Recently I stumbled upon a 2010 BBC video which focussed on what features we would likely see in future televisions.  Surprisingly, none of the TVs mentioned were about 3D capabilities, but instead ranged from the environmentally friendly to the socially connected.

One prototype demonstrated the idea of a Wifi connected split screen TV, with one half showing the programme you want to watch, and the other a Twitter feed featuring real time discussions about it.

Now this got me thinking.  While the obvious purpose of this is to connect with other viewers with similar interests and share your opinions about the programme, considering that viewers will be constantly connected to each other throughout the episode’s duration, it seems almost inevitable that viewers will also discuss the adverts shown in the breaks.  I could only imagine the amount of Twitter-love Aleksandr would receive during each ComparetheMarket advert.

If this idea takes off in the mass market, it could potentially offer brands the opportunity to monitor the reactions of a large amount of viewers’ about their adverts in real time, to see if their adverts are being noticed, how they are influencing brand opinion, and examine how annoying people find them on a ranking scale I like to call the GoCompare-O-Meter.

To me this was an interesting example of how innovations in technology can become innovations in marketing and brand analytics, how social media has the potential to continue to shape promotional efforts, and mostly why this is such a fascinating industry to be involved in.