Internet of Things Could Boost Media Services, EY Says
The potential for Internet of Things in the media and entertainment space is “expansive,” as IoT can enable the creation, delivery and tailoring of content for new platforms, improve metrics that go beyond time and measure the context of media consumption, and cooperate with other IoT ecosystem players to further evolve IoT, said consulting firm EY. In its latest report, “Internet of Things: Human-Machine Interactions That Unlock Possibilities,” EY said within the media and entertainment industry, executives expect that IoT will lead to a 16.5% lift in revenue between 2015 and 2018, more than its effect on energy, consumer packaged goods, retail and automotive industry.
The report cited sensors as one of the key drivers of IoT expansion. “Sensors measure physical inputs and transform them into raw data, which is then digitally storable for access and analysis,” the report said. Miniaturization has enabled sensors to integrate into smart devices, expanding their capacity beyond data measurement and analytics to transmitting information via the Internet, it said. Within the media and entertainment industry, companies are using inertial, motion and image sensors used in animation, gaming, video images, camera stabilization, sports and 3D. At the same time, MVPDs are experimenting with other areas of the IoT ecosystem, including cloud computing, transmission and spectrum enhancement.
EY pointed out that it’s important for media and entertainment companies to find the right balance between potential and necessity. “IoT can enable some amazing experiences. However, it can just as easily become annoying,” it said. It warned that personalization can become unwanted if it’s perceived not to be relevant and device integration can become a hindrance if it disrupts a user’s experiences. Media and entertainment companies will want to take a “customer-centric view when developing IoT strategies to calibrate experiences that charm consumers without crossing the line into intrusive.”
Meanwhile, potential risks of IoT include regulatory hurdles, privacy concerns, security risks, legal problems, intellectual property rights, lack of standards and lack of scale to reach critical mass, EY said. Among them, privacy is a major challenge that companies need to overcome as the IoT ecosystem seeks to collect enormous amount of data and contextual inputs from sensors and other IoT solutions. And the lack of standards mean devices can’t communicate with each other. Within a common standard, IoT will remain limited in its application, EY said.
