ATSC 3.0 is certainly a buzzword in today’s TV realm. Yet at the end of the day, one of the biggest priorities for broadcasters should be what about ATSC 3.0, after all the work is done, is in it for the viewers?
It’s no secret that the way TV is viewed has changed since ATSC 1.0 was rolled out. There is no longer one screen in the home where viewing takes place. The TV-watching experience has changed, the platforms have grown in size (or shrunk for those who prefer mobile TV) and the options have expanded. With ATSC 3.0, there’s more of nearly everything…more immersive experiences, more personalization and more services.
More Immersive Experiences
For passionate TV viewers, the experience is everything. They must have the brightest, highest quality audio and picture reaching them with minimal delays. At CES 2019 we saw a lot of this buzz from bigger screens, foldable screens and 8K devices.
But what we did not hear a lot of was how much 8K content can be delivered now. It’s minimal to say the least. And that’s because the technology to support, deliver and manage it hasn’t been there. But with ATSC 3.0, it will.
More Personalization
Today’s viewing experiences are all about personalization. It’s no longer the “norm” to flip through a guide. We now expect to receive recommendations based on our viewing habits and preferences. With the two-way broadband connection that ATSC 3.0 enables, the ability to make personalization and recommendations more immediate, more accurate and more intuitive expands enormously. This not only makes content owners and operators happy, but viewers, too. The more relevant the content, the less likely they are to change channels, or services.
Additionally, ATSC 3.0 offers the ability to deliver more relevant advertising and can provide a more accurate way to measure audience engagement. Not only is this beneficial for viewers, but also for advertisers and content owners who can offer more real-time voting and shopping options. Oh, and deliver the right ads to the right consumers.
More Services
ATSC 3.0 empowers broadcasters to launch new and better services and generate new revenue sources. This is thanks to the ability to deliver more data via the same spectrum, something that was not achievable previously as ATSC 3.0 leverages new, robust transmission techniques while simultaneously utilizing High Efficiency Video Coding, a more bandwidth efficient video codec. Ultimately this means that an operator can now scale the number of viewers without having to scale their infrastructure: one transmitter reaches multiple receivers.
With ATSC 3.0, more is everything. More immersive experiences = more viewer engagement. More personalization = more channels. More services = more relevant ads. More = more.
Bart Van Daele oversees product marketing at Synamedia. With over 20 years of experience in the video industry, he is currently charged with marketing next generation video processing products and architectures leveraging cloud, workflow automation, ABR technology and microservices to deliver premium video services in a secure and reliable way to any screen. Prior to Synamedia, Bart had been with Cisco for 12 years, coming in through the acquisition of Scientific-Atlanta in 2005. He also held various roles in engineering and product management before taking on product marketing responsibilities.
