GenY is Turning Online for Their TV
posted by Laurenc on May 14th, 2009New research from Parks Associates found that many Gen Y TV viewers are ready for a change when it comes to their television-watching experience. According to a recent report, over one-fourth of users ages 18-24 are interested in having more social media features integrated into their TV. This data should come as good news to companies like Verizon and Yahoo!, both of whom have been pushing their new social networking widgets. But it also has broader implications that go beyond kids just wanting Facebook on their TV. The study found that there’s a desire to use social networking as a platform to actually enhance the TV-watching experience through interactive chats with other viewers and to have the ability to recommend shows to friends.
The report, Social Media & User-Generated Content, found that the most desired social experience those in this age group were interested in was multiplayer games. Although you might not think of gaming as “social media,” it does fit the criteria – creating profiles (avatars), adding friends (online gaming buddies), and chatting during gameplay make gaming a very social activity. Recently, news about an upcoming service called OnLive was announced and this would fit right into this trend. OnLive aims to stream high-end video games to any PC, Mac, or TV with a broadband connection. Based on the Park Associates data, that service has a lot of potential to become a hit among this young demographic… assuming it actually works.
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