Translating the new language of TV

TV – it’s a whole new world.  With new ways that live and prerecorded video are being distributed, so too does the list of new terms that define this medium.  Here’s a list of the most common terms being used in Television today.

 

Addressable Advertising: TV audiences which can be segmented, usually at the household level, based upon attributes such as geography, demographics, and / or behavior.

Cable Operators: Companies that provide television content via a cable in the ground – for example, Cox communications.

Connected TV: A television that supports the delivery of OTT content.

Digital Video Recorder:  A device which records linear TV digitally,  for viewing at a later date.

Gross Rating Point (GRP): The common method in which television viewership is rated.  Also known as “TV Ratings”, it shows the percentage of households which watch a particular program.

Internet Protocol Television (IPTV):  Also known as Internet TV, it is the streaming of video content to any media device (such as a personal computer, game console, etc.).

Linear: Television service where the programs are delivered on a set schedule, as opposed to Video On Demand.

Mobile TV: This is real-time video content which is broadcast over a mobile network.

Multiple System Operators (MSO): An operator of multiple cable or satellite transmission systems. MSOs include AT&T, Comcast, Charter, Dish, Verizon, Cox Communications, Altice, Frontier, Mediacom, WOW!, Cable One, TPG, Windstream, Century Link, Midcontent Communications, Atlantic Broadband Group, Amstrong Cable Services, Service Electric Cable TV, Metrocast, Blue Ridge Communications, Google Fiber, etc.  They are also known as Multichannel Video Program Distributors (MVPDs).

Over The Air (OTA):  Television which is broadcasted using radio waves to a TV receiver.  OTA is typically not addressable at the household level, meaning that it cannot be segmented by household.

Over The Top (OTT): This refers to the delivery of video content (TV, movies, etc.) using an Internet protocol – without requiring a television subscription to a cable or satellite provider.

Satellite Providers: Companies that provide television content via Satellite transmissions.

Set Top Box:  This is the device which decodes the signal transmitted by your cable or satellite TV provider.  It likely was named because it was a box which, in early days, sat on top of your TV set.  The Set Top Box is registered and is unique to a household.

Streaming:  Streaming is the real-time distribution of video and audio content over an Internet protocol, as opposed to the content which is downloaded.  Streaming content can be stored for a short period of time (commonly referred to as a buffer, for obvious reasons) to ensure a consistent user experience in case of an interruption in the Internet connectivity between the device and the server.

Time Shifting: The process by which a viewer watches content at a different time than the scheduled broadcast time.  They can do so using various technologies and services, such as DVRs, VOD, OTT, and Mobile TV.

Video On Demand (VOD): Television and video content which can be accessed by the viewer at any time.

I’ll Have What Ray’s Having …

It was a cold night at JFK and the terminal was eerily (yet understandably) quiet.  Just a few weeks prior two planes had flown into the World Trade Center, and most people were avoiding air travel.  The mood was somber, to say the least.

I was “listed non-rev” on the last flight back to LA for the night, which is airline lingo for waiting on the stand-by list as a non-revenue passenger, thanks to my friends and family benefits with the airline.  This was long before the airlines automated this system with online check-in and in-app status notifications.  The protocol back then was to wait patiently by the gate for your named to be called, just minutes before the gate closed.

This was an art form in and of itself; you wanted to be close enough to hear your name if the gate agent chose to just yell for you rather than use the PA system, but not so close that you annoyed the gate agent.  Just like today, gate agents have a tremendous amount of discretion in seat assignments and lurking over the podium for your name to be called was the fastest way to be seated in the back next to the restroom … or not get a seat at all.

So there I was quietly standing off to the side, listening for my name, when the phone rang at the gate.   The exchange went like this:

Gate Agent: Hello?

[The Gate Agent pauses while listening]

Gate Agent: Hold on, let me check.

[The Gate Agent picks up another phone and dials]

Gate Agent:  Do we have any Bailey’s on the plane?

[The Gate Agent pauses again while listening]

Gate Agent: Thanks.

[The Gate Agent hangs up the second phone, and goes back to the first call]

Gate Agent:  No, we don’t.  [short pause] Ok, thanks.

 

About five minutes later, an airline employee comes up from tarmac with a large bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream.  He hands it to the Gate Agent, who rushes it down the jetway to the plane.

Before I continue I feel that I have to level set that everyone, including myself, was on edge.  Just a few weeks prior terrorists had hijacked three planes and used them to kill thousands of people.  The FAA had only recently allowed planes to fly again.  I can’t speak for everyone else, but personally I was being (perhaps overly) vigilant.

And in my hyper vigilant state, I started to ask myself questions about that bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream. What was so important about the bottle?  Did it go through security?  It was much larger than 3 ounces, …. could it be disguising something else? Could someone have put an explosive in a fake bottle, and thrown it over the tarmac fence to avoid security?

You hear stories about people who have an intuition and get off a plane, only to find that it crashes on that flight … I quietly wondered to myself if that bottle of Bailey’s was a sign that I shouldn’t be on this plane.

Did I mention that it was late?

After some internal debate – which I’d like to be able to say was short but in truth likely took longer than I’d like to admit – I realized that my concerns were irrational and resolved myself to get on the plane, Bailey’s or not.  This decision was eased by the fact that the Gate Agent had called my name and assigned me a seat in first class.

The seating configuration of the first class cabin was (facing forward) two seats on the left / aisle / two seats in the middle / aisle / and two seats on the right.  My seat was 6B, on the left side of the plane just a few seats down from where we boarded.

I quickly got on board, and settled into my comfortable leather seat for the flight home – the bottle of Bailey’s now only a faint memory.

Just as the flight attendant made the final pre-flight announcements, I noticed Ray Charles and his assistant getting on the plane.  His assistant helped Ray into seat 6E, across the plane from me in the same row, then quickly ran behind the first class section to speak to the flight attendant taking the pre-flight drink order from the passenger behind me.

Ray Charles’ assistant:  excuse me, did you get the bailey’s?

flight attendant:  Yes sir, we have the bailey’s.

ray charles’ assistant:  great, ray won’t fly without his bailey’s.  He’ll have a bailey’s on the rocks.

I quietly breathed a sigh of relief as I now understood the importance of that bottle of Bailey’s.  And when the flight attendant asked me “Mr. Gordon, would you care for a drink before flight?”, I confidently said … “I’ll have what Ray’s having”.

 

 

 

Wired Crowns Alexa the Winner

CES is over, and in this article Wired Magazine has crowned Alexa “the winner”.

There are now over 7,000 Alexa-enabled devices, from cars to speakers to appliances and TVs.  By offering an open platform for the development of Alexa-enabled devices, Amazon is getting tremendous market penetration and exponentially increasing the amount of consumer insights data it collects.

This is no easy feat.  Not only does the technology need to be able to accurately understand the user (something that for Siri is still rather hit or miss), but it needs to be able to action on that command.  And based upon’s Mark Zuckerberg’s own experience creating a connected home, he showed the latter to be more critical as he often “chatted” commands to his home using FB Messenger.

But is this really a game changer?  Marketers love this, for sure.  The ability to “listen” to what’s going on in a household has huge implications – for example, (theoretically) identifying who is in a room by their voice, and what commercial their listening to / watching (including the channel) based upon the audio signature.  Tie that to actual purchase activity and you have true closed loop attribution for radio and linear TV.

But will consumers really incorporate this into their daily lives.  Or will Alexa just end up having a conversation with Google Home?  It’ll be some time before we see if this brings real value, or if it is just a gimmick.  If having a virtual assistant really gives us the freedom to live our lives to their fullest, or if they just allow us to change the room temperature without leaving the bed.

Juice Jacking – Is that phone charger safe?

Every time you use charge your mobile device from a public charging station, an Uber driver, or even a friend’s computer you’re putting your phone at risk of being hacked.

Juice Jacking – the process of hacking a phone during charging – is a very real threat that effects almost any phone, tablet, etc.  Because the power ports share the same cord as the data ports, when you charge your phone using a USB connected device (such as a computer, the USB outlet in a car, or potentially a public phone charging station) you give hackers the opportunity to access the data you’ve stored on the phone.

Fortunately, there are easy ways to protect yourself from this threat.

  1. Use an in-wall charger.  Using a standard two-pronged adapter ensures that you’re getting data right from “the wall”.  It isn’t connected to a computer, and doesn’t utilize the data port.
  2. Use a USB cigarette lighter adapter.  Rather than using the USB connection in the car, plug your phone cord into a USB cigarette lighter adapter and plug that into the cigarette lighter.  Like the in-wall charger, this does not allow data access.
  3. Use a portable charger.  Effectively a rechargeable battery block with a USB adapter, you charge these in the morning (from a trusted source – like a wall outlet) and have extra power at hand whenever you need it.
  4. Buy a data blocking power cord or USB adapter.  These are USB adapters and charge cords which have disabled the ability for data to pass through the cord, protecting you from hackers.  Some have the added benefit of offering “fast charging” – in laypersons terms taking the power that would have been used to support the data connection and using it for charging.If you’re industrious, you can modify your own USB cord to support data blocking.

Travel safely !

 

Sources:  Wikipedia, Krebs On Security