The CES 2009 Market Dialogue Report

Focus on HDTV

Using this report - The key to a successful public relations program is communicating within the context and topics that key audiences are already discussing. This report covers general trends and aims to forecast the topics that are likely be popular throughout 2009. It should be used as an aid to determining into which context and trends that messages, pitches and other forms of communications should tie in order to gain critical traction.  For more information, contact Ephraim Cohen at +1-212-631-5823 or cohen  AT  fortexgroup.com.

HDTV and Digital Media in 2009 - Hello TV, Again

In our 2008 report on post-CES trends, we concluded that the conversational trend revolved around content delivery-related topics. Announcements at that year’s Consumer Electronics Show focused on televisions featuring Internet connectivity, the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD war and portable media players. At CES 2009, the content delivery theme reached a new level of prominence, and announcements across the board indicated that the TV will be the central focus of the content discussion for the remainder of the year.

This report will examine the following topical trends for 2009:

·      Connected HDTVs and their ability to shift the digital media discussion from a focus on the Web to a focus on TVs

·      The growing disintermediation discussion, with a concentration on cable companies and how this industry can be compared to the music or movie industry

·      The increasing processing power and memory in TVs lending to greater discourse around the future of video games in the living room

·      The affect of Yahoo! TV widgets and the possibility that they may lead to a comeback for the Yahoo! brand

What does all this add up to? Potential story angles for Q1-2 2009

Why the HDTV focus? Because it’s what the Media and Consumers are Talking About

This graph illustrates current trends in the volume of mass media-produced and user-generated content (blogs, forums) in key CES product categories. While TV’s have always been a top category, we believe new content features give this category the greatest potential to impact multiple industries as well as overall consumer behavior.

Industry Market Dialogues Potentially Impacted by HDTV Developments

The following table displays the industries that are most likely to be affected by new developments in HDTVs as well as the potential story lines for each industry.

Content Brands: Lessons from CES

The connected TV topic was tied to a number of different content brands, with the major ones being the video brands and Yahoo! widgets.

Not surprisingly, Netflix beat out all 
other brands for share of voice. 
This is probably due to a combination of two factors: 1) of the content brands associated with connected TV, it is the most popular streaming video brand (Hulu may take that crown if they cut a similar deal); and 2) they were part of a pre-CES announcement from LG, which gave them an earlier boost.

Yahoo! had a surprisingly small share of voice, but this may be because the majority of their CES announcements were about deals (the platform is old news) and because widgets on a TV are not new. This may change during the upcoming year should Yahoo! take off as a developer platform.

HDTV-Related Topic Trends

Knowing the correct language to use when addressing on-trend topics is critical to a successful communication strategy.

At CES, there were three primary ways in which interactive functionality for TVs was addressed: “connected,” “broadband” and “TV Widgets” (from Yahoo!). Of these, “connected HDTV” was the most common terminology employed by both media and consumers.

Potential Story Angles

The following are editorial topics that media may look at related to HDTVs throughout 2009:

• Saving energy
• Saving money
• New ways people are socializing at home
• Web 2.0 becomes TV 2.0
• The recession makes the home theater a mainstay of America

Recommendations

• Center brand communications on products that best demonstrate today’s top-of-the-line quality alongside products reflecting tomorrow’s industry direction, allowing the brand to be positioned as consumers’ product of choice for while maintaining a forward- looking industry leadership position
• Prioritize communications around leaps in quality and value along-side content deals
• For consumer media, increase the focus on reference media

About Market Dialogue Reports

Market Dialogue reports provide insight and analysis to help companies determine what information, messaging, and positioning will be most effective in the conversation taking place in the market (i.e., the market’s dialogue). The purpose of a market dialogue analysis is to take a snapshot of how a business market is discussing a particular topic and then determine what course the discussion is likely to take over the next year. This information should be used to adjust marketing and communications messages to ensure the messages are timely, relevant and reflective of what the market is saying.

About The Fortex Group

The Fortex Group is a strategic communications agency specializing in high-impact reputation programs for the convergence industries – media, communications and high-tech. Whether targeting a complete audience or specific executives and influencers, our success is measured not by tactical output, but by the actual shift in awareness and reputation.