The Battle For The Living Room

Apple TV vs. Google TV:  The Battle For The Living Room

There’s been a lot of hype and discussion with the futurist and media folks on what the future holds for our living room entertainment experience.

Who can deny the sheer power behind the possibility of Apple TV syncing with all of your other Apple products.

On the other side what happens to the entertainment experience when we can search for content (any kind of type of content YouTube, premium, on-the-street) anything, anytime, anywhere via Google TV.

In the eye of the optimistic futurist –  there are endless possibilities.

Mark Suster wrote an excellent piece on the future of the TV and the living room experience. This is a must-read for anyone interested in what’s in store for the business of entertainment and content. He brings up so many relevant topics and developments to keep an eye on. TV, film, accessibility, gaming, online video, niche content providers, etc.

The bottom line is that premium content isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. What’s also interesting is that while our entertainment experience in the living room will change – maybe it won’t change all that much. Mark Cuban recently wrote a spot on posting on the value of time and how it impacts internet video/TV battle.

 Cuban is right on with his points – noting that while the youth of today will pirate video content, spend time on YouTube and illegally download music their behavior will change due to their timing constraints and needs. Will that same person invest this much time in tracking and finding their entertainment content once the job, house, wife and kids come along? Doubtful. Extremely doubtful – just ask your married friends.

The bottom line: the entertainment pie will continue to get cut up in more ways than it has in the past but there is no clear winner yet in the race to control the living room entertainment experience. Will there be a winner within this fragmented media marketplace? Most likely, and as Mark Suster’s piece pointed out – there will be multiple winners. Only time will tell.

@MitchKapler

 

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