content or marketing messages for TV apps, try to figure out what works with this new interface.
If you’re already exploring TV apps, congratulations. You’re probably going to have a head start on this unique and exciting new communications channel. I look forward to seeing what you create.
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Vizio’s TV App Superbowl Fumble
If you were one of the 106 million people who watched Superbowl XLIV, you may have caught the Vizio TV ad. You know the one…it showcased one of the coolest new technologies called TV Apps.
Google results for the Vizio TV Apps search.
Despite a terrific commercial, Vizio may have fumbled a prime opportunity to capture and convert their audience. The content was great. The message was on target. So what went wrong?
Well, they forgot both their (a) search engine marketing (SEM) campaign and (b) search engine optimization (SEO).
Like many people watching the Superbowl, I saw the commercial and wanted to know more. I didn’t catch the URL on the screen, but I trusted that if I put in “Vizio TV apps,” Google would link to their site.
Nope.
How about “Vizio apps”? No.
Um…”TV apps”? Nope.
Okay, they must be bidding on “Vizio” right? Big nope.
I’ve included a bunch of screen shots of Vizio’s Google search results on Flickr, so you can see who and what is coming up on the search engine results page (SERP) for Google. You can see tweets from people on Twitter who are interested in the Vizio commercial, but the Vizio web page appeared to be down.
Even a day after the Superbowl, there’s no SEM campaign from Vizio trying to capture the traffic and buzz generated by their commercial. And unlike other events, the Superbowl is legendary for people sharing and replaying ads. YouTube has collections of the best ads, which means people will be watching that ad long after it was aired.
In today’s always-on Internet culture, people trust Google, Yahoo, Ask, and Bing to take them to the right site. But that comes at a cost, since sites need to be properly optimized for search engines.
A well-designed SEM campaign needs to be developed and maintained, since your website may not always come up in natural search. Sure, you will come up for your own name, but you may not come up for your category. SEM helps you get your message in front of the right people at the right time. Like, for example, a few minutes after your commercial runs on the Superbowl.
Vizio did a great job of educating the Superbowl viewers about the concept of TV apps. It’s hard to say if they will be able to cement that lead without properly leveraging search traffic on Google.
What should have been a touchdown seems more like a fumble. And you have to wonder if someone else has already intercepted Vizio’s customers.
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