Cisco, Intel Imagine Multi-Screen TV Advertising In Future

Intel-Cisco-TV-A2Cisco Systems and Intel -- major electronics companies -- are separately working to bring new technologies into the living room and integrate device screens to support entertainment and advertising.

Both are making predictions on how consumers will use multiple-screen technology in the future.

Aside from ads becoming more personal, Cisco Systems execs believe TV will remain an important advertising medium, but channels will vanish, sit in the background -- forcing advertisers to focus on new formats, such as on-demand delivery in real-time or the ability to preposition content on a consumer's DVR.

Internet-connected TVs will also play a role. Some believe TVs will have the ability to suggest programming by sensing the person walking into a room, based on a technology similar to Microsoft's Xbox Kinect controller.

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Cisco Systems' Internet Business Solutions Group's Scott Puopolo, vice president and global head of the service provider practice, and Leszek Izdebski, director of the media and entertainment group and service provider practice, outlined a research paper on the Future of Advertising in year 2020 and beyond. Some of the things may seem far-fetched, but movement already has begun to take place.

Branded entertainment will continue to grow, fueling the need for higher-quality stories. The focus will be  getting consumers closer to the product. This means bringing tactile feedback technology into the living room, smell and taste in TV advertising through new remote control apps or hardware, according to Puopolo.

Some of the biggest changes will have to occur in analytics. Delivery and the way ads are tracked will also change. Meta data associated with content creation will enable targeted product placement.

The platforms deciding on the ads to serve will need to perfect timing to address on-demand streaming and preloaded or PVR-based viewing. The technology will base the decisions on content, who is in the room, demo- and psychographics, current mood and intent.

"Consumers don't go to a channel looking for content -- they tune in to see a show regardless of the network, similar to the way they look for content on the Internet rather than a specific site," Izdebski said. "The show and content needs to find the user, not the user search for the content."

Intel recently showcased a technology called display as a service the company believes will support the way consumers use gadgets. DAAS enables televisions to mirror the images on multiple displays, such as a tablet or smartphone, by transforming the images into pixels or link up multiple displays to create one bigger display. Sending the image data requires a wireless network, according to Intel.

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