our thinking

This is not a new topic, but one that just doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. After two years working in the mobile app space, we continue to be baffled at the lack of business models attached to app development briefs we see. In December last year, stats suggested that over 530 new apps are launched every day. Making your app visible and successful is a bigger task than the development of it!!

So, if you’re looking at apps this year, here are a few pointers on what we advise you think about before you start building it:

It seems we’re not alone in our work in design and development of social platforms for the B2B world. How social intranets are changing the way companies communicate even made front page of CorpComms* (corpcommsmagazine.co.uk) magazine in March.

I am not an economist so I’ll leave the commentary on the financial landscape to those more informed… What I will say is that using digital to save costs rather than generate revenue is definitely a theme for 2012 here at ETV. Most of you will know that we ask each client we meet “what does success look like?” when discussing a new project, and it’s fascinating to see more clients coming back to us with KPIs that focus on reduction of overheads and cost per sale, rather than selling more product.

Gamification Unlocked:

“The idea of gamification is a simple one: to motivate and engage people by applying game design techniques and mechanics to non-game situations. Points, level progression, badges, achievements, power-ups, virtual currency, quests, puzzles, loss aversion- all of these game concepts are involved in this growing trend that spans areas from education and work to keeping fit and green actions to improve brand experience and loyalty schemes.

The rising popularity of watching videos online has frequently been making the headlines. Just last week (13th April) Broadcast magazine announced that from a survey of 6,500 people, 82% of 35-44 year olds were watching online. The main drivers for this trend are convenience, time-shifting, on-demand catch up of broadcast. Other contributing factors include: ubiquity of HD delivery driving bandwidth, growing use of IP delivered video to connected TV’s rather than PC’s- the TV internet revolution is moving from the bedroom to the living room.

MipDaily News, Issue 3, 6th April 2011 - "Measurability is a core mantra of this decade" said ETV CEO Mark Cullen, at Tuesday's Branded Content Solutions: Case Studies. "And broadcasters can't offer the statistics that IPTV can." A veteran branded-content strategist and producer, Cullen contents that IPTV can offer brands much more than broadcasters, and with fewer headaches. " The broadcasters' desire for control can throttle projects, while their commercial departments often derail them" he said.

The UK media business is enjoying massive change this summer as new managers and new ideas start to impact TV channels, newspapers and magazines. Advertising revenue is doing ok too and that’s leading some media companies to wonder if they have overdone the gloomy messages of last year. Audiences are consuming more media not less and buying more devices to enjoy it on.