REDMOND, Wash. – Feb. 11, 2013 —
Living room entertainment is in its largest evolutionary period since
the transitions of black-and-white to color, and from standard
definition to high definition. The Xbox 360, alongside Microsoft’s
entertainment industry partners, is at the forefront of that evolution
as one of the only devices that brings all forms of entertainment
together in one device, while making access to content easy and
providing new ways to interact with existing programming. In 2012, the
amount of TV and other entertainment offerings on Xbox almost tripled,
now surpassing 100 custom, voice-controlled TV and entertainment apps on
Xbox LIVE.
Snapshot of Xbox Momentum
February 11, 2013
New data illustrates how entertainment usage on the Xbox has exploded during its living room transformation.
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“Yes, we started with video games, but we have been on a journey
to make Xbox the center of every household’s entertainment,” says Yusuf
Mehdi, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment
Business.
Today Mehdi, along with Nancy Tellem, president of entertainment
and digital media at Microsoft, participated in a D: Dive into Media
session, facilitated by Peter Kafka, to discuss that journey and the
opportunities that lie ahead. Mehdi revealed some new data that
illustrates how entertainment usage on the Xbox has exploded during its
living room transformation, and Tellem shared more about her newly
created Los Angeles-based Xbox Entertainment Studios.
Today, there are more than 76 million Xbox 360 consoles around the
world. That’s three times the number of original Xbox consoles sold.
And a Kinect sensor now sits next to roughly one third of those Xbox 360
consoles; the company has sold 24 million Kinect sensors since launch.
Social has been an important part of Xbox from the beginning, and
that’s true today more than ever. The Xbox LIVE community has grown to
46 million members, a 15 percent growth since last year.
2012 also marked the Xbox’s biggest year for entertainment and
games usage. Users enjoyed more than 18 billion hours of entertainment
in 2012, with entertainment app usage growing 57 percent year over year
globally. Last year in the United States, Xbox LIVE Gold members
averaged 87 hours per month on Xbox, an increase of 10 percent year over
year.
Yusuf Mehdi
February 11, 2013
Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business.
Those numbers strongly indicate that consumers enjoy all kinds of
entertainment via Xbox, and Mehdi believes the future of entertainment
is even brighter, as Microsoft plans to keep the momentum rolling.
“We believe that Xbox is being used by more people in the
household, during more hours in the day and for more forms of
entertainment,” he says. “People are using Xbox in the morning to work
out with the Kinect Nike+ Fitness program, kids are watching cartoons,
families are enjoying movies, and of course people are playing
blockbuster games like ‘Halo 4.’”
The Future of TV Is Interactive and More Engaging
According to Mehdi, Xbox has something in the living room no one
else has – a large installed base of devices already in the home,
connected to TVs, and over half of those are already linked together,
delivering amazing personalized and social entertainment experiences via
the Xbox LIVE network.
Microsoft believes that the future of TV and entertainment is one
where the TV becomes interactive and more engaging, Mehdi and Tellem
explain. Microsoft sees that viewers want to do more with their TV
shows, movies, sports and other forms of entertainment.
“We believe that we are at the start of the next wave of truly interactive entertainment,” Tellem says.
Tellem is spearheading a new L.A.-based studio called Xbox
Entertainment Studios, where the mission is to create true interactive
content for Xbox and other devices that will change the way
entertainment content is experienced and delivered. Tellem also now
oversees live event programming for Xbox LIVE. Xbox has had success with
live events such as the Elections 2012 Hub on Xbox LIVE, which aired
the presidential debates with an added interactive polling capability.
Viewers submitted 3 million answers to on-screen questions during the
live telecast of one of the debates. More recently, Xbox aired an
interactive red carpet experience for this year’s Grammy Awards and will
be doing the same for the 85th Academy Awards.
Nancy Tellem
February 11, 2013
Nancy Tellem, president of entertainment and digital media at Microsoft.
“When I worked in traditional TV, we would find ourselves saying
things like ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we could add an interactive aspect
directly into the show and engage directly with the viewers?’” says
Tellem. “With Xbox, that is possible today.”
Xbox already offers content such Kinect Sesame Street TV, which
blurs the lines between traditional linear TV show and interactive
experience, where a kid can jump into their beloved Sesame Street and
throw coconuts at Grover.
But it’s not just about new types of entertainment; it’s also
about new business models and new engagement opportunities for
advertisers. Mehdi called the launch of NUads – a new ad format that
harnesses Kinect and natural user interface – an important moment for TV
advertising. NUads deliver what is most scarce to advertisers today:
consumer engagement. NUads enable natural interactivity using the
simplicity of a spoken word or the wave of a hand. The first wave of
NUads, which launched last fall with interactive polling, saw a record
level of consumer engagement with 37 percent of people responding. With
this model, passive TV advertising is transformed into engaging and
actionable experiences.
Pioneering the Future of TV
In addition to Xbox Entertainment Studios creating content that
will highlight what’s possible and demonstrate the capability of the
Xbox platform, Microsoft will continue to partner with content creators,
networks, aggregators and advertisers to “pioneer the future of TV,”
says Tellem.
During 2013, Microsoft is planning to launch more than 40 new voice-controlled, customized TV and entertainment apps on Xbox.
“We want to partner with the industry to bring entertainment into a
new era,” she says. “It’s an era when interactive entertainment becomes
the greatest form of all entertainment – and we couldn’t be more
excited to play a part in it.”
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