Communications and Technology Industry Research

ABI Research (News - Alert), a market research firm specializing in the impact of emerging technologies on global consumer and business markets, conducted a recent survey of over 1000 households. The survey shows that today's consumers are looking to extend their social networks to the TV, as 36 percent of those who currently use social media on a regular basis say they'd like to access their networks on the TV screen. 

 

The report showed different results for different age groups. While the younger consumers were more interested in engaging with their friends through chat and messaging, while middle-aged respondents were more likely to be interested in more passive social networking behavior such as checking status updates. But those over 50 expressed interest in TV social networking to see what their friends were watching on TV.

 

Senior analyst Jason Blackwell says, “"Just as video entertainment is moving fluidly across various screens, so is social media. We've seen that consumers find increased value through shared entertainment experiences and want to explore and deepen these experiences through communities of interest; and that's what social TV will ultimately do.

 

 Today we already see tens of millions of consumers engaging in communities in the living room through online console gaming services. Just as this interest community has seen rapid growth in the past few years, we expect the extension of Web 2.0 technologies to the living room to propel growth in new communities of interest."

 

Riding on the emerging wave of high speed broadband connectivity and the evolution of business and user requirements, television is no longer what it used to be and trends are showing that interactive bi-directional television is increasing at the expense of legacy formats, according to an ABI.

 

ABI Research conducted another online survey last December of 1,002 consumers. The purpose was to discover how US residents look at their service providers, what programming and technologies they use, and what difference, if any, price made on their choice of available service offerings. The details of the survey have been published in a free white paper available on the firm’s website. “Americans do a lot of time-shifting with PVRs, and a lot of gaming, and plenty of people have installed home theaters. They are likely to consume a lot more video over the next several years.” said ABI Research VP Scan Schatt.

 

ABI Research has offices in North America, Europe and Asia; with a team of experts advising thousands of decision makers through research and advisory services in seven key practice areas. According to ABI Research, many next-generation LBS applications such as social networking, local search, advertising, and geo-tagging are expected to be used in urban and indoor environments where GPS either under performs in terms of fix times or accuracy, or fails altogether. A November 2008 study targeting 1,000 North American adults found that only 11 percent would use a notebook as their primary computer while 79% would purchase a notebook for use.

 

According to a market study by ABI Research shipments of GPS-enabled mobile phones will hit a speed bump in 2009, but will still manage to post year-to-year unit growth through the current economic downturn.

 

ABI Research recently published a research report on consumer preferences for various features on mobile phones. The study revealed that digital camera, Blue tooth connectivity, and music playback are the top three preferences of mobile phone customers.

 

"Social Network TV", the report is based on a survey of more than 1000 consumers in the United States, conducted by ABI Research in October 2008 examines consumers' interest in accessing social networking services on their TV screen and is part of the firm's Home Networking Research Service.