• Forbes, Thursday, June 7, 2007 10:45 AM

It's been a looming change for so long that it seems TV's complete digital transformation can't come quickly enough. But even before TV's Next Big Thing (is it Joost? Is it Brightcove? Is it Apple TV?) fully establishes itself, media futurists are looking towards Television (Content) 2.0.

By that time, TV will already be a fully interactive, on-demand, personalized experience, and the TV spot will either disappear completely or be scaled back to 15-seconds. The migration of TV content to the Web and Web-based devices is one thing, but imagine the resulting transformation of content. Consumers will one day watch news broadcasts by choosing relevant categories; similarly, demographic information will be key as content makers create programs for specific audiences.

Audiences will also become more involved, interacting with and adding to professionally picked, high-quality user-generated content. Advertising will no doubt become acutely targeted, but it will also have to become more flexible: short pre, mid, and post-rolls will remain, but the prolonged commercial break will not, meaning more product placements and product segments, and branded banner ads.

As the report points out, the acceptance of open standards will be crucial in driving innovation, but it could be a long process, convoluted by the vested interests of cable, telecom, consumer electronics and Web corporations.

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