Connected consumer electronics sales to exceed 100 million units annually by 2013

Consumer demand for digital media and online content will push worldwide annual sales of connected CE to more than 100 million units by 2013, according to the new Parks Associates report Home Networks for Consumer Electronics.

The market for connected CE includes networked TVs, Blu-ray players, game consoles, home media servers, and set-top boxes. Through network and Internet connections, these devices can access and display home network content such as photos and music and retrieve online content such as widgets, games, and video from Hulu and YouTube.

Diverse user scenarios create multiple challenges for technology developers, according to Scherf, including interface design as well as connectivity.

Home Networks for Consumer Electronics covers consumer and technology trends in the connected CE market and provides forecasts for multiple connected CE product categories. For more information, visit http://www.parksassociates.com/, or contact 972-490-1113, sales@parksassociates.com.

The CONNECTIONS™ conference, June 2-4, features a Connected CE track, including the panels Extending the Reach of Wired Networks and Interfaces and Bringing “Cloud Media” to Consumer Electronics Devices. For registration, or to request a press pass, visit http://www.connectionsconference.com/.

To view the full press release, click here.

Internet Paths to the Connected TV

There have been multiple attempts to connect the living room to the Internet - the CES buzz is around Internet-connected TVs is the latest. The consumer's struggle to connect personalized content to the living room flatscreen continues unresolved (we help with those challenges every day at support.com).

Let's break down what people really mean when they say they want an "Internet-connected TV" - here are things you can do today by connecting a TV to a PC (or Mac):

• Watch movies and TV on demand - while still only subscribing to basic cable. With Netflix and other sites (Hulu and Joost plus broadcaster websites to name just a few) offering up hours of video content via your PC for free or as part of a subscription offering you get a taste of true on demand programming that complements your DVR. (And TiVo has figured that out - now partnered with Netflix. And Disney has figured that out - leading the charge getting TV content on to the Internet and now bought into Hulu).
• Watch any baseball game from anywhere (excluding blackout restrictions) via MLB.TV. I'm a huge Blue Jays fan and moving to California in 2000 meant being cutoff from my team - not anymore. Getting a slimline PC connected to our living room flatscreen was justified by this application alone.
• Stay connected with the whole story - not just soundbites. The 2008 election cycle really brought politics into the 21st century. It is now possible to watch just about every major speech - in full and in high quality - via YouTube and other websites, plus leave your two cents behind as commentary.
• Watch and enjoy your personal media (music / movies / photographs) on the flatscreen in your living room. Remember all those media adapters? Applications like Orb.com turn PCs into Internet media servers.
• Webcam calls with family and friends - Skype and other applications make it easy turn a webcam into a personal videoconference tool (which is even cooler when connected to a living room flatscreen).
• And more... (didn't even mention gaming, for example)

The point is you can accomplish all of the above with a single device - the PC (or Mac) - or you can string together a combination of purpose-built devices.

Here's the catch - purpose-built devices, like a TiVo or cablebox or gaming console are very robust because they are purpose-built. They are not open and therefore tend to be less flexible. The latest addition to the purpose-built device realm is the Internet-connected TV (and this is round 2 - remember WebTV which morphed into MSN TV?)

Can you achieve both - flexibility and robustness? The evidence to-date is no. The cost of flexibility is more things break. The constraint of robustness is you better like what you get (because you can't easily change it) - or be prepared to have a bunch of purpose-built devices.

The debate over "is the Internet-connected TV useful?" is over. Internet-connected TVs are very useful. The only question is how to best connect the Internet to the TV - and that will be an interesting debate for years to come.

AnySource Media to Share Insights at Parks Associates' CONNECTIONS Conference

Mike Harris Addresses Connected TV Strategies--

AnySource Media, LLC will share technology insights at the upcoming CONNECTIONS™ Conference hosted by leading research firm Parks Associates with support from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA®). This unique research-driven executive conference and showcase delivers insight and recommendations for new business models and opportunities in digital media/content, connected consumer electronics, broadband and value-added services, and home systems.

AnySource Media’s CEO, Mike Harris, will participate in a session entitled, “Connected TV Strategies” on Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. PDT. Television’s role as a multimedia access platform will grow considerably once Internet connections link it to online content sources. This opportunity prompts questions on how consumer electronics manufacturers will build scale, create new revenue models, and market and sell advanced televisions. This panel addresses these issues as it looks at connected TVs and content services.

Parks Associates research indicates there are 1.9 million households subscribing to Telco/IPTV services in the U.S. Harris will address the consumer electronics space and the quest to quickly provide a capital efficient mechanism for delivering Internet content. Specifically, he will discuss the AnySource Media approach to Internet-connected TV which includes a turnkey Internet-enabled TV platform, embedded software in HDTVs and other CE devices as well as a data center back end to support easy TV navigation and eCommerce transactions.

WHAT: Connected TV Strategies
WHO: Mike Harris, CEO, AnySource Media
WHEN: Wednesday, June 3, 2009 9:00 a.m. PDT
WHERE: CONNECTIONS™: The Digital Living Conference and Showcase
Santa Clara Convention Center
501 Great America Parkway
Santa Clara, California 95054

For more information, please visit www.AnySource.com

DivX joins CONNECTIONS Sponsors

Parks Associates welcomes DivX as a 2009 CONNECTIONS(TM) Sponsor. DivX will be the Wednesday, June 3rd breakfast sponsor at the US event from June 2-4 in Santa Clara, California.


DivX, Inc. is a digital media company that enables consumers to enjoy a high-quality video experience across any kind of device. DivX creates, distributes and licenses digital video technologies that span the "three screens" comprising today's consumer media environment -- the PC, the television and mobile devices. Over 100 million DivX Certified devices have shipped into the market from leading consumer electronics manufacturers. DivX also offers content providers and publishers a complete solution for the distribution of secure, high-quality digital video content. Driven by a globally recognized brand and a passionate community of hundreds of millions of consumers, DivX is simplifying the video experience to enable the digital home.

For more information about DivX, visit http://www.divx.com/.

By listening closely to consumers, brands can transcend and transact

Show Some Respect...

Many are biding their time by tinkering with what didn't work last year. Case in point: If you think of advertising today, the "Shamwow," dancing cowboys and "You've Just Won" banner ads seem to dominate—very stupid sells, I would argue. The message to consumers has become increasingly disrespectful and is the ad businesses' equivalent to the current panic selling happening in the stock market. Fear makes us act, even if the action isn't logical.

The concept of "listening" has made it beyond conversations within ARF meetings. Case in point: our First Lady is taking a "Listening Tour" around America. Listening is finally getting the respect it deserves, for good reason. True listening allows marketers to adjust messages to make them relevant and, yes, respectful to the consumer. And listening to consumers has never been more important, since their needs and priorities change constantly. Last year's media plan might as well be 100 years old. Brand loyalty declines due to lack of relevance; a direct result of not listening.

So how do we achieve Respect Marketing when budgets and CPM are shrinking? Instead of letting these conditions turn consumer conversations into brash, unwanted, one-way pitches, we need to really stop and listen to our consumers today. Is the message or program that we're offering respectful and of value? Are we adjusting our actions and messages to tap into core human needs? Are we appealing to consumers' desires to do good, win, connect with others and express themselves? Or even more simply, would anyone like to see this?

In the end, it's not about the size of our ad budgets or CPM rates. And it's certainly not about repeating last year's mistakes again and again. It's about listening and respecting the changing consumer by participating in their conversation. In doing so, you create a customer for life who will continue to return to your site or buy your product.

By respecting consumers, you are instilling in them a desire to reward marketers and publishers with their loyalty and, ultimately, their dollars.

Written by Peter Daboll is CEO of Bunchball. Posted on behalf of Bunchball.