How have new technologies changed the world of television?
We are not aware of it, but we are immersed in a technological revolution comparable to the industrial revolution of the 19th century. What used to be done in a ‘traditional’ way and was complicated, expensive and required highly qualified professional supervision has become much easier to do, and this has not been at the expense of quality, quite the contrary.
And in the field of production?
Precisely for this reason, television media has multiplied exponentially, requiring enormous productivity in terms of content that would be impossible to achieve without new technologies.
Just 30 years ago, a broadcast camera (Sony Betacam) cost almost as much as a car, to which had to be added the also very high costs of magnetic recording media.
The digitisation of processes and the evolution of sensors and processors in both cameras and editing stations have become so inexpensive that for an investment of just €4,000, you can be generating content in 4K and above for almost any DTT, IPTV, OTT, VOD, etc. broadcasting standard.
It is not only in how content is produced that technological developments have changed the television sector. What impact has this had on content distribution?
The mass consumption of content, driven among other things by the rapid emergence of multi-device culture, has created a macro-industry in terms of distribution that is constantly changing and adapting to the consumer.
This craze for content is clearly evident in the incessant wars over sports rights. It is very common for the rights to major sporting events to change platforms, and when this happens, new alliances and joint ventures are formed in order to survive in such an unpredictable environment.
Just as in the production and distribution of the product, technology has also had an impact on consumption. What are the main changes for users?
Users have experienced such a huge avalanche of changes that they are still processing them, but there are perhaps two changes that are so radical that they encompass all the others and that have to do with space/time.
Space. TV moves with you, on your mobile phone, on your tablet, on your laptop. This, combined with total connectivity and continuous improvements in bandwidth and data transmission, enables the other definitive change.
Time. The immediacy of receiving and viewing linear or delayed TV has enabled 24/7 TV, 365 days a year.
Ultimately, it all boils down to watching TV wherever and whenever you want.
How much does it affect people being able to watch television while paying attention to other screens?
It depends on the age of the viewer. A teenager aged 14–20 needs to be presented with an audiovisual stimulus that is attractive enough in the first 8 seconds of viewing to retain their attention (5 seconds if it is social media).
The 20-50 age group is the most hybrid, with an initial attention span of around 12 seconds and the ability to multitask with some consistency for longer periods of time. Those over 50 remain loyal to traditional TV viewing, with an initial attention span of around 20 to 30 seconds and clearly less multitasking.
The challenge is to come up with formats that adapt to these very different forms of consumption. In some Asian and Latin American countries, micro-dramas are already proving successful. These are low-budget soap operas with short episodes (1 to 5 minutes), recorded and edited vertically, with an anime aesthetic, a fast-paced beginning (first 5 seconds) and a cliffhanger ending that instinctively encourages viewers to watch the next episode.
Does this different consumption benefit or harm television products?
I believe that any change is positive. Obviously, the massive supply of content is beginning to generate a certain amount of rejection and even anxiety, known as ‘choice overload’ or ‘streaming fatigue’.
But we are learning, and more and more resources are being devoted to content curation, personalisation and recommendation. Interfaces are tending to become simpler to improve the user experience, and AI is sweeping through the media like a tsunami.
I am convinced that in a few years, all consumers will have their own personal audiovisual consumption algorithm, and it will be so sophisticated and accurate that television will experience a second youth.
But let’s not lose focus. Ultimately, technology must always be at the service of our creativity.
Dalí said it best: ‘For me, television is a kind of screen on which I see everything I can imagine.’
