Google Video, Television, IPTV Set Top Boxes

How Google should penetrate Television market.

Being in the Television and Media Industry for the last 20 years with active role in strategic business planning, I think its high time that Google should make a foray into the Television Market. Maybe they already have plans, maybe they are planning implementation right now while I am writing this or maybe they will come up within a few weeks or months. The thought occured to me quite sometime back - to be precise at the time time when Google launched Google Video. There is no dearth of people thinking out of the box at Google and money can really buy good people and some of them will be efficient also :)

Given the leverage in content in all spheres of entertainment form News ( i prefer to News as entertainment only and not an information - one must watch the non-complaining public when they keep on viewing the same saddam hussein swinging from the gallows clip for the hundredth time - we enjoy news and more so when it comes with vivid coverage of some terror scenes or someones humiliation - that's the animal in us - but that's another story).

Sometime back saw somewhere on the Internet that Google CEO Eric Schmidt hinted during the company's Q4 2006 conference call yesterday that Google would enter the television advertising market via software on set-top boxes. Maybe the phrasing got changed after so many transformations from one article to a blog to a tech forum and so on. As it is not entering the Advertising Market - Advertising Market can only be a revenue stream for a Television Content. A Channel without content looking for revenue is very similar to a Tele-Shopping Channel like a QVC or Telebrands etc.

Below is a short brief of a strategic plan which Goggle can use (maybe they have already planned it..who knows :) to break into the Television Market in North America to begin with - Why North America - yes, more so because its their home ground, test-marketing, feedback, modification, customization etc will be much easier, as also this is one of the fastest growing market with lots of extra dollars with people who are willing to venture out and try new products.

We are all aware of the technology which allows one to surf the net on a PC - maybe some of us even tested or used it at some hotel. Its not rocket science - while the computer screen resolution is measured in pixels (800x600, 1024x728 etc.)the Television Screen is broken down into lines(570, 640 etc.) and it requires some graphic programming at the chip-set level to have a set-top box which can transform a Pc screen into a TV screen - albeit the font size will increase so they are more readable on the TV set - as we view Television from a distance. Even the PC to TV cards do the same thing - but at a very mediocre level and the readability is not good.

Having said that we can then draw a conclusion that all that is needed by Google is an intelligent set-top box ( some more tech details later) capable of rendering text on TV screen and equipped to play Flash Video.

What Google can offer is unlimited - the exact content for Television can only be determined by a mastermind who can balance content, distribution and revenue (content+ advertising) objectives properly. This is where the project calls for perception analysis and forecasting. It is difficult to run such a platform simply based on revenue objectives without a long term plan.

For a start what Goggle can offer is :

• News
• Maps
• Videos - in various genre
• Music Videos - a separate genre
• Google Talk - yes subscribers can chat between them! ( read below)
• Gmail
• Google Games
• Web Search - rather this can be the main interface
• Froogle - a great boost for this domain
• Google Money (?)
• Google Phone

Now how it will be different from Television - what extra can the viewer expect and how it will sweep us off our feet.....

The most important aspect of this kind of a Google Television platform would be the option to watch what we want, watch when we want and watch wherever we want. Of course the same is applicable for other settop box platforms or IPTV and on demand platforms but none can compare to the vast content resources with Goggle and the massive syndication platform powered by hundreds and thousands of servers and server farms, data centers serving millions of searches every second and in effect embossing a habit of search in your very neural system - as it is human being is always inquisitive to know more and is in constant search ( to me all the search is towards security meaning the search originates from a state of insecurity).


Now the various segments :

News - News can be served by Google with a multiple choice of country specific ( news of your country) international news, entertainment news, top news, tech news, money-market news, etc) - so you have the option to choose as also you will have the option to view the video wherever available. Maybe you can have a constant ticker running below the screen with an option to click on anything and everything which you want to know in more detail !

Maps - When I say maps , i don't mean the regular 2D maps with cursor control - the current advancement with Google maps is amazing - you may be able to choose any country on the top level then simple see the various categories like historical places, geographic wonders, disasters and natural calamities, and all to the city and block level - with real time traffic from your chosen angle - isn't that amazing ! Imagine you are watching the news of a Katrina happening and also watching it simultaneously on Google Maps in real time - a killer application. I think and strongly feel that this one channel will make serious news channels like CNN , BBC and others to re-think their content programming.

Videos - For those who have experienced Google Video it is not difficult to imagine the presentation on set top boxes for television - you have the different genres and select from your favorite subjects, be it pets, funny clips, cartoons, animations, film promos, travel, fashion, family, friends, college, campus, hot, cool, etc.etc. The best part is serious content producers can utilise this platforms for selling their content either advt-driven or in subscription mode with revenue share with Google. And for the viewers - a large platter to pick and choose and only pay for what you want to watch. As it is a set-top box comes with a unique IP address and encryption, drm becomes all the more easier when serving streams from a server to individual IP addresses - along with that Macromedia Flash and a dynamic alogarithm for encryption becomes impossible to hack and pirate content. Even the process of ordering videos becomes extremely convinient with just a few clicks from the remote - yes the remote must be married to the box and to the screen and macromedia flash offers many interesting solutions in that angle. Of course Television Companies currently serving sops and serials need to take a note of this as also cellcos minting millions from sms participation - as all this will be history in the coming few years when you watch 'who wants to be a millionaire" with google and place your answers from your remote directly! Amazing possibilities...

Google Talk - Another interesting area of Goggle Television can be Goggle Talk - I think they should integrate MySpace with it for a greater audience and meaning. The current chat functions can all be there plus the option of a webcam attachment by which you can do video chat also. Even if you don't you can easily select an avatar to represent you and with text to speech and flash modeling nothing is impossible. So you have a profile - a simple myspace plugin - and browse through others profile, watch their videos and then select your prey (smile) and then just press the chat button - there you go.

Gmail - Sending, composing, reading etc. - however, any text content will not be that convenient as in a PC and so this can remain as an option and not for serious mail stuff.

Google Games - Online gaming , tournaments, competitions among the subscribers and Google box users will be as easy as a child's play and the remote can function much better than a mouse-keyboard combo. Maybe Google can provide an additional port for attaching a joystick.

Web Search - here of course we are not talking about the normal PC search and results relevant to TV viewing can be offered to the users - meaning you search for Madonna - you get a result of Video clips on Madonna, news on Madonna, pictures of Madonna, books on Madonna, music by Madonna .. etc and choose the result accordingly.

Froogle - Here is one domain where Tele Shopping Brands and online stores need to rethink their marketing strategy... as Froogle on Tv can offer tremendous scope and potential for Google to grab the online sales market and give serious competition to Channels like QVC and auction sites like eBay. How... shopping will be live ... product reviews can be shown on a separate PIP ( Picture in Picture) screen and the viewer will be able to buy just by a few click of the button or call the vendor ( click to call) . The best part is a complete auction platform can be powered with live auctions and alerts and bidding from the comfort of a remote. Amazing possibilities... think of reverse auction, think of new formats and you will find that only imagination is the limit....

Google Money - This can be another area which Google can explore... if they have not done it already. If the Set Top boxes are capable of rendering text to screen - it becomes all the more easier to render the stock market table on screen - the stock name, open, close, current, volumes, high low can all come - rather a viewer can customize all he wants on the screen ...
The best part is Google can easily tie up with stock brokers anywhere and whenever the viewer
wants to buy or sell he simple needs to punch in the stock code, quanitity, his price or market price and pree "Y" - Google servers can easily forward that data to the broker who excutyes the order. The other option is to trade directly with Google where Google ties up with Nasdaq etc. Again endless possibilites. Even you can have the stock news running on a separate window, the global news on another window while a ticker down below. Do you think Reuters should take a note of this idea....

Google Phone - a modified VOIP application with many extras.

And also all the above availabe at your office or any remote location with just and internet connection - no! you need not carry the box ! - all you need is to keep the box on at your house ( where it serves as a streaming server) and a desktop widget in your pc or cell - and whatever content you watch on TV using the box you should be able to watch on your Pc or cell - dont belive me ? check out Sling TV or ORB media.

So what are the possible revenue streams that Google can look into - again endless possibilites - an IP set top box gives various advantages - like you can have time delay of your live broadcasts - you have the eact demographcis of all your viewers - so if Coke today is launching a product and wants an ad to go on air through Google Boxes - there will be no possible chance for you to miss the ad :) How.... very easy Watson.. it can be so programmed that the moment you switch on the box at any time the first thing which will come on screen will be the Coke advt - something which can be called a bulls eye advertising. Also advertisement with Google boxes can be customized, can be region specific, can be genre specific, can be channel specific and even content specific. Plus live polls, live messaging, user generated messages, votes, texts on the reverse path all are possible.

A small note for the tech savvy here - programming a set top box for IP TV is not that difficult as it sounds - rather you can even do it with PHP/Sql and Macromedia. The Frontend which a viewer finds on television is basically the Flash skin ( can be customizable from both front and back ends - different skin for different occasions - for Independence day, for Christmas, etc.). The flash skin has several windows with PHP "get" commands which gets specific content - video or text or image ) and plays it in that window as per the template defined there in terms of font size, video size, image res etc. And all this skin etc. can be loaded in the box so actually which transmits though the pipe is text files, images and video. While the first two content (text and image) hardly takes a few kilobits video with current (intelligent) mpeg4/h.264 compression will hardly take 512 kbps for a Full D1 resolution - meaning a DVD quality on TV. Which in effect means that our existing DSL connections will be more than sufficient to serve quality video for Television. Also to be considered is the hard drive capacity of the boxes - which again will allow Google to do intelligent caching ( online or offline) to reduce search time and improve performance.

The only question is whether the viewers will be willing to shell out money for this kind of a box - when the prime driver ( pornography has always been a technology driver - my observation:) is missing . And when they already have a set top box at home, a dth box, maybe a music box - like so many mp3 players, a game box ... my answer is no - if Google is looking to sell the box - its difficult unless there is a prime driver like baseball or playboy channel, So what should google do - ideally Goggle should give out a million boxes free in the first phase - at what cost ? peanuts - with assembly lines in Shenzhen, Malaysia, Korea and component prices dropping - its should not cost more than 50-60$ per box and as such we are looking at a cost of hardly 50-60M which will do wonders for Google beyond imagination and will re-write the current equations in the field of Television, Media, Content and Advertising.

Video on the Internet has changed the definition of Online entertainment and very soon it will change the landscape of Television Industry with Google in the forefront of such a change. The only thing required by Google is a proper analysis of viewing habits, a careful merger of television and internet browsing, a proper selection of media vehicles for effective communication as it involves a game with human perception. After which reshaping habits and patterns is just a matter of time. I think its high time Mr. Murdoch and other Media Moguls take a note of all these possibilities.

And needless to say, for the investor - the most interesting stocks to watch in near future will be Google and probably Adobe - unless they merge with Google.

About the Author: The Author of this article is engaged in Strategic Business Analysis and Planning both free for deserving candidates and businesses and on consultation for people with money to waste :) Prior to this he served as CEO for the IPTV/ Broadband platform for TV Asia. Earlier he was associated with companies like Newscorp, Sony Television and B4U Television in Distribution, Marketing, Operations and Strategic Planning. Currently associated with consulting a host of media and intelligent cellular companies and also few more media related websites. Can be reached at mediaplus dot in at gmail dot com.