Dennis Brouw

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Big data, it is a term that people in general vaguely know but are contributing to on a daily basis. Every day we create around 2.5 quintillion bytes of data. Of this data, 90% has been created in the last two years alone. The data is collected in a lot of different ways: sensors, shared digital pictures and videos, posts on social media sites, purchase transaction records, GPS signals and so on. The growth of data is exponential, becoming more and more rapid every year. A big part of this information remains private and of no real value. Still there is a lot of data left to analyse and as more and more objects are becoming smart and connected this amount of data will grow even faster.

This collected data can be of great value in a lot of areas like research, business or public services. The problem however is that there is so much data available that we aren’t able to cope with it. It is estimated that around 33% of all the data in the ‘digital universe’ contains information that could be valuable if it is analysed. However only 0.5% of this data is looked at. The main reason is that almost all the big data available (97%) is not structured. It is just raw data which the computer systems are not able to label and structure and make it useable.

IBM is aware of this growing problem and thinks it has the answer. It is developing and building ‘cognitive computers’. These computers will are able to understand natural language, learn about context, structure and meaning and even analyse images and video. This makes them ideal for analysing huge volumes of data. It already has a cognitive computing system called Watson, that is already very impressive and doing research in different areas. IBM’s Dr John E. Kelly III says that the cognitive computing system is able to make sense of 80% of the data that is labelled ‘unstructured’ by computer scientists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrwFSbVj3GI

While we as human beings not have the processing power to handle constant huge amounts of data, cognitive computing does. It is therefore able to help us move forward in a lot of different ways using big data. From developing better healthcare settings to combining sales data and social media for marketing purposes to even helping local authorities combat crime. The system is effectively giving us the information we need to make the right choice and to use the right information for the best.

References

Andrews, S. (2015, December 22). Information Overload: The Big Data Problem and How to Fix It. Retrieved from http://mentalfloss.com/uk/technology/36957/information-overload-the-big-data-problem-and-how-to-fix-it

IBM. (n.d.). What is big data? Retrieved from https://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/bigdata/what-is-big-data.html

Marr, B. (2016, March 23). What Everyone Should Know About Cognitive Computing. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2016/03/23/what-everyone-should-know-about-cognitive-computing/#42a9194e5d6e

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Almost everybody has one at home: a TV. A lot of the TV’s that are being sold nowadays are so called smart TV’s, or are made smart with devices like google Chromecast. What makes them smart is the option to connect to the internet and make use of apps. This in combination with the ever growing streaming services provided online could be a potential threat for the traditional pay-TV market(cable, satellite, or telco-TV) as we know it. Television executives are already sounding the alarm. With a 3% decline in the overall TV viewing time in the U.S. in 2015, were 50% was accounted for by Netflix, the question to ask is: Is the traditional pay-TV really going to be replaced with streaming services, or is the ‘death of TV’ we hear about just an illusion?

Recent research from Marketing Charts in conjunction with Newfronts claims that viewers prefer digital video to primetime TV. The results show that people associate streaming services with terms such as “innovative”, “exciting”, “edgy”, and “worth my time”. And with a recent survey from AllFlicks stating that 75.5% of people who have experience using Netflix are convinced that a streaming service like Netflix is the ready replacement for traditional TV, the end for traditional pay-TV seems to be just around the corner. But still almost every household has a pay-TV contract. A big explanation seems to be imbedded in age difference.

The role of age
Age seems to be an very important factor for the liking and using of the new ongoing streaming trend. Researches like the one from TDG Research show a distinctive age gap in TV viewing between younger and older Americans. The researchers asked adult broadband users who were using traditional TV as well as subscription services the following question: “if you had to choose between traditional pay-TV service (cable, satellite, or telco-TV) and subscription streaming video services, which would you choose?”. As you would expect the responses differed strongly by age group as shown in the table below. The older people tend to stick more to the traditional way of watching TV while the younger generation prefers an subscription on the streaming of videos. This result is backed up with other study’s worldwide confirming this distinctive distribution, such as the figure released by Ofcom, showing the results in the UK.

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It is clear that young people are driving down the average time spend watching traditional TV while the older generations are keeping traditional TV alive. With an increase in supplied streaming services more and more consumers are shifting towards streaming, giving them the possibility to watch what they want, when they want. This makes it hard to imagine a future with traditional TV as we know it. However I wouldn’t call it the ‘death of TV’. With networks such as HBO and CBS already having launched their own online offerings it is clear that traditional TV channels are evolving and finding ways to survive, extending beyond the traditional television screen and including custom (not full TV package) programming from new sources that can be accessed in new ways. This in combination with TV companies pivoting their business models to distribute on social platforms and the formation of partnerships with digital media brands to create new content will probably secure the future of TV companies for the following years to come.
So, will streaming change the way we use our television as the competition becomes increasingly direct in the years to come? It’s definitely something that’s worth keeping an eye on.

References

BI Intelligence. (2016, July 12). More young people are watching less traditional TV. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/more-young-people-are-watching-less-traditional-tv-2016-7

Loechner, J. (2016, June 01). Traditional TV vs. Streaming Video; It’s In The Eyes/Age Of The Viewer. Retrieved from http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/276939/traditional-tv-vs-streaming-video-its-in-the-ey.html

Lovely, S. (2016, March 02). 76% Of Netflix Subscribers Think Netflix Can Replace Traditional TV. Retrieved from http://cordcutting.com/76-of-netflix-subscribers-think-netflix-can-replace-traditional-tv/

Spangler, T. (2016, March 03). Netflix Caused 50% of U.S. TV Viewing Drop in 2015 (Study). Retrieved from http://variety.com/2016/digital/news/netflix-tv-ratings-decline-2015-1201721672/

Cognitive computing: The solution for big data information overload

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Streaming services VS traditional pay-TV: The battle for viewers of the 21st century

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