Notes from the Connected TV Roundtable

I've attached the notes from our January 30th roundtable on the connected TV.  We had a very lively discussion with about two dozen exectives.  You can download the PDF of the notes below.  Here is a summary of the discussion:

• Heavy Internet users watch 30 more hours of TV per year than do non Web users (Nielsen 2008)
•  31% of in-home online activity occurs at the same time the user is watching TV (Nielsen 2008)
• 10.2 million people watched the Obama inauguration online through two content delivery networks (37.8 million watched it on TV) (Nielsen, Akamai and Limelight)
• 8-12 year olds were involved with media for 60 hours a week, as a result of their use of more than one device at a time (source was a roundtable participant’s research).

• The connected TV and an on-demand viewing experience will serve as compliment to, not a replacement for, the more traditional, programmed approach. According to the general consensus, the programmed TV schedule not only remain, but may even be strengthened by Web 2.0 behavior such as social networking
• Social networking will impact marketing and advertising but it may take the television, not the web by itself, to make that happen
• Content will remain king, but the challenge will be to figure out how to monetize it in different viewing environments (three screens, social network integration)
• The synergies and opportunities around three screens – TV, computer and mobile – won’t be fully realized until they start to work together, however the mobile device, not the living room box, may become the hub
• The time frame for mainstream adoption of the connected TV and the realization of synergies between the three screens will be 5-7 years