Role reversal: How AI will help TV reclaim ground lost to smartphones

Back in 2016, we felt it was the most important year for us as it was the year when smart TVs started gaining the market share. But now, the year 2020 will become one of the most important years as the smart TV ecosystem is getting matured with various new technologies that will disrupt the market and we will see many brands trying to establish themselves in India with the right kind of content for enhanced customer experience.
 
The biggest disruptor will be AI or Artificial Intelligence. After every few years, there is a big transition of technology, which first started with the PC, then web, then mobile and now AI. AI will play a very vital role in your smart TVs as it will enable the TV to become the hub of your home. You will be able to connect all your devices via AI. Through smartphones, you will be able to connect your laptops, speakers, home security, etc and all your other smart devices and with AI, you will be able to watch all your favourite movies. And why just movies? You will get all the latest news, current temperature and with the integration of Google maps, you will know how much time it will take to reach a destination etc. It is a revolutionising technology that will enable the world to be available at your fingertips or rather at the tip of your tongue. There are 11 new languages being introduced in Google assistant for the people who are not user friendly in typing the command to watch their favourite content in smart TVs. This will also be very helpful to them as this removes the language barrier that stops customers from using the voice command option to search their content.

 
In a recent survey, it showed that 30 per cent of Indians do not want to write to search their content but through AI and the voice command, they will now be able to enjoy their favourite content. In 2020 we expect Hindi and a few more other local languages to be also included to help people further. With the help of AI, your smart TV will be able to tell you the latest related content that you would want to consume, which will help save a lot of time. In a smart TV, people normally scroll down to 20 to 25 per cent content with whatever average content they can get but with this, you will be able to see that the smart TV is running against time and you’ll be able to utilise your time better.

 

Another survey conducted by Nielsen in the US showed that a large number of the audience prefers to watch their favourite content on smart TVs and people in the United States have started watching content for more than four hours on TVs and less than two hours on smart phones. I feel when the technology really matures in a few years, India will also try to adapt the same kind of behaviour. I also feel that in 2020, the viewing hour of content on TV will increase and it may also surpass smart phone. Till 2018, most of the content that was available was, only for smaller screens, but with smart TVs first and then with the integration of android TVs, the experience of content on a larger screen has improved.

 
All the OTT players are now developing content for larger screens and for all the content, they are putting designs for the large screen since user experience is always better compared to the small screen.
 
As android TVs have the maximum market share in India in terms of certified TVs, it is estimated that they will have 1.1 billion subscribers by 2024. So, you can imagine the kind of integration that is required to switch a consumer from smart to Google TV stores. Currently, Google offers 5000 games and application and in 2020 there will be more than 7000 applications and games for televisions that android will provide.

 
Another technology that we are looking forward to is the Cloud technology.

Director & CEO
Super Plastronics Pvt Ltd
 
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